X-52 Pro - Strange Behavior - Throttle Moving other Axis?

[Tumbleweed]

Hi,

 

I'm hoping someone can help me with my X-52 Pro it's behaving rather odd.

 

What is happening is this (and I think it's been going on since the day I got the controller):

 

Whenever I push my throttle near the afterburner dent, it affects the mini stick AND the rotary scroll wheel on the back of the throttle handle. Both of these move when the throttle is near the AB dent. The ministick pulls all the way to the LEFT and the Rotary wheel scrolls one notch forward in sympathy. I can move the throttle towards and away from the AB dent and it continues.

 

Now I say this has been happening since day one because sometimes in game, my screen randomly jumps view and back again which I always put down to my homemade TrackIR being glitchy and picking up points of light here and there. It did seem as if it was when I went into burner but I couldn't find anything wrong to back this theory up initially.

 

Today I was in the Game controller properties in windows after buying some switch cleaner to attack the worthless roatary dials with when I saw it happening for the first time. You can clearly see the mini stick and rotary on the back of the throttle moving in sympathy with the throttle when it nears the AB dent. It does it 9 times out of 10.

 

In game this is obviously causing a conflict when I go into AB hence the dodgy view jumping and flickering in game.

 

Since this is happening in the Game controller properties directly it's not then due to binding issues in the game. I don't use the Saitek / Madcat programming software. I only have the driver installed.

As I say, it's been doing this for ages but I've never been able to put my finger on the problem until now. This is also a reasonably fresh windows install and still it happens.

 

This definitely isn't right. Any ideas please anyone? (other than throw the thing in the bin and buy a warthog) :music_whistling:

 

Cheers! :thumbup:

 

See the video below and you can see the Rotary wheel (located around button 19) and the mouse moving in sympathy with the throttle.

 

Edited November 27, 2015 by Tumbleweed
Edited to Add Video

[Tumbleweed]

Just an update for anyone that's interested or has experienced this behavior.

 

As it turns out, there are two spots on my HOTAS throttle (Z Axis) that interferes with the Mini Stick and Rotary Scroll Wheel. The first position is around the Idle dent. The second position is around the Afterburner dent.

The afterburner dent area is far more affectred than the Idle dent I hasten to add.

 

The affected areas on the throttle are only small. If you move the throttle quite quickly the Mini Stick and Rotary aren't always affected. The area is jumped over too quickly to register and so only occasionally interferes. If you move the throttle more precisely and slowly over the affected areas, the interferance happens 9 times out of 10.

 

This is the reason I could never reproduce the problem before. When testing in the past, I moved the throttle too quickly to see the problem.

 

The issue is now definitely confirmed to be a fault with the Throttle part of the X-52 Pro HOTAS. It cannot possibly be anything else.

 

I've since been in contact with Saitek / Madcats who have kindly agreed to RMA the unit. At this stage, short of opening the unit up myself, there's nothing else that can be done other than returning it.

 

I have to add and give credit where credit is due. Saitek support have surprised me. I've read quite a few bad stories about their products and support prior to and since owning my X-52 Pro. In this instance, they seem to be quite helpful and supportive. To be fair, they didn't have to RMA my HOTAS since I got it over a year ago but in fairness, it's not been right since I got it.

 

They did say I should have told them about the issue sooner but what would I have told them? I had no information to give about the problem or any idea where they should begin investigating. I didn't even think in a million years it would be the HOTAS hardware. I just put it down to me being a noob and something conflicting like a binding somewhere I'd not found and just put up with it.

 

So credit to Saitek so far for being helpful.

 

Unfortunately, I'm going to be without wings for a while :(

F-15 Cold Turkey.....

 

 

I'm sending the HOTAS back tomorrow or Thursday and I'll keep this post updated for anyone that might find this of use.

 

I just hope that if they do replace it, the Rotaries, Slider and Ministick aren't as rough as mine were.