is there any way to replace the pots on a joystick with optical encoders? how does the signal from the encoders get fed into winxp, and how do these encoders show up as multi axis joystick on winxp. Is there a controller on the market that does that, and can you use a regular A/D converter for this?

I made some (good) experiments not with optical encoders, but with Hall magnetic sensors and magnets from old HD drives. The Hall sensors are sufficiently linear with respect to the magnetic field, their output is from nearly 0 to nearly +5V. I connect them to th M-JOY16 (Mindaug Mindauskas project), and they are working fine. But - I used it in my home construction of rudder pedals, not as a direct replacement of existing pots in existing joy.Petr

Hi dman5,The main problem is that the opticals don't generally return position, just distance and direction (like a mouse). You need hard numbers for the endpoints and the center positions.There are high-resolution positional encoders that do return their absolute position. One such company is (pulled at random from Google):http://www.gpi-encoders.com/ Look for things marked "Rotary Absolute". Since most joystick/throttle pots only work through an angle of around 60 degrees, the resolution will only be about 1/6th that specified for the encoder unless you gear it up somehow. And at least the last time I looked they were very expensive, aimed mostly at industrial customers. I suspect they still are since those I could find are still "Request a Quote" and no price listing. It usually happens when they only want to talk to people that want lots of units and will pay lots of money for them. WRT to the A/D converter, you wouldn't normally use one anyway since the positional encoders natively produce digital data. There'd be no need for a conversion.What's your objection to potentiometers? In a USB circuit, the mechanism that used to cause spiking on gameport sticks doesn't exist, so dirty pots don't really bother them much. Poorly designed gimbal set ups do manage to overcome this "long-coming". Beware of any stick that has the potentiometer (or any sensor for that matter) set so the shaft is inline with the gimbal and not isolated somehow. Eventually, the end of the gimbal wears and the gimbal puts pressure directly down the sensor shaft, it causes things to fail pretty quickly. Likewise, anything that puts much in the way of side-force on the sensor shaft. It can also cause rapid wear unstable output.With the USB sticks, so long as they're using the three-wire connection and they don't get abused by the controller design, will last for years and are the most linear of the analog sensors. Given a stable power supply and a decent USB setup, they won't bounce more than one count (and that's as good as it gets with digital thing systems). They do wear, mainly around center, but so long as they wear evenly (they usually do) it doesn't cause any trouble, nothing a recalibrate won't fix. Mostly it will show as slightly more sensitive near center, somewhat less the further off center you get, but it's wearing at center because unless you yank and bank a lot, bad idea anyway, the stick seldom moves more than about 25% off center. That's where you work and you just adjust to it. It's really only center and enpoints that matter anyway. The concept of "precision" doesn't really apply to main controllers and flight simulators, And replacing a $10 pot every 5 or 10 years isn't really that much trouble when you consider the cost of the encoders.Best regards,- BobThe StickWorkshttp://www.stickworks.com

Wow, Stickworks, now there's a blast from the past. I still have a Thrustmaster F16 FLCS with one of your mods in it. Unhappily, the Stickworks website looks like something from a time capsule...where have you guys been?I keep hoping that someone will start producing good Hall Effect retrofits like the one I have in my Thrustmaster Cougar. Hard to believe that pots still rule the roost nearly a decade later! I'd kill for a good HE kit for my PFC yoke/throttle quad/rudders.RegardsBob ScottColonel, USAF (ret)ATP IMEL Gulfstream II-III-IV-VColorado Springs, CO

Hi Bob,It has been awhile. :) I'm still around though. After TM sold and the chips had sort of run their course, I started working with CH writing the "Control Manager" software that programs their USB stuff. I've been doing that for about 10 years now, mostly I'm over at "The CH Hangar" forums these days but I get out and wander around every now and then.Good to see some of the old group is still around! I used to hear from a lot of the guys fairly regularly, but not so much anymore. Gone on to other things, I guess.Anyway, I hope you're doing well! Take care!Best regards,- BobThe StickWorkshttp://www.stickworks.com