[simpits-tech] Suncom stuff keeps breaking down

[Simon Bennett]

>From: "John Miguez" <jmiguez at bellsouth.net>
>Reply-To: Simulator Cockpit tech list <simpits-tech at simpits.org>
>To: "'Simulator Cockpit tech list'" <simpits-tech at simpits.org>
>Subject: RE: [simpits-tech] Suncom stuff keeps breaking down
>Date: Thu, 25 Nov 2004 17:57:28 -0600
>
>I agree Matt, Simon must give a new meaning to the term "Yanking and
>Banking."

No, not really. I've always been pretty gentle (although I did play a bit of 
Battlefield 1942 with it, which is a lot more frantic than a real flight 
sim), it seemed to happen pretty randomly.

To be honest, I bought all of this stuff secondhand (Goodwill, believe it or 
not, and eBay) since it's a lot cheaper than buying new and Suncom's out of 
business, anyway. I have no idea how well the previous owners treated them, 
but I only bought stuff that seemed to be in good condition. It might have 
been OK cosmetically, but there could always be mechanical problems or 
screwed-up wiring.


As for how to get the throttle and pedals working together, I just picked up 
a male and female gameport plug, and soldered wires between the two. The 
joystick plugs into the throttle, the throttle plugs into the adapter which 
goes into the pedals, which plug into the computer.  It's simple, I just 
omitted the wire for the rudder output, which the second throttle uses, so 
there's nothing to interfere with the pedals. When the first throttle pot 
stopped working, I just soldered the wire for the throttle onto the 2nd 
throttle's output pin. You can't use both throttles and the pedals together, 
of course, but it works, and with about 3$ of materials and a few minutes of 
time to solder it together.

I would tear the throttle down to try to diagnose the problem more 
thoroughly, but I'm afraid I'd break something or be unable to put it back 
together again. I took apart one of the sticks, the one with the broken pot, 
just to see how it worked, and since the grip is totally intact I'll wire it 
up right, epoxy it to some tubing and use it for a stick if I ever build a 
pit.

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