Fanatec CSW/CSR Elite Modders Thread *UPDATE February 2014*

  • Thread starter eKretz
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Yes it slips the same in both directions, and it is VERY feelable, pardon my poor grammar. Otherwise I wouldn't give a crap!! Lol, that's what I've been saying the whole time. It still gives considerably more twist than the stock motors obviously, but then when it slips it reduces the strength and feels soft again, like when the old OE motors heated up and got their juice cut. It is very noticeable or I wouldn't even care about it at all.

The temps at the belt and motor are the same, I have been testing from cold. My g/f has taken possession of my phone for the moment, I'll post a slippage video in a little while if I can pry it out of her hands!

It has been a little dark when I watched the belt slipping, let me get a little better light on it also and make sure it isn't the entire large pulley spinning and slipping at the reduction pulley? I was pretty sure I saw the pulley stationary but I'll double-check.
 
RacerXX
Feeling-Tense_zps92dadd7a.png
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That's about the same image Tekiei drew here... (he also wrote the solution there, but the images are clear enough to understand)

http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/rmjhj650/folder/529073.html?m=lc&p=2
 
MadRR
Ive been following this thread since you guys started it and to be honest I never considered modding my CSW. After looking over everything here and noticing the drop in FFB after about 15 mins like you guys said, I never really noticed it until it was mentioned here so I took notice, I think I'll look more into swapping out the motors for stronger ones that dont have the drop off. Not something I'm doing next week or anything and I'll pick up another csw base to mod with because I don't want to totally screw up what I have now in case something goes wrong.

Another thing I'm thinking of doing is making my own rim by getting a formula rim and just using the guts in another rim. As you guys know you cant just put another rim on the csw because the ffb won't work due to the way the firmware is setup. I don't know if any of you guys are on iracing but one member up there made his own rim a while back and hes was the first I believe and the only one I've seen so far. Here is the post and pics for those not on iracing.



I would like to do something similar to this. I do like my BMW rim but it is a bit on the heavy side. I figured you could make a lighter GT rim by using this method.
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Didn't see this earlier b/c pics wouldn't show up on my phone. That is a sweet looking wheel!
 
Agreed, I forgot to comment on that earlier. That is some nice shifter paddle modding...(wink wink nudge nudge).

OK, one good dope slap for me; most of my belt slippage was at the small reduction pulley, not the larger one. I could've sworn I watched that pulley and it wasn't moving, but it was pretty dark both times I had eyes on it. Tightened 'er up and all is much better, minimal slippage, still there, but this time just a tiny bit at the motor drive end. I can live with that little bit. Boy that had me worried, lol. Glad it was just me being dim! (Pun-zowie, my turn RXX!)

Just ran some more wheelcheck, and the graphs look almost identical even with much less slippage now. The feel when driving is MUCH better though. I have been playing with some wheel settings to see how they affect linearity and wow does the FOR setting affect it. At 30V at base settings (FOR100) the lines are pretty parallel but the Buhler line is below the linear response line. With no change other than FOR to 250, it crosses the line and maxes out around 8000 force and stays there. The funny thing is it doesn't do much at the lower end.
 
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One thing I'm wondering about Tekiei, the Japanese guy. How did he get all the stuff so early? According to his dates, he had a CSR Elite and CSP V2's in 2011! Is he a Fanatec employee?

BTW, I emailed Fanatec to inquire about help with the firmware with a link to our thread. Hopefully they will be able to either help out with firmware or give some insight as to where in the hex code to make some modifications.
 
eKretz
One thing I'm wondering about Tekiei, the Japanese guy. How did he get all the stuff so early? According to his dates, he had a CSR Elite and CSP V2's in 2011! Is he a Fanatec employee?

BTW, I emailed Fanatec to inquire about help with the firmware with a link to our thread. Hopefully they will be able to either help out with firmware or give some insight as to where in the hex code to make some modifications.
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He probably was an early tester where Fanatec shipped him a wheel to test with and review it. Amar212 does the same thing those lucky guys 👍


Jerome
 
You guys taking a day off? :) The funny part is, I sold my Elite wheel and don't even own a wheel right now, but between RacerXX and eKretz excellent contributions, this is my new favorite thread. Dont know why this is so interesting to me but I love it, and I'm jealous of people who have the knowhow and courage to try new ways of modifying things noone has before. You guys rock
 
Haha, we can't blow your mind every single day! I'm at an impasse here until I get word back from Fanatec about firmware or finish my cooling setup. If I get word back first, I'll work on the firmware/linearity. If not, I'll have to try reverse engineering it, turns out my brother will be no help there. I'll update on the cooling when I have something to show.

On the subject of firmware...RXX do you know what microcontroller they are using and whether it's 8-bit or 16?

Edit: Also, for anyone who is interested, here is a link to the guy on Race Department who is making his own FFB controller. I have also contacted him for any advice he is willing to offer. I would be open to switching from the Fanatec controller if that is what it takes, but I would prefer if they would throw their hat into the ring on this.

http://www.racedepartment.com/forum/threads/my-homemade-ffb-controller.37051/
 
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For others in the same boat as me: observing with interest but feeling way out of their depth. I could recommend (If you have not already) taking the cover off of your base and look, watch, prod, and try to discover how things work in your own terms. Try to piece together as many little light bulb moments as possible.

btw I have not stepped up to the luxury of an Elite or CSW, but if you too are sporting a Porsche era wheel the cover can come off much easier than the videos I have seen suggest. That one "inaccessible" screw behind the rim? All it needs is a screwdriver with a 90 degree elbow (mine has two elbows). From what I remember that screw really serves no purpose anyway, so I think it can be set aside indefinitely.

Some prime neanderthal tech for you.
 
I have played some with the wheel settings and found ways to tweak it a bit, but not very satisfactorily. The older firmwares aren't much help. What ways are there besides wheel settings? I'd like to eliminate the lack of action on the bottom end for my setup. It would seem that firmware would be the easiest way to dial in 'x' amount of change and get 'y' result, wouldn't it?
 
eKretz
On the subject of firmware...I would be open to switching from the Fanatec controller if that is what it takes, but I would prefer if they would throw their hat into the ring on this.
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I am curious to hear what solutions Fanatec have to offer for upgrading the motors and how to control FFB, keep us posted.
 
I am curious to see how you add two motors in the wheel base. I agree with lemans post, this thread is great.
 
RacerXX
Maybe we could make a linearity circuit with some knobs to turn…as in low / medium / high. I am looking into doing that anyway….sort of like a graphic equalizer or mixing board for sound…except for force feedback. Also bear in mind my audio example from a prior post…FFB can be produced via different drives contributing to the whole…just as speaker systems use specialized drivers for different frequency ranges.
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The audio analogy reminds me of my questioning of the belief by seemingly most that if a ffb setting is to be set lower, that it should be in game rather than wheel. However, wouldn't game setting = master volume, and wheel setting = output volume? If an audio analogy is applicable, that would surely mean that the wheel setting should be the one lowered.
 
LeMansAid
The audio analogy reminds me of my questioning of the belief by seemingly most that if a ffb setting is to be set lower, that it should be in game rather than wheel. However, wouldn't game setting = master volume, and wheel setting = output volume? If an audio analogy is applicable, that would surely mean that the wheel setting should be the one lowered.
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Wheel setting cuts off the maximum output of the wheel. See Test 2.2: Investigating CSR Elite's FFB strength function @ http://f-wheel.com/reviews/csr-elite-wheel-benchmarked
 
vittorio
Wheel setting cuts off the maximum output of the wheel. See Test 2.2: Investigating CSR Elite's FFB strength function @ http://f-wheel.com/reviews/csr-elite-wheel-benchmarked
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Interesting. Just throwing it out there...but how do we know the newest firmware updates havent corrected that problem of FFB strength adjustments being nothing more than FFB cuttoff levels and now they do allow for a linear strength adjustment when set below 100%? The review was written right when the Elite first came out. Has anything else been posted about or repeated this test to confirm this problem still exists by anyone since?
 
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lemansfanatic
Interesting. Just throwing it out there...but how do we know the newest firmware updates havent corrected that problem of FFB strength adjustments being nothing more than FFB cuttoff levels and now they do allow for a linear strength adjustment when set below 100%? The review was written right when the Elite first came out. Has anything else been posted about or repeated this test to confirm this problem still exists by anyone since?
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I don't see this as a problem, it gives me more possiblities. E.g. in rfactor2, if i really want only 70% FFB i set the ingame FFB multiplier (verified with a actual FFB output on monitor, similar like in audio technology the level meter) that in all situations on road or curbs the FFB output isn't higher than 70%. There are still situations like being offroad or having an accident where the FFB rises above 70% but the inwheel FFB set to 70% cuts them off.

I don't think they changed this in newer firmware but i don't know for sure.
 

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