Ethernet cable on Alpha Yoke intermittent/lost connection

[DaveGi 17]

I have had the Alpha Yoke for just over a year now; I have noticed intermittent un-responsiveness when using the yoke in MSFS 2020 (Windows 10). The yoke had been working perfectly until relatively recently. Now if I want to use the hat switch or cycle from cockpit to outside the aircraft using the Alpha Yoke buttons, I have to 'waggle' the short ethernet cable with my other hand to get the desired response. I have tried re-inserting the cable which has made no difference to the connectivity and I fear this is getting worse. I am not sure if it is the Alpha Yoke contacts or the ethernet cable and your help/support and experience would be really helpful.

Thanks

 

Dave.Gi  

[Shannyla 1]

Hi Dave, it's down to the solder joints breaking due to flex between the PCB and the RJ45 socket, caused by the short and stiff cable. It's a job that can be done if you know how to solder small PCB joints, but as your yoke is within warranty I would get onto Aerosoft about the fault.

A temporary solution that worked for me was to get a short flat 15cm ethernet cable from Amazon. The flat ones are a lot more flexible. This doesn't move the socket so much, if at all.

See the I Repaired my Alpha Yoke's RJ-45 Port thread that's also in this subforum.

[Noel 4,484]

On 5/12/2022 at 9:37 AM, Shannyla said:

See the I Repaired my Alpha Yoke's RJ-45 Port thread that's also in this subforum.

Do you see a method to prevent stresses on the PCB/soldered connections to help reduce risk for this manifesting?  Perhaps a sleeve/collar that grasps the cable so that when the cable is tugged on when rolling the yoke the stress is on the cable holder rather than the RJ45 port or connector? 

[helberger 72]

If you scroll down on the "repaired my Alpha Yoke's RJ-45 Port you will see how it is done. I you are planning

on getting this yoke and replace the cable you would most likely avoid the problem.

[Noel 4,484]

On 9/5/2022 at 12:45 PM, helberger said:

If you scroll down on the "repaired my Alpha Yoke's RJ-45 Port you will see how it is done. I you are planning

on getting this yoke and replace the cable you would most likely avoid the problem.

I see.  Looks effective but kind of funky.  What I will try doing if I decide to go with the XPC yoke is glue a sleave/collar that would move the lateral stresses on to the cable rather than the port and stick with the OEM coiled cable.

[Shannyla 1]

The issue is that the RJ45 socket is held to a small bit of pcb by some rather delicate and fragile soldering. It's very neat, but not very strong, hence the repair is to do some "Plumber's Soldering" leaving great hefty blobs of solder, though obviously neat enough not to short out...

My thoughts were that the RJ45 socket required mechanically fixing to either the case or the pcb. My thought was to to heat shrink the socket and the pcb together, so reducing the amount of flex between those two components caused by the stiff short cable.