Aces High Bulletin Board

General Forums => Hardware and Software => Topic started by: noTch on March 22, 2011, 02:07:06 PM

Title: CH rudder pedal question?
Post by: noTch on March 22, 2011, 02:07:06 PM
I have a set of pro pedals and it seems that I can't keep em calibrated. Auto take-off is impossible and auto-pilot is sometimes worse.  I am very sure it is affecting my dogfighting(not by much) and is very aggravating. When centered, the numbers jump from 32511 to 32767 but never just stop. I tried to dead band them, and dampen but nothin helps.

Question is, do I need to change out these 5+yr old pedals or will a replacement of the potentiometer be more feasible?  :headscratch:
Title: Re: CH rudder pedal question?
Post by: Delirium on March 22, 2011, 02:11:22 PM
Move the pedals from left to right and let us know what the numbers are and if they fluctuate.

A move from 32511 to 32767 isn't that large of a difference, particularly if you are adding dead band. I'm guessing the pot is fluctuating much more than that and getting the pot to move all along its axis tends to show the problem much more than when idle.

Yes, if it is the pot, replacing it is really simple. I'm not entirely sure it is the pot tho, without more information.
Title: Re: CH rudder pedal question?
Post by: Delirium on March 22, 2011, 02:16:29 PM
Also, make sure you calibrate in windows prior to going into AH and calibrating there.

Lastly, try plugging your pedals into a different usb port.
Title: Re: CH rudder pedal question?
Post by: Ack-Ack on March 22, 2011, 04:17:31 PM
Make sure that you've calibrated the pedals in Windows first and then in Aces High, you'll need to calibrate the pedals twice.  Go to the controllers section where you assign the axis and highlight the pedals and select the "calibrate axis" button and follow the onscreen instructions to calibrate the axis.  After you've done that, go to the "calibrate controllers" section in the clipboard and follow the onscreen instructions to calibrate all of your controllers. 

If the pedals still spike and adjusting the deadbands don't work, if you're not using one, try connecting the pedals to a powered USB port and see if the spiking continues.  If it does, then most likely it is the potentiometer going back and needs to be replaced.  Usually, it's an easy thing to do but with the CH pedals it can be difficult because of how the pedals are designed and putting them back together can be a real pain in the ass.  I think CH Hangar has a walkthrough on how to replace the pots.

ack-ack
Title: Re: CH rudder pedal question?
Post by: BrockS on March 22, 2011, 04:47:41 PM
I had mine plugged into a powered usb hub and had similar issues. Flew like that for months with the damn rudder kicking me out of auto takeoff and pedal inputs being spikey. I rearranged and put less power demanding items on the hub and the pedals plugged into my puter. Additionally, every once in a while the tracks the pedals ride on get dirty and cause some spiking and los off calibration. I found pushing the pedals aggressively and rapidly a half a dozen times usually clears it up. So under windows calibration look to see if the meter stays pegged at the top or bottom when the pedal is pushed there and held. If not I will guarantee that the issue is one of the two I mentioned.
Title: Re: CH rudder pedal question?
Post by: Ack-Ack on March 22, 2011, 06:38:18 PM
There was also a design flaw in the pedals where the cable goes into the pedals.  Sometimes that wire gets pinched in the pedal housing and sometimes wiggling the cable where it goes into the pedals can fix the spiking issue.  More common on the old analog Pro Pedals but since the design of the pedals hasn't changed, this particular issue still rears its ugly head from time to time.

ack-ack
Title: Re: CH rudder pedal question?
Post by: ImADot on March 22, 2011, 09:59:40 PM
I finally got tired of mine kicking me out of autopilot, and having to do the left-right-fast-six-times thing to "fix" it.  So I finally opened them up and wiggled stuff around, and [here's the big thing] made sure the springs were back all the way on their posts.  Looked like one slipped almost all the way off.  I did this almost a year ago and have had zero issues with them since.
Title: Re: CH rudder pedal question?
Post by: noTch on March 23, 2011, 07:56:13 PM
So far I tried the calibrate in Windows thing & pushed the damping up a bit :joystick:  Looks like it might work  :pray

Thanks for all the replies :rock