Fanatec Clubsport Shifter SQ review

[eKretz]

Carson, check your wires from the quick release at the back of the wheel connector to the PCB plug just to make sure there are no rub-throughs or cut-throughs. That's one thing that can cause issues like you're having.

 

[Carson79]

Carson, check your wires from the quick release at the back of the wheel connector to the PCB plug just to make sure there are no rub-throughs or cut-throughs. That's one thing that can cause issues like you're having.

Thanks Eric, they had it in for repair and changed the PCB board when the motors were changed, they even sent me a new Rim. It only happens with the BMW rim and not with the F1 rim.
it's very annoying when your trying to set up a car and it jumps through the menus etc

 

[DeeVeePee]

Well in my case the motors have always broke down .... at least one a month from October 2012.

Hard to believe. Especially after the period (around may 2013) we have been talking about. Please send me your details and I will check if I can get some inside information from the Fanatec Support I have been in touch with. If you agree then I will ask for details and post it public here. I think this would be a matter of interrest for some more guys as I have no reason to not believe what they (Fanatec) told me about the motor issue but you are saying something VERY different.

So...let us go ahead and clear things out. Ok?

 

[Carson79]

Hard to believe. Especially after the period (around may 2013) we have been talking about. Please send me your details and I will check if I can get some inside information from the Fanatec Support I have been in touch with. If you agree then I will ask for details and post it public here. I think this would be a matter of interrest for some more guys as I have no reason to not believe what they (Fanatec) told me about the motor issue but you are saying something VERY different.

So...let us go ahead and clear things out. Ok?

Who exactly are you? And why should anyone give their details to some random person proclaiming insider information??
My motor issues are well documented on this forum and many of my friends know the extent of my motor issues. The last estimate was around 12 and the last motor block was replaced in January 2014!
But just to be absolutely clear I do not need to justify myself to you! Whoever you are! I am not and never have been a Fanatec Basher or whatever, just a customer who wanted what he paid for!
You have come on here proclaiming we, customers with real issues are talking rubbish more or less and that the motors are great. If they were in fact and had no issues, your customers Thomas would be proclaiming their reliability.
It's pretty obvious it is you Thomas, as you have been very inactive to then have a new member come on defending Fanatec just at the same time your releasing a new product lol
Why all the cloak and dagger?
And like I said in my first post this current motor block is holding up fine, I didn't realise that it was January they were last changed until I checked through my many email records to Fanatecsupportagent-Ger2.
I still have an unresolved issue with my BMW rim if you want to use your insider contacts to chase that up for me, that'd be just great

 

[mrbasher]

Hard to believe. Especially after the period (around may 2013) we have been talking about. Please send me your details and I will check if I can get some inside information from the Fanatec Support I have been in touch with. If you agree then I will ask for details and post it public here. I think this would be a matter of interrest for some more guys as I have no reason to not believe what they (Fanatec) told me about the motor issue but you are saying something VERY different.

So...let us go ahead and clear things out. Ok?

I have what might be a better idea... Unless you have signed some kind of agreement not to, or are under NDA with Fanatec for some reason. Please post precisely what they have told you. You have not done this yet. If you can do this, maybe then you can gain some trust and lend some credence to your statements thus far. If you cannot do that, do not be surprised if you continue to garner the responses you have thus far.

At this point you seem to have something to gain from clearing their name on the issue. If so, say what's necessary to clear it.

To everyone else, I'd recommend not providing any information to this person.

Edit: Just a warning, anything you PM me will be posted on this topic.

 

[mrbasher]

Just posted on the iRacing forums (not by Thomas):

Direct from Thomas

Thomas Jackermeier said:

The motors of the CSW are the same or similar as used in millions of FF wheels. There was a large batch of bad motors which caused big problems but with the latest motors those issues are gone.

Think about it. We are using the same motor on the Porsche wheels with 2,5 A and we use 2 of those motors in the CSW at 5A. The application is the same and stall is stall - no matter how you achieve it.

The problem was a wrong soldering method and wire shielding which was not suitable for high temperature. Only a limited amount of motors were affected but we are still talking about hundreds of wheels and even replacement motors had the issue as it took us too long to find out the root cause.

And it occurs ore likely if you race very often and so does the very vocal and influential minority of opinion leaders. That is the reason why you read so often about the issue.

If a motor is replaced now or if you purchase a CSW new and don't overclock your FOR or SPR power above 100 then you will be just fine. No engine will last forever and it always depends how you treat it. No matter if it is a real car or one of our wheels. But our products are designed for heavy use and the motor itself is fit for the purpose.

If this is the insider info, it proves nothing unfortunately.

 

[LogiForce]

Just posted on the iRacing forums (not by Thomas):



If this is the insider info, it proves nothing unfortunately.

Wait a minute... the CSW was advertised in a way that allowed you to amplify the game's signal by 4 times. If the game already has 100% signal or 80%. Why don't they implement a limiter that prevents 'clipping' or 'overclocking of the motors' as Thomas calls it. This way you can never go beyond 100% but still can amplify signals where desired.

In any case, it seems the motors are 'not fit for the purpose' as they can't handle the features of the wheel well. So I hope Fanatec will introduce a (voltage/amp) limiter to prevent 'overclocking damage'. Even Intel and AMD have heat protection and clock down when a limit is reached. I think this would be a good course of action to take without removing features.

 

[ultimate]

Why the hells they dont recommend to set FOR and SPR higher than 100 and at same time, wheel settings allow to do it...

On their poor guide, they never mentioned it.

If i did not flash firmware before driving for the first time on CSW, i would have set all setting at highest value

 

[bumer]

Wait a minute... the CSW was advertised in a way that allowed you to amplify the game's signal by 4 times.

Why the hells they dont recommend to set FOR and SPR higher than 100 and at same time, wheel settings allow to do it...

On their poor guide, they never mentioned it.

If i did not flash firmware before driving for the first time on CSW, i would have set all setting at highest value

On their FAQ page, it does say:

Please do only set these values higher than 100% if the Force Feedback effects are clearly not strong enough and weaker in comparison to other games. When the game sends full effects and the wheel is set to 100% then the device will work on its power limit. Pushing up one value to a very high number or even raising multiple values will result in higher load on the motors and increased heat development.

Your car lets you drive it in 1st gear revs in the limiter too, but it doesn't mean that you should be doing it as long as the tank is empty every time not worrying about hurting your engine.

 

[ultimate]

Yes i ve read once i updated firmeware, otherwise i wouldnt read and go on Fanatec website.
Many customers just open package, plug and play it.
That why more detailled manual guide is required toward customers who are unaware of such recommendations.

 

[bumer]

Yes i ve read once i updated firmeware, otherwise i wouldnt read and go on Fanatec website.
Many customers just open package, plug and play it.
That why more detailled manual guide is required toward customers who are unaware of such recommendations.

Well, better manual would be good, but all the information is on their homepage. Seeing the price of that equipment, I expect customers to have more brain than money, but it seems it is not always the case.

 

[LogiForce]

Just did a small O-ring mod on the CSS SQ to improve 'neutral resistance' as I did once with the TH8 RS.
Both shifters us the same principal inside, a torsion spring. Though I recommend buying a replacement torsion spring with more resistant force to it, as O-rings only seem to give a slight improvement. It does feel better with it though, as that little bit is just that extra bit it needed it seems.

I did notice what the internals looked like, and just want to stress that there is absolutely NO hall effect sensor in the CSS SQ. Just micro-switches and a pot (for neutral movement). So if the gears do not seem to engage than either the pot doesn't register the position in neutral well, or the micro-switches don't respond well for some reason. There is a switch for either side of the shifter (so groups 'R-1-3-5-7' and '2-4-6').
No clue how a 'can of air' could actually change something to faulty behavior of these devices.

 

[Blue028]

Anyone else in the May pre-order bracket get delayed till september?

Received this email:
Dear Valued Customer,

In reference to our last e-mail notification, please note that our general management has decided not to deliver the current production batch of shifters.

Therefore, the delivery date for your order has to be postponed to end of September 2014. Of course, we understand that this may cause you some inconvenience. Please accept our sincere apologies.

 

[oqvist]

I got one small problem with the shifter. The adjustment to switch between H-shifter and SeQ mode is getting quite loose. It´s to easy to switch between. At a Green Hell race I lost my gears it took a good while to realize it was the switcher that gone out of place in between SEQ and H-shifter mode. Just be the thumping action of my shifts that made this because it´s quite loose now and there is no way for my legs to touch it while racing. Duct tape solves anything of course

 

[eKretz]

I got one small problem with the shifter. The adjustment to switch between H-shifter and SeQ mode is getting quite loose. It´s to easy to switch between. At a Green Hell race I lost my gears it took a good while to realize it was the switcher that gone out of place in between SEQ and H-shifter mode. Just be the thumping action of my shifts that made this because it´s quite loose now and there is no way for my legs to touch it while racing. Duct tape 200 MPH Tape solves anything of course

Lol, fixed that for you!

 

[Nick Moxley]

I got one small problem with the shifter. The adjustment to switch between H-shifter and SeQ mode is getting quite loose. It´s to easy to switch between. At a Green Hell race I lost my gears it took a good while to realize it was the switcher that gone out of place in between SEQ and H-shifter mode. Just be the thumping action of my shifts that made this because it´s quite loose now and there is no way for my legs to touch it while racing. Duct tape solves anything of course

Interesting, My switch is pretty Stiff and definitely cant switch from one to the other by itself. I would almost be tempted to open it up and inspect for myself. Seeing as your potentially waiting till sept for a replacement.

 

[magicaldog]

I got one small problem with the shifter. The adjustment to switch between H-shifter and SeQ mode is getting quite loose. It´s to easy to switch between. At a Green Hell race I lost my gears it took a good while to realize it was the switcher that gone out of place in between SEQ and H-shifter mode. Just be the thumping action of my shifts that made this because it´s quite loose now and there is no way for my legs to touch it while racing. Duct tape solves anything of course

A friend of mine had the same problem and contacted Fanatec.

They sent him a new unit within a week although it wasn't available at their webpage !

My own CSS SQ is working great !

 

[magicaldog]

Interesting, My switch is pretty Stiff and definitely cant switch from one to the other by itself. I would almost be tempted to open it up and inspect for myself. Seeing as your potentially waiting till sept for a replacement.

Here you can see the mechanism inside !

 

[Nick Moxley]

hrmm, hard to see what's actually adding the tension to the switch.

oqvist, call up Fanatec and see what they have to say.

 

[techdaddy]

Anyone else in the May pre-order bracket get delayed till september?

Received this email:
Dear Valued Customer,

In reference to our last e-mail notification, please note that our general management has decided not to deliver the current production batch of shifters.

Therefore, the delivery date for your order has to be postponed to end of September 2014. Of course, we understand that this may cause you some inconvenience. Please accept our sincere apologies.

Well, at least I’m not the only one… I was one of the unlucky ones that were rejected until September, after the first letter stating I wasn’t affected by the September delay?! I can see if it was a month but 3 freaking months is a long time!

 

[Carson79]

All of June, July, August and September is 4 months unfortunately, Availability date: 2014-09-30

 

[Blue028]

Considering we (i) already waited 2 months already, plus for more. But understandably, if the batch wasn't up to scratch then there's not really much we can do but wait, its unfortunate but I'd rather wait than have a faulty product in the long run

This is the email I received today after I asked what had happened:


"thanks for your reply.
Unfortunately, the quality of the Shifters is not as good as expected, which is the reason why we do not ship them out to customers."

 

[Mayaman]

I can understand that email, they don't want you to know their factory is by a Chinese river that floods and destroys the town.

 

[Gabkicks]

How are your SQ 1.5's holding up? I ordered one a couple months ago with other Fanatec stuff and eta is February.

 

[Cote Dazur]

How are your SQ 1.5's holding up? I ordered one a couple months ago with other Fanatec stuff and eta is February.

Mine is holding very well, I highly recommend it.

 

[Blue028]

no complaints here either, very solid, no issues. it was a long 6 month wait for me, but worth it, definately dont regret my purchase

 

[Carson79]

Yeah I love mine, it's been rock solid.
I love H shifting more but it's nice to have the option to switch to SQ.
I had (still have) a TH8 and this is quite a step up. IMO it makes the TH8 feel more toy like, as good as it is the CSS is a bit of a beast!

 

[Nick Moxley]

1.0 still rockin hard. CSS FTW!!!

 

[RossMacGregor]

I found that my problem is very reproducible too. If I pull the shift knob right then place in 4th gear, it will read as 6th gear. If I pull the shift knob right then place in 4th gear, it will correctly read 4th gear.

It sounds very much like a loose sensor problem, but I don't think so because the shifter works fine plugged into my GT3 RS wheel.

OK, I thought I better follow up with my solution to my shifting problem. Indeed it was a loose connection between the hall sensor shaft and the shifter lever crank shaft. I was able to fix this very minor amount if "wiggle" by wrapping a small amount of thread sealing ("teflon") tape around the hall sensor shaft and reassembling. It as been working fine since.

It does require you to pull apart the shifter which requires some patience, but for me it was a much better idea than sending it back to Fanatec.

 

[AlexandreCost]

For all those who have the CSS SQ and suffer the problem of the missing third and fourth gear when downshifting.
I found the solution.
You need to open the shifter and obviously doing so you invalidate your warranty, but, believe me, the solution is very, very simple and definitive. You have to remove the small axial play between the little shaft of the hall sensor and its slot in the left/right rotation shaft of the shifter lever.
I assure you that it is more easier to do than to describe. Personally, I added a thin strip of aluminium adhesive tape in the straight part of the slot. But the solution might also be different.
With shifter open you can also add a rubber band to increase the resistance to the left/right movement of the lever and make it more "real".
I hope it was useful.

Sorry to bring this back, but I I've recently bought the Clubsport Shifter V1.5 and it ocasionally goes to the wrong gear, usually it goes to the reverse one. Has anyone tried this solution? It will be a long time for me to wait Fanatec to replace it.