Thrustmaster HOTAS Cougar Upgrade / Update / Repair
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Morning all! I have a Cougar HOTAS I picked up around 2000 - same time I got my original Falcon 4.0. It has been the best and favorite piece of PC hardware I have ever owned over the years and I’d like to continue using it. Unfortunately, it’s starting to show it’s age. There is bit of play in the stick, and some occasional spikes that cause the plane to roll hard left. I have made it usable by setting the deadzone up to 30 in the TM CCP but this brings other issues like making inflight refueling rather impossible and even lining up CCRP bombing runs is quite a chore. I’ve read most of the posts in the Cougar forum about updates and upgrades but most of the links are dead or I have got no response from the people or page. Vipergear.com has the MUK that would probably help a lot but they show Out of Stock.
Is there anyplace I can get this brought back to life and working as good, or even better, than it did when I got it? With the number of people still using this setup I would have to think someone is supplying repair or upgrade parts.
Please drop in valid links or suggestions here for me . . . I’ll spend some money if I can keep what I consider one of the finest stick and throttles ever made working well.
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I feel ya, my cougar is close to 20 years old…
I took it out from storage recently and found that center play and shot pots made it unusable. Pulled the plug and purchased Vipergear’s force sensing drop-in replacement that should take care of the center play and bad pots (strain sensing sensors) and also purchased the throttle hall replacement sensor. Should arrive next week.
I know, big investment for an old joystick but hey, it’s a Cougar. Seen guys offload old cougars on ebay for $500USD unmodded. I did’nt even pay that much back in the day for brand new!
A hint for the throttle, to get rid of the stiction effect is to use nyogel 767A. I think I applied too much as it’s a damping grease and throttle feels “heavy” but no stiction for fine tune thrust.
In the meantime for the pots, you can carefully split them open, clean and slightly bend the pot wipers for good electrical contact. No spikes for now but still centre play until the VFS gets here.
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Hello,
I “tuned” the Cougar with the parts form rel4y (link: https://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=3635383&postcount=1).
I bought the- Sensors for the stick (X/Y)
- TM Cougar Throttle standalone USB adapter + digital contacless 14 Bit GMR sensor
- 24 Bit shift registers for Cougar USB standalone
They are all working very well, that is for sure.
Maybe this is an option for you to upgrade the electrical parts of your cougar.
For mechanical parts look here: https://www.shapeways.com/shops/debolestis?section=TM+Cougar&s=0
Maybe there you can find what you need.Regards Anvil