CSL DD 8NM - sudden wheel disconnect during driving (solution)
Michael Diwo
Member
Hello fellow sim racers,
I'd like to share a solution I have found but apprently nobody seemed to have mentioned in the forum posts I have gone through.
I have had the issue on two different wheels, the problem occured with both at the same rate.
Before the CSL DD I used to have a CSW 2.5 on which I have never experienced this behaviour.
Problem :
- wheel hangs itself during driving
Shifting does not work anymore then, and shortly thereafter (several seconds) the FFB drops completely. Also the display and lights on the wheel are frozen at this point. The wheel rotation and pedals (connected to the base) keep working. Other than rebooting the whole PC I found out simply removing and putting the wheel back on the base solves that problem, which also resolves FFB.
- Sudden brief FFB drops :
Sometimes, the FFB feels to "switch" suddenly to a (for me) steady low value and after a while (1 to x secs) comes back up again. This feels very unnatural, it can happen nearly everywhere, on braking , in the middle of a corner (also while coasting) and sometimes even on a straight and I don't think it is a simple grip loss as the power loss is far to too much.
On the forum there are a number of people describing similar problems, here is an link excerpt
https://forum.fanatec.com/discussion/26048/csl-dd-or-formula-v2-randomly-disconnecting
https://forum.fanatec.com/discussion/26120/csl-dd-ffb-lose-for-a-second-and-comes-back
https://forum.fanatec.com/discussion/26431/csl-dd-8nm-strange-problem
https://forum.fanatec.com/discussion/26551/csl-dd-issues
https://forum.fanatec.com/discussion/26619/csl-dd-8nm-freezes-under-high-ffb
I tried (during several weeks)
- driver and FW updates including down- and upgrades to 415, 429, 439, 447 (now) and several betas inbetween (ie 434, 440, ..)
- switched to another USB cable
- added multiple ferrite cores to both ends of the cable
- switch to other USB ports (front panel and back (mainboard))
- added additional USB PCIex riser card
All of this did not help with the problem and I was about to sell the whole lot and move on .
It appeared to me some tracks were more prone to this problem than others for some strange reasons, and sometimes it even seemed to occur on the same corners more often than on others
At some point I noticed in my anger the wheel disconnects when pulling upwards, which led to the conclusion on some occasions the QR wheel attachment cannot cope with the forces applied to the wheel and this movement had a relation to the corners.
In conclusion imo the shaft and connector tolerances are too big to use the wheel without tightening screw so one or more pins get (briefly) disconnected when an external force is applied, which then in turn hangs the wheel controller.
Solution (for me) :
The fix was (in my case) to tighten the connection between the wheelbase and the wheel using a M6 plastic screw and rubber washers, like shown in the picture.
I haven't had a problem since and I am a happy customer again.
Greetings,
Michael
Comments
I'm interested in your solution, but I'm not really sure what I'm looking at with that last picture you posted. Could you post a wider shot to provide some context?
There should already be a suitable M6 metal screw in the QR box. Is there a reason you replaced it with a plastic one?
However I believe you should ask Fanatec to replace QR as it has wrong tolerances. This way you will be happy, but your Quick Release has become Slow Release which could become a problem when you decide to buy a second steering wheel.
Don't get me wrong, great solution, I always have an admiration for DIY solutions, but such an expensive product should just work out of the box.
Oh, so is that what we're looking at in that last pic? A close-up of the metal QR? Interesting solution, but I agree with Alessandro... if that has fixed your problem, then it seems pretty obvious that the metal QR is faulty and should be replaced.
Fanatec support will most likely just explain that the QR often don't fit well and that is why they supply a screw. - i.e this is normal for Fanatec gear.
There is a clear direction here - an illusion of quality (the same wheel used in a real car) but the reality is that 99% of the products sold are designed to be made as cheaply as possible with remarkably loose manufacturing tolerances. There is always a trade off in design and manufacturing between cost and quality, but Fanatec have missed the equilibrium, hence we see so many issues in this forum - even issues that appear to be software related, are as we are often reminded, ae due to hardware issues that require returns for fixing. Seems that trying to save a penny is costing them two.
I used a plastic screw, because I did not want to scratch anything inside the wheel. And no, neither with any wheel nor with the CSL DD came M6 nuts, I had to buy them in a hardware store which is a pity imo. With the wheels came a simple plastic bolt which cannot be tightened because there is no thread. The amount of rubber washers because I am very lazy and could not be bothered with measuring the inside depth and then cut the screw.
The connector per se is fine as it seems to be a custom made industrial connector which in general are pretty expensive, but I don't think they are designed to withstand any applied tilting forces. Such connectors need to have higher tolerances because otherwise you would have a hard time losening it again.
For the quick release, yes I agree it is kind of fixed now, but I don't care as long as I am able again to do consistent laps. I use the main wheel on 99.5% of the sesssions anyway. So not a big deal for me.
On a side note, I recently had a broken pin on my main wheel (out of warranty) and had to have it repaired. Although the repair took quite some time I was quite pleased with the reasonable repair price, so hats off to Fanatec for this.
I have seen the the new QR2 with two vertical metal bars to keep the wheel in place in a video from the Nurburgring Expo, and it seems to be very nicely machined and looks quite expensive. But I don't think I am going to have everything replaced with the new system once it gets out as to me it looks very expensive and time consuming to do so.
The screw in question is the one, white, the black one is the one I assume you found in the box.
I'm having this issue with my CSW v2.5 base and McLaren wheel with QR1. I am using, and always have used, the locking screw to secure the wheel. But in the last few weeks im suddenly having FFB drops and loss of function for the wheel - previously I had never experienced this stuff in the 1.5 years of regular use. Something is majorly wrong right now and I dont see a single solution to resolve this, or even a concerted effort to diagnose the cause(s). This is a nightmare, we have a league race on Jan 7 and, though my team is leading the championship, I feel like we are dead in the water if I have to race with this issue still present.
I've been reading the comments and I'm not sure my problem is the same as most of you guys. I use a VR headset (HP Reverb G2) so I have no idea what is happening with led lights or program modes lights while I'm racing. I do know my wheel was working fine then all of sudden my wheel was disconnecting in races on AC and ACC. When I took off the Headset and looked at the program light it would either be on the light that is between PC mode and the playstation mode, then finally it would be completely off. I tried reinstalling and retorquing the QR 2, that didn't work. I uninstalled the firmware, then reinstalled the latest firmware, that didn't work.
Finally, I realized that connection from the power boost supply to the back of the base had a bit of play. Why Fanantec doesn't have a more secure like connect for this connection I don't know. A screw in connection or a some kind of push lock system for something so important. An Ethernet type connection for something that maybe connected and disconnected several times doesn't seem to be well thought out by the engineers.
At any rate, the cable connect from the power booster was the problem. Getting a replacement power booster replacement would probably take over a year, considering it takes forever to even hear back from Fanantec after submitting a ticket to customer (I have yet to hear anything back from them) plus I don't know whether or not I'm still under warranty.
I solved the problem with a simple low-tech solution. I wedged a small piece of paper beneath the release of the cable connect making the connection solid, with no play or wiggle with the connection. For weeks now I have had no disconnects. I was having constant disconnects before, especially when I jerked the wheel on hard turns or if someone crashed into my car.
I hope this solution helps someone, I'll update if the problem reoccurs.