I'm too stupid for rudder pedals. Help!

[Jimmy Angel 19]

Ok...so I purchased some CH products rudder pedals for FS2004 and I was really excited to be able to finally disable the twist rudder on my jostick.However, I have been struggling for hours to get familiar with these things and get them set-up properly, and it just ain't happening.Some questions:What are some good values for the axis settings? I've just put the MSFS sensitity and null zone sliders in their right and left position, respectively, and I am using the Axis settings tab in the calibration utility. The brakes are really touchy, but if I turn down the sensitivity to where I'm not accidentally hitting them when using the rudder (about 50), then they don't have enough power to actually stop the plane (at least not in the immediate future).Further, the dead zone doesn't seem to do anything, whehter I put it at 10 or 200, and I can't really figure out what the gain control is supposed to do.In terms of the rudder itself, I am trying to figure out this mystery of a coordinated turn and apparently neither me or my plane is very coordinated. As I understand it, when you bank the plane you are loosing lift on the wing that is on the inside of the turn, so you need to apply some rudder. Which direction? With the turn? Against the turn? No matter what I do, I just get that damn ball bobbing and weaving all over the place until it settles down. As I understand it, you only need to apply rudder in the first moments of the turn, until the wing regains some lift? Is there some trick do actually keeping that ball centered throughout?Thanks in advance for any help.

[Guest bfindlay]

Well, as to your question on 'centering' - it is not a loss of lift that requires rudder input. THe loss of lift is compensated for by pulling back - increasing the angle of attack and 'pulling gs'. The reason you need rudder input, is something called 'asymetric yaw'.Basically, the ailerons are far out on the wing to provide maximum rolling torque. When you turn left for instance, the right one goes DOWN increasing lift on the right wing, and the left one goes UP decreasing lift on the left wing. This rolls the plane. Asymetric yaw occurs when the down going aileron 'dips into the airstream' more than the up going one, causing the plane to Yaw (rotate about a vertical axis) towards the up wing, AWAY from the direction of desired bank/turn. This is a skid condition, that results in the ball being deflected to the left. You simply 'step on the ball' - if it is left of center, depress left rudder - to recenter it. Yes, this yawing force is present only when ailerons are deployed - to induce the turn. Once banked, the plane more or less stays banked, and the need for rudder diminishes.That being said, many modern trainer planes exhibit little Adverse (asymetric) yaw tendencies. The designers have mostly designed them out (usually by asymetric aileron deflection). The 172 can pretty much be hosed around with your feet on the floor, and it behaves just fine. Long winged aircraft such as gliders have much more sensitive yaw behaviour, due to the increased moment arm.MSFS flight models leave much to be desired - take the behaviour of the sim with a HUGE grain of salt when comparing to reald world aircraft. For a higher fidelity 'stick and rudder' experience fly X-plane - best flight model in the PC sim world bar none.For excellent reading on 'how to fly' read 'Stick and Rudder' by Wolfgang Langweische - the definitive book on how planes fly for over 50 years!Hope this helps.

[Guest]

I'm not at my home computer so I can't give you precise directions but I can give you some help. Go to ch's website (www.chproducts.com) download the CH Control Manager. Once the drivers are installed you can manipulate the axis settings from the joystick control panel. In FS raise the sensitivity to max and the dead zones to 0 and then use the joystick control panel to configure your axis. For the X and Y axis (toe breaks) I set about 15 dead zone and for the Z axis (rudder) none. There's also this little graph that lets you modify the sensitivity. Click the arrows either up or down so that it looks like the middle of the graph is flatter. What this will do is setup the axis so you might use 2/3rds of the physical movement if the pedals to move the rudder 1/3rd along the axis. Just play with it till you get a good feel. Sorry I can

[Guest]

I have a question about my CH Pro Pedals (USB) and the CH Control Manager. My joystick is a Logitech Wingman 3D, not a CH Products joystick. Is there any use in me installing the CH Control Manager? Will it leave my joystick alone but allow me to adjust just my pedals?In FS2004 I've turned the pedals sensitivity and dead zone down to nil but there doesn't seem to be any difference in their response. They are very sensitive and usually result in me weaving down the runway :-(Thanks in advance,Bottle

[Guest]

The CH Control Manager will only affect ch products and it's the only way I've found to reliably configure the sensitivity and dead zones of the pedals.

[Guest]

I have never used the CH Manager but after the feedback I am going to give it a try-ski. I was using FSUIPC for 2002 but now that they have gone payware I am probably not going to use it anymore.bfindlay,That is one of the BEST explainations of 'asymetric yaw' I have read in a long time. Very concise and mega informative!

[Guest]

You "STEP ON THE BALL" ;-) See the pics bellow, they may help you understand.http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/29172.jpghttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/29173.jpg

[Manny 1,293]

OMG.. I am so screwed now.. I did not install any CH Drivers in the beginning...All I had was the Plug and Play and the default drivers that Win2000 used and my cH Yoke was mapped perfectly..all buttons were mapped etc...Except I had the sensitivity issue with the CH Pedals..like this thread stated in the beginning.So after reading the stuff here , I braved to install the CHDrivers from the disk and now I am so screwed.My left Pedal reduces the throttle and the right peddal increases the throttle..My Fuel mix does not work anymore.. The one next to the throttle in the yoke..(The middle one) now responds like a Rudder pedal.I tried uninstalling everything to get back to my initial setting...but it doesn't seem to work.What do I do?would reinstalling the FSim2004 help?HELP HELP HELP...The CHProducts Help Sucks..sucks Sucks.. they have zero documentation with their 150 buck products..its unbelievable.. I am so ######.:(

[Manny 1,293]

OK...I got it back to what it was in the beginning...My Yoke is working OK ..but my Pedals sensitivity is not OK.. the ball keeps bobbing all over the place.. and if I put my legs on the pedale.. the Yaw..becomes a Yo-Yo..:)But I am happy..my Yoke is OK.There is no documentation for the CHManager.. not even a PDF..Shame.

[Guest]

A spin-off questionCould you explain how you add the arrow and printed info to your screen shots replies.Rodger

[rcbarend 37]

If you need to understand more about controller calibration and the meaning of sensitivity and nullzones, I suggest you read this:http://home.planet.nl/~rcbarend/extern/controllers.htmCheers, Rob