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CH Throttle Users - Help! |
DVA2748
Captain, B767-300
OLP
Joined on December 16 2005
Century Club
Online Century Club
Everett Century Club
DVA Fifteen-Year Anniversary
New York, NY
183 legs, 243.6 hours
143 legs,
183.8 hours online 179 legs,
239.7 hours ACARS 2 legs,
4.2 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
June 10 2011 11:06 ET by Jim Delois
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Hey, guys - A question for CH Throttle users. I'm searching Dowson's forum right now, but in my experience, asking around DVA is usually the quickest way to get a problem solved!
I've created several FSUIPC profiles in which my throttle axes are assigned and calibrated for "Standard Double Prop," "Tri jet," and several others, etc. I've unassigned all axes from FS and from FSUIPC have selected to send each axis "Direct to FSUIPC Calibration" and then selecting the appropriate value from the drop-down (e.g., "Throttle1," or "Mixture2," etc).
It seems that, in ALL cases, for ALL FSUIPC profiles, for ALL airplanes (both fleet and payware), and in BOTH FSX and FS9, placing the CH throttle controls into the detents is NOT setting my aircraft's throttle to "idle" position.
I am nearly-certain that I'm calibrating correctly. I have read several documents about calibration, including the FSUIPC manual itself, and have been using the standard approach: "push throttle all the way back into reverse zone, hit "Min/Reverse," push full forward, hit "Max," then I set the it to idle, give it a little forward against the detent, hit the middle "set", then push against the back of the detent and push "set." The OUT values that are reflected AFTER calibration appear to be correct when in the Utility. That is, in the full detent, the OUT value shows "0". However, when I'm in the cockpit and the throttle hardware is in the detent, my aircraft indicates a throttle opening of about 5-15% (depending on the model loaded). I have to manually hit "F1" to set them to idle. Then, if I so much as touch the throttle hardware in the detent, it sets it back to that 5-15% range.
For the most part, this isn't much of a problem, but it makes it VERY easy to get out of control on taxi, and it makes it very difficult to get "Slippery" birds like the 757 down without being able to cut the throttle to idle quickly. Fortunately that F1 button isn't far away, but I feel I shouldn't have to do that, nor should I have to assign another control to it (e.g., a button on the quadrant).
What am I missing here? Is an OUT value of 0 NOT interpreted by FS as "Idle"? I've played around a lot with how/where I set the "0" null zone in my detents, and have found that when I adjust the detent to have a very thin idly zone towards the front of it (leaving room IN the detent for a negative OUT value to appear), I can get the aircraft to idle, but it's very, very touchy and not reliable.
Does anyone have any insight on this?
Let me know if/how I can clarify the issue further... I'm really, really hoping to get this solved. Thanks!
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DVA1690
Senior Captain, MD-88
OLP
Joined on May 05 2004
50 State Club
Quatercentenary Club
Online Quadruple Century Club
Stage 1 Jet Double Century Club
DVA Twenty-Year Anniversary
"Life begins at Vr" Longmont, CO USA
474 legs, 694.8 hours
465 legs,
681.0 hours online 252 legs,
384.8 hours ACARS 3 legs,
3.9 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
June 11 2011 01:27 ET by Trevor Bair
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Jim - it sounds to me like you're doing everything right. Your process mimics mine. Could you post a screenshot of your throttle calibration screen and maybe that'll offer clues?
Trevor BairSenior Captain, MD-88
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DVA9589
First Officer, A320
Joined on March 14 2011
50 State Club
US Coastal Club
Commuter Conquest
Millennium Club
US Mountaineer Club
Globetrotter
DVA Ten-Year Anniversary
Everett 500 Club
Stuart, IA USA
1,464 legs, 2,331.9 hours
45 legs,
90.3 hours online 1,450 legs,
2,311.2 hours ACARS 4 legs,
8.4 hours event
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Posted onPost created on
June 11 2011 11:37 ET by Randy Donnelly
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Jim, not sure if this will help but here is my joystick/throttle quadrant calibration from the FSUIPC.ini in the modules folder. My idle/reverser works great. I have all controls disabled in FS and use only FSUIPC for calibration. I have always used this tutorial. Pg3 for reverser setup. http://fsuipc.simflight.com/beta/CH_Controls_with_FSUIPC.pdf
Throttle1=-16384,-15213,-12483,14336
Throttle2=-16253,-16253,-11703,13952
Randy DonnellyFirst Officer, A320
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DVA3794
Senior Captain, A320
OLP, 737-ATP
Joined on December 03 2006
50 State Club
Globetrotter
US Coastal Club
Events Quadruple Century
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Everett Bi-Millennium Club
Tri-Millennium Club
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Three Million Mile Club
Online Thirty Century
"volando libero......." Antarctica
3,459 legs, 8,141.9 hours
3,131 legs,
7,039.5 hours online 3,251 legs,
7,332.7 hours ACARS 478 legs,
964.8 hours event 65 legs dispatched, 72.4
hours
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Posted onPost created on
June 11 2011 12:48 ET by Vincenzo Musumeci
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Randy Donnelly wrote:
Jim, not sure if this will help but here is my joystick/throttle quadrant calibration from the FSUIPC.ini in the modules folder. My idle/reverser works great. I have all controls disabled in FS and use only FSUIPC for calibration. I have always used this tutorial. Pg3 for reverser setup. http://fsuipc.simflight.com/beta/CH_Controls_with_FSUIPC.pdf
Throttle1=-16384,-15213,-12483,14336
Throttle2=-16253,-16253,-11703,13952
+1
and like Trevor said a screenshot of your throttle calibration would be very helpful!!!
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DVA2748
Captain, B767-300
OLP
Joined on December 16 2005
Century Club
Online Century Club
Everett Century Club
DVA Fifteen-Year Anniversary
New York, NY
183 legs, 243.6 hours
143 legs,
183.8 hours online 179 legs,
239.7 hours ACARS 2 legs,
4.2 hours event
|
Posted onPost created on
June 15 2011 14:49 ET by Jim Delois
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Sorry for checking back in so late, guys - but I really appreciate your help. I was off dealing with a more severe issue than joysticks... Namely, the completely failure of my ATI's default "Catalyst" configuration center on my new computer - preventing me from adjusting any graphics settings in tuning up my FSX performance... With that resolved, I can now turn my attention back to CONTROL performance.
If I can't get this ironed out shortly, I'll upload some screen shots for review the next I'm able. But I've had a couple of epiphanies that I'm excited to try out.
First and foremost, I feel silly to admit that I had never truly "calibrated" my throttle on my new PC as far as Windows was concerned. While it obviously doesn't really matter to FSUIPC, I was noticing that almost all the levers had IN values that fell a bit short of the normal +16k range... and the shortages were pretty inconsistent from one lever to the next. In asking myself why that might be, I realized that a Windows calibration might be beneficial (I refuse to use CH Control Manager). After doing so, I definitely had a touch more "granularity" in my controls and I saw IN values that were much more reasonable in FSUIPC. The next FSUIPC calibration went better, and I found that if I really "flicked" the throttles back in the detent, sometimes I'd get lucky enough that the sim would see it as an idle setting. It was still pretty spotty, though, and it was at this point my attention was diverted.
Just this morning I was looking at the guide that Randy has linked - thanks for that! It is very, very similar to the guide that I've historically used, which is http://fsuipc.simflight.com/beta/SIMSAMURAI+FSUIPC+TUTORIAL.pdf However, something jumped out at me in the guide that Randy linked, and it prompted me to read a bit closer in the original one I had been using - and I realize now that I had previously glossed over a fundamental part that warranted some more attention...
In the guide Randy linked: "To set the lower detent it is important to pull the lever back toward the bottom of the slot AND ACTUALLY OUT OF THE DETENT toward the reverse position." And from the guide I'd been using: set the throttle to idle, then set min and max when the throttle has been moved "just slightly enough so that it RESTS IN THE FRICTION NOTCH or 'hump'" of the detent.
This is NOT what I had been doing. Rather than positioning the throttles in that "hump" where they're NOT in any of the definite forward/idle/reverse zones, I had actually just been "pressing" the throttles forward or back AGAINST the fore and aft humps of the idle zone... I never actually left the idle zone at all - but was setting it just BEFORE it rose against the humps or friction spots. In fact, everytime I felt it go into the hump, I'd pull it out and think "that was just a touch too far." I was clearly very wrong.
I honestly can't wait to try this out tonight. It's got to be the key here... I'll update again when I've given it a go. Thanks!
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DVA2748
Captain, B767-300
OLP
Joined on December 16 2005
Century Club
Online Century Club
Everett Century Club
DVA Fifteen-Year Anniversary
New York, NY
183 legs, 243.6 hours
143 legs,
183.8 hours online 179 legs,
239.7 hours ACARS 2 legs,
4.2 hours event
|
Posted onPost created on
June 17 2011 17:28 ET by Jim Delois
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Well! Color me stupid...
I was saddened to find that calibrating with more precision around the detents (as per the above post) didn't just "fix" the problem for me. I was beside myself, just about ready to take out the screwdriver and open up the quadrant to look at the pots up close.
There was another anomaly that only seemed to be getting worse, as well. Basically, the throttle in FS was very, very "jumpy." Even tiny movements would cause it to go up and down quickly and a bit wildly before finally settling on a final position. In figuring that this was somehow related to my inability to "idle" the engines, I decided to investigate more. I carefully looked at the IN values in FSUIPC and, with all movement fore and aft, the numbers changed very smoothly and predictably. No "jumps." What's more, the OUT values didn't jump either. I thought about this logically, and it immediately hit me like a ton of bricks.
Something "after" FSUIPC and "before" the FS-displayed throttle was adjusting the values. There was only one possible thing that could've been - FS axis assignment. I checked my settings and, sure enough - my throttle axes had all (mysteriously) been re-assigned in FS. This explained everything! When the CH Throttle was in the idle slot, FS wasn't at all seeing it as "idle" but, instead, about 30% or so open. There was a lot of disagreement between the FS calibration and the FSUIPC calibration, which explained the jumping, as well.
I have no idea how it happened, but I suspect I had multiple copies of the cfg file open or somehow overwrote it when I was restoring another from backup or something. I had done a lot of tweaking, configuring, and backups/restoring of cfg files in a very small period of time as I migrated from an old computer to a new one. But finally, the throttle issue is solved and the flying is better than ever!
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DVA9589
First Officer, A320
Joined on March 14 2011
50 State Club
US Coastal Club
Commuter Conquest
Millennium Club
US Mountaineer Club
Globetrotter
DVA Ten-Year Anniversary
Everett 500 Club
Stuart, IA USA
1,464 legs, 2,331.9 hours
45 legs,
90.3 hours online 1,450 legs,
2,311.2 hours ACARS 4 legs,
8.4 hours event
|
Posted onPost created on
June 19 2011 09:32 ET by Randy Donnelly
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My controlls in FS are disabled. I use only FSUIPC for all controllers. Very important.
Randy DonnellyFirst Officer, A320
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