My HOTAS Cougar TQS Leo Bodnar Mod

[Whisky Walker]

It's probably better I start my own thread for the conversion of my Cougar throttle, so this is it.

I've had my Cougar since day 1 - I pre ordered. Since then, like probably almost every other Cougar HOTAS it's had several repairs & modifications to keep it working. But as I'm now going to replace the wobbly old joystick with a Virpil, I need to make the throttle a standalone unit. Ideally I would have just bought a TUSBA & that would be that sorted, but due to a rushed attempt at replacing the throttle axis pot with a hall sensor, the PCB inside the throttle base is unusable due to broken tracks & fried diodes. Thrustmaster don't have any replacements so I need to completely replace all the circuitry in the throttle, and thanks to the input of you fine fella's, I have decided the Leo Bodnar BU0836X joystick controller board best suits my requirements. (In other words, from here on, it's all your faults)

The controller board arrived 2 days ago, and I was pleased to find that it slots in the space left by the original PCB quite well. Plugging an 'old-school' straight USB-A connector in would be a tight squeeze unless I Dremel a new opening in the side of the base. Thankfully, Amazon had what I needed with a range of USB cables with angled connectors. I've gone for a short cable housed inside the throttle base with the female end protruding from the aperture for the original connecting cable, to which I can connect a standard USB printer cable. This will keep the whole thing neat & allow me to quickly change throttles on a Monstertech desk mount in anticipation of the Virpil T-50 I will eventually have.



I reckon a couple of squares of sponge glued to the bottom plate will hold everything in place when it's refitted, so no modification is needed to the original housing. Although, if this is successful, I will be adding some more functionality to the throttle as there's capacity in the controller board to do so, and space in the housing for a few more switches & rotaries.

I am confused by the wiring though. The new controller board appears to assume each pot has 3 wires available to connect straight into the board. This isn't the case for the Cougar though, as the ground connections are chained at the pot ends & only 2 ground wires connect 4 axes to the original PCB, as in the image below:

tqs_diag.jpg

Will a 'none-grounded' connection at the new board still work or will I have to un-chain the pots & run individual grounds?

[Kendy for the State]

It's probably better I start my own thread for the conversion of my Cougar throttle, so this is it.

I've had my Cougar since day 1 - I pre ordered. Since then, like probably almost every other Cougar HOTAS it's had several repairs & modifications to keep it working. But as I'm now going to replace the wobbly old joystick with a Virpil, I need to make the throttle a standalone unit. Ideally I would have just bought a TUSBA & that would be that sorted, but due to a rushed attempt at replacing the throttle axis pot with a hall sensor, the PCB inside the throttle base is unusable due to broken tracks & fried diodes. Thrustmaster don't have any replacements so I need to completely replace all the circuitry in the throttle, and thanks to the input of you fine fella's, I have decided the Leo Bodnar BU0836X joystick controller board best suits my requirements. (In other words, from here on, it's all your faults)

The controller board arrived 2 days ago, and I was pleased to find that it slots in the space left by the original PCB quite well. Plugging an 'old-school' straight USB-A connector in would be a tight squeeze unless I Dremel a new opening in the side of the base. Thankfully, Amazon had what I needed with a range of USB cables with angled connectors. I've gone for a short cable housed inside the throttle base with the female end protruding from the aperture for the original connecting cable, to which I can connect a standard USB printer cable. This will keep the whole thing neat & allow me to quickly change throttles on a Monstertech desk mount in anticipation of the Virpil T-50 I will eventually have.



I reckon a couple of squares of sponge glued to the bottom plate will hold everything in place when it's refitted, so no modification is needed to the original housing. Although, if this is successful, I will be adding some more functionality to the throttle as there's capacity in the controller board to do so, and space in the housing for a few more switches & rotaries.

I am confused by the wiring though. The new controller board appears to assume each pot has 3 wires available to connect straight into the board. This isn't the case for the Cougar though, as the ground connections are chained at the pot ends & only 2 ground wires connect 4 axes to the original PCB, as in the image below:

tqs_diag.jpg

Will a 'none-grounded' connection at the new board still work or will I have to un-chain the pots & run individual grounds?

The grounds and +V can be common, only the center tap on the pot has to go to the input of the controller board. it doesn't matter which GND or +V connection on the board you use.

[1lokos]

In Bu0836X each axis input has their own +5V and Gnd connectors for wiring convenience, this +5V and Gnd is already shared in PCB, so share then again is not issue.

Same is valid for Gnd of buttons - is common for all since is used Shift Register for buttons. If convenient can use only of these Gnd connector/wire for all buttons, but don't mix with Gnd for axes.

[Whisky Walker]

Thanks for confirming that basic tenet of electrical circuits for me guys, sorry but i was having brain block...

I now have this:



It's ready to plug in & test but first I need some advice about the connections for the microstick & antenna elevation pots, as the colour code diagram doesn't have enough detail. In the above pic, I have connected the black microstick signal wire to the X axis connector on the board & the white wire to Y, is that correct for the arrangement inside the handle?

Also, the green wire connected the the SLD axis comes from the antenna pot, which I've assumed is the ground wire as green is used as the ground wire from the comm switch, and consequently that would make blue the power wire. Is that correct?

I've not connected the radio switch to the hat switch as Falcon BMS only supports 1 hat switch in it's controls setup, and my stick's hat switch already occupies that. So using the hat switch connector on the controller board would mean I have an unusable switch on the handle. The other reasons I haven't are that I can't remember the last time I needed an 8-way hat, all the other sims I fly have the ability to assign individual actions to each of the comm switch positions, and finally I might still mount another 4-way switch on the base when I decide to expand the capabilities of the throttle unit.

[Kendy for the State]

I wouldn't count on colors having any significance in your joystick wiring! I would visually verify all connections.

[Whisky Walker]

Dammit, trying to avoid that as I invariably break wires off something in the handle or trap them between the two halves on reassembly...

[1lokos]

It's ready to plug in & test but first I need some advice about the connections for the microstick & antenna elevation pots, as the colour code diagram doesn't have enough detail. In the above pic, I have connected the black microstick signal wire to the X axis connector on the board & the white wire to Y, is that correct for the arrangement inside the handle?

Yes, for micro-stick axis you need 2 inputs (X, Y) and +5v, Gnd.

Since T1 switch is integrated in micro-stick (push) pay attention to don't mix their wires with axis (X,Y) wires.

Also, the green wire connected the the SLD axis comes from the antenna pot, which I've assumed is the ground wire as green is used as the ground wire from the comm switch, and consequently that would make blue the power wire. Is that correct?

In TQS scheme for ANT and RNG axes green and blue wires are +5V and Gnd - what wire is what only testing and observe the if axis response is not inverted, if are invert this two wires position in pot external pins. Yellow and orange is axis input (pot middle pin).

The fact that "COMM switch/HAT" have green color wire in TQS scheme have no relation with ANT and RGN pot (axes) GND wires. "GND" for buttons is not same "GND" of axes.

I don't figure what is "SLD axis"...

I've not connected the radio switch to the hat switch as Falcon BMS only supports 1 hat switch in it's controls setup, and my stick's hat switch already occupies that. So using the hat switch connector on the controller board would mean I have an unusable switch on the handle. The other reasons I haven't are that I can't remember the last time I needed an 8-way hat, all the other sims I fly have the ability to assign individual actions to each of the comm switch positions, and finally I might still mount another 4-way switch on the base when I decide to expand the capabilities of the throttle unit.

This is fine, and HAT diagonals - that happens when two near physical buttons of HAT are pressed simultaneous and firmware detect as new virtual button has little practical use - even for camera POV control (POV HAT), because is very difficult press both buttons simultaneous at every time.

[Whisky Walker]

SLD - Slider axis.

Seems I got the microstick axis signals connected right, looked at the back of the PCB & the white wire header tracks to the vertical sensor:



Internal inspection of the connections shows the green wiring connected to pin 1 of the ANT & RNG pots, Wikipedia says that should be the ground pin, and the internet is never wrong, so...



I bit the bullet & connected it up, was pleased to find firmware already flashed, calibrated in Windows & confirmed all the buttons working as intended. Fired up Falcon BMS & re-mapped the required controls, a quick flight confirms it's all perfect except that I had to reverse both microstick axis responses in the software.



Massive thanks for all your advice & suggestions guys, it's great to have my mistress back in action

[sw1ive]

One HOTAS Gougar is reborning...

3.000 hour until totay,

and...

3.000 hour in the future

enjoy the flight....

[FlyboyBailey]

is it at all possible to just use one of those Gameport to USB adapters and just do some soldering the smaller 15pin wiring to a gameport 15pin?

[1lokos]

is it at all possible to just use one of those Gameport to USB adapters and just do some soldering the smaller 15pin wiring to a gameport 15pin?

No!

This adapters are made for emulate the entry level sticks of the time (~2000) of migration from gameport for USB: Tm FCS and CH Flightstick, both 3 axis, 4 buttons sticks, and one kind of gamepad.

At best you manage to get some axes and 6 buttons working, besides, by an early 2000 hardware they allown on 8 bits of resolution (256 points) on axis.

You can make an external adapter, using MMjoy2, DSD 12, BU0836A - don't use BU0836X, for this case more hinder than help, requiring more wiring; with a 15 pin DB-15 (gameport) connector and plug you Cougar TQS there, but is an more laborious way, require do more solders, e. in DB-15 connector pins that are very close.

Sample:

[Whisky Walker]

The way I did this was quite unique because the original PCB was junk. If your throttle is in good working order then just get a TUSBA. It might look similar to 1 of those generic adapters but it's the only 1 that will work properly, as Sokol has already explained why.

[rel4y]

It is not the only option I might add. I make one for half the price and a digital contactless sensor for the Throttle, which is also pretty popular. Have a look here:

https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=220916

[Whisky Walker]

Hello Pilots, my Bodnar-Cougar throttle is still giving good service, but I have to replace the analogue mini-stick due to a spiking Y axis. I'm just wondering if anyone here knows what model of switch is easiest to replace it with?

[1lokos]

The original mini-stick are CTS 252A104B60NB 10KOMH, a model discontinued in 2015.

https://www.digikey.com/product-deta...60NB-ND/303393

But listed as available there: https://www.components-mart.com/prod...A104B60NB.html

But what really matter is their physical size and being 10KOMH, then look for another of similar size for avoid make modifications in throttle grip, ALPS is a good brand.

An possible candidate - but first check if size is compatible: RKJXK1210002

Or any "PS3 thub-stick" 0f 10KOMH from eBay is suitable replacement.

https://www.digikey.com/products/en/...s-joystick/204