Fanatec CSR Elite Issue (More like Forza Killed My Wheel!)

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Crispy

Crispy

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crispychicken49
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crispychicken49
Hello everyone. Today was the first day I tried to play with the Fanatec CSR Elite after an incident earlier this week posted here. Today, everything seemed fine, except the wheel didn't feel as smooth, nor was it as fast. When I tried to take a turn, the FFB came in, and the wheel shut itself off. When i tried to turn it back on, it took two or three tries before it would calibrate. I decided to slightly turn, when I did this there was major cogging. Currently I'm not sure what I should do. Since my wheel is a Beta unit would I still be able to send it into Fanatec to get it repaired?

EDIT: I fear I have found the issue. When the wheel overheated, it burned out one of the FFB motors. The reason I say this is because of a test I just did. I set the Force Feedback to 10, I felt like one of the motors wasn't being used, yet it didn't turn itself off. Same thing with 20, 30, and 40. When I got to 50, I felt smoothness, more power, and speed. It felt like both motors were working now, however, the wheel turned itself off once. I managed to turn it back on, but when I switched to 60, it turned off, and now I can't turn it back on. This to me, indicates that one of the FBB motors, (I think the bottom one, as it's warm down towards the bottom) has overheated, so when it's supposed to kick in, the wheel turns itself off as a fail safe. Either that or it's failed completely.
 
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I have the same problem and have already sent an email to Fanatec with one difference that my wheel became totally unusable.
 
Yeah, mine is totally unusable now as well. I won't be able to turn it on. At least I have a GT3 RS as a backup!
 
hmmmm.... I reported this a couple of weeks back (train set smell, amongst other things). I just don't have the time to do a video and submit emails to support right now.
 
Sounds like the cooling isn't efficient enough unfortunately. On a separate note this also will be the same issue for the CSW as the mechanical design is the same, only the electronics and hub are different as far as I know. Maybe it'll take a bit longer for the launch then. Oh well...

Sucks for you guys with this issue. :(
 
Cooling issue? These wheels are reported to be really cool, even after extended use.
Must be another reason the motor failed?

Not sure.

Crispy, did Gangi have the wheel before you? Er
 
Guys, the cooling is fine, the problem is with one of the motors, the setup with 2 motors mustn't have been properly tested I guess. The wheel is great but it is not as durable as we all expected.

I will wait for a reply from Fanatec to make any further assumptions. Let's not panic just yet...
 
Same here. Has there been any dual motor FFB wheels released before?

The cooling is fine. In fact, my wheel still cools just fine. It may be a malfunction where one motor won't cool properly.
 
Crispy, did you have any burning rubber smell from your wheel while you've been using it?
 
Crispy
Same here. Has there been any dual motor FFB wheels released before?

The cooling is fine. In fact, my wheel still cools just fine. It may be a malfunction where one motor won't cool properly.
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Hence I said cooling issue. One motor might get enough airflow around its heatsink while the other doesn't somehow. Or it might be that the electronics wasn't up to the task to drive 2 motors maybe. Causing one of the components to fail and end up giving more juice to the second motor then necessary, thus letting it get to hot and burning it out.

All in all, I think something overheated and failed somewhere somehow. The right answer will come indeed from Fanatec in due time.

As for the smell, this can either be some burned electronics or the carbon brushes burning up due to the heat of the motor. Or due to the motor spinning with more power then normal (and faster then the other) it ends up burning the rubber belt due to too much torque/spin.
 
ilonioum
Crispy, did you have any burning rubber smell from your wheel while you've been using it?
Click to expand...

Yeah, it smelled like burning electronics when it first overheated, and today. Come to think of it, before that I would get a hint or two of that smell, but nothing more than that, and that was after many hours of playing.
 
Crispy
Yeah, it smelled like burning electronics when it first overheated, and today. Come to think of it, before that I would get a hint or two of that smell, but nothing more than that, and that was after many hours of playing.
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I feel like this had happened to me once before also. I was playing gt5 online in a nurbergring only shuffle room, and was about 3hrs in with only a few minute breaks in between each race, towards the end of the might it felt like a motor dropped out, and ffb strength weakened. Went to sleep and turned it on 2 days later and have not had a problem since, I am a little concerned though, as I love this wheel to pieces...
 
I wonder if this issue showed up on the early CSW tests. The pictures of the CSRE heat sink and cooling system looked pretty beefy. Either the motor is producing an extreme amount of heat or the cooling system is not reaching a certain part of the motor.

This is the trick with cooling systems. Many people think if their laptop or PC is blowing out warm to hot air that is bad... the truth is that if your PC is blowing out cool air chances are the hot air is stuck inside. Hot air coming out is hot air that is not inside the machine.

So, Crispy does your CSRE blow hot air or cool air?
 
Blows cool air for the first minute or so, before it starts getting warm. Normally it would get warm at around an hour or so of use. It getting warm this fast means something is getting too hot, too quick.
 
paskowitz
I wonder if this issue showed up on the early CSW tests. The pictures of the CSRE heat sink and cooling system looked pretty beefy. Either the motor is producing an extreme amount of heat or the cooling system is not reaching a certain part of the motor.

This is the trick with cooling systems. Many people think if their laptop or PC is blowing out warm to hot air that is bad... the truth is that if your PC is blowing out cool air chances are the hot air is stuck inside. Hot air coming out is hot air that is not inside the machine.

So, Crispy does your CSRE blow hot air or cool air?
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Finally someone that knows how cooling works. Too hot air isn't good either though. That means the device is running too hot. It should feel just luke warm to warm for a computer of any kind. If the wheel has the same operating temperatures one would expect the same temperatures after certainly an hour on the nordschleife for example.
 
Does wheel still feel mechanically loose just like new when it is not powered on? If something is dragging inside, it might overheat the motor.
 
In my case it only happened once after extended use as I stated before. Luke warm air is being blown out, nothing is hot to the touch, my fans are always on, and when it happened no strange noises. The ffb just felt weaker, as if I had turned the ffb strength down to say 40 on the wheel settings, or a motor dropped out. I personally think its a fail safe mode, pretty sure the manual says to take breaks after an hour of constant use.
 
Hmm, just ordered mine.
I hope this is no serious issue, and that's why the wheel was removed from the store.
Guys, please keep us updated what Fanatec says.
Thx
 
Thx

I was checking the Thomas updates like every few hours ^^
Hope mine will still be delivered, no confirmation yet.
But anyways keep us updated.
 
shelbyz4u2nv
In my case it only happened once after extended use as I stated before. Luke warm air is being blown out, nothing is hot to the touch, my fans are always on, and when it happened no strange noises. The ffb just felt weaker, as if I had turned the ffb strength down to say 40 on the wheel settings, or a motor dropped out. I personally think its a fail safe mode, pretty sure the manual says to take breaks after an hour of constant use.
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This was different. I only used the wheel for a half an hour. Fans always on, and decided to let it cool itself in the menu's. The menu's turn the motors off BTW. When I came back the wheel was arcing and it was jammed at a 90 degree angle like the belts locked up. It was trying to calibrate, but it couldn't. I turned it off, and then put three external fans trained on the motor side, as that was the source of all the heat. When i turned it back on, it still wouldn't calibrate. It tried to, but it couldn't. I jiggled the wheel around and finally unlocked it. Calibrated as normal, and all was seemingly well. I turned the wheel off for safe keeping though. Five days later I return to the issue described in the OP. It's definitely not the motors running a fail safe, it's one motor not working at all.
 
LogiForce
Finally someone that knows how cooling works. Too hot air isn't good either though. That means the device is running too hot. It should feel just luke warm to warm for a computer of any kind. If the wheel has the same operating temperatures one would expect the same temperatures after certainly an hour on the nordschleife for example.
Click to expand...

:) Your welcome. I have done some minor computing building with friends (who know a lot more than me). So I have picked up on many good tips and tricks. Obviously HOT air is bad... by yeah, warm is what you want to feel.

I hope Thomas is aware of this issue and fixes in time for CSW production. Which is now late Q1... ie March-April :nervous:.
 
Created a video to show my problems, a little laggy though.

 
Seeing that vid immediately makes me think something has gone wrong with the control board because the display is going on and off on the wheel. I just don't see a bad motor making it do that as electric motors tend to either work or not work. I'd be interested to see what the board looks like if you pull it as I wouldn't be surprised to see something burnt on it.
 
Wow crispy, I'm sure this will get sorted. Hopefully they can get to the bottom of your issue, and give a cause for failure.
 
Oh man, bad news as this seems to have happend to multiple users. I was seriously thinking of selling my G27 for the CSR. I will watch this thread for updates. Thanks for sharing!
 
It seems this isn't a CSR Elite problem, and more of a Forza Problem. See what happens is (Go test it yourself) when you go into the menu, feel how tight the FFB motors are. Apparently, my wheel was at a 90 Degree angle, so when I paused it, it caused the FFB motors to lock up, get really hot, and burn something out. Hopefully that's covered under warranty.
 
Crispy, I was playing GT5 when the wheel died and it was sudden.

I have received a reply from Fanatec and they will be sending me a replacement wheel. Great support, I'm very satisfied with everything now.

I suggest you contact them as well.
 
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Did so last night, great response time as I woke up this morning with an E-Mail from Support. I'm glad I kept the GT3 RS, now I have a back-up wheel, though how could I get rid of my first?
 

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