Is Thrustmaster T300RS FFB at max safe?

cyrusyn · Apr 19, 2018

I came across this thread which asserts that setting FFB output setting of T300RS at max is safer "as long as the ingame FFB setting is set lower."

"The bottom line to my theory is, you should ALWAYS, ALWAYS run your force feedback wheel at the highest possible power output / strength setting. Its safe for your hardware to do so as long as you arent a maniac, and your tune your game's ffb down. Running the wheel hardware at 100% power / torque / capacity / whatever the hell you wana call it is important because; it supplies the "headroom" for which Iracing meters the signal and clipping." http://www.isrtv.com/forums/topic/20775-tx-t300-new-owners-force-feedback-tips/

Having come across many users of T300RS claiming that hardware's own FFB max out must be set lower other wise the wheel dies prematurely due to overuse of the direct drive motor, I wonder how true this statement would be. What is your take on this?

Boxster233 · Apr 19, 2018

It might be beneficial but I wouldn't do it to the T300. The reliability issues with the wheel seem to be common. I have had mine for over a year and ran it at 75% and it did great. I didn't want to chance running it higher.

2Mad4You · Apr 19, 2018

Been running mine since the start of January at 100% with no issues. Fans does come on but with headphones on it's inaudible. As for clipping, I find with mine, generally 75-85% in-games avoids clipping.

asteroulis · Apr 20, 2018

cyrusyn said:
Having come across many users of T300RS claiming that hardware's own FFB max out must be set lower other wise the wheel dies prematurely due to overuse of the direct drive motor

It's not a direct drive motor but a brushless motor. The most common problems with T300/TX are :
- Overheating causing redused FFB strength
- Broken power supply
- Broken Hall sensor base

Now the first two are caused possibly by the fact that they decided to implement the power supply inside the wheel base causing extra heat build-up. Poor decision as it seems. If you have reduced FFb that means obviously less stress and less heat etc. Either in-game or in Thrustmaster menu it's the same in terms of heat. But if for example the game calculates better some stuff with the TM app at 100% and in-game FFB adjustments that's something I don't know , but could of course be the case.

So , if someone want's to have an underperforming wheel in order to prevent damaging it because of bad wheel design , ok. But if you want to get the 100% of your wheel you paid for you have to do some extra work and fix TM's bs design flaws yourself. That means extra cooling (easy with extra ventilation outside) or difficult (not much - replacing the internal 24V 2A power supply with an external one preferably 4 or 5 Amps and you're set).

aKy0001 · Apr 20, 2018

It's because the ffb on the T300 is more linear at 100%, while this was the case at 75% for the T500.
I also agree that it would be a good decision to tweak the wheel with better cooling / changing the psu to an external one. I did both on mine, running on 100% in driver without any problem for quite some time now.
If you don't want to do any of this mods, make sure you have at least firmware 25 or higher installed and put the wheels fan in "always on" mode.

cyrusyn · Apr 20, 2018

I am interested in modding my wheel. Where should I start from? Which replacement fan or replacement external PU should I get? Is there a tutorial or something for this procedure?