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Main => Main Forum => Topic started by: alphasqorner on July 07, 2005, 01:40:20 am

Title: "dirty" potentiometers?? (with AKI )
Post by: alphasqorner on July 07, 2005, 01:40:20 am: I have the spring loaded pots from a world series cp and I bought the AKI from Dave. I believe I have wired them correctly to both X and Y axis' then grounded the Z axis as specified for unused axis'.

But my problem is, when I calibrate the controls, they seem to flicker around and don't seem to want to go to their extreme positions consistently. Is there some kind of pot maintenance/cleaning that my controls need?

I am 100% sure it is wired correctly so I'm thinking it's the pots or something related to them.
Title: Re: "dirty" potentiometers?? (with AKI )
Post by: Lilwolf on July 07, 2005, 07:53:45 am: I had the same problem in beta. We tried changing the timing of the polling and this and that. It ended up that I needed to rewire the stick itself and the problems went away... and that I needed to ground (or unground) to the chassy I can't remember.

but if anyone knows how to clean a pot. I would love to hear.
Title: Re: "dirty" potentiometers?? (with AKI )
Post by: Brunnen-G on July 07, 2005, 09:08:56 am: http://store.caig.com/s.nl/sc.2/category.183/.f
Title: Re: "dirty" potentiometers?? (with AKI )
Post by: Lilwolf on July 07, 2005, 09:14:51 am: wow at those prices... it might be worth buying another pot based joystick on ebay and hope for a better set.
Title: Re: "dirty" potentiometers?? (with AKI )
Post by: alphasqorner on July 07, 2005, 10:20:32 am: Quote from: Lilwolf on July 07, 2005, 07:53:45 am
I had the same problem in beta. We tried changing the timing of the polling and this and that. It ended up that I needed to rewire the stick itself and the problems went away... and that I needed to ground (or unground) to the chassy I can't remember.

but if anyone knows how to clean a pot. I would love to hear.

hey lilwolf, what kind of re-wiring did you have to do? did you have to swap the "axis" and +5 connections? (or swap ground with axis, or any combo of the three)
Title: Re: "dirty" potentiometers?? (with AKI )
Post by: Ken Layton on July 07, 2005, 11:22:56 am: There are several well-known volume control/potentiometer cleaning/lubricating sprays on the market. The one I like to use is "Nu-Trol Control Cleaner" (with lubricant). It is made by MG Chemicals and is catalog number 401B-140g (barcode 779008401149). They can be contacted at 1-800-201-8822 or www.mgchemicals.com

To use, just stick the little red nozzle that comes with the can into the cleaning hole in the pot/volume control and give it a quick tap of a spray. Now turn the control shaft all the way through it's full range back-and-forth several times. Control should now be clean and noise free.
Title: Re: "dirty" potentiometers?? (with AKI )
Post by: Minwah on July 07, 2005, 12:07:02 pm: I found my AKI works best with 5k arcade pots, better than 100k gameport-style pots, fwiw. It could be just co-incidence, I'm not sure...