291 replies to this topic

[left888]

It's just around the corner, a load cell for the T500 pedals. I have been using CSP with my T500 wheel and now with the mod coming out soon are any of you T500 owners interested in this mod? The price is rumored to be around $100 but we will see when it releases. Good news for us T500 owners.

[Morane77]

Good news looking forward to it

[Mergano]

where is the main thread (if there is one) for progress so far on this mod?

[lopsided]

Good news! Anxiously awaiting ....

[Ron3]

Is there a way to get inline for this now ??? any pre-orders ???

[left888]

John is working on getting the retail version together and although I have no definite date on the release I'm sure he'll post when and how to order the load cell mod here.

[jbodin]

We're not taking any pre-orders -- I've got the prototype fully functional now, and it works great with iRacing. I'm working now to obtain a custom circuit board and load cell to replace my stand-alone load cell and the rats nest of wiring that I'm using for my prototype, so the "retail" aspects of the design still need to be sorted-out now, and I am going to be deploying 3 - 5 units to some friends to obtain some "in-the-wild" beta testing results, just to make sure the design is fully durable (I wouldn't want to bring something to market that was half-baked or unreliable, and the parts involved aren't cheap, so I want to make sure I get it right).

The mod as it now stands will be a bolt-on, plug-in mod -- no drilling required, no soldering required, and it should in no way invalidate your Thustmaster warranty. If you have any problems with the pedals, just unbolt the load cell mod, unplug the cable from the adapter box, and you'll be right back to plain stock pedals. So, it's going to be a very user-friendly (and dare I say elegant?) design solution. This is my preliminary connection diagram, to give you an idea of how it will all work:



I haven't been able to do any PS3 compatibility testing yet, but one of my beta testers does have a PS3, so we will be able to verify that the BLC-T500 Load Cell mod will work with the PS3 once we have a chance to test that out.

Right now, it looks like Sim-Sport.net (http://www.sim-sport.net/) will be my exclusive distributor, and I'll let you all know when the final version should be available once I sort out the "retail" bits described above.

[Mergano]

Thanks for the info, looks great.

If you require any more beta testers, you know where to find us

The only thing that has me worried, is that my set of pedals seem to have quite a bit of deadzone, especially the gas pedal, so I need to figure out how to remove this deadzone before investing more in my set of T500 pedals.

[lopsided]

The only thing that has me worried, is that my set of pedals seem to have quite a bit of deadzone, especially the gas pedal, so I need to figure out how to remove this deadzone before investing more in my set of T500 pedals.

I've had that sense as well but assumed it was my settings somehow. I'd like to know the projected price as well as I am seriously contemplating this ...and just to be completely honest (no offend'y), I would not consider this if it rivaled the price of CSR pedlas.

[left888]

I would think any deadzone issue would be dealt with the game you are playing.

[lopsided]

Mine was ...while playing Race 07 this evening I set the throttle sensitivity to 75% (50 is default).
One issue I was having time and time again (which would effectively end my race) was ...if I went into the dirt and stalled I would continually stall again and again while trying to get going again... in other words, once I rev'd the engine and dropped it into gear it would die. I could not properly regulate the throttle. Once I upped the sensitivity I saw an immediate improvement. I may have to tweak the number but it's way better.
Hope that helps you! I don't care to watch 24 cars go by while trying to get back on the track. lol

[jbodin]

The only thing that has me worried, is that my set of pedals seem to have quite a bit of deadzone, especially the gas pedal, so I need to figure out how to remove this deadzone before investing more in my set of T500 pedals.

I've had that sense as well but assumed it was my settings somehow. I'd like to know the projected price as well as I am seriously contemplating this ...and just to be completely honest (no offend'y), I would not consider this if it rivaled the price of CSR pedlas.

The thing to remember, though, is that you would have to sacrifice the PS3 compatibility of your T500RS if you opted for separate CSR pedals. The load cell mod route gives you PC functionality while retaining the PS3 console functionality, or I'm anticipating that it should , which is why I've designed it for direct connection to the T500RS wheel -- I haven't had a chance to test it with a PS3 yet, but the design could have been greatly simplified if I had made the mod require you to use the pedals as a stand-alone USB controller.

[Mergano]

I would think any deadzone issue would be dealt with the game you are playing.

Not in this case, if i use DIView on the pedals, the first inch registers nothing at all. The gas and brake are acceptable. I really need to take a look, because if the clutch has less deadzone, got to be something wrong my my gas pedal as they are both the same really.

[jbodin]

I would think any deadzone issue would be dealt with the game you are playing.

Not in this case, if i use DIView on the pedals, the first inch registers nothing at all. The gas and brake are acceptable. I really need to take a look, because if the clutch has less deadzone, got to be something wrong my my gas pedal as they are both the same really.

I would seriously consider contacting Thrustmaster technical support on this one -- sounds like a problem that's out of spec to me.

[lopsided]

The thing to remember, though, is that you would have to sacrifice the PS3 compatibility of your T500RS if you opted for separate CSR pedals.

Very good point and I'm sure very important to a lot of players, thanks for pointing that out. Once I discovered PC sim racing I abandoned the PS3 so even if the load cell was also, not compatible, I'd still go for it.

[Mergano]

I would think any deadzone issue would be dealt with the game you are playing.

Not in this case, if i use DIView on the pedals, the first inch registers nothing at all. The gas and brake are acceptable. I really need to take a look, because if the clutch has less deadzone, got to be something wrong my my gas pedal as they are both the same really.

I would seriously consider contacting Thrustmaster technical support on this one -- sounds like a problem that's out of spec to me.

They are going to love me, I just had to get a new left shifter and a top panel/fan replacement off them

As for the load cell, looking forward to it, depending on final price of course. I'm a PC only user so PS3 compatibility isn't a concern.

[left888]

Not in this case, if i use DIView on the pedals, the first inch registers nothing at all. The gas and brake are acceptable. I really need to take a look, because if the clutch has less deadzone, got to be something wrong my my gas pedal as they are both the same really.

What racing title are you having problems with?

[Mergano]

It's not title specific. If you grab a little app called DIView, it allows you to see inputs from the wheel and pedals as and when they happen, it made me aware of what I suspected, which is absolutely no inputs happening for the first inch.

[jbodin]

I'm guessing that your gears are mis-aligned on the cluch and throttle pedals -- check out this thread for images of the gears that I'm talking about:

http://www.gtplanet....ad.php?t=240867

Good info there on spring failures as well -- I don't think your problem is indicative of an impending spring failure, but it's worth reading through the thread to see if you have any similar issues (also, the images included are really good for understanding how the gears connect the pots to the pedals -- and then figuring out how to re-align the gears is an easy thing once you understand how they work).

[Mergano]

hmmm, I'll be watching that thread to see what springs he gets, I have a .2 version and my springs are the same as his. If people are getting new, revised ones, I'll be after some of those from TM, too. I find the current ones lacking nice, smooth progression.

Hopefully I'll be able to realign something to correct this deadzone, fingers crossed. I'll have a good fiddle with them tomorrow.