TM warthog throttle

[Bdoyle13]

My warthog throttle has bricked on me. I’ve had it inspected and found the culprit. 
 

it’s the transistor located at Q2. I believe the part number is NGW82

I can not find this for the life of me. Can anyone guide me in the right direction or suggest a fix? 

Edited February 8, 2022 by Bdoyle13

[Bdoyle13]

Or does anyone have the data / spec sheet for the throttle? 

[BuzzU]

Have you tried TM?

[_Hoss]

Before you replace it remove it and use a ohm meter and check the P-N junctions. If they check good solder it back in and see if it works. Sometimes the solder joints degrade with vibration, heat, cold. Find a good sight that will give you the characteristics of your part, most of the time you can find a suitable substitution. Or just get a new board from TM, when all else fails.

[Viper1970]

Resoldering all connections at the inoperable PCB's helped me so often in the last years. Equal what it was, Hifi, TV, computer parts or HOTAS systems. Nearly 75% of the resoldered electronics did their job again after the rework.

Edited February 9, 2022 by Viper1970

[Bdoyle13]

Thanks for the reply’s. TM can send a new board but will be three to four weeks. Found a guy the does repairs to bricked throttles near Ottawa 

[Drakoz]

My recommendation is get it repaired by TM or the guy you mentioned (or get a new board from TM), but if you want to dive into repairing it yourself, here is some info.

 

For small devices like this part, the marking is not an actual part number, but instead a code. If you have searched for this marking and found nothing that is why. Usually they list the marking code in the PDF datasheet for the specific device (under the component marking section).  Sadly, the internet search engines do not do a good job of searching PDF files for such obscure information.  I did a quick search of some catalogs that list component marking like this, but did not find anything starting with NGW or even NG.  Such catalogs are hit and miss.  A longer search may yield results, but you'll need to spend time searching PDF files manually.  

How did the inspection conclude it was Q2?  Sorry, but have to ask.  Things are not always so simple to say one transistor is the problem, if it even is a transistor. These 3 pin SOT23 packages are used for everything from transistors to power supplies to simple "tiny logic" single gate logic devices.  

If I were to figure out what it is, I would start reverse engineering that area of the circuit to see what the part likely is - to help decide if it is a general purpose transistor, or something more specific (a special transistor, or something completely different).  Understanding the circuit helps understand what kind of device it is, and how much it matters to find the exact replacement vs. something more generic.  Chances are there are many generic parts that will perform the same function.  

For example, if Q2 is a transistor, it is probably acting as a switch (maybe turning on a power supply or enabling a circuit). You can tell this if the input voltage to the base (of a BJT) or the gate (of a FET) is either 0 or 3.3V or 5V (depending on the power supply used on the board).  If this is true, you can probably get away with any general purpose BJT or FET, and not worry about an exact replacement.  But make sure you know, is it a NPN or PNP (for BJT), or NMOS or PMOS (for a FET) and the right pinout - there is no standard pinout for a transistor.  If the input voltage is not 0V or railed to the power supply, but is instead between 0V and the power supply, then it is being used, not as a switch, but as something more analog.  In that case, you really need to find a matching part.  This is unlikely though, because circuits like a joystick do not usually use an analog circuit like that.  The variable analog part of a joystick/throttle is the signal coming from the pots or hall effect sensors.  Everything else is likely digital or switched voltages using a transistor as a switch.  

Again, all that assumes it is a transistor. It could be  a power supply or reference voltage. One pin goes to Vin (the input voltage) which would be the board power supply, one pin goes to ground, and one pin is the output (say taking 3.3V and convering it to 2.5V).  You need to know what that output V is.  If you figure out that is what it is, then there are lots of options that can replace it.  An exact match is not required.  

This is all very technical and likely beyond most people, but if you have a basis of understanding of electronics, hopefully this helps.  

Edited February 9, 2022 by Drakoz