I flew helicopters for many years, having controls on the stick was very convenient so I looked for options for the RV-12. My plane had only a push to talk button on the grip, later models have 4 buttons mapped to trim and radio.
I chose to use the Tosten CS-8 grip. Fitting it to the curved RV-12 control stick was a challenge to get the grip to end up at the proper height and tilt. I talked with Kevin at Tosten and he showed me an adapter for another Vans model that tilts the grip in relation to the stick. Using that Idea I got on the lathe and made an adapter with extreme tilt angle and the result was perfect.
The controls on the grips are, cooley hat fore and aft = trim, trigger = PTT, button below trigger = autopilot engage / release, left button = com 1 & 2 select, right button = scroll radio presets.
All the switches on the grip connect to ground to operate their respective functions. I have a separate ground that is used for all the switches except the PTT. The PTT ground is always connected the second ground is connected to a switch that I can control on the panel. If I have someone in the passenger seat that may “play” with the buttons I turn off that ground so those controls don’t work. The PTT is always working on both sticks.
On the panel I removed the red autopilot button and replaced it with a toggle with an internal green indicator that turns off my electric fuel pump. I replaced the trim rocker on the panel with an on / off rocker, the same one that is used on the lights. A little realignment of the traces on the board and the switch is now connecting ground. This switch turns off the functions of the right stick.
