TM Cougar & CH magnetoresistive/ hall sensor kits

[Merkin]

Hi Sajarov,

there still is.

But I just did an A2A refueling

in the F18 and never noticed

anything.

On the contrary! The "poti"

is much more responsive and for

the first time I was able to

stay connected for the full refill.

Because of your question I

went to the CH Manager and saw

that there is a change in output

by one digit in some places,

and I dont believe its the "poti".

 

Cheers

[rel4y]

I had a chat with Merkin via PM. I believe this may be due to noise on the power supply or digital noise of the CH Throttle Mainboard. With a bench power supply I get no jitter whatsoever and in a Cougar the signal is also very clean. This seems to be a CH specific problem and I will have a look at it. CH sadly does use last century electronics in their devices, so my planned upgrade mainboard will probably solve this once and for all as well. Ill test if different type of decoupling Cs have any influence and if I can improve on grounding somehow.

 

However Merkin said it is not noticible ingame at all, so it seems to be only minor noise. Anyway I will investigate this, Id like to get things perfect!

 

You can also try some filtering. A simple 2x filter is in most cases more than enough to get rid of minor 1 Bit jitter, while it cant help with a badly spiking pot. This guy here wrote a nice script:

Edited October 18, 2018 by rel4y

[rel4y]

Just uploaded the CH index finger slew sensor housing + hat to Shapeways. It is designed for an ALPS RKJXV1224. I also ordered all my latest models for a testprint. Now I just need to get the PCBs sorted.

 

https://www.shapeways.com/product/77CM7HHHX/ch-throttle-slew-housing?optionId=134489379

 

https://www.shapeways.com/product/74N89QK2E/ch-pro-throttle-slew-knob?optionId=70902280

Edited November 25, 2019 by rel4y

[rel4y]

Firstly I think I found the problem with the CH pots. The decoupling caps I am using are of the wrong value, I ordered 100nF caps but got 10nF. So as decoupling caps these are pretty much useless and I might have been using none at all... Decoupling caps are basically for smoothing out the power supply and reducing noise. Before I realized this, I had already redesigned the PCB and possibly improved grounding a bit, so newer sensors will have a rev 1.1 PCB.

 

Secondly, I received the Shapeways shipment today, but I have to say tolerances this time were abysmal.. I contacted Shapeways, lets see how it turns out. Anyway, here are a few new toys.

 

CH sensors for Combatstick, Fighterstick, Pro Pedals and Yoke:

 

 

 

Saitek sensors for Pro Flight Pedals. However, these need to be redesigned because currently they are just way too hard to assemble and some dimensions are not quite right yet. Please ignore all the dirt, once the sensors are ready I will clean them thoroughly.

 

 

 

Next, CH hats and slew. I absolutely love the feel of the CMS and DMS hats and the slew sensor. The slew sensor case and hatswitch case need a bit of work as it is a pretty loose fit currently, but it might as well be that Shapeways botched the dimensions this time.. The new PCB for Combatstick to Fighterstick conversion is getting along good, but I have only so much spare time per day. :joystick:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, I can now offer Allegro 1324 based hall sensors for the Cougar Throttle (for those that do not want to convert their Cougar Throttle to USB standalone and use my digital 14 Bit sensor). I tested this setup today and it works as expected, calibration is easy too.

 

Price will probably be 15€ with cable as PnP, but I cant ship before next week. :)

Edited October 25, 2018 by rel4y

[rel4y]

New hall effect sensor kit for the Cougar Throttle without the USB standalone adapter:

 

I can now also offer a Hall effect sensor kit for the Throttle. It consists af an Allegro 1324 hall sensor + cable and a 3D printed casing + N52 magnet. It is plug and play for the Throttle unit without my USB standalone adapter and similiar to older hall sensor kits for the Cougar.

 

 

Price is 18€ + 6€ international shipping

 

 

[rel4y]

Just yesterday I found a crap ton of docs on the real dimension on F-16 parts. Just updated the CH Slew Sensor, it is now completely to spec of the real deal (although I was very close). :music_whistling:

 

Also good news on the STM32 front. I played around with several HID enabled firmwares of these little 32 Bit ARM MCUs and I may have found a way to make them TARGET compatible. That would make it possible to install a replacement mainboard for all older joysticks with 1000Hz updaterate (standard Cougar has 100Hz eg), 14 Bit axis resolution, 4021 shift reg support and TARGET compatability (maybe even running on FreeRTOS instead of last decade Arduino loops). That would be like the holy grail of flight sim gear.. :joystick:

 

 

[rel4y]

I finished the CH Fighterstick mod PCB. This PCB will convert a CH Combatstick into a Fighterstick & more. The bottom header pins will connect directly to a shift register PCB, which I will do next. It is also compatible with a superb quality Knitter MPS103F as pickle button, at least the cutout is there. :smilewink:

Edited November 25, 2019 by rel4y

[rel4y]

Anybody interested in F-16 combat rudder pedals for eg... MFG Crosswinds?

Edited December 20, 2020 by rel4y

[kojdog]

First: Thank you! I replaced the Z axis pot for a CH pro throttle USB with yours which arrived yesterday. The jitters are gone, installation was easy (no solder despite the good advice), and I can apply flame and pliers to the original pot. I will make it match the many S-3's that it plowed me into.

 

Next:

At last I have finished the CH Throttle Slew sensor. The gameport CH Pro Throttle does not have an analog stick, so I made a nice slew stick in place of the index finger hat. However, theoretically that slew fits in all hat slots.

 

 

My throttle's analog thumb-stick is also very twitchy. Maybe your product can help my USB throttle:

• Can your product replace the CH thumb-stick pot as well as its plastic bits in my USB throttle?
  

 

• Is your slew stick analog like the original thumb-stick or '4-position-clicky' like the index finger position hat?
  

 

• If I also replaced the index finger hat with one of your slew sticks, would that control change seamlessly to an analog axis (like the original thumbstick instead of '4-position-clicky')?
  

 

• How is installation/removal of both the CH throttle's thumb-stick and the index position? Is it loose plastic fittings like the Z-axis pot? Is the wiring also done with those lovely little crimp connectors?
  

 

Pictures might clarify it a lot... I'm enjoying my throttle too much right now to figure out how to get to those bits myself. Thanks!

[rel4y]

First: Thank you! I replaced the Z axis pot for a CH pro throttle USB with yours which arrived yesterday. The jitters are gone, installation was easy (no solder despite the good advice), and I can apply flame and pliers to the original pot. I will make it match the many S-3's that it plowed me into.

 

Next:

 

 

My throttle's analog thumb-stick is also very twitchy. Maybe your product can help my USB throttle:

• Can your product replace the CH thumb-stick pot as well as its plastic bits in my USB throttle?
  

 

• Is your slew stick analog like the original thumb-stick or '4-position-clicky' like the index finger position hat?
  

 

• If I also replaced the index finger hat with one of your slew sticks, would that control change seamlessly to an analog axis (like the original thumbstick instead of '4-position-clicky')?
  

 

• How is installation/removal of both the CH throttle's thumb-stick and the index position? Is it loose plastic fittings like the Z-axis pot? Is the wiring also done with those lovely little crimp connectors?
  

 

Pictures might clarify it a lot... I'm enjoying my throttle too much right now to figure out how to get to those bits myself. Thanks!

 

 

Hey kojdog,

Awesome to hear everything is working well for you! My slew sensor uses the same type of analog microstick as are used in Playstation 4 or Xbox controllers. Theoretically it can replace the thumbstick directly and interface with the CH mainboard, but you would have to cut out a part of the PCB. The CH hatswitches and microstick on the thumb panel sit on top of a PCB and the distance between the black plastic cover and the PCB is simply too small for a PS4 Microstick. If you cut the PCB and solder the cables derectly to the Microstick it is possible. On the indexfinger position it is a simple swap, but you still have to connect it to the CH mainboard somehow. You could swap the original Microstick for a four way (from the index position) and insert the slew sensor in the index position. Again, not sure if its worth the hassle.

I will do a new 12 Bit PCB for the CH Throttle eventually which will make it easy. Just right now I have higher priorities. :)

 

 

 

 

Btw, big thanks to the community! I sold all the sensors I made and now have recouped my initial investments and had enough money over for a Creality Ender 3. The printer arrived today and I hope I can start making 3D prints in good quality soon. This is going to be put on a first big test for prototypes of my MFG Crosswind combat pedals. These are as close as I can get to a F-16C Block 50 pedal without 3D scanning. A few details need to be reworked, but they are almost done and will soon go out to beta testers!

 

[Lucky15]

At last I have finished the CH Throttle Slew sensor. The gameport CH Pro Throttle does not have an analog stick, so I made a nice slew stick in place of the index finger hat. However, theoretically that slew fits in all hat slots. I am really looking forward to this one. This is gonna be one big fat overhaul of my CH Pro Throttle. :D

 

Big shoutout to Deltaalphalima1 who send me the STEP file of the ALPS analog stick, without which I couldnt have modeled this. :thumbup:

 

 

By any chance would this fit a Cougar Throttle? My thumbstick Y axis is becoming unusable - 2 months after bringing the throttle back to life with a Leo Bodnar conversion.

[rel4y]

By any chance would this fit a Cougar Throttle? My thumbstick Y axis is becoming unusable - 2 months after bringing the throttle back to life with a Leo Bodnar conversion.

 

 

I am pretty sure you can replace the thumbstick with an ALPS RKJXV1220/RKJXV1224 or any clone from ebay. You would have to desolder the pins of the old one and solder the new one in place. If you are not confident doing it yourself you could also send the part to me and I swap it out for you. But give it a try first, you already did the Bodnar conversion. :)

[Rudel_chw]

By any chance would this fit a Cougar Throttle? My thumbstick Y axis is becoming unusable - 2 months after bringing the throttle back to life with a Leo Bodnar conversion.

 

 

Hello,

 

 

I replaced my Microstick last August, with a spare part purchased directly with Guillemot support, the install went like this:

 

 

https://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=3613543&postcount=71

 

 

The cost was 29 Euro including shipping.

Cheers!

 

 

Eduardo

[rel4y]

I havent posted in a while because I went down the 3D printing rabbit hole and boy is that a complex one... Initially my Ender 3 hotend was broken (the heat break was severely bent) and I was looking for a good replacement. Then I checked out all sort of mods for the Ender 3 and now I am basically at a point where I ordered a bunch of high quality parts and could have build me a 3D printer from scratch. :doh: Anyway, I still havent printed the prototype of my Crosswind pedals yet, but I will as soon as my new v6 hotend and Bondtech extruder have arrived.

 

But I havent been lazy in terms of mods at that. Here is my Cougar standalone USB adapter implemented in the Thrustmaster TARGET Software. It should now be fully TARGET compatible except for the Cougar specific virtual mouse stuff. (But I am working on that as well, even though noone uses it anyway...)

 

 

 

Also, I have the 3D printed housings of the next batch of Cougar joystick sensors ready. These will feature several small improvements, such as 0.5 mm longer axle, slightly decreased chamfer on the axle, adjusted the housing back by 0.1 mm, new cables and optimization of the manufacturing process.

 

These changes are based on the feedback from the first batches and should resolve the (small) troubles some people ran into. The one that Rudel_chw described in his review of my sensors was the most common, eg that a piece of tape was needed to get a snug fit of the axle on the Y axis. That problem was caused because I obviously designed the sensors around my personal Cougar and the tolerances of the Thrustmaster Cougar Zamak gimbal are just not very good. It should now be resolved however.

 

 

 

The Cougar Throttle analog hall sensors (the one without the USB standalone adapter) are also done and will be available shortly. I have sourced the correct N52 magnets and improved the axle mechanism of the first prototype.

 

The Saitek sensors (Pro Flight/Combat Rudder Pedals) are also up and running and I will do a little mainboard conversion kit to bumb up the resolution from 8 to 10/12 Bits as well. The sensors are really hard to produce though so I will probably not make many of them...

 

The CH hats and CH slew sensor are also done and work great. Now I just need the new PCB for the Combatstick and paint the hats/slew.

 

Edited December 5, 2018 by rel4y
spelling

[Fishbed-21]

There are still some HALL sensors left for the cougar?

[rel4y]

I am currently in the process of making another batch. The 3D printed cases and all electronics are here, I am just waiting for the new cables. Should come in next week. :)

 

Are you looking for the joystick ones or for the throttle?

[rel4y]

Just made a little adapter board that allows the use of a hall sensors even in the 3,8V version of the Cougar Throttle.

 

 

I now have the analog hall sensors (the ones without my USB standalone mod) in stock, but at the moment only for the 5V versions of the Throttle. Later, with the adapter board the hall sensor mod will also work normally on the 3.8V version, cost will be ~3€ extra I guess. Everything remains plug and play, no soldering, no worries!

 

 

The 5V and 3.8V versions differ in a resistor on the VCC line. Here you can check which version of the Throttle mainboard you have: https://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=2863739&postcount=130

Edited December 12, 2018 by rel4y

[rel4y]

After the holiday season I had a huge list of backorders in Germany, now these are pretty much all shipped I am back to the DCS forums. I am seeing increased interest in the Cougar lately, maybe because of the upcoming DCS F-16. Last week I finished another big batch of sensors and USB adapters.

 

The latest batch of Cougar Joystick sensors finally has the original cables and is now a breeze to install. Ive had nothing but positive feedback from my German buyers last week, which made me really happy. :thumbup:

 

The finalized Cougar Throttle hall sensors are also in production now, just the above shown adapter PCB for the 3,8V mainboards hasnt been delivered yet. An easy workaround for those that can solder is simply bridging that resistor and the hall sensor will work perfectly even with the 3,8V mainboard.

 

In case you are interested in the Cougar Throttle USB standalone adapter + 14Bit sensor the mainboard type does not matter. It will work with both mainboard types perfectly!

 

 

 

The Saitek sensors are still in prototype state and I need to revise them for easier production, but they do work fine already. The next logical step is a 12 Bit (4096) capable mainboard for the rudder pedals, which is already in production. The original board only has 8 Bit axis resolution, so 256 steps. With the combination of new mainboard and magnetoresistive sensor, the Saitek pedals will be pretty much top of the line resolution wise. (Even the much praised Warthog does not have 16 Bit but only 13 Bit! Dont fall for marketing BS!)

 

The next batch CH sensors will be produced this week, I already made the housings. But I am afraid these could be already sold out again. My 3D printer is almost perfectly calibrated and I will print the new Crosswind pedal prototypes starting next week.

 

 

PS: Next month I will try to get a simple online shop up and running, to have a well structured layout of the product line. I do realize that it is pretty chaotic as is currently.

Edited January 15, 2019 by rel4y

[Rudel_chw]

... PS: Next month I will try to get a simple online shop up and running, to have a well structured layout of the product line. I do realize that it is pretty chaotic as is currently.

 

Hi, Wish you the best with your cottage business and hope it will grow steadily.

My Cougar sensors are still working perfectly, thank you :)

 

Eduardo

[rel4y]

Hi, Wish you the best with your cottage business and hope it will grow steadily.

My Cougar sensors are still working perfectly, thank you :)

 

Eduardo

 

Thank you, Eduardo! Makes me happy to hear that!

[Sierra99]

rel4y,

 

These look really great. And compared to the cost of the other options a good value.

 

My only question is I have zero experience with MMjoy2. What does DCS see when you plug this in? A standard HID Device like when you plug in a Bodnar board or any other usb device?

 

Sierra

[Sokol1_br]

What does DCS see when you plug this in?

 

DCS and Windows see whatever you set in MMJoySetup USB name, up do 10 characters, e. g MMJoy2 (default name), MyDIYStick... Sierra9999 :)

 

When device is plugged Windows install using their HID drivers, or, is PnP.

[Sierra99]

DCS and Windows see whatever you set in MMJoySetup USB name, up do 10 characters, e. g MMJoy2 (default name), MyDIYStick... Sierra9999 :)

 

When device is plugged Windows install using their HID drivers, or, is PnP.

 

Thanks Sokol

 

That was the answer I was looking for.

[rel4y]

Thanks Sokol

 

That was the answer I was looking for.

 

Another cool thing about MMJoy is that you can adjust both VID and PID, so you can adjust the order of your HID device in terms of hardware numeration as you like.

 

And I can also make it TARGET compatible. :)

[SVgamer72]

Will these work with the CH throttle Quadrant?