After received my second RD1 unit, I immediately swapped it with the first one being used in my main system. Assuming it could run directly straight out from the box. Sadly, no, it didn’t.–
NO TWO RD1 ARE THE SAME
Truly, the joystick axes for the rudders and brakes are the same. But the new RD1 performed far from normal using the calibration from the first RD1.
The Rudder Axis wasn’t centered at rest. And the left and right Brake Axes were jumping up and down and didn’t return to zero when released, meaning that the toe brakes were somehow pressed all the time.
Obviously, the two RD1s are two individual equipment and they couldn’t be treated as the same unit. Initial calibration for each individual RD1, therefore, was mandatory and inescapable.
In Part 1 of the RD1 Review, I wrote that “do expect to spend some times to properly calibrate and finetune the rudder pedals to your hardware and software configurations.”
I remembered it had taken me about 30 mins or 45 mins the most to have my first RD1 to calibrate (including axes assignments) properly.
But for this second RD1, it took me nearly 3 hours to get the process done. No kidding.
I carried out the calibration process as instructed for more than a dozen times. The Brake Axes kept jumping up and down and didn’t return to zero when released.
While perplexed, I suddently recalled that the new RD1 was hot-swapped while the computer was on. Maybe that’s the cause and wouldn’t hurt to give it try.
So I shutted down the computer and restarted it a few minutes later. I also reinserted and reassured the USB cable of the RD1 was secured.
Bingo! After another calibration after reboot, the new RD1 eventually performed normally.
Nevertheless, I still needed to set a larger Extremity Dead Zones (-14% dead zones on both ends) for the two Brake Axes than the first RD1.
Even though the -14% offset of the Extremity Dead Zones sounds like a lot, I don’t really feel any irregularity during operations at all.
Now the new RD1 works as it should be in my first system. I am going to move it to my second system in the coming weekend or the next. I hope that the calibration process won’t be as tricky.
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FS Times 