Playseat Alcantara WARNING!

  • Thread starter Foxis
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Foxis

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Hi,

Just wanted to let you know of a potentially serious issue that affects Playseat alcantara seats in particular, but probably other seats with similar upholstery.

TLDR: Alcantara is extremely prone to buildup of static electricity, which may then discharge. Due to the construction of the Playseat where the metal frame is in direct contact with the fabric, the static discharge will travel through the frame and can interfere with electronics connected to it.

This all sounds extremely unlikely, I know. But a longstanding intermittent issue with our Drivehub and G25 setup turned out to be due to static discharge, causing the wheel to disconnect intermittently. When I started to suspect this, I googled the issue and there are quite a few threads on the net about people having problems with alcantara seats and wheels getting disconnected or even getting fried.

So, word of advice: If you are having any issues and have a seat prone to building up a static charge, make sure you isolate the seat from any metal frame that touches electronics.

Hope this helps someone. :)
 
Fortunately, mine is black vinyl, & I've had no issues. I dislike Alcantara as a material...

Good find!
 
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VBR
Fortunately mine is black vinyl, & I've had no issues. I dislike Alcantara as a material, & I also have a dust mite allergy (as well as asthma) so wouldn't buy one either way.

Good find!
Click to expand...
I don’t get it! Is it liked to the material of the seat itself aka the Alcantara? Does using the black leather edition makes a real difference here? I thought this was linked to the metal structure...

Anyway could you explain what you mean with isolating the seat? You mean the chassis? How do you do such a thing?

Thanks
 
GTRYthon
I don’t get it! Is it liked to the material of the seat itself aka the Alcantara? Does using the black leather edition makes a real difference here? I thought this was linked to the metal structure...

Anyway could you explain what you mean with isolating the seat? You mean the chassis? How do you do such a thing?

Thanks
Click to expand...

The reason alcantara is the main problem is the fact that the fabric is very prone to generating static electricity. I think this is because the fabric is comprised of synthetic fibres that are aligned in a way as to generate as much friction as possible (so the ends of the fibers are aligned vertically to rub against whatever comes in contact). So, lots of synthetic fibers rubbing against you, the driver = static.
Obviously, this does not happen with vinyl or leather.

The static buildup occurs in the fabric and will travel to any conductive material it is in contact with. So the metal sides of the Playseat will get charged as well. And if the seat is bolted into the frame, the frame will also get charged. At some point this charge will release into something it comes in contact with, and often that will be the wheel and/or other things connected to the frame. Especially since the wheel is connected to both the wall socket and the PS4/PC, which may leave it with a neutral charge which will make it attractive.

You can isolate the seat in various ways. The key is to make sure the metal of the seat frame is not in contact with the rest of the Playseat frame. In our case I simply removed the two bolts securing the seat, added insulating (electrical) tape to the frame parts, and fastened the seat to the frame using the same tape. That has worked well so it will have to do until I have time to come up with something nicer.

The measure has eliminated all of our issues where the wheel abruptly disconnected itself, so it was well worth it.
 
I have an Alcantara seat and an alcantara wheel. I'm doomed!! I thought all the shocks were from my high intense races ;).

The title of this thread implies a major problem with a Playseat (Alcantara version). I think that's a bit misleading or too harsh? I think I know the intention of this well meant caution as you also wrote in the first sentence from your own experience and have not tested with other brands. Personally I wouldn't mention Playseat in particular and put more emphasis on the material itself - at least in the subject title

On a more serious note: this is a longer post about the same "issue". Remedy: good grounding of your electrical gear at all times

http://www.isrtv.com/forums/topic/23316-4x-dead-t300rs-recurring-problem/
 
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BrainsBush
I have an Alcantara seat and an alcantara wheel. I'm doomed!! I thought all the shocks were from my high intense races ;).

The title of this thread implies a major problem with a Playseat (Alcantara version). I think that's a bit misleading or too harsh? I think I know the intention of this well meant caution as you also wrote in the first sentence from your own experience and have not tested with other brands. Personally I wouldn't mention Playseat in particular and put more emphasis on the material itself - at least in the subject title
Click to expand...

Not sure what your point is to be honest. It's great that you (apparently) have no problems.
My reason is as stated: to warn others who may be in a similar situation, that may not know of this issue and attribute it to other things. FWIW, I have a university degree that includes a fair bit of electrical engineering and even so it took me quite some time to arrive at the conclusion as it just seemed very far fetched.

Regarding the focus on the Playseat: Since you seem to have been doing a fair bit of googling on the problem, you may (as me) have found that the threads do have a common denominator: the Playseat with alcantara. I have seen no other products mentioned in these contexts (wheel disconnects and static electricity).
When designing for the use case of the Playseat, it is certainly close to a design flaw to not account for this issue.

By the way: Did you actually read the thread you linked? It is one of those where the solution is NOT grounding the chair, but rather covering the alcantara with a bedsheet!

That said, grounding things is a good suggestion, but it's not a universal solution for these reasons:
- The PS4 itself is not grounded. It comes with a two-prong connector (at least in Europe). Nor are the wheels (at least the ones I know of).
- Grounding the Playseat itself will have to be a custom solution by the owner. It is not prepared for by the manufacturer nor recommended.
- Grounding items must be done properly. I can think of cases where incorrectly grounding the Playseat may cause potential mortal danger.

So, again: This thread is a public service thread. Feel free to ignore it if you want to, but the construction of the seat is a real problem in the right circumstances.
 
I fully agree with you. I only meant to say that it is not specific for Playseat but related to alcantara as a fabric. The title implies otherwise, but let it go you made yourself very clear 👍

Sometimes I even see (and feel) a blue spark between myfinger and the seat...ouch
 
BrainsBush
I fully agree with you. I only meant to say that it is not specific for Playseat but related to alcantara as a fabric. The title implies otherwise, but let it go you made yourself very clear 👍

Sometimes I even see (and feel) a blue spark between myfinger and the seat...ouch
Click to expand...

We do agree, it is an alcantara problem first and foremost.
I decided to mention the brand clearly since I have not seen other alcantara seats, and I do think that Playseat should have taken the issue into account.

I am not in the business of manufacturing seats, but had I been I am quite sure I would have known about the (apparently widespread) issue of alcantara causing static shocks in RL cars. If there are a 3-4 threads about the Playseat shocks, there are far, far more about RL sports seats. :boggled:

I am currently very happy that I only have the issue in the Playseat and not in my RL car (I came close to opting for alcantara when ordering it). What a pain to get shocked on exit/entry when it's slightly cold outside.... :)

Which (to conclude) brings me to another point to keep in mind: The problem is quite dependent on air humidity as static charge occurs more easily in dry air. I am quite far north, so that may have conspired in my situation..
 
Funny you say that because 2 days ago i got a shock from my Thrustmaster alacantra add on wheel, seemed strange but now it makes sense.
 
Yes this is a problem for some people. What I have done is put a sheet from a bed in the seat. Works pretty good. Looks like crap. Going to find a black sheet soon.
 
I had an Alcantara playseat EVO Project Cars edition, and a Thrustmaster alcantara wheel. Never had a single shock when sim racing or getting in or out. Nor any electrical oddness that I can think of.

Nothing odd either. All sat on a Playseat 'mat' rather than carpet, but still. If it was going to generate static - I would have been jolted at some point, as I'm a frequent racer.
 
Hello,
sorry for dig up old topic, but I didnt find this problem anywhere else.

I have Playseat Alcantara and T300RS GT wheel. I have problems with electro static charge as Foxis wrote.
This charge damaged my wheel twice - while getting up from seat and touching wheel. So be careful and before shopping maybe think about leather seat...

I will try to isolate seat as Foxis wrote, but there is still another problem - i am getting charged(i can feel it) so even the seat will be isolated from frame, I will be danger for discharge when touch wheel or anything else.

Do you have any suggest what can i do? Maybe ground frame? But how exactly?

Greetings
 
Guys. Thank you for your info. I had 4 of Thrustmaster wheels damaged. Everytime I got replacement but it just started blowing my mind. Everytime the same 20 minutes of driving with a new wheel and next day it is not working. And I start digging for the reason. I couldn't believe the product is that bad - I mean Thrustmaster :) The first wheel (T300 GTRS) was working for the longest time app 1 month. It was fine because I didn't have Playseat from the begining. It was damaged only when I connected it with Playseat. I thought that Thrustmaster should warn customers as this can be very annoying and cost them tons of money to replace a wheel 5 times to one customer so I wrote to them, but seems they don't really care. They answered providing some solutions to getting back firmware on PC but they didn't answered my questions. I asked if they aware of the problem or can this be an issue at all. Yes, I have my set installed in the attic, where the air is dry, especially in winter which problably "helped" to produce more static electricity. And I felt it almost everytime after driving - shock was strong everytime I left the seat. I'm happy my TV and PS4 was not destroyed. I will have my playseat covered with a lether and I hope it will help. Covering such a nice seat with bedsheet and hope it's gonna work :) it is of course some kind of solution but... :))) how about good looking seat? :P
 

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