[Solved] Thrustmaster TX Calibration Issue: Losing Force Feedback & Repair Solutions (No Warranty)

Hello gentleman!

First of all - sorry for the poor language. Even though I come from Polish origin on my father's side, I don't know the language, and this post was made with the help of "google translate".

A recently purchased broken wheel exhibits the infamous calibration issue and the loss of force feedback in games. The warranty is excluded.
Tried contacting Thrustmaster technical support but they don't offer spare parts and they insist on sending the wheel back to France which is way too expensive.

I have searched the entire internet and this forum is the only site I found that actually offers any repair information other than "referring it to thrustmaster".

I read a side thread https://www.elektroda.pl/rtvforum/topic3176691.html and although he has a few ideas where to look, they all work well on my wheel.

The problem is easy to reproduce even outside of the game.
1) Run the thrustmaster calibration tool and check that the wheel returns from both stops at the same speed
2) Flip the wheel to one side and hold it for a few seconds - the wheel now returns to the center at a much slower pace from this side and a much greater pace from the opposite side. In other words, the calibration has already been compensated.

My electronic knowledge doesn't go much beyond "Ohm's law", but I can solder fairly well and have a multimeter.

* I checked the wheel thoroughly beforehand - no broken cables or burnt parts can be seen and no leaking capacitors can be seen
* I checked the power supply - it outputs 31V which is a bit too high
* Tried to replace the power supply with another device that outputs 25V at 3A
* I took off the magnetic rotational position sensor assembly and checked the plastic mounting part and the plastic adapter on the motor shaft where the magnet is attached - it is firmly seated.
* I checked that the AS5048A sensor is receiving a stable 3.3V

I'm out of ideas. I would at least like to pinpoint which parts need to be replaced, and if they cannot be repaired by myself, I will continue the annoying supervisor support until they decide to sell me a replacement part.

Here are some photos.

Thank you very much!


Original text:

Quote:

Hello gentlemen!

First of all - sorry for the poor language. Although I'm of Polish descendance from father's side, I don't know the language and this post is made with the help of "google translate".

The wheel I recently bought broken exhibits the infamous calibration issue and loss of "force feedback" in games. The warranty is out.
I've tried contacting thrustmaster support, but they don't offer spare parts and insist on sending the wheel back to them to France, which is much too expensive.

I've searched all over the internet and this forum is the only place I've found which actually offers any information on repair other than "sending it back to thrustmaster".

I've read the nearby thread https://www.elektroda.pl/rtvforum/topic3176691.html and while it has some ideas of where to look, these all check out good on my wheel.

The problem is easy to reproduce even when outside of game.
1) Run "thrustmaster calibration tool" and check that wheel returns from both stops at the same speed
2) Turn the wheel to one side and hold for a few seconds - the wheel now returns to center at much slower pace from that side and at much higher pace from the opposite side. In other words the calibration has already been offset.

My electronic knowledge does not go much further than "Ohm's law", but I can solder rather well and have a multimeter.

* I've throroughly inspected the wheel - no broken cables and no burned parts and no leaking capacitors are seen
* I've checked the power supply - it outputs 31V, which is a bit high
* I've tried replacing the power supply with another unit which outputs 25V@3A
* I've taken off the magnetic rotary position sensor assembly and checked the plastic mounting part and the plastic adapter on motor shaft where the magnet is attached - it is firmly seated.
* I've checked, that the AS5048A sensor recieves stable 3.3V

I've run out of ideas. I would at least like to determine which part needs exchanged, and if it can't be repaired by myself, I will continue annoying thrustmaster support until they decide to sell me a replacement part.

Here are some pictures.

Thank you very much!

[/quote]

I was able to fix the wheel. The problem was with the wheel motor, where the magnetic core jumped out of the shaft itself.
Many thanks to Fikszyn who described this issue in the thread https://www.elektroda.pl/rtvforum/topic3176691.html.

Disassembling the motor was not easy, but it was manageable with the right tools. I had to use a CA to untie the motor plate from the housing while it was glued.

I cleaned the shaft spacers and magnetic core with a solvent then applied the red loctite and allowed it to cure overnight. Once installed and running the thrustmaster calibration tool, the wheel works perfectly!

Here is a video of the key shift under load
https://youtu.be/-fx8ihq2U-g

Some photos of the disassembled and assembled engine.
IMG_201804...232222.jpg Download (5.96 MB)
IMG_201804...112907.jpg Download (4.71 MB)

Original text in english:

Quote:

I managed to fix the wheel. The issue was with the wheel's motor, where the magnetic core had come loose from the shaft itself.
Much thanks to Fikszyn who described this problem in https://www.elektroda.pl/rtvforum/topic3176691.html thread.

The disassembly of the motor was not easy, but manageable with the right tools. I had to use CA solvent to detach the motor's pcb from the housing as it was glued in.

I cleaned the shaft spacers and the magnetic core with solvent and then applied a red loctite and let it cure overnight. After assembly and running the thrustmaster calibration tool the wheel works perfectly!

Here is the video of the core shifting under load
https://youtu.be/-fx8ihq2U-g

And some pictures of disassembled and then assembled motor.

closing topic