My radar cursor was failing and i wanted to fix it. I tried to do a hall effect mod to it as another user did but i failed miserably and damaged the microstick pcb so i decided to make my own replacement.
Parts used:
6x8cm double sided epoxy prototyping pcb,
2 10k ohm upright trimpots (i don’t know the part number),
1 joystick without any pots on it, sourced from an old third party playstation 2 controller. You can source one from where ever you want as long as it moves in 2 axis’ and has a push button. The push button can be on the side of the joystick assembly unlike the original CTS joystick which has the button on the middle inside.
****** If you feel like it you can directly use a joystick that already has pots attached to it. I decided to remove the existing pots from the joystick that i sourced from an old ps2 controller as it was old and i replaced them with new pots that are used in electrical measuring equipments.
Jumper cables,
Soldering iron, solder, heat shrink tubing.
Making:
********************** ALWAYS USE HEAT SHRINK TUBING OR ELECTRICAL TAPE TO COVER THE EXPOSED SOLDER JOINTS OR CABLE PARTS. AS THE COUGAR THROTTLE HANDLE IS MADE OUT OF METAL DON’T, ***********
********************** RISK DAMAGING ANY ELECTRONICS ***********
1- I measured the dimensions of the original pcb then i draw it on a paper to make a template that i can stick onto the prototyping pcb board so i can cut a similar pcb.
2- I cut the pcb to the desired shape and sanded the edges for a better fit and finish
3- I aligned the corners of the original pcb and the freshly cut pcb to figure out where i needed to place the joystick. Marked the pins that i would attach the joystick onto.
4- I drilled the previously marked pins so that the pins of the joystick would fit.
5- I checked the fitting of my pcb inside the cougar throttle. It fits.
6- I fitted the joystick onto the pcb and checked the fitting inside the cougar throttle again. It fits.
7- I put on the trimpots onto the pcb in a way that they are close to the joystick and the moving notches of the axis parts were in contact with the center of the trimpots. Therefore moving the joystick moves the trimpots too. Normally all the joysticks that we have in remotes, game controllers have their trimpots on their side, mechanically linked to the moving axis
8- Fitting check.
9- I soldered the trimpots and the push button onto the board from the underside.
10- I soldered wires according to the schematics i draw.
11- I added female jumper cable tips to replace the original 6 pin female JST connector as i couldn’t source one for myself.
12- I used an arduino to check if the pots work (I used the AnalogReadSerial example). I made a small circuit to check if the push button works.
13- I cut the JST male connector inside of the throttle grip and added male jumper cable tips to all 6 cables. ( As i was too carried away listening music i accidently sodlered female tips, so i had female tips on both the replacement pcb and the cougar wire harness! I didn’t bother doing all the soldering again and just connected them with a male-male cable in between. It took a lot of space inside the handle so i don’t recommend doing something like that. I will solder male tips to the next time i open my unit)
14- Placed the pcb and the supporting bracket in and closed the handle. I put the thing together.
15- Checked if the new board was working as intended in the CCP.
This is not an absolute fix to the cursor problem that occurs in many of our throttles. I am experimenting on implementing hall effect sensors to mini joysticks so that we can have a contactless solution that can last longer than pots.
Here i am inserting some drawings that i made prior to this modification.