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hi,i would like to buy the saitek throttle quadrant and use it in a three engine throttle configuration for the PMDG MD-11.on the product description it says that the throttle comes with extra knobs so that you can reconfigure the quadrant to your likings. i can nowhere find how many knobs are actually included in the package, though. is it three of each (throttle, prop, mixture) or how many?maybe one of you guys that owns it can tell me which knobs are included in the box? thanks a lot!regards,


Denis Kosbeck

KPHX

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hi,i would like to buy the saitek throttle quadrant and use it in a three engine throttle configuration for the PMDG MD-11.on the product description it says that the throttle comes with extra knobs so that you can reconfigure the quadrant to your likings. i can nowhere find how many knobs are actually included in the package, though. is it three of each (throttle, prop, mixture) or how many?maybe one of you guys that owns it can tell me which knobs are included in the box? thanks a lot!regards,
The quadrant comes with three axis (levers..) each of which has eather a red, blue, or black knob.There is a pack of three spares, one of each red, blue, and black, such that you can replace knobs to your liking, making for two blues for propeller pitch, and one black for throttle, like I do.Then there is also a single knob that catches all three levers for a united movement, but each lever can be assigned to a diferent function...It is a very useful quadrant to fly twin props, as I do, and I also make good use of a registered version of FSUIPCAllen

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Guest GA888

Hi Eurowing,I have saitek throttle quadrant, If I'm not mistaken you will get only ONE separate throttle, propeller and mixture knob.Again, I'm not sure about this tho...Cheers

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well that's a bummer. i guess that even if i buy two throttle sets that is still cheaper than the CH throttle quadrant.thanks guys.


Denis Kosbeck

KPHX

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well that's a bummer. i guess that even if i buy two throttle sets that is still cheaper than the CH throttle quadrant.thanks guys.
I have 2 Saitek throttle quadrants and wouldn't be without them now.After all, there ARE aircraft out there with 4 engines :) Paul

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Guest SkullxBones

I have two also. My only complaint is that both of them now have spikes in the axis that cause the throttle to jump. They have gotten a lot of use, but still I'm disappointed they didn't use higher quality potentiometers.

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I have two also. My only complaint is that both of them now have spikes in the axis that cause the throttle to jump. They have gotten a lot of use, but still I'm disappointed they didn't use higher quality potentiometers.
I have spikes also on my #1 quadrant. I had to reassign axis so that the one with the worst spikes that was my#1 engine throttle is now /mixture', moving #1 - #4 to the right.I fly the A2A B-377 with Accusim and any rapid throttle advances/retards causedby throttle spikes are likely to cause engine problems/failures. As more faithful simulation, such as Accusim, becomes prevalent in the future manufacturers aregoing to be held to a higher standard of quality or risk being ignored by the community.I opened mine up in hopes of being able to replace the bad pots but the assembly is suchthat it doesn't appear to be possible :(Bad pots have been the reason I have a box full of 'dead' sticks and throttles 'collected' over theyears. Thrustmaster, CH and Saitek.... Paul

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I have two also. My only complaint is that both of them now have spikes in the axis that cause the throttle to jump. They have gotten a lot of use, but still I'm disappointed they didn't use higher quality potentiometers.
Spikes can me mowed down using a registered version of FSUIPCal

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Spikes can me mowed down using a registered version of FSUIPCal
I have the registered version of FSUIPC and have my axis mapped and calibrated through it.I still have the spikes. I haven't seen any configuration settings for the ini to dealwith spiking.There is some mention of the issue in the documentation but it is unclear if it is stillin force or configurable.If you have any specific info I would be grateful if you would share it. Paul

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Guest SkullxBones

I have registered FSUIPC and I have checked the area dealing with spikes, but I didn't noticed much difference. But I can't remember if I have the throttles mapped through FSUIPC or not.

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I have two saitek quads also and after a lot of headaches I finally have them working fine.My mistake was plugging the 2 quads into a USB HUB. THe hub was causing I guess noise or spikes on the lines so I removed them from the HUB and plugged them directly into the computer. Now no irratic problems with the quadrants.I program the axis in fs9 and then calibrate them in a registered copy of fsuicp.I have set up for the pmdg 747 4 throttles, level d and pmdg 737's. I just keep the 2 extra throttles at the top of the quadrant if I am in the 2 engine jets. To assign reverse on the throttles, you have to use the button assignment of the fsucip. After the detent of the throttles levers is actually a switch that you can program. So when the throttles are in detent the engines idle, if I pull the levers through the detent the REV function comes on.One problem with the reversers on the level d. I also programed one of the toggle switches to deploy the spoiler, if you dont do it correcty the spoiler depoys and causes the engines to go into REV.Although saitek documentation for the quads is NON EXISTANT...having been a simmer for quite a while allowed me finally get them configured.If you have questions about this you can contact me at laowai46@yahoo.comThomas

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Guest Gonzster

Bump.I googled "Saitek throttle jumps" and got this.I just bought a Saitek Yoke, pedals, and second throttle quadrant and am having jumping problems in MSFS X.Both my first and second actuator(?) of my USB quadrant exhibit the problem. I am more familiar with the second one since that is what my number one engine is mapped to right now. The issue I am getting is the last 5% of actual physical travel on the actuator takes the throttle from about 75% to 100% in a single jump. This pretty much makes all aircraft unflyable.As I said before, my first actuator has the same problem when I map it to engine one. The third actuator (normally engine two) is fine.When I pulled up the windows calibrator it showed both the first and second actuators as a joined axis (similar to how the xy axis of the aileron/elevator show up, the 2D box with the x) and sure enough they were jumping there.Just for kicks I downloaded the latest Saitek drivers. When I opened the new Saitek based properties page, it showed perfectly linear movement, no jumping. Despite this upgraded driver and a restart, MSFS still has the throttle jumping as it did before. So, at least in my case, the problem is somehow related to the software and not the hardware, as I get perfect registration of response under the Saitek properties page.In addition, my rudders' brake pedals were originally registered the same way, with the box and the x instead of just a single axis by itself. I haven't tested it out fully but I am pretty sure they have the same issue with the jumping at their last bit of physical range. I think it is related to the way Windows interprets these axis as either joined and/or not considering it the same as their single axis brethren (rudders, throttles on the non-usb quad that comes with he yoke, ect)I also tried moving the usb quad to a usb port as opposed to the yoke's built in hub because I thought that might be exacerbating the problem and because the power light on it was dim. No change when I went to the usb port, even the light stayed dim.I am pretty new to MSFS X and I actually have no idea what FSUIPC is but I am sure I will in a few moments after a trusty Google search. If it isn't something that costs much I might get it, but this is crap that this quad won't work out of the box with the most popular flight sim known to man...

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I've got a yoke+ extra quadrant. I can set'em up as 4 engines (knobs are there) Yesterday, for the first time in a year I used the Saitek programming software to give functions to the mode 2 and 3 switches. Works fine. Never had any big problems using the Yoke, both quadrants or pedals at all. The extra quadrant is attached via de USB hub in the yoke and connected to a double connected USB (4 ports) hub on my desk. Since I use it for a 2 engine prop setup, my only trouble is to get the Yokes-quadrant and the extra qudrants prop setting aligned. There's a slight difference between them. I correct this in FSX using the Null slider.It can be usefull to check the: C:\Documents and Settings\yourname\Application Data\Microsoft\FSX\Controls folder and open the xml file. Sometimes there's an xmlx file in that folder, apperently produced by FSX and that messes up a lot. Also some entries in the "standard" file can go wrong. But this file can be editted, like this for instance: <Entry> <Index>0</Index> <Down>GEAR_UP</Down> <DownRpt>1</DownRpt> </Entry> <Entry> <Index>1</Index> <Down>GEAR_DOWN</Down> </Entry>This way, no matter what, the functions of the switch is only up, and only down. Accidently pushing it twice won't mean lowering gear when you shouln't or vice-versa. :(

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Somebody was asking about the number of handles that come with the Saitek Quad. With mine, it came with two extra throttle heads, one extra prop head and one extra mix head - for a total of 4 throttle, two prop and two mix. The four-throttle handle is designed to fit the middle four levers when you join two throttle quads together.Program the buttons pressed by lowering the levers below zero to decrease throttle on the engine, decrease prop pitch/feather prop or lean the mixture - depending on the use.The default calibration is wrong - you need to go into the calibration and change the sensitivity to 100 percent and reduce the null zone to zero - otherwise you won't get full power.A neat thing to do is to get your controls for the aircraft (e.g. twin jet) as you like them - them in the controls folder, copy standard.eml to something like jet.xml. Do the same for prop and turbo prop, four-jet aircraft, copying and renaming the copied file to something that makes sense.The create a bat program to allow you to choose which aircraft you want to fly, then get it to copy the aircraft specific file to standard.xml. Then get the bat file to starts FSX. You can also get it to start up (with your decision on whether or not to start them) other programs, such as your Yoke software, TrackIR software, weather program, Radar contact, etc.Somebody was asking about the number of handles that come with the Saitek Quad. With mine, it came with two extra throttle heads, one extra prop head and one extra mix head - for a total of 4 throttle, two prop and two mix. The four-throttle handle is designed to fit the middle four levers when you join two throttle quads together.Program the buttons pressed by lowering the levers below zero to decrease throttle on the engine, decrease prop pitch/feather prop or lean the mixture - depending on the use.The default calibration is wrong - you need to go into the calibration and change the sensitivity to 100 percent and reduce the null zone to zero - otherwise you won't get full power.A neat thing to do is to get your controls for the aircraft (e.g. twin jet) as you like them - them in the controls folder, copy standard.xml to something like jet.xml. Do the same for prop and turbo prop, four-jet aircraft, copying and renaming the copied file to something that makes sense.The create a bat program to allow you to choose which aircraft you want to fly, then get it to copy the aircraft specific file to standard.xml. Then get the bat file to starts FSX. You can also get it to start up (with your decision on whether or not to start them) other programs, such as your Yoke software, TrackIR software, weather program, Radar contact, etc.

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Guest Gonzster

jostytosty, thanks for the info. I have some experience with xml files so I should be able to find my way around. I am checking out the throttle settings. Looks like there are some disparities despite the settings appearing the same in MSFS. Hmm... Also thanks for the advice on the quick configs so to speak for different aircraft. No doubt that will come in handy soon.lightplane, good to know about the reverse thrust. I had been wondering how to do that. You read my mind! As far as the calibration settings, they are all the same for all the quad's actuators (at least, according to MSFS. As I mentioned just before this, at first glance my xml file would seem to disagree). Yesterday when troubleshooting I noticed the two troublemakers' sensitivity/deadzones were in fact different from all the others and changed it accordingly. It ended up taking me from only having the middle 50% of throttle travel to what I am getting now.I was able to play around with it a little bit more, comparing the graphic representation of my throttle actuators on a 747 versus what my quads were physically showing. Looks like what is happening is the two troublemaking actuators are jumping from 50% to 100% in the last increment of physical travel on the quads.Looks like I am off to delve into my control xml file. Yipee...Thanks again for all the help folks! It is very much appreciated! :D---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------One last note to confirm what was said above since it is actually very hard to find...The standard quad that comes with the yoke has one throttle, one mixture, and one prop cap.The USB quad comes with three throttles, two mixtures, one prop, and one four wide bar. The four wide bar is made to link the four middle actuators if you have two side my side. (Leaving the two outermost actuators for other tasks) The tabs underneath that connect to the actuators are spaced in such a way as to account for the slight gap between two quads sitting side my side. The bar is a nice touch I guess if you want to fly something like a helicopter where frequent fast throttle changes are needed and it helps to keep them all the turbines uniform. Kind of hard to explain, I'll see if I can get pictures since at least so far I haven't seen a picture of the throttle bar.

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