Best Trim Wheel

[Glenn Fitzpatrick 3,798]

Just wanted to add an update to this thread.

Fulcrum are working on a trim wheel but it is some way off (maybe even 2022? ) but should be amazing when it finally arrives.

Meanwhile the Flight Velocity stand alone one has been changed to map to an axis rather than buttons:

https://flightvelocity.com/products/flight-velocity-trim-wheel

[regis9 4,020]

12 hours ago, Glenn Fitzpatrick said:

Meanwhile the Flight Velocity stand alone one has been changed to map to an axis rather than buttons:

Are there issues with the trim wheel as an axis related to the autopilot?  I’m seeing some concerns noted up thread?  Or am I misunderstanding?

[Glenn Fitzpatrick 3,798]

5 hours ago, regis9 said:

Are there issues with the trim wheel as an axis related to the autopilot?  I’m seeing some concerns noted up thread?  Or am I misunderstanding?

In MSFS it seems if a trim wheel is on an axis odd things happen once AP turns off if it does not match the  last setting of the AP.

I assume this is mainly an issue with an analogue trim wheel and with an encoder based axis wheel like this  you could just turn it off or unplug it  while on AP ?    No idea.

[regis9 4,020]

Thanks, I’d be curious to hear from anyone who buys this, it does look good but I want to ensure it plays nice with the autopilot.

[Stona 39]

3 hours ago, Glenn Fitzpatrick said:

In MSFS it seems if a trim wheel is on an axis odd things happen once AP turns off if it does not match the  last setting of the AP.

I assume this is mainly an issue with an analogue trim wheel and with an encoder based axis wheel like this  you could just turn it off or unplug it  while on AP ?    No idea.

Logic is pretty simple really

Lets say you start the flight with your trim wheel set at  x turns nose up
Once you engage autopilot the autopilot takes over trimming the plane (you can actually see the sim's trim wheel moving in-game while flying)
 

The trouble is whilst the sim's trim wheel is moving your physical trim wheel isn't; yours remains stationary fixed at x turns nose up

So as autopilot is flying it's got the trim wheel at around y turns; you don't know if it's nose up or nose down!

then when you disengage autopilot  things seem all good until you realise you need to slightly trim nose down a little bit more so you make a tiny nose down adjustment on your wheel BUT then only to discover that the autopilot had set the trim several turns nose down and yours was actual set at nose up so suddenly your plan pitches wildly up and you have to turn turn turn turn nose down until you match where the autopilot had it set just to make a little adjustment.

It's a pain and I don't think autopilot problem can easily be solved without having motorised trim wheels 

I've tried both the axis trim wheel and now have a Honeycomb Bravo who's trim wheel uses an binary up/down signal which means it is effectively always in sync with the sims trim wheel 
Whilst not realistic; I find the Bravo's trim wheel easier to use and funnily more realistic even tho it's not on an axis

 

 

 

Edited January 19, 2021 by Stona

[Glenn Fitzpatrick 3,798]

1 hour ago, Stona said:

Once you engage autopilot the autopilot takes over trimming the plane (you can actually see the sim's trim wheel moving in-game while flying)
 

Which is realistic, the Dash 8 video below illustrates that.

Unfortunately motorised trim wheels are going to either be very expensive or very difficult to make DIY.

One hope is that if you have an encoder based axis wheel and turn it off with a switchable USB hub while using it on AP then and switch it back on it may avoid the issue but who knows.  An axis wheel with a trim position indicator would also be handy but I do not know of any.

Ideally a trim wheel that can be switched between axis and buttons would be a good thing.  Unfortunately i am not aware of such a thing.

 

..--   random video of older Dash 8 with AP moving the trim wheels  --

 

 

[marsman2020 1,310]

The change to the Flight Velocity trim wheel to be an axis probably rules it out for MSFS, for the reasons described above.

This is ripe for a 3D printing project. It can't be more than $20 in electronics for an Arduino + rotary encoder and like $5 in plastic.  

[Stona 39]

3 hours ago, Glenn Fitzpatrick said:

Which is realistic, the Dash 8 video below illustrates that.

Absolutely sure is which was my point; does the FS2020 even have a simconnect variable that transmits the location of the trim wheel?

[Glenn Fitzpatrick 3,798]

1 minute ago, Stona said:

Absolutely sure is which was my point; does the FS2020 even have a simconnect variable that transmits the location of the trim wheel?

 

I do not think so as one of the issues with using alt trim in XPForce (which moves the yoke on an FFB yoke/stick when you trim) is yoke and trim get out of sync with the visual representation on screen.

[Stona 39]

5 minutes ago, Glenn Fitzpatrick said:

 

I do not think so as one of the issues with using alt trim in XPForce (which moves the yoke on an FFB yoke/stick when you trim) is yoke and trim get out of sync with the visual representation on screen.

wow it's complicated to solve then;  possibly impossible to solve

Up/down button trim wheels are really the best option then!

[Glenn Fitzpatrick 3,798]

2 minutes ago, Stona said:

Up/down button trim wheels are really the best option then!

True though flight Velocity said the reason to change to an axis was better control and more precision.

Or map buttons on a joystick for AP flights and map trim wheel on an axis for use with the bush planes and little stuff.

I might just see what Fulcrum come up with, they have one planned eventually.

[marsman2020 1,310]

A lot of the aircraft in the sim have electronic trim buttons the yoke, so I don't feel too bad about using two directions of a 4 way HAT on my stick for trim.  Sometimes I do wish it was a little more precise.  

[Glenn Fitzpatrick 3,798]

32 minutes ago, marsman2020 said:

A lot of the aircraft in the sim have electronic trim buttons the yoke, so I don't feel too bad about using two directions of a 4 way HAT on my stick for trim.  Sometimes I do wish it was a little more precise.  

 

Yeah though I am reasonably sure the buttons on Yoke trend is a cost saving measure as AP enabled trim wheels of acceptable quality for real aircraft would not come cheap compared to a couple of buttons.

The couple of times I have heard it commented on WRT real aircraft, people seem to prefer the trim wheels.

Edited January 20, 2021 by Glenn Fitzpatrick

[Jetman67 517]

On 9/14/2020 at 12:14 AM, haskell said:

Saitek Cessna Wheel works flawlessly for me. I only have to wake it up once, at the beginning of the flight. Works great for me, especially in the GA planes. 

same here

[Glenn Fitzpatrick 3,798]

This looks interesting:

 

https://flightvelocity.com/collections/flight-simulator-flight-controls/products/flight-velocity-trim-wheel-pro