#4238 flashing red light on the black box

[romrzd]

Hi,

I opened a support ticket almost three months ago.

I received a part after two months, the change of this part did not solve the problem,

The VKB support asks me to send the grip back with the received part, but I still haven't got the address to which I have to send the product back!

It's been about four months since I bought this joystick and it's been broken for three months now!!!!!!!

[Eduard VKB FSC]

Sorry for missing your ticket. We have enforced our support team now. I am sure the ticket handling will be improved. The address to return the problematic grip is provided.

[vtracy]

Hi,
after many years of perfect operation, I seem to have a problem with the black box (Mk II) or the grip (KG12): The grip axes work finde but NO BUTTONS.
Red light is flashing on the black box (middle light). What can be the cause and how to fix it?
Thank you for any help.
Volker

[Delta]

Grip axes on a three-year-old gunfighter KG12? Pretty sure there is only base axes and buttons on that stick. Ensure that the grip is seated correctly, and try to inspect the contact pads on the connector between grip and base for damage.

[vtracy]

That is what I am trying to find out, preferably without having to dismantle grip or base! I assume the flashing red light (no. 2, middle) tells the support people something (that is what the lights are for, aren‘tthey). I could not find any user guide or error indicator document that could help me diagnose the error, that is why I am posting here.
Volker

[Delta]

You should be able to just loosen the grip connector and take the grip off the base without a full disassembly. That exposes contact pads on one side (if you have a black box mk2, probably the base) and pins on the other side (probably the grip). Take a photo of the pads and see what the damage looks like.

A flashing red LED on the black box and loss of grip input (which should affect axes and buttons alike, but not necessarily the base X/Y axes, and on older black boxes never the pedal axes) both point to the same thing; an interruption of bus communication. The most common cause on older Gunfighters is wear of the contact pads.

[Ron61]

See here.

[vtracy]

Ron61,
thank you. I assume the message of this chart is that the red LED flash means calibration is in progress.
However, what does ist mean when the flash persists? Calibration can not last longer than a few minutes?! (OR, it means that calibration is not possible?)
And: do BUTTONs need calibration? They just need assigning to a button in the aircraft, do they not?
Volker

[Delta]

That table describes the flashing of the SYS LED (on the left, near the push button) in the unified firmware, specifically as part of the auto-config process. LEDs 1/2/3 on the right follow configuration displayed in VKBDevCfg.

Calibration is an active process that requires the user to finish it (in unified firmware this can be done by pushing the Sys button). Before you do that, you should move every axis of the stick through its full range. There is no calibration for buttons unless those buttons are derived from a hidden axis, like the MCG flip trigger.

However, the way you are describing your issues, it looks very much like calibration is not your issue. Please check the connection between grip and base.

[vtracy]

Will do, thank you Delta and Ron.
Volker