SimXperience G-Belt review

vannib · Jul 15, 2021

RCHeliguy said:
There have been comments in this thread that support the idea that the G-Belt works best mounted on the seat directly behind the seatbelt openings. I believe one person tried both mounts.

I'm going through the same thought process. With NLR's revised max user weight values, I should have 100lbs for peripherals and the G-Belt is supposed to be ~22 lbs according to the email I received from SimXperience. My BK-Concert is mounted at the base of my seat already so I wouldn't have the option of mounting one there.

I haven't ordered a G-Belt yet, but have a 3" harness ordered in preparation.

Remember that placing the weight at a high level kind of multiplies the forces.
I am well below the weight limits, but most importantly use the V3 at less than half of its default setting.

RCHeliguy · Jul 15, 2021

vannib said:
Remember that placing the weight at a high level kind of multiplies the forces.
I am well below the weight limits, but most importantly use the V3 at less than half of its default setting.

It absolutely does multiply the forces needed. In fact a simple lever is an understatement because it is more than linear drag on the system. In terms of fighting the accelerative forces that allow the NLRv3 to respond in near real time, it is the lever length times the square of the weight working against the motors.

If you read this thread back a few pages you will see discussions covering the NLRv3 user weight, positioning the G-Belt in both positions, the use of 4 vs 5 &6 point harnesses and a few other things.

I think we all understand that the NLRv3 is a wear item that will fail at some point.

With regard to settings:
For DCS I have settings between 25-35% across the board. There is no overall for flight.
For Dirt Rally 2.0 I run a bit over 50% overall with higher settings.
For iRacing I run lower overall multipliers with some settings very low for example I have bumps at 16% because I have transducers.

I tend to spend most of my time in iRacing and with a G-Belt I would lower the brake dive and acceleration effects to complement the belts.

Because of where my seat's slot for an anti-dive belt is located I'm currently sticking with a 4 point 3" harness, although many have stated that a 5 or 6 point harness will improve the performance of the G-Belt by giving it an anchor to pull against.

RCHeliguy · Jul 16, 2021

Trigger pulled.

What will probably come out of this will be at least a an interesting 3D printable mount or two for the controller box that fits a SimLab P1 platform. I'm still debating mounting it off the back or in front.

anton_Chez · Jul 16, 2021

I doubt you'll need a printed enclosure. You'll see when it arrives.

RCHeliguy · Jul 16, 2021

anton_Chez said:
I doubt you'll need a printed enclosure. You'll see when it arrives.

I was thinking mounting brackets, not an enclosure. I may hang it off the back of the frame and tilt it away from the seat a bit to make sure the BK-CT back there isn't an issue. Unless I decide to mount it at the front of my rig by the USB hub and power strip. That depends on the wiring harness being long enough to reach.

I'll figure it out when it arrives. I'm sure I'll find a solution that makes sense.

So either I just need short power cord and USB cable or I need a long power cord and long USB cable.

Oh, and it's on you if I don't like this

vannib · Jul 16, 2021

I must say i'm a bit terrified about f**cking my motion rig (V3 + traction plus)....but i'm tens of kilos below the weight limit, have settings at 50% of the nominal...hope it will be fine, but i don't really like the "hope" part.

RCHeliguy · Jul 16, 2021

vannib said:
I must say i'm a bit terrified about f**cking my motion rig (V3 + traction plus)....but i'm tens of kilos below the weight limit, have settings at 50% of the nominal...hope it will be fine, but i don't really like the "hope" part.

I've had my NLRv3 for 2.5 years so far and it's only gotten better with time. A recent firmware/software update appeared to make it more real time, vs. lagging just a bit. I'm not willfully trying to destroy it, but I know a few people who have had to send theirs in for repair. It happens.

Terrified is not a good place to be. These are TOYS! Nothing more. You need to enjoy them, not be scared of them.

But I can relate. I once owned a limited production speed RC heli, only 50 sold to the public. I spent about $5K on the airframe without electronics, blades etc... This thing was damn fast and responsive. It made all my other helis feel like slugs.

I had a friend who was preparing for a speed competition crash his at speed. The motor was 50yrds from the main body and had shot through the canopy. It was nearly a complete loss.

I owned it for 18 months and enjoyed it, but frequently my knuckles were white at the end of a flight and my hands were shaking. Finally I sold it because I wasn't flying it anymore. I got scared of it.

Bottom line. Enjoy your rig. Worrying won't help. If it breaks send it in for repair. It won't be the end of the world. Another guy on this forum went through this process and was pretty happy with how it was handled.

I wrote a blog article about my Banshee when I owned it. It is a thing of beauty with excellent engineering.

The Anatomy of a Banshee

This video is from the September 2013 German Speed Competition where Christian Köperl, set the new world speed record of 273.6 km/h and had the fastest single pass of 286 hm/hr or 177mph with the S…

markkovalcson.wordpress.com

On my work table. I don't regret selling it, but I did enjoy owning it.

vannib · Jul 16, 2021

RCHeliguy said:
I've had my NLRv3 for 2.5 years so far and it's only gotten better with time. A recent firmware/software update appeared to make it more real time, vs. lagging just a bit. I'm not willfully trying to destroy it, but I know a few people who have had to send theirs in for repair. It happens.

Terrified is not a good place to be. These are TOYS! Nothing more. You need to enjoy them, not be scared of them.

But I can relate. I once owned a limited production speed RC heli, only 50 sold to the public. I spent about $5K on the airframe without electronics, blades etc... This thing was damn fast and responsive. It made all my other helis feel like slugs.

I had a friend who was preparing for a speed competition crash his at speed. The motor was 50yrds from the main body and had shot through the canopy. It was nearly a complete loss.

I owned it for 18 months and enjoyed it, but frequently my knuckles were white at the end of a flight and my hands were shaking. Finally I sold it because I wasn't flying it anymore. I got scared of it.

Bottom line. Enjoy your rig. Worrying won't help. If it breaks send it in for repair. It won't be the end of the world. Another guy on this forum went through this process and was pretty happy with how it was handled.

I wrote a blog article about my Banshee when I owned it. It is a thing of beauty with excellent engineering.

The Anatomy of a Banshee

This video is from the September 2013 German Speed Competition where Christian Köperl, set the new world speed record of 273.6 km/h and had the fastest single pass of 286 hm/hr or 177mph with the S…

markkovalcson.wordpress.com

I'm not worried about a potential repair. What truly worries me is having to un-mount the stuff, pack it, ship it, etc.
I've spent 5 nights of pain to mount the whole rig, if i could pay X amount of money for someone to come in and repair i would. The idea of disassembling the stuff kind of terrifies me.

RCHeliguy · Jul 16, 2021

vannib said:
I'm not worried about a potential repair. What truly worries me is having to un-mount the stuff, pack it, ship it, etc.
I've spent 5 nights of pain to mount the whole rig, if i could pay X amount of money for someone to come in and repair i would. The idea of disassembling the stuff kind of terrifies me.

I wish I could simply say life is too short to worry about something like this, and if it happens deal with it then, but I know that would be pointless. You can't just rationalize worry away.

If over time you don't get more comfortable about this, I'd suggest selling the parts that worry you so you can enjoy it without worry.

Only you know what works for you.

vannib · Jul 16, 2021

RCHeliguy said:
I wish I could simply say life is too short to worry about something like this, and if it happens deal with it then, but I know that would be pointless. You can't just rationalize worry away.

If over time you don't get more comfortable about this, I'd suggest selling the parts that worry you so you can enjoy it without worry.

Only you know what works for you.

Sorry i obviously exxagerated. I am well aware of what is important and what is not in my life, and among the important things there is not a moving platform of a racing simulator that i use when i have time off from work, family, friends, vacations and a ton of other things.

I was just kind of joking...but still i admit i would be better off knowing that i could just send in the thing for repair as i would for a phone, 'cause knowing myself i know that i might be waiting like 6 months before finally deciding to spend a night un-mounting the whole thing.

This won't stop me from mounting it as soon as i find someone better than me at DYI...the 6 point harness has already arrived ;-), i now need to drill my seat.

Speaking of that, it puzzles me how 2 screws positioned in a vertical way can properly hold something that applies forces in a left/right logic. I don't understand how the thing won't "bend".

RCHeliguy · Jul 16, 2021

Sorry, I'm one of those people who enjoy engineering solutions and building things so this is all part of the fun for me

I'm looking forward to figuring out how to mount everything and get it tidy and secure.

I suspect that the two bolts will work just fine. There appear to be a few people in this thread who aren't having any problems with it. If for some reason that didn't hold solidly I'd just reinforce the bolts with washers and possibly longer bolts or an aluminum backing plate with beveled holes and get some appropriately sized bevel head bolts.

None of this is rocket science.

vannib · Jul 16, 2021

RCHeliguy said:
Sorry, I'm one of those people who enjoy engineering solutions and building things so this is all part of the fun for me I'm looking forward to figuring out how to mount everything and get it tidy and secure.

I suspect that the two bolts will work just fine. There appear to be a few people in this thread who aren't having any problems with it. If for some reason that didn't hold solidly I'd just reinforce the bolts with washers and possibly longer bolts or an aluminum backing plate with beveled holes and get some appropriately sized bevel head bolts.

None of this is rocket science.

Of course, the "two central vertical bolts" is the manufacturer way of mounting it. I'm just surprised as i don't get how it can be stable since there are two separate forces being applied at the sides.

I'm not a DYI guy, but i'm pretty solid on logic and physics, and i just don't get it as i would expect something like this to be 100% stable, while it's physically impossible it will be.

Anyway, let's all mount it and report!

Clover11 · Jul 16, 2021

RCHeliguy said:
Trigger pulled.

What will probably come out of this will be at least a an interesting 3D printable mount or two for the controller box that fits a SimLab P1 platform. I'm still debating mounting it off the back or in front.

Happy to you see picking one up RCHeliguy. I'm looking forward to see how you end up mounting it and how you like it. I also have a P1-X and seem to be following in your footsteps, happy to have you do a write up about this as well. I had been excited to build a SFX-100 system but am starting to come around to just buying a G-Belt system for now. Seems like it would add a lot of immersion to me and the while it is more expensive then the DIY options, it seem smore capable and well designed. RCHeliguy, please keep us posted.

HoiHman · Jul 16, 2021

vannib said:
I'm not worried about a potential repair. What truly worries me is having to un-mount the stuff, pack it, ship it, etc.
I've spent 5 nights of pain to mount the whole rig, if i could pay X amount of money for someone to come in and repair i would. The idea of disassembling the stuff kind of terrifies me.

What worried me the most throughout the RMA process was not only dismounting, packing and finding another solution to temporary mount my seat again to the frame., but shipping and the time the whole process took.

And then the 25 kg package got lost and after 6 weeks it turns up with lots and lots of damage. It litterly looked like it was thrown from a truck. After some emails i got a brand new NLMv3 which made it much easier to sell. I was at the edge of the weight limit ( around 10kg below )

Right about that time the very first SFX video of Floretin showed up and i ordered everything and became the very first SFX100 builder. If i ever have another failure, it can fix it myself.

@RCHeliguy, I would always mount a the SimXperience belt tensioner at the bottom with a NLMv3 because of the weight inertia. Make sure there's either a distance or good isolation between the controlbox and your buttkicker. I'm sure you will love the SimX belt tensioner, but i'm honestly supprised that you did not choose the DIY trajectory.

Fun Fact:

Did you guys know that in the set up process of SC4 you can also choose two belt tensioners so you can have a lap and shoulder belt tensioner combined as long as you are willing to invest double.

RCHeliguy · Jul 16, 2021

@HoiHman I received my NLRv3 in a trashed stock box. It has served me for 2.5 years, but I would NEVER send it back in a cardboard box. I would make a custom shipping crate for it and ask them to reuse the container I built to send it back.

Also keep in mind that I got the NLRv3 and didn't go the SFX-100 route because I wanted something that fits in my mobile rig and to that end it is perfect. I also think the NLR software is very easy to configure and has been improving over the years.

The G-Belt is the exact same story. I'm ordering a product where the software is a big part of my buying decision. I also think they've done their homework. I like their design and I think it would take way too much of my time to design something comparable. I also doubt the end result would be as good.

While I'm very comfortable with Fusion 360 and enjoy designing things for my rig, if you've noticed everything I've designed for my rig was a unique design and most everything I designed never existed before from any vendor at least for my specific use case. If someone else has designed a system that I like, I buy it.

There is a big difference between being confident in my abilities and believing I could build something as good or better than a company that has focused on sim motion systems this long and I include the software in this. I consider myself an accomplished software engineer and I wouldn't want to recreate what they have for this.

wajdi · Jul 17, 2021

I have my own solution. I didn’t like the idea to mount my g belt directly on my seat so I simply built the “ G-Belt tower “. If you don’t want to mount it on your seat/NLR3 just built a tower behind your seat and mount the G-belt on it. Very very easy

RCHeliguy · Jul 17, 2021

I don't understand how that could possibly work with a seat mover. It would fight against the NLR moving the seat putting more strain on it and it would muddy the signal the G-belt was trying to convey through the seatbelt.

I plan to mount it at the top of my seat at least initially to give it the G-Belt the best chance of working well. As it is I will only have a 4 point harness. I don't want to dull the G-Belt's inputs any more.

I'll evaluate how the NLRv3 performance feels and decide what works for me.

This is just a big erector set. Experimenting is half the fun.

blekenbleu · Jul 17, 2021

vannib said:
the 6 point harness has already arrived ;-), i now need to drill my seat.

If you are drilling the seat for submarine straps, I suggest trying the harness first without it.
With lap belts properly tensioned, shoulder strap tensioners should not provoke buckle
and lap belts riding up before shoulder strap tension approaches discomfort.

If those are 2 holes are for mounting the G-Belt to a fiberglass seat at shoulder port,
be aware that mounting scheme was optimized for their G-Seat,
which is a customized aluminum Kirkey.
While I would not mount a G-Belt there on a fiberglass seat, for anyone doing so
I would highly recommend fender washers with rubbers to spread forces,
minimizing risk of fatigue cracking.

RCHeliguy · Jul 17, 2021

blekenbleu said:
If you are drilling the seat for submarine straps, I suggest trying the harness first without it.
With lap belts properly tensioned, shoulder strap tensioners should not provoke buckle
and lap belts riding up before shoulder strap tension approaches discomfort.

If those are 2 holes are for mounting the G-Belt to a fiberglass seat at shoulder port,
be aware that mounting scheme was optimized for their G-Seat,
which is a customized aluminum Kirkey.
While I would not mount a G-Belt there on a fiberglass seat, for anyone doing so
I would highly recommend fender washers with rubbers to spread forces,
minimizing risk of fatigue cracking.

For the moment, I'm leaving the bottom of my seat alone. This issue is more complex than simply cutting a hole. I would need to source new bottom seat cushions with a slot located in a more comfortable place and then cut the seat to match and I would need to find a good attachment point for the submarine belts. So I will start with a 4 point harness.

I did notice that the Kirkey seat has a metal structure, so I'm already starting to lean towards some kind of reinforcement. I have a wide assortment of large washers. I may need to replace the bolts with something a bit longer. I imagine the comments that the bolts are just barely long enough for a fiberglass seat is because they are sized for the thinner Kirkey metal frame. That only makes sense.