Hotstart TBM 900 - raising the power lever lockout gate release to allow access to taxi & beta power ranges

[CJSouthern]

I've not had any luck finding out how to do this other than hitting the "\" key which immediately puts the aircraft into full reverse thrust.

What's the "secret" folks?

 

[Goran_M]

Set a key or button press to "Toggle Thrust Reverse".  This will get the Power Lever into the beta range.  The more you drag your hardware down, the more it goes into thrust reverse.

[CJSouthern]

1 hour ago, Goran_M said:

Set a key or button press to "Toggle Thrust Reverse".  This will get the Power Lever into the beta range.  The more you drag your hardware down, the more it goes into thrust reverse.

Ah - got it thanks. I already had the key assigned, but I was confused as to why it was going full reverse thrust (because I had the hardware at minimum when I activated it) (I guess you had to do it that way because you can't physically stop hardware at the point where it would have hit the lockout gate?)

Out of curiocity, why don't you allow high idle to be selected with the mouse? (only F5/F6 to select between high idle and low idle).

 

[Goran_M]

8 minutes ago, CJSouthern said:

Out of curiocity, why don't you allow high idle to be selected with the mouse? (only F5/F6 to select between high idle and low idle).

 

We do.  You should see a mouse cursor (left-right) when hovering the mouse over the left side (I think) of the power lever.

Edited November 23, 2020 by Goran_M

[CJSouthern]

11 minutes ago, Goran_M said:

We do.  You should see a mouse cursor (left-right) when hovering the mouse over the left side (I think) of the power lever.

Yes - but as soon as I move it to the right it jumps down to low idle - and as soon as I raise it to high idle it pops across to flight idle.

I can't get it to stay in high idle unless I use the keyboard.

[Goran_M]

It shouldn't be doing this.  Make sure you don't have anything assigned to your mixture settings.

[CJSouthern]

10 minutes ago, Goran_M said:

It shouldn't be doing this.  Make sure you don't have anything assigned to your mixture settings.

Only the default function keys (f5, f6 etc) which I'm not touching.

[Goran_M]

I'm guessing you're somehow clicking and dragging to the right, while also dragging diagonally down.  Can you confirm?

[CJSouthern]

11 hours ago, Goran_M said:

I'm guessing you're somehow clicking and dragging to the right, while also dragging diagonally down.  Can you confirm?

Not that I'm aware of. I shot a quick video of what I'm seeing at my end - you should be able to see mouse movements from this.

[Goran_M]

Something definitely wrong there.  As a test, disconnect all your controller hardware, except the mouse.  Load the TBM, and then try moving the power lever with the mouse.

[CJSouthern]

7 hours ago, Goran_M said:

Something definitely wrong there.  As a test, disconnect all your controller hardware, except the mouse.  Load the TBM, and then try moving the power lever with the mouse.

Switched off keyboard - Switched off graphics tablet - unplugged Alpha Yoke - Started XP -> no change.

At one point during testing it did start working correctly for about 30 seconds - but then went back to it's old tricks without me doing anything else that I can remember (with the possible exception of a throttle level change). BTW I don't have a throttle attached (yet; Honeycomb Bravo due to ship to me shortly) so I map "Throttle up a bit" and "Throttle down a bit" to the white buttons on either side of the Honeycomb Alpha yoke (which works badly, but it does work) - but I'm not pressing these whilst I'm trying to get to high idle.

F5/F6 for mixture control moves between high/low idle just fine though.

Edited November 24, 2020 by CJSouthern

[Goran_M]

Do you have any scripts or plugins like flywithlua that may be taking control of the power lever?

Can you try downloading a demo of X-Plane with no scenery and no plugins, then install the TBM in that version for a test?

(Don't worry about DRM.  You can have multiple copies of the TBM installed on the same computer.)

[CJSouthern]

1 hour ago, Goran_M said:

Do you have any scripts or plugins like flywithlua that may be taking control of the power lever?

Can you try downloading a demo of X-Plane with no scenery and no plugins, then install the TBM in that version for a test?

(Don't worry about DRM.  You can have multiple copies of the TBM installed on the same computer.)

No - no scrips or plugins. It's just a bog standard XP install followed by your TBM (I got sick of all the bugs in the MSFS TBM and jumped ship)

To be honest, I'm apprehensive about creating more problems for myself if I try downloading other copies (current installation is via Steam) - is it possible to have a stand-alone version of XP that's not going to give me conflicting registry entries (or similar) down the track? This issue isn't a particularly big deal as I wouldn't usually leave the aircraft in high idle anyway - and can do it via the keyboard if I need to; I'm just hoping for a "good fit" with the Bravo throttle quadrant when it arrives because I'm currently struggling badly with energy management in the aircraft - and throttle control is the cause of at least 2/3 of it.

 

[GEEVEK]

HELP!

I have spent hours to go through forums, and manual trying to solve reverse of the above problem.  I am using Saitek Throttle quadrant. As soon as bring the throttle lock out gate to Taxi / Reverse, throttle goes into full power I can't use the quadrant throttle to bring the throttle back. I can only use the mouse and as soon as I let go the Left mouse button it goes back to full throttle, I have taken out all the keyboard shot cuts. 

I have tried this which was posted by Fireone but does not work

 

"

I assigned those commands to one of the gray buttons on the CH Throttle Quadrant so that pushing the button in the upward direction is assigned " Mixture rich a bit" and a downward press "mixture lean a bit" .  The joystick config screen  however gives you many options for these 2 commands depending on how many engines the plane has . In the config search line enter   "mixture " without quotes.

The list of possible options will be displayed . Choose the one that has no engine number, the generic one.      If you assign it to engine #1 , it will not work.

Once assigned , pressing the mixture up a bit  3 times transfers the throttle arm to the left part of the "h" .   A conventional Quadrant throttle arm then controls the left side.

Calibrate your throttle on the quadrant as per normal and make sure there are no other buttons that control the throttle  , so delete keyboard commands that control throttle , tell the configurator to ignore the other throttle lever on the quadrant.  The throttle assignment cannot be a numbered one . Again , it has to be the generic one.

I watched the second tutorial which explains how the throttle works and the instructor describes which two commands will control the Tab function that allows the throttle  to operate in taxi and reverse mode..

One or the other of the two commands can be assigned to another gray button on the Quadrant .

  For this  I chose the gray button  immediately under the throttle so throttle and button can be controlled simultaneously with one hand.  It just so happens that the detente on the Quadrant almost precisely matches the point at which reverse thrust engages."

[Goran_M]

On top of giving GEEVEK's suggestion a try, you will have zero problems with a demo version of X-Plane.  No serial numbers to enter.  It's purely from a testing standpoint.  To see if the TBM works in a bare demo version of X-Plane.

If you want to give it a try, here's the link.

To be honest, this is the first time I've come across such a problem, where the power lever snaps to certain positions, beyond the mouse input.  I thought by disconnecting your hardware, the problem would stop, because there are no other inputs forcing the power lever to move beyond where you want it to move.  But it definitely looks like something is forcing it to these positions.

Could you load the TBM, then shut down the sim, then send me your TBM900_log.txt file and the log.txt file, both found in your X-Plane root folder.  I want to see what's going on in there.

 

Edited November 24, 2020 by Goran_M

[CJSouthern]

4 hours ago, Goran_M said:

On top of giving GEEVEK's suggestion a try, you will have zero problems with a demo version of X-Plane.  No serial numbers to enter.  It's purely from a testing standpoint.  To see if the TBM works in a bare demo version of X-Plane.

If you want to give it a try, here's the link.

To be honest, this is the first time I've come across such a problem, where the power lever snaps to certain positions, beyond the mouse input.  I thought by disconnecting your hardware, the problem would stop, because there are no other inputs forcing the power lever to move beyond where you want it to move.  But it definitely looks like something is forcing it to these positions.

Could you load the TBM, then shut down the sim, then send me your TBM900_log.txt file and the log.txt file, both found in your X-Plane root folder.  I want to see what's going on in there.

 

I'll have a look when I get home tonight (in a few hours from now).

I don't think GEEVEK's post is going to help in that I can already control that aspect of throttle motion using the F5/F6 keys (default mapping) and I don't have any kind of analog throttle controller yet (unfortunately).

[Goran_M]

Ah, hold up a minute.  So am I right in assuming you're using the F5 and F6 keys by holding them down while in the different ranges, without letting them go when the power lever reaches it's limits?

If you press F5, while in the high idle range, to bring the power lever to the bottom of that range, but you keep the button pressed AFTER it reaches the high idle position, X-Plane will read that value as zero, instead of the mid point.  So when you drag it over to low idle, because of the value X-Plane has recorded (zero), it will snap the power lever to cutoff.  If you were to use hardware, and you brought the power lever back to high idle, you would need to bring the hardware throttle to about half way only.  Bringing it back all the way will have the same effect if you were to then move the power lever to low idle.  It would snap to cutoff.  

So, in case I don't make any sense, if you're at full power, press the F5 key until you reach high idle.  Then STOP.  Don't keep the button pressed.  Then drag the power lever over.  It should stay at low idle.  This will also work in reverse.  Moving from START to low idle by pressing F6, do not keep it pressed longer than it takes for the power lever to reach low idle.  

Hope this makes sense.

[CJSouthern]

2 hours ago, Goran_M said:

Ah, hold up a minute.  So am I right in assuming you're using the F5 and F6 keys by holding them down while in the different ranges, without letting them go when the power lever reaches it's limits?

If you press F5, while in the high idle range, to bring the power lever to the bottom of that range, but you keep the button pressed AFTER it reaches the high idle position, X-Plane will read that value as zero, instead of the mid point.  So when you drag it over to low idle, because of the value X-Plane has recorded (zero), it will snap the power lever to cutoff.  If you were to use hardware, and you brought the power lever back to high idle, you would need to bring the hardware throttle to about half way only.  Bringing it back all the way will have the same effect if you were to then move the power lever to low idle.  It would snap to cutoff.  

So, in case I don't make any sense, if you're at full power, press the F5 key until you reach high idle.  Then STOP.  Don't keep the button pressed.  Then drag the power lever over.  It should stay at low idle.  This will also work in reverse.  Moving from START to low idle by pressing F6, do not keep it pressed longer than it takes for the power lever to reach low idle.  

Hope this makes sense.

I don't normally use the F5 / F6 keys at all - but when I do 1 press will take it from low idle to high idle or vice-versa (depending on which key). Further presses will take it across into the normal range, but that's not what I'm doing; I can start the sim - not even touch the keyboard - and the throttle still "does the thing" we're seeing.

I've attached both of those log files - I started the sim - moved the throttle from cutoff to low idle then attempted to move it from low idle to high idle - noted that it cut across to flight idle then exited the sim with an alt+F4 - is that what you need?

 

Log.txt TBM900_Log.txt

[Goran_M]

Found a few things.

When in sim, check the maintenance manager and make sure nothing is broken.  The TBM900_log.txt file is showing some things as failed or worn, and this may have an effect on the throttle.

If you find anything damaged or broken, repair them and try again.

[CJSouthern]

16 minutes ago, Goran_M said:

Found a few things.

When in sim, check the maintenance manager and make sure nothing is broken.  The TBM900_log.txt file is showing some things as failed or worn, and this may have an effect on the throttle.

If you find anything damaged or broken, repair them and try again.

I can check shortly, but I've had several crashes when it's gone absolutely crazy upon AP disconnection and have needed to create new airframes - and have seen that everything is "as new" after that - and I've had this issue all throughout several different airframes.

[Goran_M]

That means your pressure vessel is damaged, and that can't be repaired.  Make sure you dont make any tail strikes or when you load the TBM, make sure it doesn't "drop" on the tarmac.  

[CJSouthern]

13 minutes ago, Goran_M said:

That means your pressure vessel is damaged, and that can't be repaired.  Make sure you dont make any tail strikes or when you load the TBM, make sure it doesn't "drop" on the tarmac.  

I just had a look at that log - I think those items were all a result of a crash yesterday when I tried out the AI and it popped me into the air but with the engine shut down - then it caught fire when I tried to start it and I had a slow and agonising glide into the water. The current airframe doesn't appear to be showing any issues. Is there a way to determine if any component is sub-optimal without having to select each and every section and choose "access"?

 

[Goran_M]

3 minutes ago, CJSouthern said:

Is there a way to determine if any component is sub-optimal without having to select each and every section and choose "access"?

I'm afraid not.  And those sections can only be accessed on the ground with the engine shut down.

[GEEVEK]

Thank you Goran, I will try demo version and install TBM 900, will let you know the outcome.

In the meantime find the Log files.

Log.txt TBM900_Log.txt

[GEEVEK]

Hi Goran, I have tried removing all hard ware and I have no Lua script in plug in, and I have tried the Demo version same problem did not resolve the problem.

Any one out there please HELP. I love the aircraft

Log.txt TBM900_Log.txt