Wheelstand pro and load cell stress
Hi all,
I upgraded recently from thrustmaster t300 to a dd pro gran turismo for my Playstation setup. My setup is a low ikea chair and a wheelstand pro. All went well until I upgraded my brake pedal with the load cell kit on black friday. Since then I had intermittent failures and disconnects. Reseating and retightening the shaft helped for a while, but the problems came back. Infuriating…
So here is what happened: if your chair is not fixed to your stand, you need to pull real hard on the wheel to prevent the force you put on the load cell brake pedal from pushing the wheel stand away. pulling that hard overcomes the shaft clamp which causes the internal usb-c connector to come loose. The standard pedal does not cause this, just the load cell.
After fixing the stand to my chair using some primitive metalworking , epoxy, a wingnut, and a strap, I no longer need to pull on my wheel when braking.
Perhaps the load cell kit should come with a warning that it should only be used in a full rig setup.
Comments
The FAQ states - "To get the most performance from this product, it is important to hard-mount your pedals to a rig or wheel stand, and use a secure seat, so that you have the confidence to repeatedly apply large forces on the brake pedal."
You should not be pulling on your wheel for anything. The brake force should come through your legs and into the seat. Some wheelstands come with a castor tray which helps keep the chair and wheelstand close and aligned.
I had a Wheelstand DD by Next Level. I bought these: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08T8TLPKF/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 for my desk chair. Worked great on DD Pro with V3 Pedals.
The issue with the CSL and DD Pro disconnect has always been an issue. Im a bit surprised they haven't fixed that in assembly by now. But I still see that issue occur on new CSL line bases.
A home remedy for racing from a desk chair is to put the chair in a pair of old shoes.
The FAQ is clear, but as there are a lot of messages about poor connectivity, I think the current mechanism using clamping force is shall we say… suboptimal. A compounding issue is that the wheel has a quick release and the shaft is detachable to allow the DIN style connection to connect to the wheel base using a USB-c connector. As this is hard mounted, there is no play, and once the shaft bevome loose, the alignment was off, which dented my connector, making the connection even more inconsistent.
if you look at real racing gear, the quick release is done using levers and locking bolts, but that is not even the issue with the fanatec wheel. It’s the detachable usb shaft that needs firmer fixing. I’ll just be more careful with the load I put on my wheel. Because of the load cell I put way to much force on it. Lesson learned.