Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Hardware and Software => Topic started by: DmdBT on October 30, 2000, 08:04:00 PM
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I've been having one heck of a time with stick spiking. It has gotten so bad that it has pushed me into spins and thrown me off targets during tracking shots. In the joystick checker my lines look like EKG graphs, not smooth lines but craggly wiggly things. Movement of my throttle will change the position indicator of my joystick. I have to calibrate about every 5 to 10 minutes of use in game.
What are some likely suspects to check for first???
CH Pro Throttle
CH F16 Fighterstick
TM RCS Rudder Pedals
All running through soundcard... never had this problem before!
T
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Originally posted by DmdBT:
I've been having one heck of a time with stick spiking. It has gotten so bad that it has pushed me into spins and thrown me off targets during tracking shots. In the joystick checker my lines look like EKG graphs, not smooth lines but craggly wiggly things. Movement of my throttle will change the position indicator of my joystick. I have to calibrate about every 5 to 10 minutes of use in game.
What are some likely suspects to check for first???
CH Pro Throttle
CH F16 Fighterstick
TM RCS Rudder Pedals
All running through soundcard... never had this problem before!
T
How old are your stick and throttle? If they are out of warrantee (3 years for CH) try opening them up and using some WD40 on the pots. Chances are there is some grunge in there and it is messing up the connection. Check also to see if it is a break in the wiring. Flex the cables without moving the stick, throttle and rudders while off line and see if it spikes.
Good luck!
Mav
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I presume that the old foe - "poll with interrups enabled" is unchecked?
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lynx
13 Sqn RAF
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You need new pots. CH sells them on their website for $5.50 I think. Don't know where you can get replacements for the Thrust. Pedals, but I imagine they are worn out as well. One thing you can do, is to spray them with Electrical Contact Cleaner. Or take them apart by hand like I do and clean them. What happens is they rub off carbon and it builds up on the contacts creating spikes. The carbon tracks inside also wear and develop rough spots that can also cause spikes.
Personally, I would call them up and tell them you want all the pots you order tested and to make sure they all are within proper calibration range (0-100 ohms). Lately I've been messing around with my old CH gear, and have over 10 pots all with various ranges of use/wear from barely used to highly used. The difference in quality is astounding! One pot went clear up to 300 ohms, while some wouldn't make 100! Only a couple were smooth through out their range of travel, with most having 'rough' spots, which when the contacts passed over they stuck, them jumped and you get them damn spikes! I was building my CH Duel Pro throttle, and to get them to sync up properly(no offset in the levers) I needed pots that would match so I didn't have to build complicated, different linkages for each side. Out of all the CH pots I had and tested, none of them even came close! Some would sync up at the low end, then be off at the high end, and vise versa! I finally ordered some cheap ($10) military spec plastic conductive pots. Both sync'd up beautifully right out of the box! They are only rated at 25,000 cycles, but I imagine they will last as long or longer than the CH pots. Talk about night and day!
Changing out CH's pots with others is not that simple however. You can't just slap in other pots that meet the dimensions into CH sticks. CH uses special 'joystick' pots that give 0-100 ohms in only 50% of standard pot rotation which is usually 275 to 300 degrees. I had to use 200 ohm pots on my Duel throttle, and if I had to make another one I would use 250-300 ohm pots.
<rant mode on>
The pots they use are supposedly rated for 1,000,000 cycles, but IMHO they are JUNK! Why they build such nice controllers and put these crappy pots in is beyond me. Now I know why calibration has been a problem for most CH owners in the past, why some siicks calibrate nice, while others are hard to keep calibrated. It's all in the Pots! Now some of this will/has been aleviated with USB, but I'm waiting to see what happens when my USB Pro Pedal pots wear out. Right now they are smooth and precise, even better than Hoffman Simpeds hooked up to a PDPI L4! They are still using the same old crappy pots they've been using for years however.
<rant mode off>
But I sure do like their layout (sticks and throttle) and will keep on using them. Can't wait for the USB Fighterstick (http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/Smileys/default/biggrin.gif)
The moral of the story? If you can, invest in USB controllers. If not, then call CH and order some TESTED pots. Have them make sure they are smooth and give the full 0-100 ohm range before they ship them.
ts
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when i used the CH gear i had trouble with it as well. but one thing i learned was ...i have a 200w power supply in my computer ...if i disabled the second cd rom im my bios and unplugged the power to it all the spiking went away. you might try this if you have lower wattage power supply.
RWY