The online racing simulator
#1 - maczo
Electrical issues with pedals
Hello.
I have a question, I hope there is someone here who knows anything about electricity. I've connected my old pedals to my MOMO wheel, according to this guide:
http://games.saix.net/cgi-bin/ ... .cgi?act=ST;f=242;t=31630

Everything would be nice but for two things: big deadzones and one really weird anomaly. I'll try to describe with a graph, which you can find below.

The wiring of the pedals makes one of the axes inverted, and in my case it is the brake axis. Now what happens is that when I reach some threshold value of pedal position, the gas pedal (or rather the pot), although untouched by me, produces suddenly a maximum reading (that is - it goes from zero to "pedal to the metal" in a fraction of a second) and keeps producing it until I partially release the brake pedal. So my question is: what could be the cause of such behaviour?
My temporary solution is to just mechanically restrict the movement of the pedal, because it reaches 100% output below this threshold value. But this is not very nice, and the rather big deadzones make the gameplay quite irritating at times. Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Attached images
pedals.JPG
any pictures of "your" pot wiring ? and the connector wiring? if I can get hold of a momo black I will test the pot connections , it sounds like you may have connected 1 or more of the pot cables to the incorrect pin at the connector to me .

AFAIK the momo wheel expects 4 cables from the pots, 2 from center terminals and the other 2 connected in parallel between the remaining 4 outer terminals , this sounds like where the prob is to me .


SD.
#3 - maczo
It's wired according to the schematic that was given on the page I mentioned (although when I try to open that page, the pictures seem to be missing). So here's my backup of the wiring pattern (I'm pretty sure I've connected my cables&pots exactly like shown here; if nothing helps I might have a look inside again though). Thanks for help,
maczo

PS Did I mention that the same thing happens with a different set of pedals that I borrowed from my friend?
Attached images
direct.jpg
my old MS Sidewinder pedals had different colour wiring to the pots this image might help you .

or check with multimeter of open pedals to check colours to center pins

Hope this helps.

SD.
Attached images
sidewinder 003.jpg
#5 - maczo
The thing is these custom pedals I'm using originally had totally different wiring, which I got rid of. I soldered new cables according to the schematic, not colours anyway. I think there is something really suspicious about this whole thing, because when I limit the movement mechanically the pedals work absolutely OK (apart from rather big deadzones).
In that case have you tried swapping the ground and 5v cables around at the plug? and are the pots functioning correctly? maybe some contact cleaner might help.
If your pots are mounted like in the picture above its unlikely that the pot is out of alignment with the pedal shaft but worth checking, you mentioned another set of pedals behaves the same way.... what about if you plug some momo pedals in all working ok? if this is the case then I suspect it is the cabling somewhere in the convertor plug, maybe worth redoing all the cabling and test as you go with multimeter

SD.
EDIT: you can dial out your deadzones by recalibrating within LFS but only press the break until just before it messes up then clik to lock the calibration so 80% brake =100% break in game.
#7 - maczo
Quote :In that case have you tried swapping the ground and 5v cables around at the plug? and are the pots functioning correctly? maybe some contact cleaner might help.
If your pots are mounted like in the picture above its unlikely that the pot is out of alignment with the pedal shaft but worth checking

I tried swapping the ground and +5V cable on the brake pot, since the weird problem was revealed within 5 minutes of me finishing the rewiring. After the swapping, the weird effect wasnt gone, even worse - it occured near "zero" position of the pedal, making it completely useless. So I came back to the original wiring and made the mechanical block of the movement. Changing the wiring at the connector will be the first thing to do when the wheel comes back to me I guess.
The pots are mounted firmly and are driven by a cogwheel - movement smooth for sure (and they havent been messed around with since the day I bought the wheel).

Quote :what about if you plug some momo pedals in all working ok? if this is the case then I suspect it is the cabling somewhere in the convertor plug, maybe worth redoing all the cabling and test as you go with multimeter

My original MOMO pedals work OK if we disregard the fact that actually they dont . I mean they have the spiking issues, pots gone loose etc. Thats why theyre probably heading for a scrapheap somewhere near Logitech HQ as we speak
As for the other "custom" pedal set, I borrowed it from my friend. We took the cover off and checked the wiring with a multimeter and it seemed to be OK. Due to polarisation though, the weird effect occured at the other end of the movement (that is near zero, not 100%). And as for the deadzones - the ones near 100% reading are gone because of the mechanical restriction of movement, the ones that are annoying now are near "zero". I'd have to make some restrictor there too. And I will probably do that if I cant find a solution to this whole mess
One thing I am still not sure about is whether the "direct.jpg" shows the connector from "behind" or from the front. Looking at the shadow[edit: doh... from behind the connector looks totally different, so I guess it must be the front view], I deduced that it is the front view. There were some other pictures on the site I mentioned earlier, and IIRC they supported my opinion (but since they dont load now I cant check).

Again, thanks for helping.
maczo
this the picture you mean?

EDIT: after revisiting from your link above I see its not , searching now for the pic.
Attached images
pinout0vh.jpg
#9 - maczo
Actually thats the one I meant
Did some measurements today, and I have to say I have no idea what the hell is going on with these pots.
I think the brake pot might need replacing, but anyway how are such resistances possible?
Data included in jpg, more convenient that way I guess.
Attached images
pots.JPG

FGED GREDG RDFGDR GSFDG