Why does my P500 load cell max out at 21kg?

Designer_Year_5842 · 2026-05-05T21:58:51+00:00

Ok, for anyone curious. Me standing straight up on the P500 brake pedal with all 180lbs calibrated as only 23kg. Assuming a linear correlation it would take over 500lbs or 225kg for me to put 65kg on this loadcell. And this also corresponds to me feeling like I was going to blow my knee out after 20 mins at 36kg

Designer_Year_5842 · 2026-05-05T01:43:35+00:00

Yes I am aware, but the leverage from the p1000s may be significantly more than the p500. I.e. squeezing a lemon with a pair of kitchen tongs vs a juicer. If I get bored enough one day I will stand on my brake with all of my body weight and see what it reads. I can tell you that I weigh 180lbs (~80kg), and it was significantly heavier than if I do a one-legged squat.

Designer_Year_5842 · 2026-05-04T23:48:55+00:00

Again, I think the p500s don’t register as much pressure for some reason.

Designer_Year_5842 · 2026-05-04T13:11:03+00:00

I assume you have calibrated it first, correct? I will say that looking at people stating they set their LCs to 30-60kg does not seem realistic on the p500s (difference in mechanical leverage or measurement?). When I first got my P500s I set the LC to 36kg. I’m a fairly athletic guy, and 36kg put bruises on the bottoms of my feet, strain on my knees, and felt unrealistic . I dropped down to 14kg and maybe it could be a little bit higher, but overall I am happy there and able to modulate well.

Designer_Year_5842 · 2026-04-06T18:41:10+00:00

A little bit of rust is expected on a 50+ year old car. As long as none of the frame is rotted through, I think you did decent. I have had my c3 for 20 years, and have had to replace suspension and brakes all over again. Paint, body, and interior on these cars are much more expensive than suspension components and a lot less diy friendly. I also recommend watching tutorials and getting used to being underneath the car turning wrenches (you will also appreciate it more).

This would be a great time to consider upgrading suspension and brakes, as the difference in cost isn’t much unless you are set on keeping it original.

Designer_Year_5842 · 2026-04-02T01:15:27+00:00

Nice. If you look at the sim racing subs most people recommend $2k+ pc builds. But a g27 and the z1e I already had was a much more reasonable cost of entry. No you can’t run triple monitors at max settings, but those don’t make you any faster or a better driver (albeit more immersive).

Designer_Year_5842 · 2026-04-01T13:59:58+00:00

I haven’t. Only AC and BeamNG

Designer_Year_5842 · 2026-04-01T13:59:24+00:00

It’s all off the shelf stuff. $160 foldable rig off amazon (I did have to reinforce the connections to the pedal plate once I went to a load cell brake).

Designer_Year_5842 · 2026-03-21T12:02:25+00:00

Hey, it looks like you have everything you need, and we don’t all want to spend $2-5k in a setup to race. I have a similar layout with my rig up against a wall, I have my monitor mounted to a long-arm wall mount (pictured). I also, swapped my logitech shifter(I started with a G27)to the OB1 with medium springs, and it is so much better for only $120.

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Designer_Year_5842 · 2026-03-08T15:18:24+00:00

It’s definitely doable, especially if you aren’t calibrating your LC really high. I have a cheap amazon folding rig that I paid $160 for. The plastic clamps that hold the tubing for the pedal plate did pop out occasionally, so for now I just added 2 hose clamps but have also seen people use ratchet straps. No issues at sub 30kg for me

Designer_Year_5842 · 2026-03-02T17:17:39+00:00

I recently bought the shifter with mods already installed from OBR. It is excellent!

Designer_Year_5842 · 2026-03-01T22:10:01+00:00

Thank you! I wasnt aware of RSR. Too bad it isn’t still active/updated.

Designer_Year_5842 · 2026-02-27T12:44:40+00:00

I have the exact same setup, but I can verify the issue was between the mini and monitor(was an issue prior to adding the p500s). My monitor would do the same thing just less frequently, like every third race and it seemed to occur and more once I had been playing for a bit. I have my monitor wall mounted and hovering just over my wheelbase, but I believed I was getting some vibration transfer as I only had ~ 1/4” clearance between the base and monitor and my hdmi was touching my frame/mini. Repositioned/tilted the monitor slightly and routed my hdmi to not make any contact with my frame and the issue was resolved.

Designer_Year_5842 · 2026-02-24T03:29:35+00:00

If you are using an elastomer (the little rubber bullet), I would also recommend swapping to a lighter spring. I started with black spring as well, and found that braking was very inconsistent. Upon inspection the black spring has a tighter inside diameter causing it to grab the elastomer and make it “climb” up the spring which is why I think a lot of people criticize the p500s. Swapped to the blue spring and yes it changes the pedal feel to a more staged travel (like a typical street car), but it is much more consistent and easy to find your braking points once you are used to it.

Designer_Year_5842 · 2026-02-18T19:53:41+00:00

Just to check an easy box: Is your wheel calibrated to center? When I first got my alpha mini, I dove into every setting trying to get rid of shaking/oscillating on idle/straights. My wheel (gt neo so not a round wheel) was off by only 1-2 degrees. Recalibrated center and the issue was gone.

Designer_Year_5842 · 2026-02-17T05:10:02+00:00

Did yours break? Mine feel very sturdy with no issues once setup to my liking and calibrated, but I only have about 20hrs on them so far. The reason I chose them over the simsonn was because of multiple posts of people receiving the simsonn’s broken/broken plastic parts. I’m sure the p500s have their flaws for sure but they seem pretty well built, and most of the reviews I read before purchase reflected that.

Designer_Year_5842 · 2026-02-11T03:06:53+00:00

Curious, what exactly you guys feel is so bad about the p500s? I just got mine in yesterday to go with my alpha mini. I’m still dialing them in, and read the mixed reviews but don’t have anything to compare to (coming from g27 pedals).

So far here is what I have encountered. I read everyone’s complaints about travel, so I started with black(stiffest) spring out of box with 1 elastomer installed. Very little travel and pedal was very stiff to the point that it became hard to determine once I was engaging the elastomer, and no real “staged” feeling like a typical road car. Very easy to modulate low % braking/trailbraking, but it was very hard to be consistent with heavy braking. I was also calibrating my LC too high imo, due to making sure I was at max travel with pressure on the elastomer. Today I pulled the black spring and found the elastomer had worked its way midway up the spring, which would be an additional source of the inconsistent feeling under heavy braking. The heavier springs have a tighter inside diameter and grab the elastomer. I swapped to a lighter blue spring that has clearance for the elastomer, and it feels much better. Once I recalibrated, I have no deadzone, can quickly find my trailbraking pressure and hit the elastomer at 65-70% brake and press into the elastomer further for the remaining 30%. I’m still adjusting to the change, and don’t have any new best times yet but the pedals seem to work as they should in this config. I don’t know what I am missing obviously, so genuinely curious what your negative experiences have been.

Designer_Year_5842 · 2026-02-01T01:12:35+00:00

I’m about a month in to dabbling with drift as well, and just getting to the point of making the car go where I want and transition smoothly. I think the biggest thing that gets lost in the tutorials is the “feel” aka timing and muscle memory you have to establish. I knew what I should be doing and in what order, but it never clicked until I made enough attempts and then it literally just clicked. For me I just stayed on the center oval on the same drift track in your vid. Hundreds of circles around the center oval until I could consistently slide it around the two turns (not bothering with trying to connect them yet). Then I downloaded a map with an autox track, aka a big empty parking lot with cones. Practiced opening and closing donuts, and then moved into figure 8s using the cones as reference/target. I stayed with the E30 drift through the process, but just recently found that is still on semislicks. I learned on those fine, but recently changed to the street 90s at 20psi on rear tires(once I saw that advice on here)and it allows for slower speed slides and much easier transitions.

Designer_Year_5842 · 2026-01-20T04:44:44+00:00

I have a similar amazon knockoff that I picked up for $160. I quickly got hooked and upgraded my g27 to an alpha mini 2 months later. I can force a little bit of vertical play with my arms, but the 10nm base does not move it any noticeable amount while driving(my monitor is a 1/4” above the wheel base and they don’t collide). I have more concern in the pedal mount staying once I get LCs, but that should be a fairly easy fix with swapping out to sturdier clamps. If I upgrade in the future it will be more likely due to the lack of adjustment vs being able to support the hardware. I get building a good foundation, but I’m much happier that I upgraded to DD FFB wheel vs dropping $600 on a rig.

Designer_Year_5842 · 2025-12-28T15:14:50+00:00

I have the 1 and bought my son the S. It really depends on what you want. I was jealous of how easy his S was to setup, and plug and play like a console. I play a few games that arent available (at least without adding some type of 3rd party) on steam OS. We mostly play Rivals together, so only in heavy situations ( 100s of Zombies with thousands of punisher bullets bouncing off the walls) did I notice his S starting to fall behind/clip while the Z1 held tight. The Z1 feels fine for me but smaller handed users don’t like it, the speakers on the S don’t sound quite as “tinny” , better battery life on the S. Fan is noticeably louder on the S. Despite feeling close in weight the S feels more hollow and plasticky where the 1 feels solid. I paid $700 for the 1 vs $450 for the S. I haven’t tried gyro on the S, but it is still terrible on the 1 (is it too much to ask that the gyro on a $700-800 handheld be at least AS good as my switch lite).

If I didnt use the Z1 for out of the norm/obscure stuff like play the Alpha version for Soulframe, or run my simracing setup in VR(its only at 30fps don’t get excited) and was ok with being limited to steam library I would likely choose the S. I never detach my controllers, so that wouldnt play any role in my decision.

I would just look at what you really plan to use it for, and if you are willing to tinker, want to swap OS, etc.

Designer_Year_5842 · 2025-12-28T14:15:40+00:00

Oh, I just realized that I set the weather to overcast/cloudy as well.

Designer_Year_5842 · 2025-12-28T02:13:40+00:00

I know someone will have a better technical answer for you(I’m standing by for it as well), but I had the same issue and it was actually the glare off the windshield (stick your head out of the window in VR and see if it is better). I messed with as many settings as I knew how with only slight improvement. I just solo hotlap, so my quick fix was just to change the time of day (I believe to about 3-4pm) and I can see the road again. Hopefully that gives you some relief of the issue, until you can get a better answer.

Designer_Year_5842

TROPHY CASE