Got my new CSL DD(8nm) and its overheating right after turing on
Nuno Gomes
Member
I received my order on October 17th, and on the same day I tested everything to see if it worked and everything is working. I made sure to follow all the manuals and install the correct drivers and programs. That day I tried the wheel+base in the game Beamng Drive and everything was working properly for 30-45mins after that I didn't play anymore that day.
19-oct I had free time to play, I turned on the steering wheel and found it strange, even before I started driving, the base was already hot and I could smell burning plastic. I decided to stop and reassemble the whole thing to make sure it was coming from the steering wheel. After that I tested the game again the base started to turn off by itself after 2-3mins. I tried a few more times and it always happens in the same amount of time. I decided to stop because the fact that it was very hot worried me but the burning smell stopped. Anyway, I can't use the base because it keeps turning off by itself after a short time.
I submitted a support ticket but did not receive any confirmation that the ticket was sent. And this whole thing just makes me more stressed with each passing day. I worked 4 months to buy this equipment and it breaks my heart to having received defective equipment.
If any moderator is watching, that could just confirm that my support tick has been sent, I would greatly appreciate it.
I will keep this post updated regarding the situation.
Comments
Had the same issue but with 5nm R2R bundle.
You can expect at least one email from support with extra questions about WB settings and (lmao) your room temperature while playing.
I received this msg on sunday. Since then, there is still no answer.
Yhap I just woke up and now I received an email confirming that my tick was sent but I still haven't received anything asking for my settings. Thanks for the answer, it makes me feel a little more at ease knowing I'm not the only one with problems!!
The after-sales service has been unresponsive for 1 month, people are still buying......
I just got the email asking for my settings.
Exactly the same here. CSL DD (8nm). received 24th October 2023, set it up on the 25th, used for 3 hours fine. 26th I used it for 30 minutes. Smell of burning and the wheelbase had turned off. Now it will just turn off after 30s to 1 minute..
Currently waiting for support to deal with my issue...
Same thing happened to me today, CSL DD 8NM. It was fine for the first 5h or so, then burning smell followed by shut off. Received it Friday oct 27. Sure sounds like a quality spill based on the dates we’re all getting the same issue.
I created my support ticket today, we’ll see what happens.
it's really sad to see so many people with the same problem, 100% it was a wheel base group that came with a factory defect.
I'm still waiting for them to respond to the email I sent with my settings. Every day that passes I just get more stressed :C
I hope everything goes well with your problems and i hope it doesn't take as long as it is taking me.
It seems that I will be the first...
Got an email with label for post shipment and RMA number. they are saying "As soon as our technician is able to reproduce your issue, a new product will be shipped to you"
Sent 25.oct and delivered to Fanatec (Endor AG) 31.oct.
Hello, I am new here and I am having the same issue with my DD burning up. Barely got 20min of play time when that happened.
Well, I haven’t even heard back from Fanatec after my email on Tuesday, tried calling during their 2-4pm time window for calls and got greeted with a “we’re too busy responding emails so we’re not answering calls”. So I guess I’ll wait until next week to see if they respond. I’m honestly considering just returning it and waiting for the Clubsport DD launching later this month based on how many people with this same issue I’ve found here and on Reddit.
Not a great first experience with Fanatec for sure.
Update from me:
Still playing the Fanatec waiting and guessing game!
5 days after I contacted Fanatec, I received an Email from support asking questions about settings and if I was drifting? WTF! Its a wheelbase for racing simulators, I am not a drifter but if you are driving on the absolute limit in order to be competitive then your wheels are rarely inline. Come On Fanatec! Are your products fit for purpose or not??? I didn't spend a lot of money on a direct drive to play parking simulator!
I replied to them the same day.
4 days later, I receive an email from support saying they have created an RMA for analysis and repair but to wait for a further email with instructions.
A further 2 days and I receive an Email from Repair with instructions.
HOWEVER....... The instructions tell you to pack everything that came in the box "Please include all accessories that were originally included with the affected product, such as power cables, connectors, etc."
When you buy a CSL DD 8NM it comes in one brown box with the CSL DD and Boost kit 180, in separate white fanatec boxes, both within the brown Fanatec cardboard box for shipping..... WHAT EXACTLY DO YOU WANT ME TO SEND??? How hard can it be to give clear instructions. You as a company know exactly what we ordered and how it was shipped. Please Fanatec update your communication you are really letting your customers down....
So I contact them again straight away for clear instructions and yes...... wait some more.....
I decide to pack everything up whilst I wait and label the box so it is ready to go, I clearly mark the box with the RMA number as instructed, although I don't really know which box to mark as I don't know which boxes to send yet........ And Then........ I notice there are 2 different RMA numbers in the same Email for one faulty product, with one digit different!!!!!........Is it a typo???? Which RMA number???? Which boxes????
So I send another message to Fanatec and yes.... wait for some more days of my life to go by...
I know some Fanatec staff read some of these posts as they sometimes reply. I would maybe expect this level of service from a startup company not from one that has been in the game for decades.
In the 2 weeks that I've had my Fanatec CSL DD I had less than 4 hours use and I have no idea when I will get to have another go at it.
What a great experience so far!
Hey Christian,
I do have the very exact same problem with my wheelbase (CSL DD 8NM). I ended up getting my setup yesterday, connected everything, started playing some Project Cars 2, then suddenly the wheel ended up losing connection and I smelled some burned/molden plastic. I have been trying to locate what the issue might be, watched a video where someone disassembled the entire PCB from the Motor and noticed a relatively big cement resistor exactly at the location where the plastic has bubbled and where it got hot. I am assuming that they got a large batch of PCB's with that specific resistor being just flawed. Other people have reported that temps there are reaching above 270°C. I am not even sure that that is Fanatecs fault because I doubt that they are producing their PCB inhouse but outsourced that. And there won't be any issues when doing the standard Quality Check for the resistor as you need some hours of use before it becomes visible that it has an issue. I opened a support case now and ended up at least getting a confirmation e-mail that the case is open. Now starting to play the waiting game as well.
I am wondering if the issue only occurs with wheelbases where those boost kits are attached.
I had ordered the 8NM version with the bigger power brick. Would be interesting to see if people who had the issue had the original 5NM Unit without the Boost Kit or if they almost entirely used the big brick, which would show that the used resistor is just undersized and of bad quality.
I am going to keep you posted here as well about how this will be going as I am otherwise quite happy about the purchase I made. The stuff I ordered feels like a huge improvement over my old T300RS, but I guess it was just bad luck with one of the faulty devices from the batch.
Update on my side, heard back from fanatec and got asked the same standard questions about setup, settings, room temp, drifting, etc. even when I clearly detailed all of that in my original ticket, guess they didn’t really read it smh. A day later I got the shipping label saying to send everything out which was a challenge as I don’t have the original packaging anymore, so I packed it with some Amazon self expanding foam bags to get the awkward shape packed correctly and shipped it along with the usb and power cable and adapter. They’ll get it on Monday so we’ll see how long after that it takes to get the replacement one shipped out.
Also because I don’t really trust this product anymore, I ended up ordering the new Clubsport DD and that has been delayed from Nov 4 to Nov 28 lol.
More waiting to come 🤷🏻♂️
Hi,
bei mir das selbe. Mein CSL DD 5NM kam am 18. Oktober an. Nach 9 Tagen wie bei euch ein Geruch nach verschmortem Kabel, und die Base wurde unerträglich heiß. Die Lichter am Ausschaltknopf wechselten von grün, rot bis hin zu blau(?). Nach dem Abkühlen ging es nicht mehr zum einschalten. Jedenfalls an den technischen Support geschrieben doch ich habe keine Ahnung, ob meine Meldung überhaupt ankam oder registriert wurde. Keine automatische Benachrichtigung oder sonst irgendein Lebenszeichen. Dann den Telefon Support angerufen. Nur Bandansage dass der telefonische Support aufgrund der hohen Anfragen eingestellt wurde.
Mittlerweile sind 12 Tage vergangen und keinerlei Reaktion von Fanatec. Ein 2. Anruf Anfang der Woche hatte denselben Erfolg - Gar Keinen! Etwas sauer bin ich schon. Dass ein neues Gerät kaputt gehen kann ist klar - Aber das man den Ansturm der Kunden scheinbar einfach nur aussitzen will und Vogel Strauß spielt ... Naja.
Hi,
You need to contact support on the "my products" page of the Fanatec website. Once you have successfully sent a support ticket you should get a confirmation email straight away!
I did not get an email on my first attempt so I tried again and then got a confirmation email straight away from Fanatec saying "Thank you for your support request. A support agent will get back to you within seven days."
I then recieved an email 5 days later.
Good luck!!
Danke für die Antwort, Christian. Ich habe nun aufgrund deiner Antwort zum 3. Mal den Support bemüht. Und siehe da, nun geht es nach dem Absenden meiner Anfrage weiter und es wird sich ein Mitarbeiter melden.. bla. Nun bin ich gespannt.
Ein schönes Wochenende!
Hey Kristoph,
The whole CSL DD unit is manufactured in China but it is Fanatecs product and Fanatecs responsibility to make sure that production standards are met and quality control checks are put in place to prevent faulty equipment reaching the customer.
My wheelbase shows signs of melted plastic at the rear so it has obviously got far to hot.
I was happy for the 3 hours that it worked and not very happy for the 360 hours since.
Mine will be collected Monday For repair so we will see how much longer it takes........
Hey Christian, I was aware that it is manufactured in China and I have a suspicion after watching a few videos from people who already took that thing apart. Under normal circumstances, this whole Resistor burning shouldn't occur but people have been saying that the soldering of some of the components was poor so it might as well be that some electronic component just got lose or, in the worst case, just fell off which keeps pumping a current to the resistor that heats it up to a point where it just fails, at least from my understanding.
I have yet to hear from support as they did not bother to respond on thursday nor friday. I am expecting an answer some time next week, already prepared to answer the same questions everyone was asked, even though I already stated everything like that in my ticket :)
If it's just the wheelbase that is affected, I guess I will have to send in just that one and the power Brick (Boost Kit) or do they want more stuff that has to be packaged up?
Anyway, I'll keep you guys updated about my situation. It's quite frustrating to be honest but I guess we've just been unlucky with our units. Sh... happens :D
Update 11.11. 9:00 : Just got the standard support E-Mail, asking me about drifting, room temp, kind of game, duration of use and all that. Also was told that I'll receive an E-Mail with instructions how to proceed with the RMA , so waiting for that right now. It's most likely a standard procedure so they can put that in their Database.
Will keep you posted.
Today’s update, Fanatec received my RMA yesterday (Monday) and today I got a notification from FedEx that a package is coming my way. No email whatsoever from Fanatec but based on the information available on FedEx I’m pretty sure this is the replacement/repaired wheel base. I can see my RMA number in the reference and it’s coming from Fanatec repair center. Sounds like I’ll be getting it this Saturday. I’ll post an update once that happens and let you know if it’s a brand new unit I or just repaired. Honestly I am kinda hoping for it to be the repaired one, that way I’m not playing the quality lottery a second time.
BTW, I only get FedEx notifications like this because I signed up for it (free) by registering my name and address so anything that matches gets added to my account and I get notified, in case you were curious.
Staus Update for my RMA : I sent both the broken CSL DD and the Boost Kit in on the 13th. Tracking says it arrived on the 14th but have not yet heard back about it. I just asked if they have a Status update as it's odd that it takes as long as it does, comparing my wait time with others in here.
Will keep you posted if something changes.
Update....
I had the correct RMA number advised in a further Email. Arranged collection for repair / replacement last Monday. Wheelbase repaired and returned to me Friday. I am in the UK so it goes to the Fanatec UK repair center and not back to Germany. I was busy on the weekend so have set it up today (Monday 20th). Seems OK so far, further testing to be done....
Summary:
Ordered CSL DD 11/10
Delivered 24/10
Set up 25/10
Failed / Smoked / Overheated 26/10 Contacted Fanatec same day
Repaired and returned to me 17/11
Will update if it fails again.
Cheers
Latest episode from this saga, this is a long one. I got my repaired wheel base back today, exactly 1 week after Fanatec received it. To this point I never heard from them at all, no emails, nothing whatsoever to indicate they had received, repaired, shipped back the wheel. I only knew to expect it through FedEx but that has nothing to do with fanatec so communication is abysmal.
Now onto the wheel base itself, it is the same one I sent, it now works again which means they fixed whatever made it fail. Unfortunately, they failed to replace the rear plastic cover which still has marks of overheated plastic, and on top of that, is now broken too.
Full transparency, I didn’t have the original packaging to return it in because the wheel was working fine when new and I liked it and had no plans to return or sell it and didn’t want to have a bunch of boxes taking space at home. So I shipped it for repair securely packaged in a box I got with expanding foam bags that were formed to the shape of the base along with additional bubble packaging so it didn’t move around in the box. I got it back in the exact same box, packed using the same packaging foam bags but in a way that didn’t secure it and allowed it to move around in the box, which I imagine is how it broke during shipping.
Absolutely horrendous customer service, zero willingness to communicate or help in any way but the most basic, predetermined process. I’m done with Fanatec. In the 21 days it took them to ship me a broken “repaired” product I had the chance to try out a Moza R12 I got locally at Microcenter which didn’t burn up in the first 6h and I’m happy to keep. I really liked the Fanatec ecosystem but I’m not willing to deal with their terrible customer service any longer. 34 days after my original order date…
I sincerely hope your experience will be better than mine. But know that Moza is sold locally in the US at Microcenter and you can get a “no questions asked” protection plan through microcenter (extra cost obviously) and not have to deal with any overseas CS.
Pics of the repaired Fanatec wheelbase and the Moza setup I'm keeping
Had the same issues with DD Pro and followed all the steps to get unit sent back. The communication from FANATEC is HORRIBLE like mentioned above. Really disappointed to save the money to purchase, get less than 3 hours of play and now weeks without to use. Literally would respond to emails minutes after they sent and "crickets" for days. Tried calling and they are too busy to answer any calls and could not find a voice mail box that would allow messages. Certainly, hope the base comes back is trouble free. So Frustrated with Fanatec customer support.
Me too, i bought CSL DD with boost pack on 24 November received and installed on 8 December and it's already broken. My DD overheating smell burn and Switch off in game Like Assetto Corsa or not . I've already submitted ticket to support but hadn't email to confirm. Hope they will remplace like so many people in the same situation.
update.... well there is no update. Been 37 days since my unit burnt up. Have had some communication from Fanatec and can see a new unit is being sent to me, at some point. No idea when it will ship, and customer service is unable to provide any updates, but they appreciate my support, understand my frustration and thank me for being patience.
Order was placed Nov 10, received Nov 12, burnt up Nov 13, shipped nov 24 , told i would get a replacement on dec 4, still waiting 12/19/23
Idem, the only difference with you is any communication from Fanatec except Rma process and time needed to get answer. Yes this CS need really to get upgraded!
Thank you to all of you for sharing your dreadul experiences with the Fanatec CSL DD wheel base. I only took a look on here as I was shocked/angry that having waited so long for my order to be delivered, my CSL DD also FAILED after only 3 hours of intermittent use. Having now discovered there are many references on various forums about this overheating/failure problem, it seems Fanatec are well aware of this poor quality issue - how dare they continue to sell a product known to have a manufacturing fault! - I'm sure if it had been made in Germany instead of supporting the Chinese economy and regime, it would not have happened. I have emailed them and am awaiting a response, (hopefully this year!), and I will give updates so that others with a similar issue may gain a little insight (hope). I am in the UK.
Perhaps I should add that on 07/01/24 my order is still showing as 'handed to warehouse' with no tracking number or assigned serial numbers - how ridiculous seeing as my order was delivered by UPS on 27/12/23!. I suppose I should be thankful that it arrived at all!
My CSL DD 8Nm just did the same thing yesterday. PC doesn't recognize it anymore. I've created a support ticket but haven't been contacted yet. I only got ~5 hours of gaming out of this unit. This makes me sad.
To conclude RMA process is the only way to resolve your problem but it takes time, I sent back my CSL 8Nm on 18/12/2023, they received it on 29/12/2023 and back with new one today 12/01/2024. Good luck we are too much in the same boat!