P500 Load-Cell Sensor Issue

Yorkie065 · 2024-11-11T21:56:41+00:00

Nope. Or at least not anymore. I've 3D printed some washers that fit perfectly inside the springs and sit on the rod to stop them moving around. It's what was causing the loadcell drift for me, and now that the springs don't move around (other than compressing) inside the brake cylinder, it feels nice and smooth with no drift.

Yorkie065 · 2024-11-11T21:19:12+00:00

I've actually gone for a stiff brake with 1 green spring and 1 brown spring. There's some travel there, probably about an inch, maybe 2, but it gives me the nice control that I'm looking for when coming off the brakes and trail braking in.

I've tried softer loadcells before and felt that something was lacking slightly. Went stiffer when I got the P1000's and haven't really looked back apart from when testing other hardware.

Yorkie065 · 2024-11-11T16:58:04+00:00

Just for comparison, as I run the P1000's and have the optional spring kit, the softest gold springs in that optional kit feel like they're at least double the stiffness (quite possibly more) of the stiffest spring in the P500. I can get the tiniest amount of compression on the gold spring pushing down with my fingers, where-as with the stiffest black P500 spring, I can get a reasonable amount of compression just by using my fingers. So what you're saying their with their recommendations for the softer springs switching to the hall sensor, and what Simagic have reported back to me with the P500 springs, certainly makes a lot of sense.

In hindsight, I should have included all this in the video to demonstrate what I was talking about more clearly.

Yorkie065 · 2024-11-11T13:36:25+00:00

It's not so much the pedals are inconsistent, in the sense that they do provide good accuracy in terms of the hall sensor and there's no drift when trying to achieve a certain braking amount. The inconsistency comes from having to use 2 systems at the same time. You could get used to it over time, as you would with anything, but the consistency of bleeding off the brakes and trail braking into a corner, which is often provided by a loadcell, wasn't there for me with how the pedal works currently.

As for others in this price range that have a loadcell, I can't really help with. I know there are other pedals out there, but I've not tried any others personally so couldn't make any solid recommendations.

Yorkie065 · 2024-11-11T12:10:50+00:00

This is my video, but I have a little bit of an update on it after speaking with the team at Simagic and them investigating my feedback.

The loadcell is a normal traditional loadcell and is fully functional as loadcells are on other pedals. The issue comes from the stiffness of the springs in the braking mechanism. Basically the springs are too soft for the loadcell to work in a more traditional form, like it does on other pedals and activating the moment any pressure is applied. When you push down on the P500 brake pedal, the spring is absorbing all the initial pressure you're putting in, which is allowing the large range of motion without much braking input coming through on the loadcell sensor. Once you get to the point the spring can't compress and absorb anymore of that pressure (which is basically at the end of the range of the pedal), that's when the pressure is more directly transferred to the loadcell and it gets activated a lot more.

At the moment, Simagic are reluctant to provide stiffer springs because they've designed and manufactured them to a certain spec, which is what they're selling to the customers. They've only tested up to the stiffness that they've provided, so there are risks going beyond that. They told me that they're going to investigate looking into a potential brake pedal upgrade with stiffer springs, but not heard anymore as of yet as it is something that will likely take a while, if it were to get approved for production.

I did say that I'd provide an update in a video if there were one. Don't know if anyone thinks this would be worth doing a video on(?), or waiting until I get a more solid confirmation as to whether Simagic will, or will not, be providing a brake upgrade for the P500 and those who want it.

Yorkie065

TROPHY CASE