Broken GS-4 Gseat that needs to be resurrect

Hello guys,

I own GS-4 gseat and use it heavy for 3 years..and last week it died. I have done all necessary action to fix it but failed. I had contacted the company (sim experience) asking for help and they say most probably the controller has died.

Long story short, i have seen some few people making a DIY gseat, it made me thinking maybe i can resurrect my died GS4 using same principle a like them.

all the servos are in great condition, so what i need to do now is to make a new controller and using sim tool to control the GS4 seat.

I dont know where to start but i have a couple of MM drivers and Unos laying around

Died GS4 that need to resurrect:


The main controller, Servo control 4.1 from yost Engineering.


Trying to get a better ideas where to start

ouch, that's unfortunate... sorry for you

First of all, make sure that it's dead! because resurrecting it, is interesting but will require a lot of work (depending on your electronic and coding skills).
Please share how this happend? what were the symptoms? Maybe it's only the power supply?! or a fuse (if we are optimistics)

its 200% dead now.

the board received power but it can not communicate with my PC. I have diagnosed it using their circuit diagram and multiple test has been done including using brute method to connecting TX/RX directly to its atmel micro controller.

The board actually sell separately by the maker (yost engineering), but the problem is to get the coding from simexperience and burn into the chip. i dont think they will provide it. They will sell the board together with burned firmware with higher price definitely.

so yes, im 100% certain to with simtool

Should be fairly easy to do it with a bit of wiring and probably only one Arduino uno/Leonardo is needed. It will be a bit of a pain to sync up all the servos.

Thanks @noorbeast , i have a look now. I just dismantle the servo cover. So the GS4 have 2 plates for back and 2 plates for bottom. 1 plate is controlled by 4 servos which is 2 servos are coupled together.

Backrest plate servos


Bottom plate servos


The servo model

yes i hope so too. Because im planning to use simtools together with my future motion system. Im not sure if simtool can control both Gseat and motion together

Yes, doable (but not simple). Have done something similar in the past.



For syncing each bank of servos, just wire them all in parallel. You then can adjust for any initial small mechanical misalignment with adjustable servo arms. Also will need to modify the Ard RC code @noorbeast referenced to give positive only servo movements and control the limits and start position.

Thanks @SeatTime , will do that! so atleast it does clear things up and giving me hope to bring the GS4 life again

Awesome! good news to me!!!

BTW Merry Christmas guys. So today im going to upload the code into arduino and test my servos. Will update soon!

So this is my 1st official trouble im facing,

SimTool cant communicate with my servo. I have downloaded the "Rcmodel.zip" from @eaorobbie https://www.xsimulator.net/community/marketplace/rc-model-code-for-arduino-uno-2dof-expandable.89/ and use his .ino file upload into my ard uno.

I had follow the same setting simtool interface setting. BTW im using the latest simtool 2.4 and aware of the axis output command "R<axis1a> etc etc. And also setting all the axis assignment to Surge/roll. When i try to test in output testing, nothing is moving.

I connect and tested both pin 4 & 5 and none of it move the servo




My hitec HS-805BB servo are using external power originally from GS4 power supply.

You need to connect the GND of your GS4 power supply to the GND of the Arduino. Otherwise the signal line does not have any reference point.

Aahhhhhh.. that make sense, silly me..thanks @MarkusB , i will try it next morning

And don‘t forget to disconnect the servo levers, so that each servo can rotate freely.
After you got them moving, you will have to synchronize them by editing the Arduino sketch.

Yup i have already disconnect all the level just in case. Thanks

I need help. i have done like you said earlier, to connect GND from GS4 to my arduino. But unfortunately the problem still the same. Tested on all my servo as well but nothing works.




what did i do wrong?

Try changing the arduino code line from:

const char kEOL = '~'; // End of Line - the delimiter for our acutator values

to:

const char kEOL = ']'; // End of Line - the delimiter for our acutator values

Re-upload to the arduino and then use this for Interface Output in Simtools:

[R<Axis1a>][L<Axis2a>]

That's how I have mine set up. There may be a way top get it working with the '~' but I think something changed since the original servo code with a Simtools update which stops the original code from working.

in this case, you'll have to change it accordingly in Game Engine interface settings

by the way, if you use ] then you don't nedd to add [
this will only slow the code

R<Axis1a>]L<Axis2a>]

Found it!

The culprit is my arduino. I have 2 units and both are broken but somehow i can upload .ino into it,weiirrddd... anyway, borrowed my friend's arduino,test it and now all working!

Merry christmas to all!!!!

Thanks! I'll keep that in mind

Thanks mate.

hello guys,

so today i made some progress. i have finally move 1 of the flap in GS4 but i encounter some problem which that i need to ask.

regarding this

i have tried to sync 2 of my servos by taking both signal wire and do parallel wiring like below image, but when i turn on supply 1 of the servo when crazy and it does not response to adjustment in simtool.

yes, i already check into the arduino code as well. so far when connecting 1 servo it working like it should.



this is what i do to make both servo working, and of cause i did some adjustment to the arduino code and simtool output script.


i can use this 2nd method of connecting servos to arduino but i have to write a long script in simtool output example like this :

A<axis1a>~ B<axis1a>~ C<axis1a>~ D<axis1a>

this is just for left moving plate in GS4 which is has 4 servos divided by 2 group, normal and inverted servos. A and B is inverted servos.

i read somewhere if i write the script very long (A+B+C+D=left flap) + (E+F+G+H=right flap) + (I+J+K+L=left bottom) + (M+N+O+P=right bottom) , the simtool will process the script slowly and giving the feedback real slow. can any one confirm this?

btw i am sory as english is not my native language. i hope you guys still understand what im trying to explain here

Some time ago I used RC servos and did this parallel signal wiring. It worked without problems.
One difference in my setup was that I connected the Arduino to an external 9V power supply, so that it did not rely only on the power provided by the USB port.