TRC Simkits Motorized Trim Wheel Problems

Hey there,
i have a problem with the motorized trim wheel from Simkits which i purchased here:

Unfortunately, the support from Simkits is, when they answer after some reminders, let’s say improvable.
So i decided to ask here for support. Maybe someone owns this wheel and went through the same problems.

On behalf of my uncle I have compiled and assembled a motion simulator with all the hardware and peripherals for him. He loves it, but as a real life pilot always complains about the poor trimming in MSFS. This led to the purchase of above mentioned trim wheel.

So when it arrived at my place, i tested it on my computer to be sure it works. I had no problems on my computer and still don’t have, the trim wheel works as expected in MSFS 2020. Turning the wheel sets the trimming ingame, and vica versa changing the trimming ingame will move the wheel. The trim wheel also follows the autopilot nicely.

When i brought it to my uncle and installed the necessary driver there, to my surprise it did not work at all. I am not able to calibrate the trim wheel with the TRC app. Clicking on the button to start the calibration process does nothing. Without calibration, the trim wheel is nonfunctional and the app reports “Calibration not loaded”.

Simkits support suggests it has something to do with USB 3.0. I should buy a PCIe USB 2.0 expansion card. But the Motherboard has 2x USB 2.0 ports, and the calibration does not work on them either, even though the wheel is recognized by the TRC app. On my computer, the trim wheel works with USB 3.0.

So my idea was to copy the trim file (file generated after successful calibration) from my computer to the uncle’s computer. It works, the TRC app now reports the trim wheel as calibrated and within this app i can assign two of the Thrustmaster Boeing Yoke buttons to trim up and down. Pressing these will move the wheel accordingly, as long as the TRC app is running. But when i launch MSFS and as soon as the TRC app reports connection with MSFS (“Simconnect: Connected”), it will stop working. Pressing the previously assigned buttons does nothing anymore. Closing MSFS will make the buttons work again as soon as the TRC app reports “Simconnect: Not connected”.

Next suggestion from Simkits support is to use FSUIPC and an alternate TRC sotware package compatible with FSUIPC.

Does not work either. I am able to calibrate the trim wheel now, but as soon as i press the “Connect to FS(X)” button which you have to press manually in this version of the TRC software, the ingame trim value jumps to 100%. It is not possible to change that value, it will always stay at 100%, as if the trim wheel is constantly firing way too high values.

I reported this new findings to Simkits support too, 1 full month ago, with a reminder two weeks ago, got no answer till today.

We both have MSFS 2020 on Windows 11 Pro 23H2 and all the newest drivers, patches and firmware installed.

Next step would be to uninstall MSFS on his pc and reinstall everything again. But this will take some hours if not the whole day. So i hope i can avoid that and someone with the same wheel and experience can point me to the right direction.

Thanks!

Interesting. You have a device which works on one computer but not another. What is or isn’t installed on your uncles computer? What runs in the background of each that’s different. Motherboard differences, etc. Have you checked his computer using sfc and DSIM? I hope you get this solved. Best wishes.

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Yes that remains to be found out. Some software is either missing or interfering.

Since only on his pc the TRC app does nothing when pressing the start calibration button, my guess was that some C++ distributable or .NET framework is missing. This also leads me now to the thought that reinstalling MSFS will not resolve the issue as it is the TRC app that is causing problems.

I will check integrity with sfc and dism once i visit him again.

I have built his PC just recently, and mine is already some years old. Our components are therefore completely different, with the motherboard being the most relevant for this issue:

Mine:
Intel Core i9-9900K,
ASUS ROG Strix Z390-F Gaming
1x USB-C 3.1
3x USB-A 3.1
2x USB-A 3.0
2x USB-A 2.0

Uncle:
AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D
ASUS ROG Strix X670E-F Gaming WIFI
1x USB-C 3.2
2x USB-C 3.1
7x USB-A 3.1
2x USB-A 2.0

He lacks USB 3.0, may this be an issue because of poor USB 2.0 implementation? The trim wheel might be completely incompatible with USB 3.1? Or it’s the AMD chipset driver?

I will test the wheel again on my PC and will make sure it is connected to USB 3.1.

Tested the wheel again on my PC, i am able to calibrate and actuate on any USB port.

Tested on an ultra old laptop (20+ yesrs) with USB 2.0 and Windows 7, works too.

Now ordered the PCIe USB 2.0 extension card as suggested by Simkits support. Will install this in my uncles PC and see if the trim wheel will work then.

The trim wheel is working now!

Did sfc and dism, no success.
Updated all drivers and firmware, no success.

Did check all USB ports individually, out of 11 available external ports, only with one 3.2 port the TRC app was able to start the calibration process, but crashed every time after 3 seconds.

Finally installed the PCIe x2 USB 2.0 extension card. Had to remove the vertical GPU mounting kit and install the GPU the classic way. Because the GPU is so thick it covers the only available PCIe x2 slot, so now the extension card sits in the second x16 slot.

So it has to do with the wheel not being compatible to newer USB standards.

But now i am left with a new problem:
Nose up and down are assigned to the X up/down switch on the left side of the yoke. And because the yoke has a gear lever technically designed as a single button, where gear down is released and gear up is constantly pressed, the trim wheel does not receive any commands (or the commands are getting constantly overwritten) when the gear lever is in up position, hence does not move anymore. When the gear lever is in down position, the trim wheel works fine.

This seems to be another flaw of the trim wheel not capable of listening accurately to commands. MSFS for instance has no problems processing multiple button presses while the gear lever is in up position (button constantly pressed).

Workaround right now is that i assigned the gear lever to toggle landing gear. So in order to extend/retract one has to put the lever in up and then immediately to down position again. This will toggle the landing gear to extend/retract depending on whats the current state.

But that reduces the realism, so maybe someone has a solution to that?