Problem with my Ch Fighter Stick

[FTJR]

Greetings,

My Stick is about a year old, and in the last month or so the Y axis (pitch) has slowly being losing its calibration with increasing frequency. I went out and bought a powered usb hub, but that that has not solved the problem.

I calibrate using the ch controller direct mode, the select the mapped mode. Move into AH and calibrate again. Last night it would not keep calibration for more than 5 mins, and when I tried to re calibrate the axis, would refuse to hold that.

After I logged off, I checked the calibration in the CH controller, and it appears fine.  12hours later, with out re calibrating I went off line, and everything is good.

Anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks

[FLS]

Trim wheel moving?

[FTJR]

FLS, not that im aware of, its not set to anything. How would I check?

Thanks for the reply.

[FLS]

The 2 trim wheels physically move the potentiometers. If one moves while you play it changes the center position. When I used CH sticks I taped or wedged the trim wheels so they couldn't move. Make sure they are centered first.

[zack1234]

My trim wheel moved slightly and calibration issues occurred

[FTJR]

Again thanks for the replies, I shall try wedging them. Fingers crossed.

[Gman]

CH sticks are notorious for the trim wheel thing causing mayhem.  It happened to me a few years back, same as Zack's deal I'd bet.  I'd bumped the wheel somehow to the left off center a little when windexing my glass desk and dusting all the stuff on the desk including sticks. 

It played havoc for a couple days with me, I thought the stick was malfunctioning, no matter what game or what calibration stuff I tried, it would go out of calibration and act wonky.  All that caused by a few milimeters of movement of that stupid trim tab - manual trim settings are useless on sticks IMO anyhow, I've never, not once used them as every flight sim out there pretty much has in game software side trim. 

I hope that's the case here for you FTJR, otherwise, I'd ask AKAK about it, he and a couple others know quite a bit about trouble shooting the CH stuff.

[FTJR]

Gman thanks for the tip.

I fiddled with the trims and confirmed them in the centre. I flew for a couple of hours and my hopes began to rise. Then it started again, but this time I saw something....

It appears that the 3 lights on the front of the stick are cycling through and this is causing the problem, it appears only in flight, not on the ground. I have no idea about this, I just literally plug and play.

Does anyone have an idea how to stop the cycle of the modes?

Thanks

[The Fugitive]

I don't have the CH software installed. The mode switch is the red button on the right side of the stick, out by the nose/front. I have my WEP tied to this switch so it is used often. This doesn't change my calibration at all.

Two things, if you have the CH software installed, uninstall it and it will not see the "mode" switching. My lights cycle, but do nothing other than the WEP key command I have programmed in the game. 2nd thing is don't use the red button on the side of the stick. Put it in the mode that works and leave it alone.

See if either of those help to narrow it down.

[FTJR]

Thanks Fugi, Im uninstalling it now.

[Auger]

The colored LEDs will change whether you use the CH software or not.  They are tied to the pinky button or perhaps the index finger button on the top right, I believe.  The only way the stick mode would change your calibration would be if you had the axis mapped differently for each mode.

[Ack-Ack]

I would recommend installing and using CH Control Manager to help pin point what the problem is.  You don't have to use it to program your stick, just use it to test your stick.  After installing Control Manager, run it and select the Test/Calibration tool and select your Fighterstick.  Now check the Y axis and see if there is any dead spots or any other abnormalities with the axis.  That could indicate the potentiometer going bad.  If the buttons are cycling without any input from you, look at the button lights on the calibration screen.  See if any light up automatically, that could indicate either a faulty map file (if one is loaded) or a faulty button switch.

ack-ack

[FTJR]

Again thanks for the replies.

AckAck, the x/y numbers in the raw data window, are fairly stable, in fact very stable after I rock the trim switches to ensure they're in the correct position. After I tried that, the stick behaved itself beautifully for about 45 mins, then back to its bad habits.  You mentioned a faulty map file, is this something, I should just go redo?

Thanks

[Bruv119]

Akak   I have a question for you, 

I replaced my combatstick like for like but the centre area of the new one is really messed up.   Best way to describe it is input lag, I pull back and it takes a split second to actually do anything in game.   I've played with all the calibration and stick settings from defaults to having scaling on etc for no luck.    Plugged my old stick back in and it works perfectly. 

So does the game save any of the old stick calibration settings not giving the new stick a chance?

Haven't had much time to investigate further but the next step would be to try a completely different game with the new stick and see if it behaves any better.

[FTJR]

Well I left the calibration device up for 4 hours and it didn't move. I then started moving the stick along the Y axis, simulating the elevator movements, and there it moved ok for the first few inputs. Then it lagged (as Bruv put it) for a second or so then moved to the commanded position. Similar I guess to when you drive through your car though a soft surface it slows down with resistance then speeds up again.

Would this be due to dirt?

Thanks.