Question SCN5 problem; actuator fault or software?

Simulator

1. DIY
2. 2 DOF
3. SCN5 Actuators
4. SCN Interface

SimTools

1. Version Number: 2.3.1
2. Game Plugin where the error is happening: F1 2018 v

Hello,
I’ve recently had a problem with my simulator. While driving in F1 2018, the simulator dropped forward and to the right and wouldn’t recover from that position. I tried to reset Game Engine, and kept getting the pop up message “Restart Required: One of your interfaces requires GameEngine to be restated. Please restart GameEngine.”
So I did, several times. Sometimes the message would keep popping up, other times it would go away and reset the actuators to the proper level. Once in GameEngine, I was able to go to the Output Testing and move through all the axes properly, no problems. As soon as I got into the game and hit the brakes for the first corner, it would immediately drop forwards and to the right all over again, and again not be able to recover, and again would have to be reset and restarted. A few times, I had to unplug the power source, manually push the actuators all the way in, plug back in, and restart game engine. Again, once GameEngine initiated, the actuators ran through their full range of motion correctly, and functioned properly in Output Testing, but as soon as gameplay began, they would again bottom out. This happened over and over again until the unjoint couldn’t take it anymore and shredded apart, crashing me down onto the floor.
While troubleshooting, I unplugged and replugged all USB’s for the actuators several times, restarted the PC several times, verified the functionality of the actuators in the Properties menu in the Devices folder, etc.

Once the u joint broke and popped the actuators off their tie rod ends, I placed the seat frame up on jack stands so I could at least keep playing with no motion until I find a fix for it.
In the meantime, I ran a “floor test” on the actuators. I kept both actuators attached to the base frame and laid them on the floor. Started up GameEngine; both actuators cycled properly. Started up F1 218; ran several laps at Canada. Both actuators functioned perfectly. Switched to France. Both actuators functioned perfectly and always reset to the exact same length when “paused” or exiting gameplay to any menu screen. No error messages.
So, no malfunctions when unloaded on the floor. Only when in gameplay under load, attached to the seat base.

Sorry for the long winded story, but does this sound like a failure of one or more of the actuators, or a SimTools software issue?
Are there any other tests to be able to determine for sure, before I spend $600-$1200 for one or two new actuators?

Thank you in advance!

Jeremy

Usually SCN5's are used in Seat mover setup, I see you are using custom built full frame. In that case it is very important to have everything perfectly balanced because those SCN5's can surely stall if they can't move the load. SCN6 are better for full frame setups, they are a bit slower as I know but can move more load.

I'm also impressed that your Joint broke, it must have been shock for you when it happened

It’s ultimately my fault the joint broke and the actuators were overstressed. The original design of the rig had the seat all the way to the back in an upright position with the pedals flat and closer to the seat. I ended up moving the seat forward and tilted backwards and building a heavier and higher pedal base in order to achieve a more horizontal F1 seating position. I overshot a few times and the actuators couldn’t cope at all.
I’m going to revert back to the original seat and pedal position anyway once I repair the U joint or replace it with something heavier duty, but I still need to know what failed anyway, especially before I spend all this money replacing actuators if they’re not the root cause.
So, what condition or fault would trigger that message of one of the interfaces requiring GameEngine to be restarted?
And if the floor test passes, without getting stuck or triggering a fault message, then how can I determine if one of the actuators actually needs to be replaced?

I will download that and have a poke around. I’m not super tech savvy, so I’ll see if I can make sense of that.
But what would cause an intermittent issue? The message doesn’t pop up consistently, and both actuators ran perfectly once disconnected from the seat frame.
How can that be explained?

Ok, so, again pardoning my ignorance, physically speaking, what is the actual “interface”? Loose wiring and connections are easy enough to trace and spot, but the “interface” itself...?

Thinking out loud here, but if that message is more likely caused by a wire or interface, is it unlikely that the failures I was experiencing were actually the SCN itself failing?

If they are cycling properly after Simtools start and if you can use Output Testing in Simtools and your SCN's are moving correctly as they should, obviously they are fine so the problem lies somewhere else.
You've said you run the actuators unloaded on the floor and everything functioned fine. After you tried them loaded on the rig, you started getting error and disconnect.

My first step would be to try any other game and see if similar thing happens - just to eliminate the bad game plugin factor.

My second step would be balancing the rig properly. It seems like your SCN has stalled maybe for a moment, probably lost connection to Simtools, then you've got GameEngine / Interface error and got disconnected from game, leaving the rig in tilted position.