Based on your feedback yesterday, I purchased the PMDG 737-600 and am loving it. Does anyone know why the trim wheel mapped to elevator trim axis -100 to +100 in the sim does not move the wheel in the aircraft? The axis works in the "sensitivity" window, so I know that it's recognized by msfs. If I map a button, the trim wheel works fine. It's programming the axis that seems odd. thanks.

While I can get the trim wheel axis working for most aircraft I own, I can't on the 737-700. I don't own the 600. Instead I setup elevator trim to two buttons, nose down and nose up.

Maybe some day someone will figure out the PMDG elevator trim axis, but until then ...

26 minutes ago, Twenty6 said:

While I can get the trim wheel axis working for most aircraft I own, I can't on the 737-700. I don't own the 600. Instead I setup elevator trim to two buttons, nose down and nose up.

Maybe some day someone will figure out the PMDG elevator trim axis, but until then ...

Although the real 737 does have a trim wheel, (primarily as a backup), 737 pilots would not use it in normal operations. It doesn’t work like  the trim wheel in a Cessna 172 or other GA airplane. It is geared extremely low, and you would have to make about 15 complete revolutions of the wheel to effect a one degree change in the trim. Normal trimming is always accomplished using the yoke mounted electrical switches. 

While it may be possible to assign the mechanical trim wheel to an MSFS axis, the question is: why would you want to do that?

12 hours ago, JRBarrett said:

While it may be possible to assign the mechanical trim wheel to an MSFS axis, the question is: why would you want to do that?

Because it's there and a trim wheel axis works on other default aircraft included with MSFS. I would expect a "study level" airplane from PMDG to have this working. Here's another really good reason from the PMDG description of their 737-700:

• Fully customized system simulation for all major and minor aircraft systems and components.

If they can wow me with wing flex, LED lites and a driveable pushback tug why can't they waste time activating the manual trim wheel and its resulting animation? It works when the AP is on.

12 minutes ago, Twenty6 said:

Because it's there and a trim wheel axis works on other default aircraft included with MSFS. I would expect a "study level" airplane from PMDG to have this working. Here's another really good reason from the PMDG description of their 737-700:

• Fully customized system simulation for all major and minor aircraft systems and components.

If they can wow me with wing flex, LED lites and a driveable pushback tug why can't they waste time activating the manual trim wheel and its resulting animation? It works when the AP is on.

I don’t know if it is possible to assign an axis to the trim wheel or not. The main reason they have probably not implemented one is because:

(1) It would require a hardware trim wheel that can continuously rotate to emulate how the actual 737 trim wheel works. Most hardware trim wheels have upper and lower physical limits and a limited range on the potentiometer between max nose down and max nose up. The only kind of hardware trim wheel that would work correctly is one that was specifically designed for a 737 simulation (with reduction gearing) like this one:

https://www.flightsimpm.com/web-store/737-Throttle-Quadrant-v2-4-p33600129

That quadrant costs almost £700. Do you have something like that?

2) In normal operations a 737 crew would never use the mechanical wheel to trim the airplane. It is only intended to be used if there is a failure of the electric trim - either a failure of the yoke-mounted switches, or a runaway trim scenario. I don’t think either kind of failure is emulated in the PMDG 737.

 

That makes sense. Not being familiar with the Boeing trim system, I assumed that my trim wheel could be used for the sim trim. I have not problem programming a toggle switch for trim . Thank you all.

1 hour ago, Twenty6 said:

Because it's there and a trim wheel axis works on other default aircraft included with MSFS. I would expect a "study level" airplane from PMDG to have this working. Here's another really good reason from the PMDG description of their 737-700:

• Fully customized system simulation for all major and minor aircraft systems and components.

If they can wow me with wing flex, LED lites and a driveable pushback tug why can't they waste time activating the manual trim wheel and its resulting animation? It works when the AP is on.

if you think the trim axis works with the mouse , you can do the same with elevator trim up and down like you do on the yoke, i did a test assign the same elvator trim up and down to a rotary encoder each step was approx 36deg  10 pulses on the encoder 1rev

Edited August 1, 20223 yr by westman

1 hour ago, JRBarrett said:

I don’t know if it is possible to assign an axis to the trim wheel or not. The main reason they have probably not implemented one is because:

It is. Can be done thru the MSFS Controls Panel, FSUIPC and/or Axis and Ohs. Except, to my knowledge, for the PMDG 737 and Aerosoft CRJ.

I'm sure here are others, too, but all I have is the 737 and CRJs. On those two aircraft I use buttons, one for nose down, one for nose up which works fine for the limited time you hand fly those planes. It's just sometimes you have to find the answer no matter how trivial

12 minutes ago, Twenty6 said:

It is. Can be done thru the MSFS Controls Panel, FSUIPC and/or Axis and Ohs. Except, to my knowledge, for the PMDG 737 and Aerosoft CRJ.

I'm sure here are others, too, but all I have is the 737 and CRJs. On those two aircraft I use buttons, one for nose down, one for nose up which works fine for the limited time you hand fly those planes. It's just sometimes you have to find the answer no matter how trivial

The real CRJ does not have a trim wheel, only yoke-mounted switches. The 737 is unique among airliners in actually having a mechanical trim wheel.

Trying to trim any airliner using a mechanical trim wheel is not remotely realistic. They all use yoke-mounted rocker switches. Perhaps you do not have a yoke with trim switches but have to use other buttons, so I understand that might not be the ideal option either.

On the honeycomb bravo the trim wheel works with the 737. But that’s a switch rather than an axis. 
 

As above though, yoke buttons are what is used in the real thing!