Hi all.

I've recently been practicing touch and goes and go arounds without going near the autopilot. I was surprised at how often I used the elevator trim. It's been a long time since I flew anything manually.

So my question is, should I buy a trim wheel?

I'm finding the rockers on the yoke too difficult to use. If you tap them there's barely no response and if you push and hold there's too much.

Having not used the saitek wheel I'm unsure how it works. Does it for example rotate infinity or does it have end points? Does the autopilot control the trim or the elevator? If it does control the trim and the trim wheel has end points, will there be conflicts of mismatch position.

So if anyone has experience with the hardware could you please advise. It is something I would like to add to my collection of throttle quads but I don't fancy the idea that I'm still trimmed for takeoff just as I disconnect the auto on landing. Or am I just being a little green and this is the norm.

Looking forward to any advise and possible ribbing to my lack of flying skills.

The autopilot will adjust elevator trim whenever a vertical mode is engaged, so you don't land with the same trim as takeoff.

 

I've never used a Saitek trim wheel so I can't help there, I would presume it rotates infinity but suggest you double-check by searching for a product review.

I've dug a little deeper since I posted. I believe the trim has 9 revolutions end to end. I've also noticed that the aircraft trim moves with the autopilot. I've not used my saitek gear with anything other than the JS41, so I would presume there would be a similarity with auto throttles. Where would you leave the throttles after the autopilot takes over? Maybe someone with this experience could help.

As I'm doing ok without the add on I think I'll leave it, unless eBay has a bargain. As it may just give me a headache.

The button I use for trim on my controller works just fine.  There is a repeat rate that you can adjust in the simulator's controls that might help you.

 

Yes, the AP uses trim just like any well trained pilot (I can still hear my instructor telling me to fly the trim). I don't see how the trim set by the AP would interfere with normal trim button use, of course you are not going to be adjusting trim with the AP engaged.  With that in mind, I would expect a trim wheel not to act like a control axis such as the throttles, but only send nose up or nose down "key presses."

 

I recommend getting your trim buttons to work for you first, it at all possible.

Recommendation taken on board. The trim wheel may look the part but in this case may not be practical.

Thanks for the advice Dan.

To the OP. I bought one about three months ago. Now it just occupies a space by my THQ. I have yet to get it to properly work. It is sporadic when I adjust it, I can't seem to set it up in FSUIPC registered version in P3Dv2.5. It will set up but only for one turn up and about half going down. So in essence you can't get it set right. I have become totally frustrated with this thing. It will more than likely wind up in the top of the closet. To answer your question, plain and simple NO. It will lead to a bunch of heart ache you don't need. I noticed the guys at A2A used one at the last show. If someone knows a way to make this thing work correctly I would love to hear about it. Cpt. out.

I have a quadrant with a built in trim wheel. Once you use it for setting the plane's pitch, you'll never go back to keyboard. Some airplanes, though, can be a bit finicky when you disconnect the autopilot, and the wheel allows to quickly recover from a dive.

tony

I have one also and it is ok so long as you hand fly the aircraft. If you do the TO and climb then switch on the AP, when you disengage the AP the trim wheel is out of synch with the aircraft model and you will see a large disagreement when you first touch the wheel.

I have this and its work great adds another level of realism for light planes

Thanks for the input guys. Not sure if anything is available but wouldn't it be great if our gear had servos in.

After taking everything on board I'm gonna stick with what I've got and program my first throttle lever as the trim. At least that way I can see what position it's at in comparison with the VC. That was something I successfully did a few years back for the captain sim 757. And until this minute had completely forgot.

The trim wheel is a really nice control for GA planes and much better than keys or buttons - if it works properly. However, on my system the wheel somehow wrecks my other USB controls (Saitek yoke and pedal). After a some time in the middle of a flight, they simply cease to work. If I remove the trim wheel, everything works fine. If I recall correctly, I had this issue under Win 7 and 8. I haven't tried it yet under Win 10.

 

I have tried different USB ports, a powered USB hub, and all kinds of drivers, but nothing helped. If someone has a suggestion, I would be most eager to learn about it.

 

Peter

I've heard of this problem but never come across it. I'm running 8.1 and have the saitek yolk, 2 throttle quads and rudder. They're all plugged into the yolk which is plugged into a rear usb3 port. The yoke doesn't have a separate power supply and I don't recall changing any usb settings. Try changing the usb port, it may help.

I have had the Saitek Trim Wheel for some time now and find it excellent especially for GA aircraft. I also had the problems mentioned, especially getting the unit to be recognised, but found the solution is to remove all usb control devices, then plug the trim wheel in first followed by the rest of the controls. Everything should work ok now.

I would advise strongly against an analog control for trim on the J41, as it will cause the autopilot to disco constantly.  Because it is a analog control and the autopilot can not move it, it will interpret that as pilot input and will disconnect.

 

Per AOM-

 

The autopilot will disengage if any of the following condition exist:

 

...

 

- Manual over-ride by the pilot beyond a point at which a servo clutch becomes disengaged.

 

I had my trim mapped to a wheel and it didn't work at all, mapping trim to buttons still works fine.  Get one for GA though, they are awesome!

 

(I know this is an old post but I wanted to share my troubleshooting for future use)

FSUIPC lets you use the mouse wheel as a trim wheel.