CH Products customer service

[BigR]

Keep in mind that the 8 way hat switch (at least on the fighter stick) is soldered to a circuit board along with the 4 other switches on the face of the stick. They can not be simply swapped out. You need to be pretty good with a soldering iron to take them off the board. I tried this last year....ended up buying a new stick. I figured it was time. The one I replaced was bought used on ebay in 2004 and lasted 8 years after that without any issues. I figure I can get at least another 8 out of my new one. 

[Vinkman]

That's too bad. I had, only a few months ago, filled out a form and bought replacement parts for my combat stick. New pots for roll and Pitch were $10.00 each. I have it working like new in an hour. To think now I will have to buy a new $100.00 stick is upsetting.

[Butcher]

The Rig I built, had a few flaws, one which is the AUDIO jack in the front - its simply a panel that broke off where the screw is, I called customer care and they overnight shipped me a replacement.
Same for CH Pro Pedals, something came lose and they stopped working, Shipped back on December 3rd got new ones December 8th.

No questions were asked, they were polite and such... guess it goes both ways :\

[Stang]

Think I've got two old ch fightersticks that no longer work sitting around, but individual parts on them are probably still good... There're both old analog, not USB but don't think that matters for hat switches or the like... Anyone might need something shoot me a pm.


What sad news about CH... My first stick lasted 11 years, pedals never wore out. They had the best customer service. Anytime I needed parts like a pot they shipped it in a couple days. Damn unfortunate.

[tunnelrat]

If you're a hard-core rig-it-till-it-goes-tits-north type of do-it-yourselfer (I hulk smashed my broken piston in my desk chair and then hammered a spike through it to fuse it in place hehe)

Check this out:

http://snomhf.exofire.net/hatRepair.html

[The Fugitive]

Keep in mind that the 8 way hat switch (at least on the fighter stick) is soldered to a circuit board along with the 4 other switches on the face of the stick. They can not be simply swapped out. You need to be pretty good with a soldering iron to take them off the board. I tried this last year....ended up buying a new stick. I figured it was time. The one I replaced was bought used on ebay in 2004 and lasted 8 years after that without any issues. I figure I can get at least another 8 out of my new one. 

I replaced one of the switches on my hat. It wasn't that tough, took about 20 minutes from unplugging it to flying again. The analog switches work fine. 4 way and 8 way hat switches are the same, just a different actuator.

[BigR]

I replaced one of the switches on my hat. It wasn't that tough, took about 20 minutes from unplugging it to flying again. The analog switches work fine. 4 way and 8 way hat switches are the same, just a different actuator.

Thats really strange because when I opened mine up, each switch was soldered to a circuit board, and then the board was hooked up to a wire harness. I didnt see an easy way to get the switches off without de-soldering them.

[The Fugitive]

Thats really strange because when I opened mine up, each switch was soldered to a circuit board, and then the board was hooked up to a wire harness. I didnt see an easy way to get the switches off without de-soldering them.

Yes you do have to de-solder them, but you can do the one button that is giving you trouble. Soldering isn't that tough to do.

[Drano]

Yeah I'm thinking it's gonna be this little project with mine or break down and go TrackIR for views. It's my 6 view that's starting to go of course. I really have to plant my thumb back to get it and that's getting on my nerves.

But I have a soldering iron and a solder sucker and know how to use them. Problem is acquiring the parts. The bastiges.

[BigR]

Yes you do have to de-solder them, but you can do the one button that is giving you trouble. Soldering isn't that tough to do.

(Image removed from quote.)

Ok i see what you mean. Thanks for the diagram! I have done a little soldering a long time ago. I used to solder mod chips on to playstation 1's haha. I just didn't look at this closely. I was under the false assumption that I had to take the whole hat switch off, but its really just the one switch. 

[zack1234]

get track IR

I only use 8 hat switch for switching bomber positions

[thrila]

Well i've finally had enough of mine and bought a replacement online.  It had a long run but i've become frustrated with the spiking and being unable to ride stall that i rage quit and bought a new one.

[doc1kelley]

Sad to hear.  When I was the senior PC tech at CH many years ago, it was the complete opposite and prided ourselves in the support we gave.  Ever since the owner (Chuck Hayes) sold CH to a French industrial company, they stopped selling parts and started the policy of only repairing sticks under warrenty.  It's no longer the private family owned company I enjoyed working for.

ack-ack

I remember it quite well when you were the head Tech at CH.  All I had to do was mention it online back in AirWarrior about springs and potentiometer and you had them sent to me free.  I think I got them within the week.  It was for the old analog setup, oh and that blasted cable too that connected the keyboard to the sticks.  I sure missed it when you left CH.  The company I work for was family owned since the early 1900's and sold out about 8 years ago to an investment consortium and it's been hell since!  You can't get anything fixed and no spare parts on hand.  Nothing beats the pride that the private family owned company instilled

All the Best...

    Jay

[earl1937]

I've owned CH gear a long time, have twice sent the stick back to them for repair.  When I recently contacted them about getting parts to again repair the hatswitch (the only issue I've had is the 8-way going bad) I got this reply:

I did find a source for CH Products parts but they don't sell the 8-way hat --- the one part that is the most un-reliable. 

It's too bad, their gear is pricey but the cost could be justified by the quality and the customer service. 

Hey Columbo, you might want to consider the "Bortas Warthog" stick. I don't have one yet, but serveral of my squad mates have one and they all rant about the flying quailities of this stick. Most are using the CH rudder pedals with it. It has a "split" throttle quadrant which works really great in the P-38, which I see you flying. I fly the X-52 right now and like it, but, but, its so sloppy in the different axis, its really not very good for a fighter stick.

[Reaper90]

get track IR

I only use 8 hat switch for switching bomber positions

^this^

The hat switches on my CH CombatStick are worthless. I never learned to use them, I actullay set them to do nothing because I was accidentally hitting them and was never sure what they were mapped to.

That being said, I have had other buttons quit working, and now have 3 spare sticks (2 usb and 1 analog) that I bought used on ebay.. all of thm work fine (except the analog one, I've already cannibalized 2 buttons from it) and I think the most I paid was $20 for one of the usb ones. ebay rocks and used is just fine with me.