The Thrustmaster T500RS Thread
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LogiForce
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I've been wanting to replace my fan forever as well, I'm not sure if it violates my warranty, but I suppose you guys know?
If your wheel is under warranty Thrustmaster may send one to you. Then it´s officially sanctioned
Yup, you can always drop in your own and better fan (like the Noctua). If something breaks and you need to send it in for repairs, just drop the original replacement fan in and ship it after that.
Plus when you acquire a replacement fan from Trustmaster you will get the necessary instructions with pictures on how to open it as well (although it is not that hard).
Quick instructions:
1 grey screw with nut under the plate up top.
2 black screws behind the paddles, one on each side.
Put the wheel face down balancing on the steering wheel.
7 screws on the underside. Of which 5 black ones with washer and 2 grey ones.
2 grey screws left and right that hold the plate behind the paddles.
4 grey screws that hold the top cover (look at where screw holes of the top cover meet the black surface).
Undo the fan cable from the connector labeled "To Fan", and note where the cable is lead through to the top.
Next will be a bit fiddle to do. Take some time to wiggle off the top cover assembly. You need to pull up and over the FFB motor, as grey part of the top assembly is curved around it a bit. Also the top cover hangs behind a lip of the grey part behind the wheel, so you may need to pray it off carefully a bit.
Replace the fan, connect it to the "To Fan" socket again and reverse the procedure.
Edit: forgot to add Dean's quote as this is directed @Dean as well.
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Can't go wrong with noctua fans, they're quality!!
Mrbasher - did you get round to making that little bracket to mount a phone/tablet on top of the wheel?
Mrbasher - did you get round to making that little bracket to mount a phone/tablet on top of the wheel?
LogiForce
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As long as it's something where I only need a screwdriver and no soldering I think I might be able to do it. 👍 I'll have a look on some silent fans first though.
No soldering needed, just a PH1 screwdriver. I do recommend a normal screwdriver and not one that uses bit pieces. Those will be too thick to get into the holes.
If you want silent, than Noctua is the answer. Especially with the quality they deliver.
The reason why people don't like Noctua is because their color scheme doesn't fit into their computer build color scheme. Personally I don't care about that and have run a Noctua NH-D14 cpu cooler for quite some years now. A big block but it's more silent than the Corsair H100 water cooling (with stock fans) was in my opinion.
Anyway, just saying that Noctua is high quality stuff and they do lots of research on how to make their fans more silent and efficient. So there is no way you can go wrong with them, but feel free to do your own research and compare a lot of them. Keep in mind that you shouldn't go over the 0.20 amps of the original fan, as I don't know how well the circuitry can handle extra load. Cause if it can't handle it, you might fry something.
LogiForce
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That would be amazing to do... But too much work to get right. (Edit: this is my opinion, for me haha) I suppose a one-off is possible. Make it from fiberglass or something cool.
I have another idea though, for another day.
The original case will no longer be needed. haha Just can't decide if I want to do it to my T500 or my TX. hmmmm Probably the TX.
LogiForce
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That would be amazing to do... But too much work to get right. (Edit: this is my opinion, for me haha) I suppose a one-off is possible. Make it from fiberglass or something cool.
I have another idea though, for another day.
I hear ya. I thought about it too, but since I like the tools I was at a loss right away on how to pull it off if at all.
Replacement case and leaving the guts as is? Interesting option as well.
I am sure you told someone at some point, but... how does the TX compare to the T500 in your opinion?
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I honestly haven't used the TX enough to make any kind of statements about it other than: It's very smooth and seems quite powerful. I did do run wheelcheck on it and the results were not like anything I'd seen before... There is no "ramp up" on speed when it changes direction. At least not in the test I did. It's hard to describe, I'll see if I can find the graph.
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Here we go. Google spreadsheets was being annoying and I didn't want to bother with labels, but you get the point. Weird huh? Very decisive direction changes, compared to other graphs I've seen.
Edit: Don't want to get too off topic though, since this is the T500 thread. I wish they'd make the TX work on PS3, be interesting to try out.
Also, I did not draw that, even though it sure as heck looks like it lol
Edit: Don't want to get too off topic though, since this is the T500 thread. I wish they'd make the TX work on PS3, be interesting to try out.
Also, I did not draw that, even though it sure as heck looks like it lol
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JogoAsobi
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As long as it's something where I only need a screwdriver and no soldering I think I might be able to do it. 👍 I'll have a look on some silent fans first though.
They sent me detailed PDF with instructions on how to replace my fan.
If you are under warranty and want a better fan, do their RMA to get the instructions...
...and then buy and install a better quality fan that will keep running quiet.
If you are not under warranty, call them anyway, at the very least they may cough up the PDF.
I replaced the fan in my original V.1 through their RMA process, replacement got noisy just before my center screw snapped.
The V.5 I received as replacement (for snapped center screw) ran quiet for about 2 months, it makes a racket when it first kicks in now.
But its not so bad I feel compelled to replace. So what I am trying to say is this:
If you go through the hassle required to replace the fan, pop the coin for a high quality replacement whether you are in or out of warranty.
No soldering required if you install same physical dimension fan, driver is required though.
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- 505
http://insidesimracing.tv/forums/index.php?app=core&module=attach§ion=attach&attach_id=3098
Not sure if it's bad form, but there's the PDF attachment somebody posted at another forum.
Not sure if it's bad form, but there's the PDF attachment somebody posted at another forum.
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JogoAsobi
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Driver, as in screwdriver or a computer driver? I've looked a bit around and found the one @LogiForce uses (the Noctua) at an okay and affordable price. I'm still under warranty so I'll go the RMA way to get their instructions and put in the other one as you said, once I pull the trigger.
As per the official TM Fan Replacement PDF:
Heavy duty scissors can probably to the job, the cutting pliers are used to cut off two plastic supports.
LogiForce
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It does seem pretty quick. Still some delay/ramp up though, with almost exactly the same amount to stop the motor. Doubling the delay on a stop&return.
It does seem very smooth and linear responsive over all though. A big plus for sure.
I guess I'd have to feel it with equal settings and compare if I get the chance.
Just a word of warning. I ran rfactor with leoffb and reafeel, for not more than 30s, and it burned my brand new not 1 month old t500rs.
The fan didn't turn on, smoke just came from the ffb motor along with a very strong metal odor. Like you get in those angle grinders. I don't think it's fried, but you dont watn this happening to you.
I've written to tm, but they've yet to respond. Probably on monday.
SO again: leoffb+realfeel+t500rs=smoking wheel
The fan didn't turn on, smoke just came from the ffb motor along with a very strong metal odor. Like you get in those angle grinders. I don't think it's fried, but you dont watn this happening to you.
I've written to tm, but they've yet to respond. Probably on monday.
SO again: leoffb+realfeel+t500rs=smoking wheel
I run rFactor all the time not a hickup. Generally at 60 % which is 100 % linear strength. So hopefully it was just the failed fan that was insufficient. Or you are stuck with the old fan which don´t do hardly anything cooling wise
You can check with the plugin here if you have your ffb set up so it´s clipping on max forces all the time. Then you can get an idea of how hard you can push the wheel without it clipping and you loosing ffb info. It´s disappointly little but I am quite okay with clipping going over rumble strips or into a wall but it´s insufficient to say the least.
http://isiforums.net/f/showthread.p...s-in-rFactor-2-The-key-to-being-in-the-Zone-D
It´s a great guide it´s noticable when you get rid of that ffb deadzone even if it´s relatively small on the T500RS compared to other budget consumer wheels. Next one will hopefully be a servo direct drive wheel. It´s kind of a non brainer there is only pros.
You can check with the plugin here if you have your ffb set up so it´s clipping on max forces all the time. Then you can get an idea of how hard you can push the wheel without it clipping and you loosing ffb info. It´s disappointly little but I am quite okay with clipping going over rumble strips or into a wall but it´s insufficient to say the least.
http://isiforums.net/f/showthread.p...s-in-rFactor-2-The-key-to-being-in-the-Zone-D
It´s a great guide it´s noticable when you get rid of that ffb deadzone even if it´s relatively small on the T500RS compared to other budget consumer wheels. Next one will hopefully be a servo direct drive wheel. It´s kind of a non brainer there is only pros.
I used stock unopened untinkered t500rs. Like I said, it was new 3 weeks ago. It came in the GT6 box and latest firmware.
I'm assuming it's the latest revision with the new fan, since in all the time I've beenplayig i've never felt any ffb degradation, or problems.
The smell hasn't gone away in a hour, but I did try the wheel for a bit now and it's working fine. I have written to thrustmaster about this. I hope it wont be a problem in the long run. Because I was hoping to have this wheel for years to come.
the problem was probably game related. I'm guessing rfactor sent a too large force or something to the motor which made it burn. I am really surprised TM hasn't put any safeguards in place. I mean, the forces should just clip, and not burn the wheel......
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Honestly, that Buhler motor seems way too big to have overheated in 30s. The Buhler motor takes quite a while to heat up (which is why it's usually minutes before the fan even kicks in). It's also why the stock fan has such trouble cooling it down. Because once it's heated up, it's got lots of heat to dissipate.
From what you described, clearly something is wrong with the motor, but it just seems like a catastrophic failure to me. Something that had nothing to do with the fan.
EDIT: So it's working again? Maybe it just had a shaving that ignited? I'm not an expert on motors, but isn't that one of the benefits of brushless motors? They don't have any of this sort of degradation?
Regardless, if you're playing on 60 percent strength (which is really full forces), you shouldn't have to worry about strong feedback ruining the motor. I've played plenty of racing games with really strong FFB and the wheel has been none the worse for it. I wouldn't be scared away from playing rfactor again.
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You are right, the fan is working fine and the motor didn't even heat up. This wasn't an overheating issue. It must have gotten very hot at a very specific place. Like it shorted or something.
But It never stopped working, I just unplugged it instantly. Don't really know what to make of all this.
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Okey doke. Just that I was planning to buy the short shifter rod from you too so if it became a production run thing I could have ordered that at the same time too. Without wanting to give you a big head, anything you make or even quickly whip up would be quality anyway.
Edit
Come to think about it, it will also be a good position to mount the Leo Bondar SLI(x) products
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JogoAsobi
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Thanks for posting that Logi. I've been meaning to do something very similar forever. I suppose the only reason I haven't is because it doesn't bug me much. Why? Because I never have time to race anymore!
Late post, I know, missed this a page back.
That's a shame, cuz you are damn fast with that TH8 RS.
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