Hi,Well, it looks like one of my switches went bad. Its the weekend and PFC is closed, anyone know if PFC services their flight yokes?. I want to send it in and have all the buttons, rocker switches and potentiometers replaced.Thanks

Hi,Well, it looks like one of my switches went bad. Its the weekend and PFC is closed, anyone know if PFC services their flight yokes?. I want to send it in and have all the buttons, rocker switches and potentiometers replaced.Thanks

I'm sure they do--I know they do warranty repairs, and I have had their tech support guys talk me through some of the details of potentiometer replacements (I do my own).Honestly, though, those switch units pop right out of the yoke, and they can be replaced very easily with a soldering iron and some shrink-wrap tubing for far less than two-way shipping on the unit. PFC can ship you the replacement parts.RegardsBob ScottColonel, USAF (ret)ATP IMEL Gulfstream II-III-IV-VColorado Springs, CO

Hi Bob,Yeah, I just poped it out to remove the bad rocker switch, the one on the far right. It controls panning the view within FSX. Right now I'm grounded, if I start FSX it just continually pans. I'm unable to stop it. Even with the wires disconnected from the rocker switch. It's not under warranty any more, wonder if they sell a tuneup kit.Bob, is there any way to disable the right rocker switch?.Thanks

I'm sure they do--I know they do warranty repairs, and I have had their tech support guys talk me through some of the details of potentiometer replacements (I do my own).Honestly, though, those switch units pop right out of the yoke, and they can be replaced very easily with a soldering iron and some shrink-wrap tubing for far less than two-way shipping on the unit. PFC can ship you the replacement parts.RegardsBob ScottColonel, USAF (ret)ATP IMEL Gulfstream II-III-IV-VColorado Springs, CO

Hi Bob,Yeah, I just poped it out to remove the bad rocker switch, the one on the far right. It controls panning the view within FSX. Right now I'm grounded, if I start FSX it just continually pans. I'm unable to stop it. Even with the wires disconnected from the rocker switch. It's not under warranty any more, wonder if they sell a tuneup kit.Bob, is there any way to disable the right rocker switch?.Thanks

Sorry, I didn't see this post until now.You've probably already got this fixed, but if not, I'd think that the quickest fix would be to disable the assignment for that switch in the PFC driver.It sounds more to me like you have a wire shorted to ground somewhere. RegardsBob ScottColonel, USAF (ret)ATP IMEL Gulfstream II-III-IV-VColorado Springs, CO

I had my right rocker switch go bad a few weeks ago and called Ivan at PFC. He asked me a few questions concerning the 'TEST' mode in FSX controls and I told him that the button did not indicate that it was functioning. He told me to pull the electronic board at the base of the unit where the USB connection is and send it back to him. I did so and within a week or so, he shipped me another board that cured the problem with the right rocker switches.Good service by PFC. Hope this helps.Regards,jack

Hi,Well, I have to send the jetliner column yoke back to PFC, I'm unable to fix it. Guess its going to be an expensive fix.1. Shipping box from PFC $70.002. To have that box shipped to me $50.003. I'll have to ship the unit to PFC, I wonder what that's going to cost. More than $50.00 that's for sure (New York to California).4. Pay to have the unit shipped back to me. It's going to cost more than $50.00 (California to New York).5. PFC Diagnostic Fee $45.006. Plus whatever they find wrong. As a matter of fact, since the box/shipping cost is so high, I'm going to have them change everything do a complete overhaul. That will give me a brand new yoke.So far the total cost is well over $265.00 and that's without any parts yet. I guess I really can't complain, it's an outstanding yoke and I've had it a few years.

Hi Mike,Sorry to hear that. Keep us advised as to what they did to repair your unit upon it's return. It would be interesting to know what happened to it and also how much it costs to replace most of the parts within. As I mentioned to you in an earlier post, my rocker switch was fixed with a replacement electronic board at the base of the unit. The only good thing about it was the fact that I did not have to pay any exorbitant shipping costs since it weighed about 4 oz. at most. :) Regards,jack

Hi,Well, I have to send the jetliner column yoke back to PFC, I'm unable to fix it. Guess its going to be an expensive fix.1. Shipping box from PFC $70.002. To have that box shipped to me $50.003. I'll have to ship the unit to PFC, I wonder what that's going to cost. More than $50.00 that's for sure (New York to California).4. Pay to have the unit shipped back to me. It's going to cost more than $50.00 (California to New York).5. PFC Diagnostic Fee $45.006. Plus whatever they find wrong. As a matter of fact, since the box/shipping cost is so high, I'm going to have them change everything do a complete overhaul. That will give me a brand new yoke.So far the total cost is well over $265.00 and that's without any parts yet. I guess I really can't complain, it's an outstanding yoke and I've had it a few years.

May just as well buy another one and use the old one for parts!

Hi,Latest Update. This looks like the final cost.1. Shipping box from PFC $70.002. To have that box shipped to me $50.003. Shipping to PFC $104.00 (New York to California).4. Cost to replace everything, (New Controller Board, New Dual Rocker Switches, New Push Button Switches, New Wiring, New potentiometers), this includes shipping back to New York $533.00Total Cost: $757.00The cost of a new PFC column yoke is $1,295.00, so it paid for me to fix the old yoke instead of buying a new one, I saved $538.00. Since I changed everything, its just like getting a new yoke.I was told the controller board that was in my PFC yoke was discontinued, anyone using this yoke with the updated controller board?, if so do you notice any difference?.Thanks

Hi,Latest Update. This looks like the final cost.1. Shipping box from PFC $70.002. To have that box shipped to me $50.003. Shipping to PFC $104.00 (New York to California).4. Cost to replace everything, (New Controller Board, New Dual Rocker Switches, New Push Button Switches, New Wiring, New potentiometers), this includes shipping back to New York $533.00Total Cost: $757.00The cost of a new PFC column yoke is $1,295.00, so it paid for me to fix the old yoke instead of buying a new one, I saved $538.00. Since I changed everything, its just like getting a new yoke.I was told the controller board that was in my PFC yoke was discontinued, anyone using this yoke with the updated controller board?, if so do you notice any difference?.Thanks

Wow, this makes me glad that I'm handy with a soldering gun and a multimeter!!My yoke doesn't have a controller card in it...it plugs directly into the PFC throttle quad and that's where the control circuitry is. Is yours the USB standalone yoke, then?I am curious, also, why you're replacing the board if all you have wrong is a switch or two (?).When my throttle quad dies (it's eight years old and still works well) I am going to look hard at putting Hall Effect sensors and a generic USB interface into my PFC controls. I have a tricked-out Thrustmaster HOTAS with CNC-machined gimbals and HE sensors in place of the potentiometers, and it just rocks. The new high-end offering from Saitek (the X-65F) also uses a HE sensor in the throttle quad, and non-moving strain gauges in the stick. And the new Thrustmaster Warthog stick due out "soon" uses all HE sensors. They have no friction contacts to wear out (all pots do), have very precise fine resolution, and are good to something like 3 million cycles, limited by the bearing life rather than the electronics!CheersBob ScottColonel, USAF (ret)ATP IMEL Gulfstream II-III-IV-VColorado Springs, CO

Hi Bob,I yoke is USB, the throttle connects via 15 connector to the yoke and the yoke connects to the computer via USB. Turns out the controller board was bad as well as the right rocker switch. The wiring would not work with the new controller board so they had to replace the board and wires. Since the right dual rocker switch was bad and had to be replaced, I didn't want to take a chance with anything else going bad so I told them to replace the other dual rocker switch and all the push buttons.Everything is new, and under a one year warranty, hopefully I'll have the yoke back in a week.

Wow, this makes me glad that I'm handy with a soldering gun and a multimeter!!My yoke doesn't have a controller card in it...it plugs directly into the PFC throttle quad and that's where the control circuitry is. Is yours the USB standalone yoke, then?I am curious, also, why you're replacing the board if all you have wrong is a switch or two (?).When my throttle quad dies (it's eight years old and still works well) I am going to look hard at putting Hall Effect sensors and a generic USB interface into my PFC controls. I have a tricked-out Thrustmaster HOTAS with CNC-machined gimbals and HE sensors in place of the potentiometers, and it just rocks. The new high-end offering from Saitek (the X-65F) also uses a HE sensor in the throttle quad, and non-moving strain gauges in the stick. And the new Thrustmaster Warthog stick due out "soon" uses all HE sensors. They have no friction contacts to wear out (all pots do), have very precise fine resolution, and are good to something like 3 million cycles, limited by the bearing life rather than the electronics!CheersBob ScottColonel, USAF (ret)ATP IMEL Gulfstream II-III-IV-VColorado Springs, CO

Hi Bob,I wish I had the ability to get rid of these potentiometers in the column yoke. I asked PFC if they had an upgrade option to replace the potentiometers to allow the use of optical encoders but was told no.If you decide to update your yoke, I would be very interested in documentation/photos of the process as well as parts required.We have quite a few hardware developers making their own products, maybe what we need is a new company that will take our existing hardware to the next level (trick them out as you say). For those of us that do not have the ability to mod the hardware ourselves.Thanks

When my throttle quad dies (it's eight years old and still works well) I am going to look hard at putting Hall Effect sensors and a generic USB interface into my PFC controls. I have a tricked-out Thrustmaster HOTAS with CNC-machined gimbals and HE sensors in place of the potentiometers, and it just rocks. The new high-end offering from Saitek (the X-65F) also uses a HE sensor in the throttle quad, and non-moving strain gauges in the stick. And the new Thrustmaster Warthog stick due out "soon" uses all HE sensors. They have no friction contacts to wear out (all pots do), have very precise fine resolution, and are good to something like 3 million cycles, limited by the bearing life rather than the electronics!CheersBob ScottColonel, USAF (ret)ATP IMEL Gulfstream II-III-IV-VColorado Springs, CO

Hi,Well, looks like the yoke will be back in my possession May 10. :(

Hi Bob,I wish I had the ability to get rid of these potentiometers in the column yoke. I asked PFC if they had an upgrade option to replace the potentiometers to allow the use of optical encoders but was told no.If you decide to update your yoke, I would be very interested in documentation/photos of the process as well as parts required.We have quite a few hardware developers making their own products, maybe what we need is a new company that will take our existing hardware to the next level (trick them out as you say). For those of us that do not have the ability to mod the hardware ourselves.Thanks

I'm already well on my way to a Hall Effect sensor mod for my PFC yoke. Doubt that anyone doing it could make much of a commercial go at it due to the high cost of shipping these things around, as you can painfully attest.More than the yoke, though, I want to get HE sensors into the 6-axis throttle quad, but the search for suitable Hall Effect LVDTs (linear variable differential transducers) hasn't been panning out so far.CheersBob ScottColonel, USAF (ret)ATP IMEL Gulfstream II-III-IV-VColorado Springs, CO

Hi,Well, I just got my yoke back from PFC today. Turns out the new board they installed does not have a 15 pin connector, so I am unable to use my PFC throttle any more. It would of been nice if someone from PFC told me the new board no longer supports their in-house throttle. Close to $800.00 and I no longer have the ability to use my throttle, what a joke. Well, I did some B I T C Hing to Ivan at PFC, lets see what happens, although I'm not holding my breath.