I had an "interesting" experience this past Sunday morning...
My 10 year old thrustmaster pedal potentiometer was finaly spiking to the point that it created major problems with keeping the thing calibrated (not to mention all those missed shots). I had cleaned it several times but no improvement.
Being technically minded and not too shabby a mechanic I thought I would take a pot out of an old joystick I had that had about the right size to it and try it out on the pedals.
Before starting I shut my computer down. I have to crawl under the desk to unplug anything so working on the mistaken assumption that with it turned off I would be "safe" I proceded to remove the old pot from the pedals and install the "new" one. It bolted right in, had the proper amount of sweep and I was already patting myself on the back for being so smart and ingenious.
I got my soldering iron out, got it heated up and placed the wires on the new pot, pretinned of course, and then picked up the low wattage soldering iron to make a good solder joint.
POOF!
It burnt the wire in two. Immediately the computer started booting up. It gave me a keyboard error message and couldn't find the hard drives. I had grounded the blooming thing straight to ground with my soldering iron.
To make a long story shorter, I had burnt up the keyboard chip, the ide controller, my keyboard, and my CH Pro throttle (which is connected in line with the keyboard). I also thought I might have dammaged the wiring on the rudder pedals so I spent a not too inconsiderable amount of time taking the plugs "apart" to check the wiring. It was ok.
Now...a bit of a mess right? I am unemployed, my wife is working so we are not starving or anything
, but I don't have much money to spend on "nonessential items". I had enough room on my credit card to replace the mother board (got a good deal at Fry's- 2 gig Celleron and board for $139) and I need my computer for job searches and the like so I could justify that expense.
I had a F-16 Combat stick as a backup and a throttle of sorts I had made out of walnut wood with a pot from another discarded joystick so at least I can still fly
.
I have in my possesion an almost brand new, in the box, Logitech Wingman Formula Force steering wheel with pedals. It is usb. I had bought one that I still use, works flawlessly, and had bought the other from an individual as a back up.
If anyone out there has a CH Pro Throttle and a set of rudder pedals collecting dust and would like to trade please contact me at
lmluper@ev1.net. Analog is fine.
Moral of this story is: If you are going to do ANY kind of work on your joysticks, throttles, or rudder pedals don't pull a stupid stunt like I did. UNPLUG IT FIRST!!
Over the last 9 years I have been a service manager at a computer store, built computers for friends, family, and myself so I am not a "newbie" when it comes to this sort of thing. Only goes to show you how dumb we can be even when we know better.
