Cougar Microstick Problems
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I have used my Cougar for over 15 years, installed Hall Effect Sensors in stick and throttle, repaired it often, so I am quite familiar with its normal mechanics. Problem I am having is erratic function of the throttle microstick Y axis. It will not auto-calibrate under Win 10 over the full axis range. Digi-View shows that it will function over only about 60% of full range. It will manually calibrate over full range with the CCP, but loses calibration after 10 to 30 minutes. X axis and all other hotas functions perform normally. I hope someone can point me to probable source of the problem. I suspect the culprit to be a bad microstick part, but problem could also lie in either of the hotas PCB’s.
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My guess is a bad microstick potentiometer - you can test this with a digital multimeter, if you have one.
I hope its not though, as I seem to recall TM being out of stock of those?
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Sorry to hijack, just a quick question about the microstick. Is it analogue/proportional or digital?
Harry (Formerly Amraam at Frugals etc.)
(I'm not currently active with ViperDrivers, but these guys are the best BMS school out there!)
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I happen to have a replacement microstick potentiometer. They are analog.
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I happen to have a replacement microstick potentiometer. They are analog.
So if you move the stick only a little, the cursor moves slowly, only speeding up as you move the stick further? Mine only works on or off. If I move the stick all the way, the cursor moves the same as when I move it only slightly.
Harry (Formerly Amraam at Frugals etc.)
(I'm not currently active with ViperDrivers, but these guys are the best BMS school out there!)
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Speed is proportional to deflection but not a lot in it over such small travel. The speed can be altered in configuration somewhere.
@ Habu_ If the problem were just in game I would suspect some conflicting input or binding but not if showing with external test tools. Would hesitate to suggest full reset as I have read of people getting in a world of pain when doing that.
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Speed is proportional to deflection but not a lot in it over such small travel. The speed can be altered in configuration somewhere.
@ Habu_ If the problem were just in game I would suspect some conflicting input or binding but not if showing with external test tools. Would hesitate to suggest full reset as I have read of people getting in a world of pain when doing that.
Odd. Even in CCP, mine show as on or off. The calibration sees the raw data as if it were analogue, but the CCP only shows 100%, centre, and -100% but nothing in between…
Harry (Formerly Amraam at Frugals etc.)
(I'm not currently active with ViperDrivers, but these guys are the best BMS school out there!)
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Speed is proportional to deflection but not a lot in it over such small travel. The speed can be altered in configuration somewhere.
@ Habu_ If the problem were just in game I would suspect some conflicting input or binding but not if showing with external test tools. Would hesitate to suggest full reset as I have read of people getting in a world of pain when doing that.
Cobalt have you tried a windows analogue device calibration reset?
I seem to recall that this helped me in the past when I had analogue device calibration issues - there is a utility called clrcalib64.exe (naturally for 64 bit OS) - unplug all joystick devices, run clrcalib64.exe and then plug joystick/hotas back in and run CCP again -
Can one use something like this to replace the mouse stick in a Cougar TQS? I’m sure not sure if these act like a mouse input or not…but they look as if they might be able to fit into the grip. Somehow.
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Actually it is very similar (maybe exactly the same) to the one in the cougar but that has an small PCB were it is soldered to.
Cheers -
I took a hard look at that - there’s a mechanical lever to a button there, so it has a down action like the mouse stick, to use for CURSOR ENABLE. Cheap enough that it could be worth just experimenting…these are all over E-bay.
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The eBay pot in post 9 appears to have extra pins on one side that are absent on the original pot. Might not fit the microstick pcb. Cheap enough to try it, tho.
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The eBay pot in post 9 appears to have extra pins on one side that are absent on the original pot. Might not fit the microstick pcb. Cheap enough to try it, tho.
An earlier thread claims some of these eBay pots are Hall Effect Sensor instead of normal pots. I am not convinced at the prices they are going for, even if made for PSx pads in high volumes
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The real issue is if these sticks have quadrature output like a mouse, or output like a true X-Y joystick…if the former they would be plug and play and it’s just a matter of choosing the pins we need and ignoring the others. OTOH, if they are true X-Y output they probably aren’t of use at all…OR - they are the best of both worlds, and again - by choosing the correct pins you can get wither mode of operation, hence the “extra” pins.
Gonna have to do some research…because the price and availability are right! And with any luck they may also be a better chunk of hardware than the OEM mouse stick.
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I have a few extra microstick pots I am willing to sell. Bought them from the manufacturer when they ceased production. 10 USD plus S&H.
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Look at Original Cougar Microstick DataSheet and microstick nowadays
Each microstick has 4-pins for cursor enable switch circuit but at different place.
I guess if you wire them to cougar PCB you can use newer microstick.
Perhaps you need to put microstick and PCB to the Cougar with 90deg rotation. -
I have a few extra microstick pots I am willing to sell. Bought them from the manufacturer when they ceased production. 10 USD plus S&H.
Is Paypal okay?
