Hey all, recently i have been having issues with my DIY DD wheel which is using the VSD-E and a Disco board.
TLDR: I was wondering if there is a way through software to make sure the VSD-E is working correctly and as intended.
Quick description because i already posted another thread about it:
When i oad the MMos firmware onto the STM32 board, i save the settings into its eprom and i do a power cycle so it can find the wheel center, after the boot i move the wheel by some degrees and then the wheel starts spinning one way without stopping. In order to stop i have to cut power.
I tried wiping the STM32F4 Discovery board chip and this stops happening. So this is why my first thought was the STM32F4 Discovery had some issue.
Since it seems noone is around that has experience with that configuration i started to swap the hardware out with new ones.
STM32F4 Discovery board : Changed
Big AHH resistor: Changed
Big AHH diode: Changed
Cables : replaced and double checked everything
Now its the VSD-E’s turn to be replaced i guess, but in order to avoid the cost that comes with it I was wondering if there is a way through software to make sure the VSD-E is working correctly and as intended.
It will save me my insanity and the cost of the new unit.
I also ordered a new encoder, just in case but this will take some time to arrive.
Keep in mind i was using this wheel for about 5 years before i had this issue, i just had a long pause simracing and now i want to bring it back.
I could guess, that the PWM&DIR signaling that goes to the VSD-E could be acting like that if there was a wire that was loose, or if some pull-up/pulldown resistor was disconnected, and such.
Hopefully you’ll find the issue. VSD-E has been discontinued for a long time, and even as I joined the company in 2016, I have only ever seen one or two of them while we we repairing them for one important industrial customer.
Thank you for your reply, i will check the manual of VSD-E to find the PWM signal connections, but is there a possibility to explain to me which are the pull up / down resistors?
Edit:I am pretty sure the correct setting in MMos was PWM + Dir, but in the wiring diagrams i used back then / am using now, the DIR pin is 5, which is not connected / never was.
I tried some more things and i found out that if i do not click the offset button in mmos after configuring the motor details and i launch a game, the wheel is recognized as per normal, the rotation is detected as it should, there is no FFB though.
I go into mmos and set the offset but did not move the wheel in order to avoid the infinite spin, i launch the game and when i click drive and the (vsde?) tries to send FFB signal to the wheel it immediately starts spinning again… does this ring any bells for anyone?
I was wondering if there is a way to completely wipe the VSD-E and reprogram it rather than just load config files on it.
Might be worth a try if its possible?
If there is a way why not try it?
I cant seem to find any people with the same config as mine to help out so i gotta try anything i can.
Its either this or changing the encoder, but cant seem to find any used encoders to use that are not insanely priced.
well, there is a bootloader on VSD-E too, and it checks the firmware program on each start. If there was something wrong in it, the device would stay in bootloader mode. Re-flashing the software would not help.
Allright then…
Double checked all cable connections and solders, software settings and replaced the STM board.
This is either a VSD-E issue or an encoder, because those are the only things i didnt replace.
I was hoping i could find someone who has experienced something like this before, but sadly i cant find / reach anyone with the same configuration.
I guess ill just wait because replacing it with a newer solution is a no go for the near future.
