Could use advice on smoothing out inputs
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I have an old Saitek X52. By old, I mean 2007. I bought it on my first tour in Iraq so I know the year. The old workhorse has seen better days, but normally it’s more than sufficient to screw around with less touchy games, and it works almost well enough for BMS, with 1 sticky issue. It’s got a jitter that robs me of the ability to make fine movements.
The issue comes up when I need to make that last 2% of movement to straighten the jet out. Holding attitude to hold altitude is very hard. The worst was trying to do A2A refueling. I know that’s a hard task as it is, but I am finding it nearly impossible as that last little bit of I out is just too sloppy. For both leveling out and AAR, I end up in a over correction cycle and end up doing and sinewave dance over and under what I want the jet to do.
The issue is twofold. First, the halleffect sensors are just beat and have a very tiny jitter. Deadbanding makes it hold still, but the jitter is right in that last few percent I need. From my IRL MQ-1 days, I tried putting in a hefty nose down trim so that the stick needed back pressure out of the dead band (Preds have a physical dead band that’s killer), but this didn’t help because the nosie is still there.
The joystick also has a stiction from its centering mechanism that’s hard to overcome. I’ve always been unhappy with it because of their spring over a cup centering mechanism. This can be reduced with a little lube.
I know the quick answer is “buy a new joystick”. I have a side project running to rebuild some old serial port joysticks that are F-16 replicas. As that progresses I still want to fly.
I think what I need is some sort of throw expo modifier(to borrow a RC term), to stretch out the first few degrees of input) but I am not sure how to go about this. The Logitech (formerly saitek) software doesn’t allow this.
Any ideas? -
@mustangs6551 for me personally, it’s the sharp discontinuity of the deadzone “curve” that induces PIO … in order to do AAR, I have to eliminate it, at the firmware level and within BMS.
you can always hit [alt+C, J] in-flight to zero out any drift. or just switch on autopilot attitude-control
if your stick is “noisy” around the center area (do hall effect sensors wear out?) you might consider applying a curve to soften that… kinda like a “soft deadzone”.
In cfg:
set g_nAxisExp_AXIS_PITCH 5 set g_nAxisSat_AXIS_PITCH 0 set g_nAxisExp_AXIS_ROLL 5 set g_nAxisSat_AXIS_ROLL 0
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@airtex2019 apparently hall effect sensors can wear out over time, especially as the magnents loose force. Geriatric X-52s have a big problem with sofetening magnents, there is a commen magnent mod that’ve done that does help a tad.
How kosher is it to fly with attitude hold? Seems like it would frowned on, but I dont know.
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@mustangs6551 Magnet mod FTW - best thing you can do beyond replacing the sensors themselves (or purchasing a more precise offering in the X52 Pro - by comparison, if your X52 is a turd, this would be a step up to a “polished” turd). I very much enjoy my X52 Pro over the standard X52 it replaced.
If you find the plastic-on-plastic at the stick base less than smooth, sticky or jumpy, use regular non-flavored Chapstick, or if unavailable, a food safe silicone lubricant. You only need the lightest film to get great glide for weeks.
As far as using AP during flight operations, imho it is essential for being able to maintain SA and perform actions inside the cockpit without having to divide attention between controlling the aircraft and operating other functions. There is a reason the stick has an AP disengage override paddle - if you keep Altitude Hold and AP Roll enabled during ingress and egress, you can ensure you are remaining on your designated flight path while interrogating whatever comes up in your path along the way.
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@SemlerPDX what about attiude hold during AAR?
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@airtex2019 flew a few practice flights with the curves. It really heleped. Might be a touch too soft now but a lot better. If I make that first number (5) lower, like 3.5 will it, eh, steepen the curve a little?