25 September: After 21 months of flawless operation, my Fanatec Clubsport Pedals started acting wonky today.

I was on stint#2 of a practice session in rFactor, about 30 minutes of continuous driving.

Suddenly, I could not stop the virtual car. Just drove off in the grass. I had a look at the controller properties page, and all I could muster was 1/2 brake effort with full pedal pressure.

I rebooted the PC, and all was well again for about 30 minutes, then the same problem.

I figured software, so I uninstall/reinstalled the Fanatec drivers. Now all three pedals were acting up. The brake either spiked, went full action w/out input, or was 1/2 force. The throttle and brake are now flickering at about 2% actuation w/out any input from me.

I've made a video and done the half-dozen or so things that Fanatec Tech Support has as pre-requisites to get them to assist you. Any ideas out there?

I suspect that I either need a new load cell, or a totally new pedal set (due to the problems after the driver refresh).

Update: I disassembled the CSP unit, and re-lubed the load cell plunger and urethane bushing as per Fanatec's YouTube tutorial. The brake is working a little better, but there is still a lot of spikey weirdness in all three pedals. Hoping for an e-mail from Fanatec Tech Support soon.

Those of us with the CSP will be following this closely I think. When you resolve this I will be very interested in any recommendations you may have for those of us who have not yet been visited by such woes. Thanks for sharing this info.

Dave

That sounds just like when my loadcell broke.
Fanatec will most likely send you a new one.

Seems like about 2 years is what these can take.
I have talked to a friend who has moded g27 pedals with load cell.
He has had the same problem, but it lasted 18 months for him, and he did not get a new loadcell.

my recommendation to anyone that buys a loadcell break, is to order a spare one with the pedals.

Hi, Chunx,
I had the 2% to 5% brake showing all the time and Fanatec sent me a new loadcell and the little circuit board on the pedals. Get out your soldering iron.

Also, don't spend too long trying to get all the tiny screws, spacers and nuts back on. I finally glued the circuit board back on with a little dab of silicone rubber - used the screws to hold the board in the right position and the silicon to stick it on.

WC

Well shoot, WC, I hope they don't do that to me - I don't even own a soldering gun! And the likelyhood that I'd destroy the board is pretty high.

26 September: To Fanatec's credit, I got a reply w/in a few hours of sending in my detailed support request. They had me swap the tiny connectors on the main pcb to put the throttle wire on the brake axis, and leave the throttle axis empty. In this way, moving the Hall sensor on the throttle pedal sent inputs to the brake axis for output (if that makes sense).

For the first few minutes of having the CSP plugged in, everything (clutch and brake axes) worked great. But after about 5-10 minutes of moving the pedals around in combination (as you would when driving), I got all the same spiking and drop-offs that I did with the load cell inputs to the brake axis. Also, if I moved the brake axis and clutch axis in mid range at the same time, the throttle axis started creeping up in output - even though nothing was connected to that axis! Sometimes the clutch would only go to 90% output and stop, even if full input was commanded. Then mysteriously it would start working normally again. Sometimes the brake (with throttle pedal as input) would work smooth and clean, then suddenly start flickering full off, full on, or jumping erratically, then return to normal after a few seconds. Sometimes the brake axis wouldn't respond at all.

In the end, the brake axis was jumping and flickering and moving all around when any steady command was given to it. The load cell may be on the fritz, but clearly (to me) so is the pcb.

Hopefully I can convince Fanatec to send me a partially assembled pcb that I can just plug into the CSP, re-hook all the wires and get back in business. Hopefully. Because there's no way I won't ruin the CSP if I have to do something like solder tiny wires to that thing.

Hmmm, I was thinking maybe the Load Sensor metal frame was cracked from all the abuse

But now I'm thinking it's the big circuit board under the cover. Good luck fixing it quickly!

WC

27 September Update: I must say, this is pretty fast support from Fanatec. I got another e-mail today, only hours after my last input to them.

Having sent in a second video (showing the CSP output on the pedals properties page), and reported the testing results I posted above, Fanatec support has decided to send me a new pcb. I will keep the Fanatec owners updated of everything that occurs now, and review the process so that if you have problems in the future, things can go smoothly (as possible).

I won't consider the matter closed until the CSP are working correctly again. But so far, there is a good level of effort from the Fanatec Support team. Good stuff!

Wow thanks for the update Chunx, good to know things look better so far.

Support was the biggest concern I had when buying my GT2, but I plan to pick up some Clubsport or CSR pedals later this year so good to know it may not be so much a gamble in the future.

As comparison when my Andy Pastore loadcel mod for my G27 died after 18months I emailed him about replacement choices and never heard back ever.

28 September Update: Fanatec Tech Support asked for my shipping address. They're sending a new pcb and perhaps a new load cell as a precaution. I will let you know when I get confirmation of shipment, when it arrives, and how the part replacement goes.

The support person also said that based in the troubleshooting they had me do, it appears that that pcb has had some failure. They're chalking that one up to a 'stuff happens' situation, where some small component has apparently gone bad, just one of those things. I am very happy that they're sending me a new pcb for a parts swap.

Hopefully the shipment all goes as planned, happens quickly, and the replacement pcb actually solves the problem. Time will tell, but so far the responsiveness of Fanatec has been encouraging.

30 Sept 2011 Update: Got a ring at the doorbell today. It was UPS, delivering my new CSP printed circuit board! Clearly, Fanatec has upped its game in customer support. They must have stocked their warehouse in California with spare parts (that's the "From" address on the UPS box). Very impressive.

I only received a pcb, which was a plug-and-play repair job: Just clip in the various wire connectors, screw the new pcb onto the backing plate, and screw the sub-assembly onto the CSP chassis.

Initial tests of the CSP via Fanatec's controller properties GUI shows it is working flawlessly again. Hooray!

Reviewing the timeline, I first discovered the failure at around 9 PM eastern time on Sunday, 25 September. I followed Fanatec's detailed instructions on how to submit a support request that night, and sent in my first request for support that same night, around midnight. I got my first reply from support 7 hours later, after they got to work in Germany. The problem was diagnosed as the pcb by Tuesday evening, 27 September. I provided my shipping address on Wednesday morning, 28 September, and had the pcb at my doorstep by noon on Friday, 30 September. Total cost: $0. That's not bad service at all.

Cheers for Fanatec's much-improved customer support. The rep handling my case (Johannes) was prompt on his replies, accurately diagnosed the problem, and had the part in my hands in less than a week. Great work, Johannes and Fanatec!