Problems with CH Pro Pedal USB brakes

[quink99]

Despite having used FSUIPC, a wonderful program, for several years now for all of my control assignments and calibration as well as all functions of buttons and key presses with out any trouble I find I am now encountering the following problem with my CH Pro Pedal USB brakes.

When attempting to assign and/or calibrate the Left and Right brake no matter how gently or how little I depress a brake the numbers which should be varying according to the amount of pedal depression show only the following numbers in the IN and OUT box; -16384 or 16384. and the in game braking action seems to be either full on or full off. As it stands now I believe the brakes are either full on or full off with the slightest pedal movement.

What I would like to accomplish is to get my brakes, as they have always been before, i.e. where the amount of braking depends on the amount of pedal application and to have varying calibration numbers so as to be able to leave a small space to allow slight depression of the brakes prior to the beginning of braking action to avoid accidental braking. I would also like to leave a small space at the fully depressed position.

My currently installed FSUIPC.dll is 3.947.

The following is extracted from my FSUIPC.ini;

[JoyNames]

AutoAssignLetters=No

0=CH PRO PEDALS USB

1=CH FIGHTERSTICK USB

2=CH PRO THROTTLE USB

[Axes.VAQ-132 E/A-18G Growler 503]

0=0X,256,D,7,0,0,0

1=0Y,256,D,8,0,0,0

2=0Z,256,D,3,0,0,0

3=1X,256,D,1,0,0,0

4=1Y,256,D,2,0,0,0

5=2Z,256,D,4,0,0,0

[JoystickCalibration.VAQ-132 E/A-18G Growler 503]

AllowSuppressForPFCquad=Yes

ExcludeThrottleSet=Yes

ExcludeMixtureSet=Yes

ExcludePropPitchSet=Yes

SepRevsJetsOnly=No

ApplyHeloTrim=No

FlapsSetControl=0

FlapDetents=No

ReverserControl=66292

Reverser1Control=66422

Reverser2Control=66425

Reverser3Control=66428

Reverser4Control=66431

MaxThrottleForReverser=256

AileronTrimControl=0

RudderTrimControl=0

CowlFlaps1Control=0

CowlFlaps2Control=0

CowlFlaps3Control=0

CowlFlaps4Control=0

MaxSteerSpeed=60

Aileron=-16384,-1430,1408,16256

SlopeAileron=-4

Elevator=-16384,-1690,1536,16383

Rudder=-16384,-512,512,16256/16

Throttle=-13263,15616/16

LeftBrake=-16384,16383

RightBrake=-16384,16384/16

Throttle1=-16380,-512,512,16380

Mixture1=-16384,8064,14464,14592

Mixture2=-16384,8192,14592,14592

SlopeLeftBrake=-5

SlopeRightBrake=-5

I am using Windows XP SP3 (32 bit) and FS2004

Any help in getting back to flying will be most appreciated.

[Pete Dowson]

Despite having used FSUIPC, a wonderful program, for several years now for all of my control assignments and calibration as well as all functions of buttons and key presses with out any trouble I find I am now encountering the following problem with my CH Pro Pedal USB brakes.

When attempting to assign and/or calibrate the Left and Right brake no matter how gently or how little I depress a brake the numbers which should be varying according to the amount of pedal depression show only the following numbers in the IN and OUT box; -16384 or 16384. and the in game braking action seems to be either full on or full off. As it stands now I believe the brakes are either full on or full off with the slightest pedal movement.

Sounds like you somehow have the toe brakes set for digital not analogue operation.

I think you also need to reverse the action before calibrating. You seem to have done that with only one of the brakes:

LeftBrake=-16384,16383

RightBrake=-16384,16384/16

SlopeLeftBrake=-5

SlopeRightBrake=-5

Slopes are generally not a good idea for brakes, but you should most certainly try calibrating with a null zone so that you don't get accidental braking when using the rudders for steering.

First thing you need to do, though, is get the toe brakes working in analogue mode. I'm afraid I cannot help with that -- maybe there's a switch, or maybe it's do do with the drivers?

Regards

Pete

[quink99]

Thanks for the prompt reply!

In my ignorance I must admit I don't understand the difference between "digital" and "analog" mode as it pertains to flight controls or how I can tell which mode I might be in. I am also not aware of any "switch" in either FS9, FSUIPC, or on my CH Pro Pedals that I might have inadvertantly altered to change from one mode to the other; certainly not in the last four days or so since this problem began.

You mentioned that one of my brakes appeared to be calibrated correctly and the other not. How could I tell which one was done correctly so that I won't attempt to recalibrate the correct one? Once both are calibrated correctly I will remove the slopes from the brakes.

If you concur that, prehaps, the best solution might be to start fresh I wonder if you might advise me exactly what to remove from both FS9 and FSUIPC to begin with a clean slate from a flight controls assignment and calibration standpoint.

Thanks again

[Pete Dowson]

In my ignorance I must admit I don't understand the difference between "digital" and "analog" mode as it pertains to flight controls or how I can tell which mode I might be in.

In this context, "digital" merely means the switch, button or lever only sends "on" or "off -- your +16384 and -16384. Analogue levers send a value depending on the position of the lever. As an example, most "gamepad" devices have directional pads which can operate like a true analog joystick, but most often, for most games, act as switches, just sending one of two values for the X and Y axes.

I am also not aware of any "switch" in either FS9, FSUIPC, or on my CH Pro Pedals that I might have inadvertantly altered to change from one mode to the other; certainly not in the last four days or so since this problem began.

There's no such switch in FS. If there isn't one on the pedals then I can only suggest checking the driver -- the options in Windows' "Game Controllers" applet. Also check that it is recognising the pedals correctly, and not actually as a gamepad!

If the problem only began 4 days ago, perhaps you can remember what you changed at the time? Except for hardware failures things don't change by themselves.

You mentioned that one of my brakes appeared to be calibrated correctly and the other not. How could I tell which one was done correctly so that I won't attempt to recalibrate the correct one? Once both are calibrated correctly I will remove the slopes from the brakes.

It'll be obvious when you try to use them. If one brake is permanently on unless you press it hard, that is not the right way around and needs reversing and re-calibrating. But until you get the apparent digital action of the brakes sorted it probably isn't worth bothering.

You should be able to get some advice for CH items over in Bob Church's CH Hangar -- http://www.ch-hangar.com/

If you concur that, prehaps, the best solution might be to start fresh I wonder if you might advise me exactly what to remove from both FS9 and FSUIPC to begin with a clean slate from a flight controls assignment and calibration standpoint.

Well, you can reset FSUIPC to default settings (i.e. none at all) by simply deleting the FSUIPC.INI file from the Modules folder before loading FS. For FS9 you'd delete the FS9.CFG file. But since neither have facilities for setting brakes to work the way you describe, more likely to help would be to unplug your pedals etc, uninstall any CH drivers, using Windows Control Panel, then reinstall the CH stuff after a computer re-boot.

Regards

Pete