Saitek throttle quadrant potentiometers replacements

[Lucas777 0]

I'm not sure if you guys are aware, but this control is garbage. In my case the potentiometers started malfunctioning after just a few hours of use.

I disassembled one of them and found the resistive track pretty much disappeared, you can barely notice it's there.

Anyway, I was wondering if someone knows about a replacement I can buy, I know this control was kinda popular in the past, I would be surprised if I'm the first one having this issue, considering the piece of word not allowed this control is. 🤧

Thanks in advance.

Edited April 6, 2020 by Lucas777

[MaDDogz 242]

Asked many times and as you say, the pots are pants!

ive never seen anyone replace them, as they are Chinese (!) and no replacements can be bought.

I have gone as far as stripping the one I had apart and cleaning the brass strip very gently, but it’s a waste of time, the problem came straight back.

this is a sim destroying problem, and really hinders your experience in the sim in many ways, taxi,takeoff, climb, approach, everything.

I would strongly advise replacing with something that has Hall Sensors. They are magnets...different altogether, and allows throttle settings to the decimal point (88.9 ..91.4..91.5 ect) instead of suddenly jumping all over the place in a ridiculous fashion.

I replaced mine with the Thrustmaster HOTAS warthog. Pricey but it’s quality, and my sim experience went from a stressful affair to very enjoyable one..

Yes, it’s a stick instead of a yoke, but the precision the Hall effect sensors offer is another factor. A nice flair is now doable, witch I found almost impossible with the yoke that pairs with that throttle...another thing that kill the sim experience.

A yoke with hall sensors is in a different price league altogether, many many more hundreds.

I spent the money because I use the sim a lot. You may not and might just use it a little and may not want to budget that much on a controller...either way, just replace it with something else, you’ll have hair for longer.

[jmdriskell 178]

I've been using the same CH Throttle Quad for over ten years without any problems.

Jim Driskell

[Biggles2010 342]

1 hour ago, Lucas777 said:

In my case the potentiometers started malfunctioning after just a few hours of use.

As Luke indicated, equivalent pots don't seem to be available on the retail market in Europe or the US.

Some users reported improvement after using electrical contact cleaning spray to give the pots a good soak. The surplus will evaporate in an hour or two. But if the quadrant is quite new can't you just return it as faulty. You may get a better sample.

Edited April 6, 2020 by Biggles2010

[micstatic 4,316]

I don't care for the thrustmaster warthog throttle.  It feels more like a fighter jet throttle to me.  I like the simplicity of the saitek.  When I replaced my throttle and stick I went with the saitek throttle quadrant and the t16000m.  The warthog was almost purchased for the stick, but in the end the weight of it and to a lesser extent the price killed it for me.  Additionally I like that i can easily attach the throttle to my desk freeing up space.  So when it comes time to replace the throttle I'll either buy another one or research more.  What throttles use hall sensors anyway?  Anything simple like the saitek?

[DaveCT2003 1,820]

2 hours ago, Lucas777 said:

 

I'm not sure if you guys are aware, but this control is garbage. In my case the potentiometers started malfunctioning after just a few hours of use.

I disassembled one of them and found the resistive track pretty much disappeared, you can barely notice it's there.

Anyway, I was wondering if someone knows about a replacement I can buy, I know this control was kinda popular in the past, I would be surprised if I'm the first one having this issue, considering the piece of word not allowed this control is. 🤧

Thanks in advance.

 

I have a lot of flight sim hardware, and for the past 15 years I've had two Satiek Throttle Quadrants (one with a PS2 connection (plug) and the other with a USB-A connection) and I'm still using them both today without issue.

It's not so much the controller, but the Potentiometer(s), or Pots for short.  Saitek has long been known for using lower quality Pots to keep the cost of the unit down and they are lower quality (not the worst however) and after a good amount of use they can also be fairly "noisy".  That said, the Pots can vary a good deal from one to the other, and you may well have gotten a few Pots that aren't so good.

Recently while providing technical support to one of our customers I diagnosed a calibration issue with a Saitek Throttle Quadrant.  We found that Saitek had a calibration reset utility available.  Due to how the Saitek drivers work, the Windows USB Game Controller Calibration tool does not reset the Saitek Calibration, which is why Saitek provided this tool.  Before using the Saitek utility I recommend going into P3D Axis Calibration settings, select the Saitek Throttle Quadrant, then select "Remove Calibration", then close P3D and use the Saitek Calibration Reset Utility, and then reboot your computer.

Then inside of P3D I recommend you try calibrating each Throttle Quadrant Axis with a Sensativity setting of 80 and a Null Zone of 20 and then test it during a flight (you can always change Calibration during your flight).  If this doesn't work then please try decreasing the sensitivity and increase the null zone a little more, but keep in mind that you don't always have to adjust both settings at the same time (Example:  You may not need to adjust the Null Zone more than 20 if you're not suffering an issue where the controller sends an input when it shouldn't be doing so).

 

If the throttle Quadrant works well for you with these settings then you can try / test increasing the Sensitivity and decreasing the Null Zone setting. The graphic below shows the settings which I use with my Saitek Throttle Quadrant, but please remember that each Pot is different than the next one thus each Controller is different as well so one person's settings won't necessarily work for someone else.

 

NOTE:  A lot of people get hung up on maximizing Axis sensitivity and eliminating or substantially reducing the Null (Dead) Zone for throttle quadrant axis however this is not always a good thing to do ESPECIALLY with controllers which use lower grade Pots such as Saitek uses.

 

If after doing all the above you're still having issues then you may want to use FSUIPC to bind and calibrate the Saitek Throttle Quadrant Axis.  I no longer use FSUIPC to assign controller buttons and Axis, however when one is dealing with a noisy potentiometer it's the very best application I know of to eliminate the noise from a noisy potentiometer and because of this FSUIPC has saved a lot of Saitek owners a lot of money since the software made it possible to continue to use the controller instead of shelling out more money to replace it. The FSUIPC Documentation and forums are terrific so you'll never be along as you work things out.

I hope this proved helpful to you my friend.

Best wishes!

[Lucas777 0]

Thanks everyone,

I can't afford like the Thrustmaster and they don't even sell in my country.

@DaveCT2003 I really appreciate it but it's a hardware issue, as I explained the potentiomenter I checked had the track totally erased.

I guess when once the virus thing ends I will try to buy a ch throttle quadrant (the layout sucks btw) or a Honeycomb Bravo Throttle Quadrant, if they ever release it.

[BIGSKY 316]

Would these work as replacements?

https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/tt-electronics-bi/6127V1A180L.5FS/987-1392-ND/2620661

[ark 1,288]

2 hours ago, BIGSKY said:

Would these work as replacements?

https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/tt-electronics-bi/6127V1A180L.5FS/987-1392-ND/2620661

Unfortunately no. The pots in the Saitek throttle quadrant don't have an inherent shaft, in fact they are about the size of a US nickle -- very small. Below you see the two parts of a Saitek throttle pot which has been taken apart for cleaning.

Al

Edited April 7, 2020 by ark

[Lucas777 0]

It's not only the shape, it also needs to match the resistance value.

[ark 1,288]

In the picture above, the disk-like part of the pot that is laying on the table has a number of metallic contacts that slide against a carbon like surface in the square, yellow housing that you see attached to the wires -- that is the potentiometer (resistance) function. In addition, those contacts also implement the 'switch' function that is activated when you move a throttle lever all the way 'down' into the cutoff or reverse range. So if you do take the pot apart to clean it as shown in the picture, which I have done (there are Youtube videos on how to do this), you have to be careful to reassemble the pot so the metallic contacts have the correct orientation inside the yellow housing. You also have to be careful not to break any of the wires where they attach to the contacts on the yellow housing. If you do this, work slowly and carefully, and suggest taking pictures with your cellphone as you disassemble the throttle quadrant to help with reassembly.

Al

Edited April 7, 2020 by ark

[C2615 319]

I have them replaced, using the port from PS3 pad joystick assembly(left one), it fit in and kinda works.

BUT, the reverse range was changed after that swap, the idle will set reverser, otherwise it's fine, without any other tweak possible, I just dig one more hole above the original reverser detent, kinda works....

2 hours ago, Lucas777 said:

It's not only the shape, it also needs to match the resistance value.

Not really, 3-pin potentiometer with proper chips could self calibrate, but the problem I have here maybe done to the linearity of resistance

Now I went a "new" "logetech" one but the old one with replacement still function. I wash the new one with WD40 electronic contact cleaner regularly so far so good.

Edited April 7, 2020 by C2615

[Lucas777 0]

10 hours ago, ark said:

In the picture above, the disk-like part of the pot that is laying on the table has a number of metallic contacts that slide against a carbon like surface in the square, yellow housing that you see attached to the wires -- that is the potentiometer (resistance) function. In addition, those contacts also implement the 'switch' function that is activated when you move a throttle lever all the way 'down' into the cutoff or reverse range. So if you do take the pot apart to clean it as shown in the picture, which I have done (there are Youtube videos on how to do this), you have to be careful to reassemble the pot so the metallic contacts have the correct orientation inside the yellow housing. You also have to be careful not to break any of the wires where they attach to the contacts on the yellow housing. If you do this, work slowly and carefully, and suggest taking pictures with your cellphone as you disassemble the throttle quadrant to help with reassembly.

AI

Thank you, but for 3rd time, there is no fix for me, the resistive track almost disappeared.

[Lucas777 0]

10 hours ago, C2615 said:

Not really, 3-pin potentiometer with proper chips could self calibrate, but the problem I have here maybe done to the linearity of resistance

Maybe within a range close to the original part, which seems to have a very low resistance value.

I'm pretty sure you cannot use just any other pot, actually I have tried a couple I have here and they didn't work.

[flyforever 267]

I remember trying to find a fix for these pots. Not only was I unsuccessful finding a fix, but I had a very hard time reassembling the unit to its original state. This is when I decided to build my own quadrant.

tc