G29 failing to calibrate :( ... diagnosed

[Tappajakoala]

Thanks for reply Outspacer.

Apologies I did use transformer word over power supply, my bad. But I wonder actually if that is faulty. However, power supplies are easier to replace than pedals to wheel wire (not knowing if they are Logitech special connections or standard cables).

I willt be at home today around 7 pm from work so I will test what wheel says with PC.

 

[Tappajakoala]

And to add, I'm slightly tempted to get some kind of Cronusmax emulator so I would be able to use old good Fanatech which Sony doesn't support anymore.

 

[Tappajakoala]

Update with PC.

Buttons and pedals works fine under diagnostic tool, but wheel turning has no effect.
I tried with similar powersupply (Fanatec) and same result. When it's supposed to calibrate, it just hops short distance left and right and leaves all LEDs on.

Pedal cable does work.
Powersupply does work.
Wheel doesn't work.

****...I suppose its toasted.

 

[Outspacer]

Transformer or power supply or power brick... all the same

It's a strange one because I read a comment somewhere that a dead power supply would mean absolutely no movement of the wheel, yet yours does move at least a bit. And you've tried another supply. So it's hard to say what it might be... could guess at something wrong with the circuitry or motor that means as soon as the supply tries to drive it some protection kicks in and shuts it down. (Failing to calibrate could mean it won't give any wheel position info back to the PC, so that part of it may not actually be broken). Without looking at the power on a multimeter it's impossible to say if that's what's happening though, and even if it was there would still be the failed part to identify

 

[Tappajakoala]

I will give a try with multimeter after todays workday, output voltage, current is given in bottom of wheel.
I also partly gave up and order Cronusmax. Will be 1/4 of new wheel price.

 

[Tappajakoala]

Update.
I got Cronusmax and Fanatec CSR to work well with PS4 (emulating G29).

I didn't had time to measure voltages of G29, but yesterday I did ask shop I bought it if it's possible to take 3 year old wheel to service.
Warranty expired year ago and they said no. Under warranty time, they would have changed whole set, not fix them.

Definitely not going to buy anything past 100 euros from Logitech anymore. I will look forward if extra time in my hand I will open wheel unit and check what's possible broken down.

 

[BeastyRibs]

And I will Wouldn't recommend it to anyone who doesn't have relevant competance and a suitable crimp tool though

It turns out the connector hadn't fallen out, but there's intermittent continuity on the green wire. The break appears to be somewhere in the middle of the wire, not near either connector. So the whole cable assembly needs to be replaced.

Honestly, the way Logitech have made this cable sucks - heatshrink around a bundle of wires - it's just not flexible enough for the job. What is almost bound to happen is that the twisting will be concentrated at the weakest point, which is probably where the wires weren't lying straight when they heatshrinked them. So it will be a lottery whether you get a 'stable' one or not!

I've got some nice ultra flexible cable I could use, but the individual wires are rather thin. Another decent choice might be to take some from a DB9 extension (or null modem) cable or similar. Or ribbon cable, with heatshrink just around the rear end of the steering column to avoid fraying. Not sure which I'll use yet.

The connectors are the same on each end and compatible part numbers are as follows. Datasheets are on the Mouser pages.

Housing:

Mouser No: 571-440129-7
Mfr. No: 440129-7
Mfr.: TE Connectivity

Crimp pins:

Mouser No: 571-1735801-1-CT
Mfr. No: 1735801-1 (Cut Strip)
Mfr.: TE Connectivity

Parts should arrive by Friday, but annoyingly I might not have time to build up a replacement cable until next week sometime.

. .

@Outspacer, thank you so much for your post! I'm never one to get involved on forums but I need to make an exception this time. I had exactly the same calibration problem. I hit a rumble strip on the 2nd chicane at Monza which generated a high-frequency vibration. Suddenly my wheel went into calibration mode and wouldn't complete. I too watched a few YouTube videos showing how to fix by switching to PS3 mode. This was clearly a workaround so I didn't bother. Luckily I found this thread and have been able to follow the advice you posted and fix the wheel. Thankfully I managed to fix it by Christmas day so my son could play on it again. Although I have owned the wheel for around 3 years I have always been careful with it, and to be honest, haven't really used it a lot. Mine has always been mounted on a PlaySeat so doesn't have any cables pulled about.

A few notes for others thinking about attempting a similar fix based on my experience...

1) I have never attempted anything like this before. However, if you take your time and are careful you should be fine!
2) I had to purchase a multimeter, good quality wire stripper and a crimping tool for this job. Although this bumps the price up they are all good tools to own.
3) I used the links provided for all of the components, I can confirm that these are correct. A note on the ribbon cable... It may be worth looking for an alternative with the same specifications. The one I received was hard to split and had residual glue on the cable after separating the wires. This made crimping quite difficult.
4) When I first used the multimeter all wires showed a good connection. I had to twist the wire to identify there was a defect. I think this explains the calibration loop (when the wheel went to full lock the sequence restarted. I assume this because the connection would be lost at this point).
5) As others have mentioned, crimping is not easy. I bought the following tool which worked fine (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kamtop-Crimping-Connectors-0-1-1-0mm²-Connector/dp/B078K9DT69/ref=sr_1_34?keywords=crimp+tool&qid=1577792593&sr=8-34). However, it may be worth considering a manual crimp tool so that you can see what you are doing. A manual crimp will require a bit more practice but should be quicker to use when you get the hang of it. If you choose a ratchet crimp and you have never used this type of tool before I recommend watching the following YouTube video (). It is a bit long but covers minor details which are not covered in may other videos. I wish I had watched this one first.
6) I used 36 cm of ribbon. This was a bit too long, I recommend 33-34 cm. Please double check the original wire.
7) As stated before feeding the crimped ribbon through the wheel is tricky. I wrapped a few wires at a time with PTFE tape because it is very thin. Once the ribbon was through I removed the PTFE tape.
8) I had to use pliers to gently reshape a few of the crimp pins as some of them distort slightly when using the tool. I think this is covered in the video above. If not it is in most YouTube videos on crimping.

My wheel was out of warranty so I had nothing to lose. Don't attempt this if your wheel is still under warranty! I really couldn't believe it when everything worked after I put it back together.

Final note: Upon inspection I realised it the damage seemed to have been done when I originally installed the wheel. The Alan Key screw nipped the wire! I'm surprised it ever worked. It is possible this was not the point of failure because the original design is a bit crap. At some point I may post some photos if people will find them useful. Also happy to answer any questions people have. Thanks again for such a clear post!

 

[Outspacer]

So that 2nd chicane at Monza claimed another victim!

Thanks @BeastyRibs for adding your detailed comments, I'm sure they will be useful for the next person searching for the fix and I'm really glad to hear you managed to fix it by Christmas for your son

Upon inspection I realised it the damage seemed to have been done when I originally installed the wheel. The Alan Key screw nipped the wire! I'm surprised it ever worked.

I can't quite picture this - which screw goes near that wire?

 

[BeastyRibs]

So that 2nd chicane at Monza claimed another victim!

Thanks @BeastyRibs for adding your detailed comments, I'm sure they will be useful for the next person searching for the fix and I'm really glad to hear you managed to fix it by Christmas for your son



I can't quite picture this - which screw goes near that wire?

@Outspacer, on the underside of the wheel towards the front, there are two metal threads machined into the plastic. These are the ones used to screw the wheel to a metal plate. In the image below you can see the screw hole to the bottom left of the circuit board. Notice how close it is to the cable plug.

When you look behind the circuit board, there is a small channel to hold the shrink wrapped cable. When I opened mine up, the wire wasn't in this and had a fair amount by the 7-pin connector. On close inspection of the original wire it seems I may have pinched mine. Not enough to destroy it but probably enough to make it susceptible to metal fatigue over time. It is possible that this is not where the fault as there were a few other kinks in the wire. I tried to take a pic on my phone, not sure how well it shows...

 

[Outspacer]

When you look behind the circuit board, there is a small channel to hold the shrink wrapped cable. When I opened mine up, the wire wasn't in this and had a fair amount by the 7-pin connector. On close inspection of the original wire it seems I may have pinched mine. Not enough to destroy it but probably enough to make it susceptible to metal fatigue over time. It is possible that this is not where the fault as there were a few other kinks in the wire. I tried to take a pic on my phone, not sure how well it shows...

Ah, thanks, I see now - the wire wasn't where it should've been! And that mounting hole is closer to the 7-pin than I remembered.

 

[Joe wensel]

Sucks, seems to be quite a few people with the same or similar problems. I'd say it's a combination of design flaw (heatshrink isn't flexible) and poor QA (of the wire assembly, because kinks are easy to spot). I hope your replacement lasts well

I haven't given it a proper session yet, but mine does calibrate fine now and all buttons work again

I used some ribbon cable with about 3 inches of heatshrink to guide and protect it though the small hole at the far end of the column. Picked a heatshrink size that just turns the ribbon into a circular shape of all 7 wires, rather than tightly binding it to one in the middle and 6 round the outside. I'm hoping that leaving most of it free of heatshrink will mean there's no points which take too much twisting - I guess time will tell!

View attachment 632353

There were at least two places where the original wires didn't feel straight inside the heatshrink. The kink in the first pic was the worst feeling, about half way up the 'steering column', the second was roughly were it goes through the small hole...

View attachment 632346

View attachment 632347

Hey.. my g29 goes through normal calibrations and has force feed back but I can't hit the ps button to make it the primary controller. Is this similar to your problem?

 

[Outspacer]

Hey.. my g29 goes through normal calibrations and has force feed back but I can't hit the ps button to make it the primary controller. Is this similar to your problem?

I don't think so. If it is, eventually more button presses will go missing, and then you'll know.

 

[MartinT89]

Is this what you loking for?



There are interesting comments below the video.

Thabnk you! Mid race on GTs and wheels l.e.ds randomly went dim wheel went hard right, finally got it back workin in 'ps4' mode but its changed my brake pedal, its not physically changed it but it seems way more aggresive, i think ima return as its only 4 months old and go T300rs?

 

[super_gt]

Thabnk you! Mid race on GTs and wheels l.e.ds randomly went dim wheel went hard right, finally got it back workin in 'ps4' mode but its changed my brake pedal, its not physically changed it but it seems way more aggresive, i think ima return as its only 4 months old and go T300rs?

Try to return the wheel back, but what wheel to buy after that is a decision that only you need to make.

 

[kosmicow]

Hello, I'm having the same issue, where the wheel keeps recalibrating. The wheels works fine but keeps disconnecting. I'm able to use all functionalities of the wheel for around 15 seconds and then it disconnects. I've opened up the base and to my surprise there is no kink in the cable. So what should I do? Find a multimeter and put the black connector on one side and red on the other and if I get 0 on the multimeter that should mean there is a cut wire? Thanks to anyone that can help!

 

[BeastyRibs]

Hello, I'm having the same issue, where the wheel keeps recalibrating. The wheels works fine but keeps disconnecting. I'm able to use all functionalities of the wheel for around 15 seconds and then it disconnects. I've opened up the base and to my surprise there is no kink in the cable. So what should I do? Find a multimeter and put the black connector on one side and red on the other and if I get 0 on the multimeter that should mean there is a cut wire? Thanks to anyone that can help!

You need to set the multimeter to check for continuity. After doing this you need to check each pin either end of the cable that goes through the wheel one at a time.

 

[kosmicow]

You need to set the multimeter to check for continuity. After doing this you need to check each pin either end of the cable that goes through the wheel one at a time.

Thank you for your answer! I don't have a multimeter so I tested it with a LED and an arduino board.

 

[kosmicow]

Unfortunalety my testing wasn't very conclusive. All pins seem to work and after having disassembled everything i plugged the base without steering wheel. At first it was doing as expected, it calibrated and stopped but when I twisted the wire going to the steering wheel it would restart calibration. I then decided to unplug the wire connected to the wheel. What happened was that it would calibrate and then wait for about 10 seconds and restart calibration. I left it for around 3 minutes while thinking about what could be going wrong and I thought that maybe this was default procedure since the cable going to the wheel wasn't connected. The moment I thought about using a chronometre to check if the base was calibrating at similar intervals it stopped calibrating and starting doing some weird stuff. The motors would try to spin the shaft but it kept stopping like tik..........tik...........tik............tik........... and stop and then recalibrated but stop in middle. So rn I have NO idea what could be the problem. In the mobo there are two plugs I can take off the equation, the ones connecting the pedals and the shifter. Pls any help would be appreciated, Thanks!

 

[Scott_A]

And I will Wouldn't recommend it to anyone who doesn't have relevant competance and a suitable crimp tool though

It turns out the connector hadn't fallen out, but there's intermittent continuity on the green wire. The break appears to be somewhere in the middle of the wire, not near either connector. So the whole cable assembly needs to be replaced.

Honestly, the way Logitech have made this cable sucks - heatshrink around a bundle of wires - it's just not flexible enough for the job. What is almost bound to happen is that the twisting will be concentrated at the weakest point, which is probably where the wires weren't lying straight when they heatshrinked them. So it will be a lottery whether you get a 'stable' one or not!

I've got some nice ultra flexible cable I could use, but the individual wires are rather thin. Another decent choice might be to take some from a DB9 extension (or null modem) cable or similar. Or ribbon cable, with heatshrink just around the rear end of the steering column to avoid fraying. Not sure which I'll use yet.

The connectors are the same on each end and compatible part numbers are as follows. Datasheets are on the Mouser pages.

Housing:

Mouser No: 571-440129-7
Mfr. No: 440129-7
Mfr.: TE Connectivity

Crimp pins:

Mouser No: 571-1735801-1-CT
Mfr. No: 1735801-1 (Cut Strip)
Mfr.: TE Connectivity

Parts should arrive by Friday, but annoyingly I might not have time to build up a replacement cable until next week sometime.

. .

Hello - Which cable did you use? Also do you have any idea if there is a UK supplier for the parts?

 

[Outspacer]

Hello - Which cable did you use? Also do you have any idea if there is a UK supplier for the parts?

I used something like this ribbon cable - nothing special about it, 28awg wires seems a good compromise between flexibility and robustness.

The connectors can be bought from most electronics suppliers, but sometimes not in small quantities - Farnell only sells 100+ of these I think. RS Components have a 10 pack of the connectors (JST PHR-07) and 100 pack of the pins (JST PH). They also have 300mm test cables - however, the original cable was 340mm so I'm not at all sure they would be long enough, probably not comfortably so anyway.

They can also be found on ebay, but mostly from China. For UK sellers it's probably not cheaper than RS.

Can say my Mouser orders have arrived extremely quickly, and all taxes prepaid so no issues there!

 

[Scott_A]

I used something like this ribbon cable - nothing special about it, 28awg wires seems a good compromise between flexibility and robustness.

The connectors can be bought from most electronics suppliers, but sometimes not in small quantities - Farnell only sells 100+ of these I think. RS Components have a 10 pack of the connectors (JST PHR-07) and 100 pack of the pins (JST PH). They also have 300mm test cables - however, the original cable was 340mm so I'm not at all sure they would be long enough, probably not comfortably so anyway.

They can also be found on ebay, but mostly from China. For UK sellers it's probably not cheaper than RS.

Can say my Mouser orders have arrived extremely quickly, and all taxes prepaid so no issues there!

Thanks for the reply.

I was just looking for somewhere that would deliver quicker than from the states. However as the ones mentioned are tried and tested by yourself ive just ordered them from Mouser.

I've ordered some ribbon cable from Amazon very similar to what you posted above https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07FMGXFZY/?tag=gtplanetuk-20

Hopefully they will arrive from mouser as quickly as yours arrived. Ordered a crimp tool as well.

Fingers crossed it works as the wheel gets used a good bit.

 

[Outspacer]

Thanks for the reply.

I was just looking for somewhere that would deliver quicker than from the states. However as the ones mentioned are tried and tested by yourself ive just ordered them from Mouser.

I've ordered some ribbon cable from Amazon very similar to what you posted above https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07FMGXFZY/?tag=gtplanetuk-20

Hopefully they will arrive from mouser as quickly as yours arrived. Ordered a crimp tool as well.

Fingers crossed it works as the wheel gets used a good bit.

I'm thinking Tuesday or Wednesday - probably quicker than most ebay sellers would be and with full detailed tracking. Ribbon looks fine.

Hope it all goes smoothly and works well after!

 

[Scott_A]

I'm thinking Tuesday or Wednesday - probably quicker than most ebay sellers would be and with full detailed tracking. Ribbon looks fine.

Hope it all goes smoothly and works well after!

Not even shipped yet

 

[Scott_A]

Not even shipped yet

Still not here

 

[Mattdeluca]

Evening everybody, I starting having the same issue with my wife's G29. I started dismantling it to diagnose the wire between the wheel and the board and found that the purple and orange wire had intermittent continuity. I had my wife hold the multimeter probe on one end so I had a hand free to tug and twist the wires in my fingers whilst holding the other probe.

But worse than that, when I took the lid off the G29, LOOK AT THE CRACK !!!!!! it goes from the top, all the way round to the bottom . This isn't something I have done whilst dismantling as it looks like it would have to take a bit of a whack to do that, it's never been dropped and we bought it new from Currys PC World about 3 years ago. Anyway, the crack doesn't seem to appear to have had any adverse effect during game play as it has worked flawlessly until now. might bung a bit of superglue on it upon re-assembly for good measure.
Anyway, hopefully I can build a new loom to replace this one and hope it returns the wheel to working condition

Take care all

 

[Flyeaglesfly1]

And I will Wouldn't recommend it to anyone who doesn't have relevant competance and a suitable crimp tool though

It turns out the connector hadn't fallen out, but there's intermittent continuity on the green wire. The break appears to be somewhere in the middle of the wire, not near either connector. So the whole cable assembly needs to be replaced.

Honestly, the way Logitech have made this cable sucks - heatshrink around a bundle of wires - it's just not flexible enough for the job. What is almost bound to happen is that the twisting will be concentrated at the weakest point, which is probably where the wires weren't lying straight when they heatshrinked them. So it will be a lottery whether you get a 'stable' one or not!

I've got some nice ultra flexible cable I could use, but the individual wires are rather thin. Another decent choice might be to take some from a DB9 extension (or null modem) cable or similar. Or ribbon cable, with heatshrink just around the rear end of the steering column to avoid fraying. Not sure which I'll use yet.

The connectors are the same on each end and compatible part numbers are as follows. Datasheets are on the Mouser pages.

Housing:

Mouser No: 571-440129-7
Mfr. No: 440129-7
Mfr.: TE Connectivity

Crimp pins:

Mouser No: 571-1735801-1-CT
Mfr. No: 1735801-1 (Cut Strip)
Mfr.: TE Connectivity

Parts should arrive by Friday, but annoyingly I might not have time to build up a replacement cable until next week sometime.

. .

Hey outspacer! I know this thread is rather old but I thought I'd ask you a question or two considering how much you know about this lol. So I took apart my g920 and located the wire that leads to the pcb and I can't identify any cracks in any of the wires. The plug for this wire going into the base has a couple wires with the pins a tad loose. The other pins don't budge but about 3 of then move a little bit. Do you think that would cause my buttons to activate? I'm not too great with wires so im really hoping I can press those pins back in or something. Any help is much appreciated!

 

[GTP_Dutchy]

I just had this issue. what i did is use a multi-meter to identify the broken cable. As a quick and dirty fix i broke an UTP/internet cable and extracted on of those wires stripped the ends en pushed them besides the exising connectors. although a temperorary/test fix it resolved the issue. i'll be ordering new connectors and wires soon.

 

[Disruptive]

hink so. If it is, eventually more button presses will go missing, and

I just had this issue. what i did is use a multi-meter to identify the broken cable. As a quick and dirty fix i broke an UTP/internet cable and extracted on of those wires stripped the ends en pushed them besides the exising connectors. although a temperorary/test fix it resolved the issue. i'll be ordering new connectors and wires soon.

What is the wire called? Trying to order one as mine has completely snapped, and have no idea what to search for in terms of the wire itself.

 

[Disruptive]

hink so. If it is, eventually more button presses will go missing, and

I just had this issue. what i did is use a multi-meter to identify the broken cable. As a quick and dirty fix i broke an UTP/internet cable and extracted on of those wires stripped the ends en pushed them besides the exising connectors. although a temperorary/test fix it resolved the issue. i'll be ordering new connectors and wires soon.

What is the wire called? Trying to order one as mine has completely snapped, and have no idea what to search for in terms of the wire itself.

 

[GTP_Dutchy]

Like mentioned a utp cable does the trick. but i don't know how the wire let alone the connector is called.