Somebody asked me to look at their Saitek X52, which'd been "glitching" randomly.
I figured that it was probably a broken wire (as opposed to a wire that'd broken at it's connection) that was causing the intermittent fault.
The truth, as it turned out, was far more convoluted.
First, a quick word about how data cables are constructed.
You've usually got a bunch of thin copper wires in PVC sheaths that are wrapped in a foil shield, there's a bare shield wire which earths the shield and then there's the outer PVC sheath covering the whole lot.
First thing to know is that the foil shield is usually made of aluminium.
The problem with aluminium is that it isn't very robust and it's prone to corrosion (even inside a cable) and the continual flexing of a cable, coupled with corrosion over a period of years, means that the foil shield will inevitably begin to break up.
This isn't a big deal since the shield wire still touches all the fragments of foil and so still does the job of absorbing any interference and sending it to earth.
Usually.
The first issue with the X52 is that it doesn't just use the shield wire (between the throttle and stick) to absorb interference.
It actually uses it as a data wire, probably as a common 0v reference (I didn't actually get around to checking that).
That isn't great but it's not a big deal.
The big deal, as it turns out, is that Saitek, at some point, decided to SERIOUSLY cheap-out over the construction of the cable between the throttle and stick.
What they've done is build the cables with around 6" of shield wire at one end and another 6" at the other end, so it can be soldered.
The shield wire does NOT run all the way through the cable.
Instead, there's just a tail of wire which enters the cable, touching the foil wrap, and then relies on the foil wrap to carry the signal from the stick to the throttle.
The same foil wrap which corrodes and breaks up over time.
Turns out that's the problem this X52 had.
The foil wrap in the cable had broken up and, as a result, there was no way for the throttle to get a reliable 0v reference so the inputs were all over the place.
I tested this by quickly soldering a thin wire between the throttle and joystick to provide a reliable replacement for the signal normally sent through the shield wire.
That fixed the problem but it's a bodge, with an extra wire running between the throttle and stick.
So, now I need to chop up an old printer lead, or something, and use that to make a replacement cable between the throttle and stick.
I'm wondering if this is one of the things that's resulted in Saitek having an iffy reputation?
Seems like a company would, originally, build a product with a proper shield wire and that'd be fine but then, perhaps in an attempt to cut costs, try changing to this cheaper (?) method on the assumption that the stick would be broken or obsolete by the time the foil wrap corroded to the point where it couldn't carry a signal reliably.
Anyway, if you've got a Saitek X52 that's randomly "spazzing out", this could be your problem.
It's fixable but it's a faff.
I figured that it was probably a broken wire (as opposed to a wire that'd broken at it's connection) that was causing the intermittent fault.
The truth, as it turned out, was far more convoluted.
First, a quick word about how data cables are constructed.
You've usually got a bunch of thin copper wires in PVC sheaths that are wrapped in a foil shield, there's a bare shield wire which earths the shield and then there's the outer PVC sheath covering the whole lot.
First thing to know is that the foil shield is usually made of aluminium.
The problem with aluminium is that it isn't very robust and it's prone to corrosion (even inside a cable) and the continual flexing of a cable, coupled with corrosion over a period of years, means that the foil shield will inevitably begin to break up.
This isn't a big deal since the shield wire still touches all the fragments of foil and so still does the job of absorbing any interference and sending it to earth.
Usually.
The first issue with the X52 is that it doesn't just use the shield wire (between the throttle and stick) to absorb interference.
It actually uses it as a data wire, probably as a common 0v reference (I didn't actually get around to checking that).
That isn't great but it's not a big deal.
The big deal, as it turns out, is that Saitek, at some point, decided to SERIOUSLY cheap-out over the construction of the cable between the throttle and stick.
What they've done is build the cables with around 6" of shield wire at one end and another 6" at the other end, so it can be soldered.
The shield wire does NOT run all the way through the cable.
Instead, there's just a tail of wire which enters the cable, touching the foil wrap, and then relies on the foil wrap to carry the signal from the stick to the throttle.
The same foil wrap which corrodes and breaks up over time.
Turns out that's the problem this X52 had.
The foil wrap in the cable had broken up and, as a result, there was no way for the throttle to get a reliable 0v reference so the inputs were all over the place.
I tested this by quickly soldering a thin wire between the throttle and joystick to provide a reliable replacement for the signal normally sent through the shield wire.
That fixed the problem but it's a bodge, with an extra wire running between the throttle and stick.
So, now I need to chop up an old printer lead, or something, and use that to make a replacement cable between the throttle and stick.
I'm wondering if this is one of the things that's resulted in Saitek having an iffy reputation?
Seems like a company would, originally, build a product with a proper shield wire and that'd be fine but then, perhaps in an attempt to cut costs, try changing to this cheaper (?) method on the assumption that the stick would be broken or obsolete by the time the foil wrap corroded to the point where it couldn't carry a signal reliably.
Anyway, if you've got a Saitek X52 that's randomly "spazzing out", this could be your problem.
It's fixable but it's a faff.
