Thrustmaster T300 problems

Brad6543210 · Sep 14, 2015

I have the t300, the gear shifter, and t3pa pro pedals. All for less than a month. I'm playing Project Cars on ps4. The wheel has had a lot of minor issues, but they're usually quickly resolved. But now my wheel is disconnecting. As you're driving, the game stops and you get a message that the controller is disconnected. Eventually by itself, it connects and you can play. After about 5 minutes, same thing. Now today I can't get it to connect. No light, no power nothing. I'm not the only one that has had this issue but my research has led to no good ideas. Thanks.

Andy_J · Sep 14, 2015

Try it in all the different USB sockets.

ps, you are welcome,

DKGORACE · Dec 6, 2017

I have now been through 3 T300 RS bases in 8 months. There seems to be a power supply issue. I'm heading to Fanatec when my warranty wears out.

Insert Coin · Dec 6, 2017

It could be this problem:

Ferenczy36 · Dec 6, 2017

DKGORACE said:
I have now been through 3 T300 RS bases in 8 months. There seems to be a power supply issue. I'm heading to Fanatec when my warranty wears out.

Here I just almost bought a T300, but got sucked in by Fanatec's black Friday deals and went with their setup instead. No regrets the more and more I hear about T300 failures.

GuitarTech · Dec 6, 2017

An awful lot of T300 problems are caused by overheating, as the OEM cooling is a bit naff. Mine has been faultless for over a year and a half now: while it's true I replaced the fan last week, that was for efficiency reasons, not because the OEM fan was actually broken. But it had become very noisy over the last weeks, and didn't really push enough air anyway, so I modded it with a NOCTUA NF-A6x25 FLX fan running at full speed, without any RPM reduction. The Noctua is certainly no louder than the OEM fan was (19.3 db (A) ), but it pushes 29.2 cubic meters/Hour of air over the motor, which means that it never overheats, and the FF is always strong, as the motor is always cool enough, and doesn't go into safe mode any more during a long session with heavy FF.
On Monday I bought a TS-PC Racer for €432 from amazon.fr, €120 cheaper than here in Germany

so my T-300RS is for sale anyway. Just saying....

DKGORACE · Dec 7, 2017

Ferenczy36 said:
Here I just almost bought a T300, but got sucked in by Fanatec's black Friday deals and went with their setup instead. No regrets the more and more I hear about T300 failures.

Well played, I should have headed there in the first place. Keep me updated of any issues on Fanatec. I'm seriously gonna drop Thrustmaster.....seems like they put out too many wheels at once before doing a thorough QC . Now my wait time is unexceptionable with 2 bases burned out and still waiting for an RMA# going on 7 days now . Once my call goes through we should have things straightened out. Not to wait 4 days for an email then call again and start the silly questions all over again when they already know who I am. Sorry mate..... a bit of venting there...........

GuitarTech · Dec 7, 2017

DKGORACE said:
Well played, I should have headed there in the first place. Keep me updated of any issues on Fanatec. I'm seriously gonna drop Thrustmaster.....seems like they put out too many wheels at once before doing a thorough QC . Now my wait time is unexceptionable with 2 bases burned out and still waiting for an RMA# going on 7 days now . Once my call goes through we should have things straightened out. Not to wait 4 days for an email then call again and start the silly questions all over again when they already know who I am. Sorry mate..... a bit of venting there...........

You're not in the USA or Canada by any chance? Or anywhere where the mains voltage is 110v?
It seems to be that the people with 110v versions have more failures than people where the mains is 230v, at least that is my immpression from reading all the " my T300 has gone tits-up again " posts on RD since I've been taking an interest due to having bought one myself in June 2016.
I can only say my T300 has been faultless, I'm selling it now due to upgrading to a TS-PC today, but it still runs faultlessly. I'd sell it on without any qualms at all. Last week I replaced the fan, although it was still working. The Noctua I used isn't any louder, but is much more efficient at cooling the motor. A worthwhile upgrade for €15 and 30 mins with a soldering iron and a screwdriver.
As to Fanatec: I have their pedals, shifter and handbrake, but their wheels seem to have a bad rep concerning reliability. I was concidering it, but an upgrade to a CS servo base plus two rims woud've cost me over double the price of the TS-PC.
But as always, your mileage may vary, maybe I've just been lucky with my T300.

DKGORACE · Dec 8, 2017

GuitarTech said:
You're not in the USA or Canada by any chance? Or anywhere where the mains voltage is 110v?
It seems to be that the people with 110v versions have more failures than people where the mains is 230v, at least that is my immpression from reading all the " my T300 has gone tits-up again " posts on RD since I've been taking an interest due to having bought one myself in June 2016.
I can only say my T300 has been faultless, I'm selling it now due to upgrading to a TS-PC today, but it still runs faultlessly. I'd sell it on without any qualms at all. Last week I replaced the fan, although it was still working. The Noctua I used isn't any louder, but is much more efficient at cooling the motor. A worthwhile upgrade for €15 and 30 mins with a soldering iron and a screwdriver.
As to Fanatec: I have their pedals, shifter and handbrake, but their wheels seem to have a bad rep concerning reliability. I was concidering it, but an upgrade to a CS servo base plus two rims woud've cost me over double the price of the TS-PC.
But as always, your mileage may vary, maybe I've just been lucky with my T300.[/QUOTE
Thank you for your response and yes I'm in the States....I had a feeling the power supply was the issue as well the draw from the usb on a 850 watt power supply from my computer. Thank you for your info. This helps me very much in moving to the Fanatec, as I can no longer wait for 2 wheel bases to be warrantied 3 times a year, with the down time. Fanatec seems to be a better choice at 110v after further investigation here in the US.
I appreciate your candor and opinion, please let me know how the TS-PC is working out for you down the road. A friend in the states has one and swears by it.................maybe being PC specific makes the difference in the power supply used in that model. I'm just loosing interest in something that doesn't have reliability here at 110v, mods or not. Cheers again!!

Terry Rock · Dec 8, 2017

Outright failure rate scared me away from the T300.
Did Thrustmaster use a different vendor for the T300 versus the T500?
That wheel seems to have a better history despite being older.

GuitarTech · Dec 8, 2017

In March '16 I built an new gaming computer: i5, GTX970, 16Gb memory, and a Corsair power supply. It is gold certified, and cost €107 It's rated at "only" 650W, but it has a stable 42A on the 12v line. It's semi-passive, and I have only ever seen the fan run by the checksum when the computer boots. Result! A lot of people skimp on the power supply when they build a new rig, but a good power supply can save you a lot of money in the long run. A mate of mine built a rig with a €30 PSU (they're all the same anyway, famous last words) A year later it went up in smoke, and took his €500 video card down with it

False economy...
I know that anything that has a motor is sensitive to power supply fluctuations, and 110v is much worse than 230v in this respect. I hope you have more luck with Fanatec than you've had with TM

As to the TS-PC: I installed it last night, all my extra stuff ( SRT cockpit, SRD-9C display ) fitted without a hitch, as the ring behind the wheel that has to be removed to screw the cockpit to the servo base is identical to the T300. Driver and firmware install was a breeze, all my games recognised it as a TC-PC, and the FF is fantastic.

I'd estimate it's 50% stronger than the T300, and about 30% quicker to react. Altogether it's just more detailed than the T300. Together with the Ferrari 599XX alcantara wheel it's almost like being in a real car. The upgrade was well worth the money, and if I can sell the old servo base and pedals, and a 28GT rim that I don't need anymore, it wasn't even that expensive. At least that's what I told my wife

alexSchmurtz · Dec 8, 2017

I was worried with all the reports but took the plunge and bought a t300 in July 2016, still going strong. I'm in Europe, that correspond to your thinking about 110v vs 220v. I'm also making sure I wait a moment to let the fan cool down the base before unplunging the wheel when I'm done.

GuitarTech · Dec 8, 2017

alexSchmurtz said:
I was worried with all the reports but took the plunge and bought a t300 in July 2016, still going strong. I'm in Europe, that correspond to your thinking about 110v vs 220v. I'm also making sure I wait a moment to let the fan cool down the base before unplunging the wheel when I'm done.

As I was still using the T300RS, before the upgrade this week to the TS-PC, I always switched the fan on manually with the mode button + button nr. 8 ( (?) mod before I started driving, and let it run at least 10 mins afterwards, to be absolutely sure that the motor didn't overheat. Mine has run faultlessly since June 2016, and I'd have a clear concience about selling it on to somebody else, no worries.