Logitech Momo (Red) Steering Potentiometer

As I'm sure all you red Momo users know by now, the steering pots don't
last forever, and a spritz of tuner cleaner only buys you so much extra
time before the pots are unsalvageable. In the past, I've been able to
purchase replacement pots from Digikey as part of a kit, but they
apparently are no longer stocking them.

I've spent the past week researching potentiometer manufacturers
(including the original manufacturer - CTS) looking for suitable
replacements and so far, the only direct replacements would have to be
special ordered in minimum quantities that are in the thousands pf
pieces. I've found a number of more expensive pots that carry similar
electrical and mechanical specs, some of which would be better quality
than the original, but none of which appear to be of size and
configuration to fit in the small space where the Logitech factory pot fits.

Additionally, the positioning tab on the original factory pot comes from
a proprietary mold that cannot be used by CTS without permission from
Logitech. If anyone here has ever tried dealing with Logitech, you
probably know the odds of even getting an answer, let alone permission
from them to use this mold, are slim to none.

I would really hate to mothball a wheel that has served me so well
because of the lack of availability of a 50 cent part. Is anybody here
aware of a suitable replacement or rework for the Red Momo's steering
pot? Would anyone here be interested in working with me to come up with
one if nothing exists?

Also, does anyone know if a power supply malfunction can cause the
steering pot to prematurely go bad, and if so, how I would determine
that to be the problem?

Thanks for all responses...

Steve G
racer91 (at aol dot com)

"Steve G" wrote...
> <snip> I've been able to purchase replacement pots from Digikey
> as part of a kit, but they apparently are no longer stocking them.

Not good...

> <snip> If anyone here has ever tried dealing with Logitech,
> you probably know the odds of even getting an answer, let
> alone permission from them to use this mold, are slim to none.

Not only is their support laughable, they seem to have actively sought means
to prevent one from servicing the unit oneself. As you found out yourself,
there are far more common, standard size/fixing solutions available for the
job. Even if going budget in this respect would mean less service life, an
inexpensive, widely available and easily replaceable pot would have been a
much better design decision. On the other hand, I'm sure a 4,- Euro cermet
layer pot wouldn't have jacked up the price to beyond what simmers were
willing to pay at the time.

> I would really hate to mothball a wheel that has served me so
> well because of the lack of availability of a 50 cent part.

Is yours still crisp? -mine is really slackening and starting to show its
age badly. Hardly worth mending but for the fact it's impossible to buy a
mass produced solution of a similar specification at the moment.

> Is anybody here aware of a suitable replacement or rework
> for the Red Momo's steering pot?

I doubt it.

> Would anyone here be interested in working with me to come up
> with one if nothing exists?

I would suggest a cermet resistance layer pot with an easily maneable and
"glueable" plastic shaft. I'm not a mechanical engineer, but I think
wouldn't be too difficult for someone with the right equipment to fabricate
either a seperate brackett or an add-on to the one holding the gear assembly
in place for the pot to screw on to.

> Also, does anyone know if a power supply malfunction can cause
> the steering pot to prematurely go bad, and if so, how I would
> determine that to be the problem?

In my professional opinion I would think that highly unlikely. Power supply
malfunction can lead to iffy A/D conversion , erratic FF and/or operation of
the whole unit, but I doubt very much it would kill off the steering pot any
faster than normal use would.

Cheers,

Jan.
=---

Steve G wrote:
> As I'm sure all you red Momo users know by now, the steering pots
> don't last forever, and a spritz of tuner cleaner only buys you so
> much extra time before the pots are unsalvageable. In the past, I've
> been able to purchase replacement pots from Digikey as part of a kit,
> but they apparently are no longer stocking them.
>

Digi-Key seems to have 0 in stock but they accept orders on the kit.
If you order it and pay for it in advance, they better provide the parts!
963260-KIT-ND


--
Jone Tytlandsvik
http://tytlandsvik.no
mailto: firstname at lastname dot no

Thanks for the info and suggestions. I have considered relocating the
pot with a mounting bracket so that I could use something off the shelf.
I'm just not sure how I'd get the rotation translated from the wheel to
the pot yet. I was thinking pulleys and drive belt. I don't think
there's a gear any place that's accessible on the red Momo.

You're right about Logitech offering no support for maintenance and
repair of their wheels. I still remember my multiple calls to Logitech
tech support, where the "technician" tried to tell me that there was no
potentiometer in my wheel and that none of the parts were replaceable.
This happened even after the wheel was out of warranty. It was thanks to
other sim racers that I learned that Digikey offered repair kits for my
wheel. Logitech's support people had no clue this existed.

It's a real shame if this is their way of trying to assure that we come
back to buy new wheels from them every couple years. The red Momo is
built to last a lot longer, and one of the finest wheels I've used. Mine
is still in mint condition other than the stupid pots, and that's after
at least 3 years worth of regular usage (probably 10 hours a week
between league races and practice). I would guess that one reason mine
has remained so solid is because I keep my forces set pretty low in the
sims I run - though I set the wingman software to 125%, my force setting
in N2003 is generally between 8% and 20% depending on the track and
setup. So I'm not probably not putting a lot of stress on the gears or
motor.

Steve G


Jan Verschueren wrote:

>"Steve G" wrote...
>
>
>><snip> I've been able to purchase replacement pots from Digikey
>>as part of a kit, but they apparently are no longer stocking them.
>>
>>
>
>Not good...
>
>
>
>><snip> If anyone here has ever tried dealing with Logitech,
>>you probably know the odds of even getting an answer, let
>>alone permission from them to use this mold, are slim to none.
>>
>>
>
>Not only is their support laughable, they seem to have actively sought means
>to prevent one from servicing the unit oneself. As you found out yourself,
>there are far more common, standard size/fixing solutions available for the
>job. Even if going budget in this respect would mean less service life, an
>inexpensive, widely available and easily replaceable pot would have been a
>much better design decision. On the other hand, I'm sure a 4,- Euro cermet
>layer pot wouldn't have jacked up the price to beyond what simmers were
>willing to pay at the time.
>
>
>
>>I would really hate to mothball a wheel that has served me so
>>well because of the lack of availability of a 50 cent part.
>>
>>
>
>Is yours still crisp? -mine is really slackening and starting to show its
>age badly. Hardly worth mending but for the fact it's impossible to buy a
>mass produced solution of a similar specification at the moment.
>
>
>
>>Is anybody here aware of a suitable replacement or rework
>>for the Red Momo's steering pot?
>>
>>
>
>I doubt it.
>
>
>
>>Would anyone here be interested in working with me to come up
>>with one if nothing exists?
>>
>>
>
>I would suggest a cermet resistance layer pot with an easily maneable and
>"glueable" plastic shaft. I'm not a mechanical engineer, but I think
>wouldn't be too difficult for someone with the right equipment to fabricate
>either a seperate brackett or an add-on to the one holding the gear assembly
>in place for the pot to screw on to.
>
>
>
>>Also, does anyone know if a power supply malfunction can cause
>>the steering pot to prematurely go bad, and if so, how I would
>>determine that to be the problem?
>>
>>
>
>In my professional opinion I would think that highly unlikely. Power supply
>malfunction can lead to iffy A/D conversion , erratic FF and/or operation of
>the whole unit, but I doubt very much it would kill off the steering pot any
>faster than normal use would.
>
>Cheers,
>
>Jan.
>=---
>
>
>
>

Jone Tytlandsvik wrote:

>Steve G wrote:
>
>
>>As I'm sure all you red Momo users know by now, the steering pots
>>don't last forever, and a spritz of tuner cleaner only buys you so
>>much extra time before the pots are unsalvageable. In the past, I've
>>been able to purchase replacement pots from Digikey as part of a kit,
>>but they apparently are no longer stocking them.
>>
>>
>>
>
>Digi-Key seems to have 0 in stock but they accept orders on the kit.
>If you order it and pay for it in advance, they better provide the parts!
>963260-KIT-ND
>
>
>
>

I dunno ... I saw a post from as far back as March claiming that Digikey
was out of stock on the kit. When I called them a couple weeks to order
one, the sales guy had no idea whether they were ever going to have more
of the kits or not. Nobody else there seemed to have a clue either. This
doesn't exactly instill the kind of confidence needed to place an order :-)

Steve G

kandr wrote:
>
> If the internal construction is the same for both wheels it'd be easy
> for me to come up with a solution for your Red Momo.

The DFP use an optical encoder, not a potmeter.


--
Jone Tytlandsvik
http://tytlandsvik.no

It looked like it was possible to order it online. Seems strange to accept
orders if they don't intend to deliver the parts.

Jone Tytlandsvik wrote:

>kandr wrote:
>
>
>>If the internal construction is the same for both wheels it'd be easy
>>for me to come up with a solution for your Red Momo.
>>
>>
>
>The DFP use an optical encoder, not a potmeter.
>
>
>
>
Jone...

Checked out your website. Cool work on that adapter and really
appreciate the 2 Momo wiring diagrams. Got it all bookmarked - that may
just come in handy one of these days!

Steve G

kandr wrote:

>O my brothers, our droog Steve G govoreeted the following slovos...
>
>
>
>>I would really hate to mothball a wheel that has served me so well
>>because of the lack of availability of a 50 cent part. Is anybody here
>>aware of a suitable replacement or rework for the Red Momo's steering
>>pot? Would anyone here be interested in working with me to come up with
>>one if nothing exists?
>>
>>
>>
>
>Is this wheel similiar to the Logitech DFP? (Sorry, I'm new to sim
>racing). That's the wheel I have. I've been meaning to take a look
>inside to see what will be needed to replace the pot. I figure that if
>an exact replacement isn't available I'll just lash something
>together. I have a lathe and milling machine and should be able to
>machine something in plastic or aluminum for mounting a different pot.
>
>If the internal construction is the same for both wheels it'd be easy
>for me to come up with a solution for your Red Momo. Otherwise, could
>try to design a fix using photos & relevant dimensional measurements
>of your wheel.
>
>
>

Hi Drew...

I think the 2 wheels are somewhat different internally. The red Momo is
really built like a tank internally, quite different from the largely
plastic guts on the black Momo. The brilliance of the red Momo's design
is the metal frame that acts as the support structure for everything
that causes stress, including the steel bearing wheel hub, the motor and
all the clamps. The plastic housing on the red Momo is really nothing
more than a decorative enclosure and a holder for the PC board that
handles the electronics.

There is a long metal brace that runs above the wheel's shaft which
would be a perfect place to attach a bracket for mounting a larger pot.
Because the brace is at the same angle as the wheel's shaft, and
slightly to the side, it would be a piece of cake to mount a pot so that
the pot's shaft was parallel to and directly over the location of the
current pot. That's why I was thinking of 2 pulleys and a band drive as
the means of attaching a relocated pot to the original spot on the
steering shaft.

A longer mounting bracket could probably get the pot close enough to use
gears rather than a belt drive, but then you've got to have a strong
enough brace to guarantee no flexing, and have things measured precisely
enough to guarantee that the gears will mesh properly.

I'm also still looking into the possibility that an existing standard
pot design may be able to fit in the small space that the current pot is
in. Then I would just need to create some kind of tab to prevent the
body of the pot from turning when the wheel is moved.

Your offer of help is appreciated. I may take you up on it at some
point. I'm also open to any alternative ideas you might come up with.

You can get a good look at the internals of the red Momo he
http://www.tomshardware.com/consumer.../wheel-10.html

Thanks,
Steve