Shift problem WRC wheel
frits meij
Member
I was wondering if there can be any other reason for these problems apart from faulty hardware:
When downshifting;
A delay before it shifts sometimes (often actually)
Double shift
No shift at all
And sometimes it works fine, the right paddle (up) always works without issue. The problems pop up randomly and makes driving problematic as you can imagine. :-) The wheel was bought together with a CSL DD and is about half a year old.
Comments
Have you tried it on other cars? Could it be the anti-shift kicking in due to high revs.
Is this happening in a specific game, or in all games you've tried?
Thanks for your replies. The problem is in every car I use in ACC, basically the only game I play. I should mention that the double shifting, which made racing impossible, was better after I changed the in-game setting of gearshift debouncing to 150 ms or more (normal is 50), but now I get these weird delays (and still double shifts).
Just now I tried the setting back to 50ms, and the fast double downshift cost an accident. If this can't be caused by firmware or something there is something wrong with the electronics, microswitch perhaps? Very annoying, it is my only wheel and I'm addicted to simracing, sending it in will maybe take weeks, but it seems to get worse. Ah well... :-)
It might be worth downloading another sim like Raceroom or something (it's free to play), just to get a sense of whether it's happening outside of ACC or not. If not, then it would seem to be something within the game's settings. If it does happen in other games, then that would indicate that it's hardware related, as you suspect. The WRC wheel , IIRC, uses older "snapdome" technology for the shifters. Before buying my CSL DD, I had a wheel that used similar technology to yours (the old 911 GT2 wheel) and towards the end of it's lifespan, the shifters were starting to go, with symptoms that sound similar to what you describe: having to pull more than once to upshift, double shifts, missing shifts completely, etc.
Thanks, I have tried Raceroom and it missed acouple of downshifts and had delays too. But it turns out I can see something is wrong in the control panel, where in the wheel section you get a blue arrow when pulling the paddles. On the left I could see occasiona flickering of the arrow, and also when I pull the paddle a little harder the arrow goes away (this doesn't happen with the right paddle, as it shouldn't).
So that really can't be anything else than hardware I think, the switch I presume. I'll open a ticket today, guess I could even show a video of this behaviour if they don't believe me. But, why wouldn't they, not doing this for fun. :-)
I guess it is best to have a spare wheel, but then again, you would also need a spare base, spare pedals and a spare computer. And a spare girlfriend. That would make it all very expensive, especially the last item. ;-)
I have a small hope they would send me the switch if they think that's it, so I can repair it myself so I won't be without the wheel for long, doubt they will though, we'll see. LFM has to wait for now...
Yes, that definitely sounds like hardware failure then. If at all possible, I would absolutely send them a video of what's happening as well. Basically try to give them as much info as you possibly can, so that there is no chance that they could request clarification, further delaying your request.
It's bad enough having to wait ~2 weeks for an initial reply, but you definitely don't want them to ask you questions and then take another 2 weeks to reply to that response.
I'm pretty sure they will want you to RMA the whole unit, especially if it's still under warranty. Personally, I would start the RMA process now and not bother asking about the possibility of them shipping you a spare part, as this is only likely to delay the whole process. It sucks, but the sooner you start it, the sooner you can get it over with and hopefully get back to racing. Best of luck.
Just as an update for whoever is interested, yesterday I submitted a support ticket, little later than planned. I suspected this was going to take a while, so I bit the bullet and bought another wheel. So this shift failure turned out well for Fanatec. ;-)
That doesn't mean I don't want the WRC working properly though. I'll update this thread as soon as I know how this will proceed. O btw, against Greggs advice, I did just mention the option of sending the replacement part to me, because since I have this new wheel now, I am not in a hurry anymore. :-)
Today I got a response from support, asking me to make a video, which I already did and sent via the Fanatec system. Also I mentioned what can be seen on the video in my message, a message that they clearly didn't read, otherwise, why ask for a video...
Ah well, I re-sent the video with the response mail. It is clear that buying another wheel was the right choice, at least, if you are addicted to simracing and can't do without for too long, because it seems this is gonna take a while... ;-)
Today I got a mail from UPS, saying they have a package from Fanatec, assuming the wheel is repaired, but no mail from Fanatec or any mention on my account, so I'll wait and see, package should come this week.
Clear is that all of this takes some time, so having a spare wheel is a good thing. :-)
Conclusion to this little thread. Wheel arrived yesterday, after some short testing I could not reproduce the original problem, so the repair was done properly, I assume. It is a bit of a shame that there was no mention of what they have done, maybe they replaced a switch, maybe they used compressed air, no idea.
Anyway, the wheel is back, the repair was quickly once they received the wheel, so thanks to Fanatec for that, but all in all the whole proces took a couple of weeks. Also note that I am located in The Netherlands, which borders Germany. May not make a difference if Fanatec has repair centres in other parts of the world, I don't know.
So, what has this faulty shift paddle cost me? Well, technically nothing, the repair was done under warranty, all decent enough. However, since I didn't want to be without a wheel for a couple of weeks, the actual cost of this little reluctant flipper was a little over 400 euro. ;-)