CH Pro Pedals to be RMA'd

[romeokilo]

Hi all

 

Just wondering if anybody has had issues with these pedals before. I bought a brand new and sealed set about a week ago on eBay.

 

(I did have a set of Saitek Combats, but sold them because they are to wide and wont fit in my Obutto Cockpit)

 

 

They worked fine for about 4 hours, then I began to find my hog acting strangely.

 

After some crazy landings I checked in axis tune and the rudder is slowly moving from center to full left rudder without me touching them. If i wiggle them around a bit it returns to center, but eventually begins moving to left again. Also now seems to be large dead zones all through the axis.

 

I just emailed CH and asked about the RMA process. Anybody done this before? Easy process?

 

And I'm in Australia, so shipping costs will kill me :mad:

 

Cheers :thumbup:

[Korn]

I had a similar problem and opened them up. There was a broken wire... it was shorter then the others so i lenghtened it. Never had an issue since then... this was years ago.

 

I bought them through intermediaries from the US so i had no problem with voiding the warranty.

 

If you know your way around a screwdriver you might give it a shot. I thought they were fairly easy to open and the construction is very simple. However some people seem to think the opposite...

 

LE: a couple of pics here. The post is in romanian, sorry :).

Edited July 2, 2013 by Korn

[531-Ghost]

What do the pedal axis do in Control Manager during calibration?

 

http://www.ch-hangar.com/forum/index.php/topic/6207-pro-pedals-repair-video-toe-brake-axis-out-of-warranty/

Edited July 2, 2013 by 531-Ghost

[IvanK]

CH customer service is brilliant. I had an issue with CH pedals similar to the first post. I put a post up on the CH forum. Debbie responded quickly. I purchased the pedals through an Australian distributor. Debbie organised an immediate exchange without me having to do a thing.... Fantastic service.

 

That aside what CH need to do is build their pedals with a slightly larger separation of the pedals and put bigger springs in.

[romeokilo]

I had a similar problem and opened them up. There was a broken wire... it was shorter then the others so i lenghtened it. Never had an issue since then... this was years ago.

 

I was going to have a look inside, but I just couldn't bring myself to peel off the warranty void sticker this early into its life.

 

What do the pedal axis do in Control Manager during calibration?

 

 

Didn't even know about that software! :thumbup:

Had a look, and basically its doing the same thing it does in DCS axis tune. The Z axis is centered at 128, and eventually it slowly starts counting down to zero without any input. It centers again if I just tap the pedal case with my feet without even touching a pedal, so Id say its definitely a hardware issue.

 

CH customer service is brilliant. I had an issue with CH pedals similar to the first post. I put a post up on the CH forum. Debbie responded quickly. I purchased the pedals through an Australian distributor. Debbie organised an immediate exchange without me having to do a thing.... Fantastic service.

 

That aside what CH need to do is build their pedals with a slightly larger separation of the pedals and put bigger springs in.

 

Emailed CH and got a reply straight away. They said they could start an RMA, but recommended I contact the seller to find out their returns policy first. Which I have done. I've read the eBay sellers policy and noticed there are some conflicting statements as to what they will do. I'm patiently waiting on a reply...

 

And yeah I like the wide stance on the saiteks, but specifically bought the CH so they would fit in my obutto ozone.

 

Thanks all! :thumbup:

Edited July 3, 2013 by romeokilo

[romeokilo]

And this is the confusing statements on the eBay sellers returns page-

 

This was on the listing i purchased-

 

 

 

1 YEAR RTB (RETURN TO BASE) WARRANTY!

 

The warranty we offer is a RTB Warranty (you must return any warranty claims to our Brisbane service centre). Simply contact us via ebay or email; we will then advise you on how to proceed with the returns process. You do not have to save invoices or fill out warranty cards; we have your purchase details on file, for your peace of mind.

 

WE WORK REALLY HARD TO BRING YOU THE BEST DEAL IN THE WORLD!

 

LOWEST PRICES WITH A COMPREHENSIVE AUSTRALIAN SELLER WARRANTY!

 

Most sellers on ebay do not offer warranties, local dealers will not honour warranty on overseas purchases; please bear this in mind when you make your purchasing decision.

 

 

And this is in the print on their store page-

 

Return policy details

Returns will only be accepted in situations where the buyer receives damaged/Dead On Arrival (DOA) items, seller reserves the right to accept returns on all other cases and a 40% restocking fee will apply if seller decides to accept returns. Seller will pay return postage fees for damaged/DOA items, buyer will have to pay all return costs in all other circumstances.

 

And to add to the confusion-

 

The listing said - Location- Northern Territory AU

 

The warranty says return to Brisbane Queensland AU

 

But the package I received came from the US!

 

Confusing much???

Edited July 3, 2013 by romeokilo

[Axion]

Suffered a similar problem, albeit this was spiking and jittering in the axis, very noticeable in software and game.

 

Found it was due to the pedals being plugged into a USB Hub as apposed to the motherboard.

[Scarecrow]

Had exactly the same problem, CH were good about it but the intermittent nature of the problem meant that I had to go into them myself.

 

No wires broken and everything looked fine just as the CH tech had told me:(

 

I noticed that the connections weren't soldered but "sleeves" that you crimped/clamped/squished (don't know the correct term) onto the connectors and one of them was a tiny bit loose. :detective:

 

I squished it with some pliers to make a better connection, put them back together and they have worked flawlessly for the last seven years. :cheer3nc:

Edited July 4, 2013 by Scarecrow

[romeokilo]

Sellers response-

 

Dear XXXXXX

 

Thanks for the query, this does not sound like a defective potentiometer, please read the following thread in detail:

 

http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/3687301/Centering_my_CH_Pro_Pedals_in_

 

Please tell us how you go.

 

Best regards,

 

XXXXXX

[Scarecrow]

Looks like you're going to have to go into them or do as the original seller did :music_whistling:

I bet you're not happy, that is low

 

If you go into them remember to watch this and ask here or at CH forum for advice.

 

 

http://www.ch-hangar.com/forum/index.php/topic/6207-pro-pedals-repair-video-toe-brake-axis-out-of-warranty/

 

EDIT: Those videos don't exist lol.

[531-Ghost]

DOH! They did at one time. If I had to guess based on what I'm reading here I'd guess you've got a connection on a POT that is not as good as it should be. CH uses press on connectors. What I've done in the past is, open the controller, solder the connecters in place, problem solved. Both of the POTs I put into the Franken-Potato are soldered connectors.

Edited July 4, 2013 by 531-Ghost

[romeokilo]

I've responded to the seller with my disagreement and am waiting on a reply.

 

If I don't receive the reply I'm looking for ill probably just bite the bullet and open them up for a look.

[Hawk_5]

I've had to open up my CH pedals numerous times for spiking problems overs the years. Returned them for a warranty fix once early on to that QLD office but the shipping cost a lot and a couple of those makes it uneconomical to get it fixed under warranty anyway. I am quite familiar with the internals nowadays and have replaced a harness from one of the pedals with new wiring which fixed a very bad problem at the time. Always watch that you get the wiring back into its small slots to hold it in place when reassembling as it can easily come out and then be run over and crushed and pulled on by pedal movement.

Soldering the connections is a big improvement too. I found the pots themselves to be very good quality and I think would rarely, if ever be the root cause of a spiking issue. I found one caused me a problem some years back and that was because it had excessive grease inside. I cleaned it up a bit while leaving some grease in there and its been flawless ever since. If you've had them a while a opening up and a good clean is good anyway as a lot of crap can build up in there and clog up the running tracks. A nice clean gets them running smoothly again.

[romeokilo]

Seller never got back to me (:mad:) and the postage to the US would be ridiculous.

 

So... today I caved in-

 

 

The problem was the terrible factory spade connections on the pot.

Soldered it up and is now working as it should. :thumbup:

 

Thanks everyone for the advice :thumbup:

[Scarecrow]

Good stuff, hope you lodged a complaint with Ebay to stop this seller ever selling again:thumbup: