Disaster strikes with Saitek Throttle connector

[Ray Proudfoot 8,931]

Yesterday I took my PC to a monthly meeting of simmers. Plugged everything in and had an enjoyable day flying Concorde.

 

Returned home and reconnected everything but I had some difficulty plugging in the Saitek throttle quadrant to the Yoke socket. It's the round one. The other throttle goes into a USB port.

 

I was probably too heavy handed and even though the plug goes most of the way in when I load a saved flight it's immediately obvious the left two throttle levers are not responding. I can also hear a click, click, click from FSX indicating a bad connection.

 

I've examined the pins on the plug but it's hard to determine if any are bent or not. I've contacted a TV repair chap and am going to see him tomorrow. Why a TV repair man? Well he's probably competent on plugs and perhaps soldering should it come down to that.

 

Has anyone else had a problem with the Saitek and especially this unique input? I wish they'd use USB but I believe Windows may have a problem identifying each throttle if they're both USB and both attached to the Saitek hub.

 

Worst case scenario is having to junk the yoke and one throttle as you can't buy that throttle quadrant without the yoke. At least they're on sale again and presumably the same quality as before.

[MarkDH 234]

Worst case scenario is having to junk the yoke and one throttle as you can't buy that throttle quadrant without the yoke.

 

You can just plug in another USB quadrant, assuming you can get one. Windows will distinguish them just fine. I have two plugged in - actually three, because I cut the round plug off my yoke one and connected to a Leo Bodnar interface board.

[HUSSAR 263]

Hi Ray,

 

Did the same thing after taking my PC to the flight sim club years ago. Fortunately I bent only one pin.  I thought the same thing you did, why not use a USB?  Perhaps it was too much for them to change the design and they wanted a dedicated port for the throttle.

 

I am positive there are others out there who have done the same thing.  Good luck with the repair.

 

Robert

[Ray Proudfoot 8,931]

Thank you Mark and Robert. I've used a magnifying glass with light attached to examine the plug pins and they all appear to be there. One does look out of position but I'm too ham-fisted to attempt to repair it myself.

 

It's very reassuring to know that 2 identical throttle quadrants can be used. I recall a discussion about this on Pete Dowson's forum a while back and it was thought at the time that Windows assigned them both an identical name making it impossible for FSUIPC to identify them.

 

But fingers crossed it's just a bent pin and the chap will be able to fix it tomorrow. I'll let you know how things go.

[AshleySear 2]

Ray, 

You may remember me from RC4 & 5 testing days. 

It is an easy repair I have had to do many times on my X52 setup. 

 

As you have done start with light and a magnifier, then you can move the pins using a jewelers screwdriver-or if you have one the Pentel press button propelling pencil nose section without the lead. 

 

To test either use an old ps2/usb adapter or close inspection. The pins are acually toughr than they look,what happens is that if they are out of position one will bend out of line-normally {looking at the end)  it is the last pin counting clockwise-ie about 10 o/clock. 

 

BTW I have moved and am now near EGNJ. 

 

best wishes

 

Ashley Sear

[Ray Proudfoot 8,931]

Hi Ashley,

 

Yes, I remember you. 10 years have passed. How depressing. Thanks for the guidance but I lack the tools to manipulate the pins and I dread breaking one. Any job is easy with the right tools and right skill level. I know my limits.

 

City of Culture eh? More sunshine than here. :smile:

[Ray Proudfoot 8,931]

Panic over. A friend who has considerably more skills than me has straightened a pin and it's working again. A few beers will be heading his way! :smile:

[HUSSAR 263]

Glad to hear Ray!  I think you should go out and enjoy a couple of pints with your friend and put that scare behind you.  

 

Robert

[Ray Proudfoot 8,931]

He's a busy family man so a few bottles of his favourite tipple will have to do. And in future when I transport my Yoke and throttle quadrant I might just keep it plugged in to avoid this happening again.

[Bozdog 63]

Hi Ray, I have also bent two pins, unplugging/plugging in,  Fortunately managed to straighten them without breaking them off.  Now If I move it anywhere it stays plugged in, and I am super careful.

Glad you have it sorted

 

Cheers

Steve

[Ray Proudfoot 8,931]

Cheers Steve. I have to take mine to a meeting week on Saturday and will leave throttle 1 connected as you have done. Don't know why Saitek didn't make it a USB port. But I was a little clumsy thinking plugging it in was straight-forward. More care next time.

[alpicopter 0]

On 2/19/2017 at 1:39 PM, MarkDH said:

 

You can just plug in another USB quadrant, assuming you can get one. Windows will distinguish them just fine. I have two plugged in - actually three, because I cut the round plug off my yoke one and connected to a Leo Bodnar interface board.

Dear Mark,

I have a throttle quadrant with the round plug cut off , but the plug is lost. I would like to buy a new round plug and re-solder the wires, but I havn't any idea on the pinout of the old round plug (PS/2) because saitek wires it in a non standard way.

Have you got your original, cutted, round plug? 

I can buy it from you or ask you to match the wires-color with the PS/2 pins, otherwise I can trow away my hardware...

Thanks a lot

 

 

[MarkDH 234]

3 hours ago, alpicopter said:

Have you got your original, cutted, round plug? 

Good grief, no! Perhaps you can examine the wires at the socket end (i.e. on the yoke body) and compare the colours of the wires with the wires coming from the quadrant. I would think at least the +/- wires (red and black) would match. Then there should be three centre-tap wires for the pots and maybe a single wire for the switch matrix.

[ark 1,288]

10 hours ago, alpicopter said:

I have a throttle quadrant with the round plug cut off , but the plug is lost. I would like to buy a new round plug and re-solder the wires, but I havn't any idea on the pinout of the old round plug (PS/2) because saitek wires it in a non standard way.

Below is the Saitek TQ Mini-Din pinout info from https://forum.arduino.cc/index.php?topic=587663.0 .  Based on the info at this link I converted an original Saitek TQ with the DIN connector to a USB interface (so I could use a different yoke) using an Arduino I had on hand . The color coded wire pinout below is from the perspective of looking into the original Saitek male 6 pin Mini-Din connector.

Al

Here is the pin numbering for a 6 pin Male Mini-Din connector.

Edited October 4, 2020 by ark

[alpicopter 0]

16 hours ago, ark said:

Below is the Saitek TQ Mini-Din pinout info from https://forum.arduino.cc/index.php?topic=587663.0 .  Based on the info at this link I converted an original Saitek TQ with the DIN connector to a USB interface (so I could use a different yoke) using an Arduino I had on hand . The color coded wire pinout below is from the perspective of looking into the original Saitek male 6 pin Mini-Din connector.

Al

Here is the pin numbering for a 6 pin Male Mini-Din connector.

Great!!!

thanks really so much!

going to solder.... finger crossed!!!

you all were so kind and useful, thanks again!