Saitek Once Again

[turt21]

I have a Saitek X52. Its older and now Im noticing that the Y axis is getting very noisy. Ive added a couple new magnets but it doesnt seem to help. Its getting impossible to use Auto-pilot unless the damping is set quite high then it gets hard to fly when autopilot disengaged. I also cant zero in on a target in a GV without the sight moving up. Any suggesstions or is there a purchase in the near future?

[FLS]

A quick fix for auto pilot is to set a mode with no stick mapped.  Set a button to switch modes back and forth.

Have you sprayed the potentiometers with a contact cleaner to mitigate the spikes.?

[turt21]

No potentiometers in this stick. Something called hall effect magnets.

[FLS]

Your description sounds like a potentiometer problem. The non contact sensors in the X52 shouldn't spike at all. Is it the sensor that's loose or is there play in the gimbal?

[turt21]

In the stick calibration the Y axis is jumping 300 numbers continually. The X axis is fine. It requires deadband when GV'ing or the sight climbs and flying it s too noisy to stay on Auto. Ill try film it.

[turt21]

noisy Y axis

[FLS]

You don't need to film it. A quick search shows that the cheap non contact sensor Saitek is using is known to spike.

You need a new stick unless you can replace the sensor.

[turt21]

Footnote. Thanks for the help. But for all the SaitekX52 users there with noise problems. After checking forums I was told to spray the cable connections w contact cleaner then reinsert. Immediate fix. It works as well as a new one out of the box. Cleaner I used was GC Electronics Spray Clean. Fixed a problem thats been there for years.

[100Coogn]

Footnote. Thanks for the help. But for all the SaitekX52 users there with noise problems. After checking forums I was told to spray the cable connections w contact cleaner then reinsert. Immediate fix. It works as well as a new one out of the box. Cleaner I used was GC Electronics Spray Clean. Fixed a problem thats been there for years.

Thanks for the tip.  I'm going to try this.  My Z axis spikes like crazy.

Coogan

[Drano]

I'd say if you got into the stick far enough to spray the contacts an even better idea would be to disconnect the cables from the pcb and re-insert them since you have it apart already. Chances are that's really where your problem is and just spraying them will be a short term fix.

 Usually these newer contractless sensors don't spike at all by their design. Nothing to wear out or get dirty as with a pot. But as they're much more sensitive than the old pots they're also much more picky about the signal from the sensor to the controller on the board. Anything less than a solid signal to the board will be translated as movement but even more so because of the sensitivity.

One thing common to all sticks regardless of sensor is that they move around a lot. There are wires or wiring harnesses that run from the gimbal to the pcb where the controller is and sometimes they can either work loose or break a wire. The wires are usually pretty small gauge so it's not unreasonable to figure after so many miles this can happen. I don't know how many times I'd gone into my old fighterstick to clean or replace a pot, but every time I did I'd always find a spade connector or two that was loose in there. I haven't had this happen to me with my VKB stick but I've seen it's happened to others on their forum. Check your wiring.

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