Thrustmast Warthog Throttle Coolie switch up stopped working

[Hoggorm]

Hello,

My Thrustmast Warthog Throttle Coolie switch up stopped working today. Both down, right and left work as normal.

 

 

The throttle is just over 2 years and the warranty is expired... Can a new coolie switch be bought from Thrustmaster?

 

Is it easy to open up the throttle and have a look inside? Maybe I can see what is wrong with it, but I do not dare unscrew anything yet...

 

Is there a procedure on how to do this somewhere?

[Hempstead]

Yes... You are lucky that the Coolie switch is a standalone part that you can buy from TM, unlike the MIC/SpdBrake/Boat/China switches which form a 4-in-one PCB so you must buy the whole thing.

Now, since your symptom said the whole Coolie switch stopped functioning... but not other switches, then most likely cause is either the Coolie switch plug got loosen or the power or ground wire is cut (say solder joint broke). See, the Coolie switch is simply constructed out of 4x mini-buttons in one housing. To the MCU they are 4x independent leads. The chance all 4x independent input broke simultaneous is very low. So, likely something common to the 4x inputs broke... hence my guess of either the plug is loose or pwr/gnd wire to the Coolie broke.

I'd suggest that you open it up and take a look.

[Hoggorm]

Thank you Hempstead,

I might have not been clear enough, but all but the up direction works. Up is the only direction that is not responding.

Do you know if there are any instructions available on how to open the throttle up so that I can take a look?

If the Coolie switch is available as a replacement part that is super  I'll contact Thrustmaster then I guess.

[Hempstead]

Instructions? No.

 

But try this thread, 

There Sokol provided the replacement part # for the mini push button inside. They are quite cheap. So likely you will have to buy a bunch to justify the s/h charges.

These will require some slight modifications, snipping of the leads, to fit.

Opening up the throttle us easy. It’s opening up the HAT switch assembly without breaking the soldered wires that’s a bit tricky.  To open the throttle, just split the two throttles. In between, on the right throttle, there are 3 screws to unscrew. Then on the right hand side of the right throttle, there is one more screw. Unscrew all 4 and you have it. The main wires going from the throttle base to the right throttle us a bit just short so, it easily come off during disassembly, and us tricky to get plugged back in during reassembly… so, watch out.

Those soldering of wires to the HAT switches are very fragile, easily broken during disassembly. Quite a lot if the wires rely on hot glue for structure integrity. Breaking the hot glue blobs for disassembly often inadvertently break the solder joints. So, I would advise marking them with tapes so you can solder them back to the right points in case you break the soldering.

So, make sure you have temperature controlled soldering iron and soldering skill, and a pair of tweezers before you open it up.

[Hoggorm]

Thank you Hempstead.

It sounds a bit risky, but I guess I have little choice...