Wheel not detected when unused for a while

Dear all,

I'm just looking for a procedure, trick or hint for my steering wheels, when they're not detected by the base.

Background: I'm owning several wheels for Formula and GT racing. Usual, I'm racing full seasons, means if I race a formula car, the GT wheels are just sitting there attached to a 3D-printed stand on my desk for about a couple of weeks.

When I re-attach one of my GT wheels to the CSL Elite+, the wheel is not going to be recognized immediately. I've tried it with the base powered on as well as off, several power circles, several times dismounted and re-attached the wheel, with driver interface open and closed, with PC or PS4 connected or not.

Until now, everytime the wheel was recognized after some time shuffling everyting around, but it's still some hassle. All my wheels are affected, means the BMW GT2, the 918 RSR, the Formula V2 and the F1 ESports.


Is there any trick or procedure to change the wheels without this issue? Or do I have to clean the contacts after the downtime?


Cheers, Mike

Comments

  • Never heard this one before. What firmware is installed on your wheel base? Did you check the QR hub and QR connectors of the wheels for anything suspicious?

  • Dear Remco,

    my base runs on driver package Beta V372 (never opted to update to 373 or 374 as there are no changes to the CLS+ included).

    I've re-tightened the screws inside the wheels QR, including the small one in the middle. This was the solution for the 918 wheel, but not the other ones. My base seems to be ok, as this never occurs when the wheel has been detected once, no matter how hard I race.


    Chears, Mike

  • What do you mean by "a while"? Is only the wheel not detected or the whole base?

  • Hi Sascha,

    as I've written in the full failure description, the unused wheels stay there a couple of weeks and it's only the wheel that is not going to be detected. No lights or button reaction at the wheel and also wheel not shown in the driver, when I connect the base to the PC.

    The funny thing is, that after I've removed the functional wheel (e.g. F V2) and got the GT wheel (e.g. 918) working, I can change them back and forth without any issue. To me, from a technical point of view, this sounds like any residues on the contacts of the unused wheel, but as they're gold-coated, this is quite unlikely. Nevertheless, trying to clean them with a Q-tip and Isopropanol the next time.

    Or some mystery at the software....?!?!

  • Dominic BrennanDominic Brennan Member, Administrator

    Hi Mike,

    Cleaning the contacts should not be necessary. It is possible that there is an issue with the connection on the wheel base side. If the problem continues please create a support ticket via the My Products section of your Fanatec account.


    [Fanatec Community Manager]

  • edited October 2020

    Hi Dominic & Sascha,


    I've now carefully re-tightened the screws inside the QR of each of my wheels again and that seems to do the trick until now, even with the BMW GT2 wheel which I hardly use (to heavy...). Seems, these screws got loose due to the FFB rattle. If it happens again, I'll going to take them out one by one and add some Loctide.

    Anyway, if it should be any issue with the connection inside the base, I don't care anymore. Just ordered a DD1 PS4 minutes ago...

    Cheers, Mike

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