Gunfighter mk.II - MCG Pro grip - X axis twitching problem

[CARTOK]

And here's screenshot from vkbdevcfg.

[CARTOK]

To follow-up on my previous post; took the base apart again, including removing the x-axis sensor board. Cleaned the surface under, replaced the tape, unplugged the senor board cable and reversed direction of the cable. Made sure to route it free from the board when reassembling it. I gather from the looks of it, the sensor board cable can get ever so slightly caught on the edge of the board as you go through the extremes of the x-axis range. Having assembled everything, it's now been working fine since my previous post (i.e. a couple of days). Let's see if it lasts. The base internals are very nicely put together, so maintenance is relatively easy (but becomes cumbersome if disassembly is frequently required...).
Will respond to this post if I have further issues.

[rtrski]

I think I can honestly say I have not had the same problem since my Mk III upgrade.

[Rlaxoxo]

So this morning I noticed twitching problem once again (After a week)
After opening it up I noticed the following:




And as I suspected ... The cable was so bad that one of the wires fell off.

Does anyone know what I need to do or who to contact to get a replacement?
I'm from Croatia.

[Drano]

This, IMO, is likely going to be the problem with any twitchy behavior in the axii. The sensors themselves, due to their nature, do not lend themselves to this. They're not pots like the last generation of controllers. Pots would get dirty and require regular cleaning or else they'd get twitchy. What has remained a common thread between them, however, is that there has to be a physical connection between the sensor and the circuit board. And as long as there is movement in that connection this will likely happen to all of them at some point in time whether it be the connector has worked loose (as has happened to me, unfortunately more than once) or a solder joint has failed (as yours has here) or a wire has simply broken if only by the flexing action on it caused by the movement of the gimbal. It'd never fail if you never moved the stick! But that's not the idea!

The good news for you is this could be easily fixed if you have some soldering skills. Nothing major. You can pop the metal pin out of the plastic connector, unsolder and remove the wire in it, and then re-solder the wire to it. Pop it back on and you're back in business. That would likely be a lot quicker than waiting on a replacement. I've no idea how fast they could get one to you.

[Drano]

Would add the only other thing causing twitchy behavior would be the two screws inside the grip that hold the gimbal shaft connector to the grip housing working loose. That usually manifests itself on the roll axis as a little spike as you pass center. This happens as the grip itself shifts on that connector going across center not being tight. Not the problem here of course.

[Fri13]

And another screenshot immediately after my previous post, where I thought the issue had gone away (these are all full X deflections left and right, note that it doesn't even reach max on one occasion).

I started to have these similar problems while back. It sometimes goes away but usually appears. It is mainly on X axis but graphics show it is as well on the Y axis. Sometimes the stick axis range just goes very small or just for one direction. So that you are example using only a 30-50% of the ranges and that is not just on X or Y axis but can be as well on the brake or even mini-stick.

Performed calibration multiple times, reflashing multiple times, changing orange box and USB port etc.
It just suddenly started.

[Rlaxoxo]

I know my issues have been fixed when I asked for a new X-axis cable from VKB and it worked just fine for months.

[Fri13]

I have as well come to have the X-axis problem in the center position. There were first odd things going on where stick didn't register full range of the stick movement, physically having like -100-0-20 scale (0 is the center of stick, -100 is full aft in X-axis, and 20 is for 20% forward in X-axis). Then it went away after couple calibrations and suddenly the center became jumpy every time stick passed the 10-20% range from the center.

The fix for me was that I found here the photos of the X-axis cables getting loose from the connector. In the photos it was the yellow cable, and I had that exact problem too. So dissemble the joystick to get access to it and unplug the connector, push the yellow cable deeper the connector and plug back and assemble the setup. No more problems.
Now I am waiting that I get my hot glue gun back from the loan so I can dissemble the joystick again and secure those cables to connectors with small amount of glue. Don't want to use a normal glue as then it can't be easily removed if required.

It really is a weakpoint that the connectors do not have any hot glue on the cables. There is enough loose cable for movement, but it is just enough to make a so small connector loosen its smaller/thin cables overtime.
I don't believe that the circuitboard or the cable needs replacement itself as the female connectors seem to hold on it well, but the cables don't stay well in male connector but gets loosen. Wonder that why it is the yellow one....

[Ron61]

You can try before connecting the cables, treat with "Aerosol Vaseline grease to protect the car battery terminals" (not silicone) the connectors on the boards.
Moreover, and on the output board. It helped me.

[Snacko]

Wow, so glad I found this post. I received my new Reverb G2 and have gotten back into DCS after a while. I have had to 'tweak' the Bias on my X axis to re-center it for almost a year now. Took it apart twice but found nothing. After seeing this I put white paper under the stick and took that small circuit board off. I didn't see anything sticking to the magnet. But then I noticed a tiny shard of metal on the paper. Not sure where it came from. It could have been in the clutch. Anyhow, I assumed that was the problem and now it seems to be working fine again. Cheers!!

[CARTOK]

Since I previously posted here, just going back for an update:

I've had continued X axis twitching going on, on and off since last posting. For some period it was less, then it was more, then less again.

I found this thread on another forum that finally gave me a hint: https://forums.mudspike.com/t/issues-with-the-y-axis-on-my-vkb-base/8854/39

Once again, disassembled the joystick base, took the X axis sensor board off, cleaned all surfaces (didn't see/find anything, but just to make sure there was no metal debris interfering). Then I fastened the x axis grub screw (as much as I could, it either moved slightly, or I just started stripping the tiny 1mm screw). I also removed the x axis sensor board spacers (just couldn't figure out why they were needed as the distance without the spacers is similar to the y axis sensor board, also to note that they're not really spacers, they're locking spacers which is a bit weird in itself).

After assembling the base again, I finally (?) have no x axis twitching going on - the axis is super smooth, as smooth as you'd expected, without any "surprises".

If this wouldn't work, my next step would be to remove the x axis and loc-tite in place as suggested in the above linked forum post (as directed by VKB support in that instance).

Hope this updates helps someone.

x axis sensor board spacers

x axis sensor board without spacers

tiny x axis grub screw

[fallout9]

Nice walkthrough, thanks for sharing!

[CARTOK]

Unfortunately, the same problem is back again. Random twitching and x axis center getting slightly offset from time to time:

Updated to latest VKB firmware (XT2 v2.099), but no improvement. The tiny movement and occasional random offset seems to be very much the issue captured in the link in my previous post (https://forums.mudspike.com/t/issues-with-the-y-axis-on-my-vkb-base/8854/42).

To confirm, the only realistic (and perhaps recommended) solution is to disassemble the axis and LocTite it?

Reference image from linked forum post:

[fallout9]

I suggest to not follow the resolve in the link you posted, as they seem different issues. You seem to have spikes, for the other guy clearly the magnet was shifting position.
Check again your wires - take the case off the base, connect it and slowly move the wires around and try to replicate those spikes. Be careful with static discharges (wear an anti-static strap if possible). You could also take apart the JST connectors, clean them up and plug them back firmly (how to handle JST connectors).