Cougar Rewire
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Thank you very much, JUmpstart5179, this is a great resource!
Thanks for taking the time to write this up
Youāre welcome. It took time, money and resources to get it running how I like and today I finally got all the additional switches wired into the board (needed smaller wire). There is still some room to add more but I would highly recommend the Leo Bodnar BU0836X 12-Bit Joystick Board for anyone wanting to breathe new life into their Cougar TQS.
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Iām little embarrassed to ask this, since itās a pretty basic question, but what is the overall purpose / advantage of a Leo Bodnar board?
I understand what a TUSBA is good for. Iāve got one, and it allows me to use my Cougar throttle without having to use the Cougar stick as a serial-to-USB adapter. And I think the TUSBA gives me a greater bit depth (resolution) for my throttle axis, compared to the Cougar-stick-as-pass-through.
Itās clear a Leo Bodnar board confers some sort of advantage over, say, the stock circuitry that comes in a Cougar, but Iām not sure what that advantage is.
If a person has a Cougar throttle which is stock except for:
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The throttle pot has been replaced by a Vipergear Hall-effect sensor
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They are using a TUSBA
ā¦ then is there an additional advantage conferred by the Leo Bodnar board? Or is the Leo Bodnar board something youād only use if you wanted to add extra switches to the Cougar throttle, like you did in this build?
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Iām little embarrassed to ask this, since itās a pretty basic question, but what is the overall purpose / advantage of a Leo Bodnar board?
I understand what a TUSBA is good for. Iāve got one, and it allows me to use my Cougar throttle without having to use the Cougar stick as a serial-to-USB adapter. And I think the TUSBA gives me a greater bit depth (resolution) for my throttle axis, compared to the Cougar-stick-as-pass-through.
Itās clear a Leo Bodnar board confers some sort of advantage over, say, the stock circuitry that comes in a Cougar, but Iām not sure what that advantage is.
If a person has a Cougar throttle which is stock except for:
-
The throttle pot has been replaced by a Vipergear Hall-effect sensor
-
They are using a TUSBA
ā¦ then is there an additional advantage conferred by the Leo Bodnar board? Or is the Leo Bodnar board something youād only use if you wanted to add extra switches to the Cougar throttle, like you did in this build?
The board basically replaces the original PCB, making it a stand alone USB similiar to what the TUSBA does. I have no experience with the TUSBA so I canāt really compare contrast the two. The board does allow for extras to be added to the TQS if so desired like I did with mine. There is also some cost savings using the board as well in that it was about $20 dollars cheaper for me to use it than the TUSBA at the exchange rate at the time and was shipped relatively fast. The board itself is basically a USB joystick controller board so it could be used to redo a Cougar stick if so desired (I spent the money and got the FSSB R3). Using the board is just one means of breathing new life into the Cougar HOTAS.
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Using a Bodnar board (or a TUSBA, and I have both installations) in a Cougar TQS also upgrades the unit from 10 bit to 12 bit resolution, and the difference in control is plainly noticeable.
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Iām doing a lot of HOTAS systems at the moment for my universal military homepit project and also started a Cougar throttle conversion to standalone. I will make it in a totally different way and will use the electronics of a canabalized Thrustmaster TWCS throttle for it. You can use the electronic-boards of the TWCS with standard pots it even doesnāt matter if they are 10K or 100K (simple voltage dividers - only recalbration is required, which is done if you unplug and replug the throttle after changing the pots)
Iām going to use the throttle axis for the throttle at the Cougar, the antenna axis for the antenna at the Cougar, the rudder pedal axis for the range axis at the Cougar, the microstick will be also the microstick at the Cougar and so onā¦
This has the advantage that you can still use TARGET to program the unit, which isnāt the case with Bodnar or TUSBA. Donāt know if hallsensors also working at the TWCS electronics, but on most controllers you can simply switch between pots and hallsensors if you choose the right ones. TM is an exception here, cause they use there own āhallsensorā technology in the Warthog HOTAS. The TWCS has simple pots with a ā16Bitā resolution for the throttle axis.
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The TWCS has simple pots with a ā16Bitā resolution for the throttle axis.
Itās not the pot that determines the resulotion itās the boards ADC input
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Yes, thats right, but I donāt think that 16Bit resolution makes any sense with the use of pots, thatās why I made the quotation marks. Apart from that 16Bit resolution doesnāt make any sense in every kind of input (maybe with the exception of steering wheels), cause you are simply physically arenāt able to do such fine adjustments. 12Bit is more than enough.
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Yes, thats right, but I donāt think that 16Bit resolution makes any sense with the use of pots, thatās why I made the quotation marks. Apart from that 16Bit resolution doesnāt make any sense in every kind of input (maybe with the exception of steering wheels), cause you are simply physically arenāt able to do such fine adjustments. 12Bit is more than enough.
Completely agree. All my DIY build game inputs such as Rudder use a 12bit ADC. That is way precise enough and most likely no need to implement a noise filter
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Well done, and thanks for sharing the details.
TUSBA, is much easier solution, and by the time you buy the buttons board and stuff, cost would no not really be a decision factor, but iām guessing you have enjoyed the learning about the IO, and you can now use this knowledge to create your own button box. You say you added extra buttons, Would like to see image/s of what you ended up with, along side the TQS.
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Well done, and thanks for sharing the details.
TUSBA, is much easier solution, and by the time you buy the buttons board and stuff, cost would no not really be a decision factor, but iām guessing you have enjoyed the learning about the IO, and you can now use this knowledge to create your own button box. You say you added extra buttons, Would like to see image/s of what you ended up with, along side the TQS.
See the other thread I have.