CSL Elite Deadzone

Szymon Olizarowicz · Jun 29, 2017

I recently received CLS Elites. Tonight I was testing them out and... f***. Is the 10% deadzone intentional or what? I checked the manual on Fanatec's website and, if I understand it correctly, you have to have a load cell upgrade to be able to manually calibrate the pedals.

Is this a marketing ploy to force you to upgrade or is someone legitimately retarded and thinks pedals worse than DFGT are acceptable for that kind of money? Maybe I'm unreasonably angry and I was sent a defective unit? I don't know what to think. I was hoping to change my T3PA-Pro pedals, specifically because of the deadzone they have, but it seems I've spent 130 quid for something even worse. Is this fixable or should I just get a refund?

pabletux · Jun 30, 2017

Hi mate,
I also have the CSL Elites since 2 days ago, and I dont have any dead zone, on the pedals, and I dont have the LC pedals for now, only the 2 pedals set. But, I did a completly fresh install of windows 10, and, the only problem I have is the crazy rev lights in iRacing sometimes, and no rev lights on AC, so installed EKsimracing software, and all good, but no hardware problem so far.

BBKing212 · Jun 30, 2017

@pabletux, strange as I have the same problem as @Szymon Olizarowicz.
Recently I've opened a support case at Fanatec and they instructed me to send them over and I did. I had ping-pong with their support regarding the dead zone and they didn't fudge a mm.
Bellow is their response/statement regarding dead zone in CLS elite pedals without LC:
" after discussing about your case with my supervisor and checking many other brand new CSL Elite pedals, I can confirm you that a bit of dead zone (around 15mm - if using the black flat pedal stop). As already mentioned in my previous email, to avoid any dead zone at whole, you would have to upgrade them with the LC. By using the LC kit motherboard, you would have a digital signal that can be perfectly manually adjusted in the driver."

Are here more users of Fanatec Elite pedals w/out LC who can check their pedals and give info if they have dead zone.

On their official site and documentation there is no statement that such dead zone is expected and I am stating that they are misleading their customers with end goal to buy LC or more expensive pedals.

Szymon Olizarowicz · Jul 1, 2017

Yup, I'm gonna give them one more shot tomorrow and if I don't manage to gain more control through practice then I'm going to refund them. I have at least 15mm of dead zone at the start of pedal movement (especially on the brake, the pedal is practically dead before I hit the sponge thingy).

I am more and more pissed off the more I think about it. They will have to refund me for the adapter and dubious quality pedals, but I also paid almost 40 quid for a delivery, which I'm certainly not getting back.

Szymon Olizarowicz · Jul 2, 2017

BBKing212 said:
@pabletux, strange as I have the same problem as @Szymon Olizarowicz.
Recently I've opened a support case at Fanatec and they instructed me to send them over and I did. I had ping-pong with their support regarding the dead zone and they didn't fudge a mm.
Bellow is their response/statement regarding dead zone in CLS elite pedals without LC:
" after discussing about your case with my supervisor and checking many other brand new CSL Elite pedals, I can confirm you that a bit of dead zone (around 15mm - if using the black flat pedal stop). As already mentioned in my previous email, to avoid any dead zone at whole, you would have to upgrade them with the LC. By using the LC kit motherboard, you would have a digital signal that can be perfectly manually adjusted in the driver."

Just to be clear, do you only have the deadzone at the end of the the pedal movement? My main gripe is that I get a deadzone for the first 10-15mm of input when I press the pedal. It makes using little pressure on throttle and brake impossible.

BBKing212 · Jul 2, 2017

Szymon Olizarowicz said:
Just to be clear, do you only have the deadzone at the end of the the pedal movement? My main gripe is that I get a deadzone for the first 10-15mm of input when I press the pedal. It makes using little pressure on throttle and brake impossible.

On brake pedal I had a dead zone at the beginning of the travel. On gas pedal I had a dead zone at the beginning of the travel and at the end. I've RMAed the pedals and got them back on Friday. I didn't have time to test them, so I don't know if the dead zone is the same when I opened support case or they have changed something and it is now at the beginning or at the end of the pedal travel.

Szymon Olizarowicz · Jul 2, 2017

Can you do me a huge favor and test them tomorrow? If I'm going to refund them then I need to do it soon but if Fanatec might help then I'd rather know.

Thanks anyway!

pabletux · Jul 3, 2017

I will test it more intensive today, but was the first thing I checked, after a terrible deadzone on my old T500RS pedals!

Andrew Harper · Jul 5, 2017

I've had continual issues with the throttle on my CSP V2's. They are about a year old.

It only registers 80% travel after about 20 minutes of racing. Constant cleaning of sensors and so on only had a temporary fix.

I was considering a different make but then I read about DIView. I ran it on the PC and manually set the start and finish zones of the throttle, although you can do all three pedals if you like. I now have full travel on the throttle.

I suppose it depends on what the issue is on yours. Is it a hall sensor on these pedals? Or a pot arrangement?

Szymon Olizarowicz · Jul 5, 2017

Hm, I'm definitely gonna have a look at this. Thanks!

Phraj Phogate · May 13, 2019

Hi I know its been 2 years since this thread started but I'm kinda having the same issues here have you got the issue fixed? If so, can you tell me how you done it?

RasmusP · May 13, 2019

I've been using the 2 pedals for a while too now and since I'm a bit into electronics etc I made sure to find out what the problem really is:
It's the automatic calibration!
I had a faulty pot after only week (lol to fanatec for this) and when I got the new one I tested it manually without putting it into the pedal housing.

The calibration works like this:
1. Receiving a signal
2. After x amount of signal difference the pedal bar triggers and you see the input as "maximum"
3. Now if you turn the pedal backwards the input bar goes down again. You stop it (normally the pedal can't go more upwards again ofc so I stopped after a few mm only) and the "minimum" is found

4. Now you start turning into positive direction again and the first few degrees are dead. Then you turn the pot until the input bar reaches 100% but you're like "wait, that's less than my maximum was the first time".
So you turn the pot a few degree beyond 100%, turn it back a few degree and tada, the maximum again is less than you turned the pot.

5. The pedals automatically calibrate each time you plug them in (hit the start button on the wheelbase in my case), they take the pedal travel and just apply a deadzone at both ends. Great stuff...

In the end there's nothing you can do. If you take out the black rubber stop, press the pedal to the real maximum and plug the rubber back in, the deadzone will be gone until you restart the wheelbase.

However I'm fine with it because with my g27 pedals (modded with a sponge so pretty much the same feel like the csl pedals) I always was like "10% brake/throttle!" and always ended up at 30%. And if I wanted to do just a small lift, I ended up down to 50%.
So with the deadzones I'm actually more accurate. And they also allow me to rest my feet on the pedals without triggering any input.