Fanatec Owners
Fanatec Owners
Months ago I posted on the "old" site that I was working on a fix for my Fanatec standard pedals because they are crap and I am too cheap to buy a set of clubsports or whatever their new "standard" pedals are. I then posted that I'd successfully fixed my pedals and would hopefully be providing a solution to anyone else having the same issues. Well, that day has finally come...
I present my completed pedal filter box:
[IMG]http://i890.photobucket.com/albums/ac106/mrbasherman/Fanatec%20Pedal%20M...
I'm sure you've all heard someone start cussing because their pedals stopped working in the middle of a race. Maybe you've heard them mention that they have to "restart their wheel" because of this. Maybe they have to unplug the pedals a few times to get them working. All of this was happening to me. Well, not anymore... I have been using one of these with my pedals for months now without any issues. In fact, I was going to make a new video the other day showing the difference between using the filter and not using the filter... It turns out, my pedals WILL NOT WORK AT ALL anymore unless I am using the box. My pedals are that bad now, yet they work just perfectly with the filter installed.
EDIT: These do not work with the Clubsports. They have not been tested yet on the new CSR pedals... Someone is going to be testing that for me shortly.
In short, here's what the box fixes:
- Pedals not recognized at all by wheel
- Single pedal not working
- More than one pedal "activating" when only pressing one
- Inability to achieve full throttle/gas/brake
- Jumpy inputs
Now... Let me preface this by telling you all that I am NOT here to make money off you all. I came up with this solution to help myself and my fellow clan-mates. I'd be doing anyone having these problems a disservice by not letting you know about it.
That being said, if you think you would like one of these, I am offering them to 2Old4Forza members within the lower 48 States for $15. That includes shipping and the extra cable necessary to connect the box. That is my cost for parts and shipping (nevermind my time to make them), in fact I may even be losing a tiny bit lol. If you live outside the US, send me a PM and I can figure out the shipping cost.
Happy racing :D
FYI... Each of these is hand made and tested... They'd be too expensive to have someone else make.
PM sent
Bash, I'm just proud to say I know you!
Sounds like you should be pursuing a "consulting" relationship with Fanatec...or the Patent office... ($)
Now, if you could do something with everyone's headsets that don't work right with them damn wheels...
ha, well... Patents are prohibitively expensive, generally speaking... But I should still look into it I suppose. Maybe stuff like this will force Fanatec to take a closer look at the products they are putting out?
The headset, hmm... I'm with you there and I have no clue why it doesn't work. I can certainly take a look though. (mine doesn't work either and probably never did, not at all...) Remember, I cobbled together that wireless xbox headset to use with my Tritton's? That's not a great solution though.
If you're serious about making a go with these, perhaps you should send one to the guys at inside sim racing.
That's a good idea. I'm sort of testing the waters right now for interest etc. Having people use them. I want to make sure I can produce them quick enough if there is a sudden demand as well. Based solely on search results of forums, there could potentially be quite a few people with a need for these things...
Spazster is planning on doing a little clip on them as well. :) I need to do a quick vid so people can see what really happens. I'm not shitting you, my pedals WILL NOT WORK without this thing.
I just want to be sure about where I'm at before I dive in. I have to be careful with what I say as well. I can't call them "Fanatec Pedal Filters" even though that's what they are, or Fanatec will have a hayday with me...
I forgot to mention as well, these are $20 for the general public. I'm hoping that's enough to cover my time and efforts while still remaining attractive.
If it's $15 for parts, $25 is more appropriate, and consider if you wake up Monday and need 200...Can you assemble 20-30 a day? Does the UPS guy pick up at your house?
It's actually almost exactly $10 for parts, then about $4.50 for shipping and packaging. Will $5 cut it? I dunno...
You're right of course... I guess my thinking was that the original standard pedals were $50 and I wanted to try to keep from getting all that close to them. I dunno, it's hard to tell what people will pay.
Can I make 20-30 a day? hmm... If I had the parts on hand and it was a weekend, yes. If I was printing labels for the cover instead of running it through my CNC machine or had a better CNC machine instead of one I built, yes. However, that's all part of seeing how this goes I guess. I'm not forseeing that kind of interest though... I can see maybe selling 50 total. If I run into a situation where A LOT of people want them, well, I'll have to cross that bridge when I come to it.
As for shipping. The "mail place" is within walking distance of where I work. In talking with them, they are cool with shipping a bunch if necessary.
Well, just in case... I just ordered the stuff to make 20 more of these. :) Wish me luck.
Looks like a cool little box fella
I think this is an awesome idea bash. It makes me proud to see something like this coming from someone in 2O4F. I wish you success. Maybe you can turn it into a real business.
I don't know if I hope I can or not... We'll see. :) I do appreciate the support though and if it weren't for my fellow racers, I probably wouldn't have gone this far with it. :)
There was a guy out at the local JC that was in a CNC class, he came in on his own time and made some "parts" for a local RC club, gears maybe, not sure, and the buzz generated enabled him to buy a small precision CNC. He's now full time making high end RC replacement parts. Mail Order...
I'm just saying...
Obviously you have to be able to get across what it is you've accomplished,
convince your target demo that they can't live without it,
and then instill a sense of urgency so they don't dawdle and run right out and order some...
I dabble in work from home, although I'm in antioxidants, but, sellings selling.
Wish you luck Bash. I think the trick's to get a little exposure...
Well, my problem is that I am a little tenative about producing them on a larger scale... It's a little like I almost don't want it to get out lol What can happen is that suddenly I need to make 1000 (probably not gonna happen) and I have to get them mass produced. Either the price goes up, I eat the difference or I can't meet the demand.
It'll be fine I'm sure, I'm just weird. :p Thanks for the advice though. :) I have a few other idea for the myself and the guys running the PC sims, but I won't elaborate on those yet... That one IS one I think I can make some real money off of.
Nice work mastermind, and good luck. If you find that it works with CSR elite pedals i would really like to pick one up.
Our resident mad scientist :)
Nice work there bash :)
Get a patent before you send anything to anyone bro.
The problem with patents is the cost...
Even on the most simple of things you are looking at somewhere in the neighborhood of $5,000 to $7,000 in attorneys fees alone... I am researching this right now though and I might still be able to protect the idea without getting a full patent ...
It's unlikely I will make anywhere near that on these things. Even at a profit margin of $10, which I don't have, I'd have to sell 500 to 700 of them just to recoup that. That is why the "small business guy" gets the shaft these days. My saving grace may be getting these out there and meeting the need while it still exists. Doing it before someone else does. One harsh reality about trying to patent this is that its employing a technology that is not new. In fact, even the way I'm using it is not new. What I'm using it FOR is new, but I don't know for certain that it even qualifies... We'll see.
That being said, I do appreciate the sentimate and will be speaking with my dad who does hold a few patents and has been through the process. Hopefully he can give me more insight into the process. As well, my next "invention" that I spoke of earlier will most likely require that I do so... NOBODY makes the thing and LOTS of people will want one. :) Unfortunately, it won't help people that play xbox or ps3... Not yet anyway...
Because the idea is the thing that is original maybe Copyright is more appropriate?
Possibly... Intellectual property and such....
Exactly, and a cheaper option as well. I'm sure your right that a Patent would not apply as you have not as such invented something new, but adapted existing technology to a new idea. It is that idea that is original and as such can be protected by copyright. I might add that old musicians trick of sending product to yourself by registered mail has never been recognized in any court. I think I am right in saying in the US it is actually actively not a legally binding way of proving ownership of intellectual property. In Europe it is in a kind of grey area where the idea has been discussed but no legal ruling made.
There is a something called Creative Commons licensing that may be of use here and it costs nothing. I am looking into it now. I have a friend that uses it on everything he does so hopefully he can help me out. :)
The basics of it is that based on how you license the piece. Basically, if someone wants to copy it and use it for themself, they are free to do so. They cannot however copy it and sell it, etc.
Didn't realize patenting was so expensice . Some type of trademark or copywrite would probably be the best route.
I KNOW...ASK Lawyer4ever. lol.
Great job !!
Why Fanatec set shitty pots in ?? Thats the main problem - i think that load cells in brake sort out this problem but still throtlle is the same .... My custom build pedals are stable and i use slide pots not the best quality to
Well the simple answer is: So they can make more money! lol
Here's the thing. The pedals have to be seen by the wheel as "at rest" when it's turned on. As well, the wheel auto-calibrates it's min and max for each pedal. That works great unless there is something going wrong, at which point you will have situations in which you have partial brake/gas/clutch at rest or the inability to achieve the maximum.
I can tell you this... The wheels are quite sensitive to this and I have heard of multiple people having similar issues with all of the pedals from Standard up to Clubsports. Why, I don't know for sure and without one of them on hand, there's no way of knowing :)
Yes - i think that bit of this throuble is auto calibration - sometimes i got the issue that i can not have full throttle or full brake as the pot will go bit more on some pedal strong hit and then you not pressing it that strong but wheel have seen max and min ...... They should introduce sort of let's call it dead zone or resistance for quick resistans changes ..... what You mainly did in Your filter
thats is great solution 
After I get these sold, I'll tell you all how Fanatec could have and still can deal with this going forward. (for existing and new customers) I'm not saying a word for now though... they made their bed, now they can lay in it.