Multiple logitech FIPs

[GlennyPlays]

Hi,

Just bought 2 of the logitech FIPs, so that I can see flaps position and trim position.

I recently moved to a triple screen setup for the sim, and also added 2 G1000 units, so adding ANOTHER screen is not easy/possible (trust me I’ve tried, 5 seems to be all that windows will accept, even accross different GPU’s, as soon as I add more, one of the screens will get cut out). I therefore can’t use airmanager anymore, so I bought the FIPs to display flaps and trim.

2 issues though:-

-When I switch on my PC, only 1 of the FIPs comes to life…the 2nd one I need to manually switch off/on (i.e. unplug/replug) before it powers up. They are both connected to the same powered hub, which in turn is connected to a USB 2.0 port on my PC.

-the trim position is wrong. When loading a plane, I can see by looking inside the aircraft, that the trim is ACTUALLY in the take off position…but on the FIP it’s showing really high in the nose down position.

any ideas how I can fix this without resorting to 3rd party software like spad.next? I do own spad.next, but prefer to use the native software and drivers as I don’t really want/need to configure anything, and find that all the other panels (switch/multi/radio) all work fine with the logitech stuff.

[GlennyPlays]

Fyi, resolved both these issues, although the second was via a paid add on.

• fixed the first issue by just fitting an on off switch between my hub and the power cable. Now i switch all flight devices off, boot pc and wait for windows to load, THEN switch everything on. Both fips work perfectly.

• fixed the second issue by purchasing some add ons from fsxtimes website. Easy to install, and one of them has alt with flaps and trim, all giving the correct position.

• also, remembered that i have an old tablet pc, so I’ve removed air manager from my main pc and run it on the tablet instead. It still auto connects to the sim and works great… but i do love these new fips still, so keeping this setup and will use air manager for displaying extra stuff.

[GlennyPlays]

decided that I really like the look of the setup with these FIP’s…even though a lot of people regard them as being outdated and over-priced (which I guess both of those statements are true).

So I bought several more haha. I’m running 5 at the moment, and actually plan to get 2-4 more. I’ve seen setups with like 10-12 of these running, so I know it must be possible haha.

One thing I did notice, is that, even with powered USB hubs…these FIP’s really don’t like having too many of them plugged in to the same hub.

With the 5 I’m running right now, I have:-

-1 powered 16 port (7500mA) hub that actually has ALL my devices on it, EXCEPT the fip’s (well, it has 1 FIP on it). It’s got my logitech yoke, throttle, rudders, saitek trim, switch panel, radio panel, multipanel, 2 G1000 units, SRS wind kit, puairkorea rumble kit, my sound card, my mic, my wirelss keypad and my thrustmaster gamepad…all that and 1 FIP.

-2 small powered 4 port hubs, each with 2 FIP’s on them.

Everything works, as long as I power on the FIP’s max of 2 at a time and wait for them to load. Once all 5 are up and running, I then power on all the other devices and I’m golden.

I’m hoping to add 2-4 more, and have a spare 10 port powered hub (3A), so I’m hoping that from the 12V3A power I’ll be able to run all 4 from that…

fingers crossed that it works.

When I was testing before, I couldn’t seem to get more than 3 FIPs to work on the 12V7500ma hub, but then that does have other stuff on it…trying to split the devices across the hubs didn’t make much difference…but I’m hoping that with this 12V3A hub dedicated ONLY to the 4 FIP’s I should be ok, fingers crossed.

My plan is to have, left side of my cockpit a FIP with the fuel selector/fuel gauges and shutoff valve indicator (as this is next to one of the throttle controls that I have set up for fuel selector, shutoff valve and parking brake). On the Right, next to the main TPM throttle controller, I’ll have the Tachometer. In the middle I’ll have the compass, and the 3 either side of that I’ll have my basic 6 pack of ASI, ATT, ALT, TURN, HDG, VSI.

Should look great once it’s all done

[GlennyPlays]

FYI the 12V3A hub didn’t work for the FIP’s…even with only 2 of them plugged into it, it caused things on the OTHER hub to freeze up. Switching back to the small 4 port hubs worked. So next step will be to try adding more of the small hubs instead. I have 2 more FIP’s coming Thursday, for a running total of 7…so fingers crossed.

[GlennyPlays]

Just to update to say that I’ve now set up 2 more fips. Total of 7 so far. All working, no other devices affected. I using the small sabrent 4 port hubs, connected via usb 2.0 extension cables. They are powered hubs, but actually work fine, maybe even better, without the power plugged in. I only connect 2 fips per hub. It seems like, on my system at least, more than 2 fips per port on the back of the pc will cause issues, regardless of what hub they’re connected to, or what power they are supplied with.

I want to get 2 more to complete my setup, but have to wait another week or so, as Amazon have a 2 per customer limit, which seems to reset after about a week.

Once it’s all done i might try and share a photo/ video of my setup. Pretty happy with it so far, and given that i seem to have found the 2 per port limit of my system, I’m confident that the next 2 will connect without issue. Fingers crossed.

[GlennyPlays]

Not quite the “final form”, as i still need to sort some cables and get a proper triple screen mount… I’ve got quite a confined space to work with… I’ll probably end up getting the simlabs triple mount at some point, but it will mean shifting the whole setup about another 5cm into my room. Pretty happy with it for now though.

[Sling380]

Sorry I just cannot see any logic in a new purchase of a FIP with what’s available today. They are quite outdated now. If you already have them then ok but they are not at all good value. In fact terrible value. They are also not very versatile. You can certainly get more than five displays going if you want. Whatever you tried was obviously not quite right. You should really have persevered with a solution for the multi display solution with AM for the instruments and used the money saved on not buying FIP’s to upgrade flight controls IMHO.

[GlennyPlays]

Each to their own i guess. I really like the look of my setup now and love how the fips operate. Happy with the controls too, now that i have everything running.

Agree that they’re definitely not great value in terms of their monetary expense… but each one does give you 2 dials and 6 buttons that you can customize in spad.next if you want to.

I think that MOST peripherals in the flight sim world are not cheap and can often be considered bad value for money…

Im happy with my setup now, and do prefer having a fip for each gauge rather than trying to get the touch screen working with my other setup.

With the 2 g1000 units and 3 other screens, i don’t know where I’d really fit the touch screen anyway… as in, physically… there’s not really space for another monitor… whereas three fips i can run all in a row and everything fits great. : )

[Sling380]

Sure, each to their own always. Just giving some feedback. I have he opinion that the FIP’s are so expensive for what they offer. A tiny screen and some physical controls. Value can be had and with much better versatility than that in 2024 is all the point I was really making.

[WebbedNote62443]

But I love them as they give me that GA aircraft feel, and maybe a little expensive but I suppose it’s all subjective

[Sling380]

Not all GA aircraft have the older steam gauges but if that’s your thing here’s a selection of mine at a fraction of the cost and still having the versatility to have big glass display cockpits on there too. Uses touch screen monitors and Air Manager panels. Perhaps these better explain why I believe thd FIPs are now outdated.

![image|690x517](upload://jdMB0svsZ8PXe3xPaPvIGkWCnb

k.jpeg)

[GlennyPlays]

Air manager is a great solution. Not doubting that at all…i was just unable to use it because of my monitor setup, as soon as i connected the touchscreens, I’d get issues, screens cutting, usb devices disconnected etc… sometimes it would work for an hour or so, sometimes it would crash sooner.

As it happens, I’ve just “sidegraded” from 3x 4k monitors to a single DUHD monitor… so i could try the touchscreens again… but to be honest, i actually like the little FIP screens and their physical buttons and dials…i also have 2xg1000 units for pfd/mfd, also with physical buttons and dials… just waiting for the g1000 audio panel to arrive now.

Seem to have resolved a lot of my issues now that i use decided usb 2.0 hubs/ports/cards/cables, etc.

I also found that, for whatever reason, turning off virtualization seems to cause the usb game devices being kicked when multiple are plugged in… since i turned that back on, i haven’t had that issue.

Pretty happy with my setup now.

But definitely, the fips are not the most cost effective or value for money… but i just like them haha.