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Tosten grip flap button question

dwranda

Well Known Member
I am using the 2 buttons on my Tosten stick for flap up and down. I am mostly positive(99%...always leave room for doubt) I have it wired correctly. I planned on the left button for down and right button for up. Somehow they are reversed. For those of you using those buttons for flaps which way are yours? It is wired up to the advanced control module. I just confirmed I have the correct color wire going to the flap up/down inputs in the dsub. I am perplexed why they are reversed. Maybe I'm just being an idiot and someone can give me a quick remedy. I believe I could swap the wires in the dsub and that should change the operation of the buttons but doesn't explain why it happened. I also could leave it and just learn the left button is flaps up and right button is down. It is the Pat Hatch flap motor.
 
Have you checked the switch to D-sub wiring via circuit continuity check to verify you didn't accidentally reverse the switch wires? Depending on which way you were "facing" the stick, it's easy to get left and right backwards.
 
Sounds like you are using the Advanced Flight ACM? If so I’m pretty sure there is a setting in the config that allows you to swap the direction.
 
Sounds like you are using the Advanced Flight ACM? If so I’m pretty sure there is a setting in the config that allows you to swap the direction.

I just checked the panel switch and the screen buttons and they move the flaps as expected. Its only the grip buttons that work opposite of what I was expecting. It would make sense that the left button would be down and the right button would be up right?
 
Mine were initially wired so that the left button was Flaps up and the right button was Flaps down (on my Tosten grip). Never got used to that - didn't seem logical. There is a setting in my Dynon menu to reverse this. Simple fix.

Not sure, but I think you could also just reverse the wiring on the flap motor for the same effect.
 
Well I just swapped the 2 wires in the dsub and now the left button is down and the right is up. Not sure how I had it reversed but this was the easy fix. It does seem more logical to have the left button as the down flaps.
 
I know this isn’t advice that you are looking for, but as an airline pilot who has a lot of opinions on the human factors of system operation and their effect on accidents, I don’t particularly think these two buttons are a good idea for flaps up and down. Because they are next to each other, and it’s not natively obvious which is which, and there is a high probability of someday hitting the wrong one. If this is while taxiing out, no big deal. If the flaps inadvertently are raised on base to final on a dark stormy night, it’s a much bigger one. Or confusion on a go around?
On my grip I wired the “hidden” button as flaps down and have to use the flap switch on the panel for flaps up. I wired both the left and right buttons as autopilot disconnect.
Anyway, just something to think about. Glad you got it figured out.
 
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I use a momentary toggle switch on my Tosten switch to operate my flaps. Its wired to the flap switch on the panel. Therefore when I choose to operate the flaps with the toggle switch on the stick the flap switch on the panel must be in the neutral position to operate the flaps. If I use the stick switch I can still raise the flaps using the panel switch (ie touch and go) but have to return the panel switch to the neutral position before the toggle switch will activate the flaps. Personally I really like this setup when in the pattern doing touch and go landings because I extend the flaps using the toggle and retract the flaps on the runway with the panel switch always keeping the eyes outside.
 
I know this isn’t advice that you are looking for, but as an airline pilot who has a lot of opinions on the human factors of system operation and their effect on accidents, I don’t particularly think these two buttons are a good idea for flaps up and down. Because they are next to each other, and it’s not natively obvious which is which, and there is a high probability of someday hitting the wrong one. If this is while taxiing out, no big deal. If the flaps inadvertently are raised on base to final on a dark stormy night, it’s a much bigger one. Or confusion on a go around?
On my grip I wired the “hidden” button as flaps down and have to use the flap switch on the panel for flaps up. I wired both the left and right buttons as autopilot disconnect.
Anyway, just something to think about. Glad you got it figured out.

+1

On my 6, I have one of those buttons for a GRT screen swap. I am surprised how often I inadvertently hit that button, especially in turbulence. I don't know about you, but I WOULD NOT want my flaps to inadvertently go down at 160 knots. REally, how hard is it to reach over to a flap switch on the panel once per flight. Cool is not always safe.

Larry
 
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I haven't flown with a stick except for a couple hours. It will be interesting to see how these buttons will work out. I'm not going to have my thumb up on the top of the grip constantly so hopefully inadvertant button pushes won't happen. If it does and I don't like it I can easily remove the 2 pins from the dsub and deactivate the buttons.
 
I haven't flown with a stick except for a couple hours. It will be interesting to see how these buttons will work out. I'm not going to have my thumb up on the top of the grip constantly so hopefully inadvertant button pushes won't happen. If it does and I don't like it I can easily remove the 2 pins from the dsub and deactivate the buttons.

Just to clarify, it’s not inadvertent pushes I’m worried about, it’s simply pushing the wrong one and getting a result you didn’t expect. A stall could happen because they raised when you thought they were going down while low and slow turning base to final, for instance. As a compromise, you could just forget about having a stick button that raises the flaps and just keep the extend button? I really can think of a good reason to have a retract button on the grip anyway.
 
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