Powered USB hub on Saitek Yoke

[Kermit_70 7]

I purchased a power adaptor and plugged it in the Saitek Yoke ProFlight to make it a "powered USB hub". 

Is there a way to know if the connection is actually functional and if the internal hub is actually getting external power? There are no LEDs for that, unfortunately...

 

I am plugging in the rudder pedals, trim wheel and quadrant, all from Saitek.

 

Thanks!

[ark 1,288]

If there is an LED on any of the Saitek hardware, I  suppose you could unplug the Saitek USB connection(s) to the computer and see if anything lights up on the Saitek equipment when you plug in the power adapter.  If an LED does, the adapter is supplying some power, but if nothing lights up, I'm not sure that you can conclude anything. The LED(s) may be under computer control.

Al

[Kermit_70 7]

I tried your idea. Trim wheel, quadrant and rudder all have LEDs. What I don't know if they are there to indicate power or data connection (they certainly all light up when things are plugged in and work normally). One caveat: while rudder and wheel connect to yoke with USB (which is what I want to test), the quadrant connects with an PS/2 to the yoke.

With rudder, wheel and quadrant all plugged in the yoke, I unplug Yoke main USB from computer (so no power comes from there), and then connect external power source: I see only LED from wheel to light up, but nothing on rudder or quadrant.

 

I am assuming the PS/2 of wheel has nothing to do with the yoke's internal USB hub, so this negative result is hard to interpret...

Actually, when I plug the yoke usb on computer, I turn it on but don't run FSX, I still see rudder and wheel LEDs on, so I guess that suggests power only is sufficient to turn the LEDs. I guess that means my external power supply is not really working properly, after all... Unless there is something in Usb connection that is required on top of its power. 

 

Does anybody have a scheme of internal electronics of Saitek yoke's usb hub, with points I could use with a tester to see if there is current while I plug eternal supply only?

 

Thanks

[ark 1,288]

If there is no USB connection to the computer, and something lights up when you connect the external power supply, the supply is providing some power.

 

Unless the system is not working correctly when connected to the computer/simmulator, or you have some other reason to suspect the eternal supply is bad, I would not worry about it at this point. These supplies are generally reliable.

 

However, if for some reason you are really concerned, you can buy (or perhaps borrow) a simple multimeter for less than $10 and actually measure the voltage being provided by the external supply. A Google search for multimeter will turn up a number of options.

 

Al

 

 

[ThWind81 0]

None of the things you plugged in require power so I'm not sure why you bought the power supply.   For example,  when I plugged anything that actually required power (radio panel, multi panel) into an un-powered USB Yoke Hub, they did not work.  I bought a power supply.  Now they do work. Therefore I know the power supply is supplying power.

[Richard Sennett 2,499]

I highly recommend never hooking up your yoke to a hub - to many problems hook it up direct to the pc - just do it asking for trouble

[Glynn 405]

The powered hub on the Saitek yoke is the only powered hub I have ever seen that seems to have even less power with the PSU atatched.

[Dougal 165]

I'm on my THIRD Saitek yoke.  In my experience, the USB hub on this item is about as much use as a milk chocolate tea pot!  Quite why they even fit it, is beyond me!

[Richard Sennett 2,499]

I'm on my THIRD Saitek yoke

 

"milk chocolate tea pot!"  lol good one made my day

[James Bennett 52]

It works for me and has since day one. Not sure what you guys are doing wrong.

[Dougal 165]

It works for me and has since day one. Not sure what you guys are doing wrong.

By FAR the biggest problem James, is that Saitek licenced a huge number of companies worldwide, to produce these units, ranging from Albania to Zanzibar, and just about everywhere in between. Quality control across these manufactures appears to be VERY hit and miss.  You could buy a seriously well built item in the USA, or a truly awfull build from the next continent. Maybe this was a cheaper option than having a central build and distribution system.  Who knows? Not me.

[fppilot 4,352]

Other than it's built in hub, I am very pleased with my Pro Cessna Saitek yoke. But! In regard to its powered hub I have posted about this before here on Avsim. I use an additional Saitek panel component, the "Multi-Panel". I attempted to use the Multi-Panel plugged into the hub on the Pro Cessna yoke, doing so without a separate power supply for the yoke/hub.  The Multi-Panel lit up nicely, and worked fine until perhaps 30 to 40 minutes into a flight, at which time it would go dark.  So I ordered the Saitek power supply from Amazon. Unbelievably, when I attempted to use that accessory power supply to the yoke, the leds on the Multi-Panel were dim. Not just a little, a lot. The Multi-Panel would go dark before I could start a flight. On a couple of instances, I would unplug that power supply and the Multi-Panel leds would come from dim to bright! Go figure. So I contacted Saitek. They had me return the power supply to Amazon and Saitek sent me one direct from their customer service department. I received it before I returned the original to Amazon and it was identical. And the results were the same! Somehow the power supply provided less power to the yoke/hub.

 

I contacted Saitek again and they wanted me to send my yoke in for evaluation. What they proposed was a 90 day turnaround time. I said no and just reverted to connecting the Multi-Panel to a USB port on my CPU.

[Dougal 165]

Other than it's built in hub, I am very pleased with my Pro Cessna Saitek yoke. But! In regard to its powered hub I have posted about this before here on Avsim. I use an additional Saitek panel component, the "Multi-Panel". I attempted to use the Multi-Panel plugged into the hub on the Pro Cessna yoke, doing so without a separate power supply for the yoke/hub.  The Multi-Panel lit up nicely, and worked fine until perhaps 30 to 40 minutes into a flight, at which time it would go dark.  So I ordered the Saitek power supply from Amazon. Unbelievably, when I attempted to use that accessory power supply to the yoke, the leds on the Multi-Panel were dim. Not just a little, a lot. The Multi-Panel would go dark before I could start a flight. On a couple of instances, I would unplug that power supply and the Multi-Panel leds would come from dim to bright! Go figure. So I contacted Saitek. They had me return the power supply to Amazon and Saitek sent me one direct from their customer service department. I received it before I returned the original to Amazon and it was identical. And the results were the same! Somehow the power supply provided less power to the yoke/hub.

 

I contacted Saitek again and they wanted me to send my yoke in for evaluation. What they proposed was a 90 day turnaround time. I said no and just reverted to connecting the Multi-Panel to a USB port on my CPU.

Sadly Frank, Saitek have been FULLY aware of this MAJOR issue from the word go, but choose to do absolutely nothing about it.  Again sadly, it's what so called 'customer services' have come to in the 21st century:( I supose, when you consider its price, compared to some of the other 'quality' yokes mentioned recently, then I can SORT of understand. It does seem to be the way Saitek has always done buisiness.

 

The other major and common issue with the Saitek yoke, though a bit like the hub, not one that makes it unusable, is the clock/timer function in the center.  Like I said, this is my third unit, and neither the hub, nor the timer work. C'est la vie

[Glynn 405]

My clock started flickering not long after I bought the yoke, at that point I covered it with black insulating tape.

It is properly dead now but thankfully the two buttons below it still work, I have one mapped to pause my track ir

[Kermit_70 7]

OK, so what I am getting here is that:

1) adding external power supply to Saitek yoke (supposedly feeding its internal usb hub) might be not necessary and even detrimental, after all

2) Saitek internal USB hub is of bad quality, anyway.

 

here is the question: did anybody try an alternative way to efficiently hook yoke, pedals, trim wheel and switch board (all from Saitek) WITHOUT using the internal hub in the yoke? Maybe with a third-party external usb hub (properly powered)?

 

I am saying all this, because I OFTEN get my trim wheel disconnected before/during flight. Sometimes this happens even with the quadrant (especially after fresh startup).

 

Any comments on this?

Thanks