I had an interesting thing happen to my handheld controller this last weekend. It stopped working. It would work fine when connected to my computer, but dead when hooked up in the car. Wiring was checked to be intact and connections to handheld felt normal. Called Fitech Monday afternoon. Let it ring at least 40 times before someone finally answered. They took my name and number and said someone would call back "in a minute". Well, that minute lasted until late this afternoon. Talked to Cody. After I described what the situation was, he immediately said to look at the connection point for the small power wire. The pin in that connection had been pushed to the side and was not inserting into the external connector. Pushed it back to center and that fixed my power problem. Apparantly I am not the first to experience that, as he said they are going to change the connectors and the point of connection at some point in the future. Meanwhile, the car is running great here at 10,000 to 12,000 feet elevation! It should be really impressive at sea level.
FiTech handheld controller power loss
Corkscrew
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I had an interesting thing happen to my handheld controller this last weekend. It stopped working. It would work fine when connected to my computer, but dead when hooked up in the car. Wiring was checked to be intact and connections to handheld felt normal. Called Fitech Monday afternoon. Let it ring at least 40 times before someone finally answered. They took my name and number and said someone would call back "in a minute". Well, that minute lasted until late this afternoon. Talked to Cody. After I described what the situation was, he immediately said to look at the connection point for the small power wire. The pin in that connection had been pushed to the side and was not inserting into the external connector. Pushed it back to center and that fixed my power problem. Apparantly I am not the first to experience that, as he said they are going to change the connectors and the point of connection at some point in the future. Meanwhile, the car is running great here at 10,000 to 12,000 feet elevation! It should be really impressive at sea level.
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Are you referring to the pin that actually plugs into the handheld, or on the other end of the harness, where the handheld's 2 wires plug into the TB harness?
A few weeks ago, I had an issue with my screen going blank, well not totally blank, but a very light shade of gray? This also kept my car from starting, as well as blanked out the memory, so it ran (once started) as if my car was just flashed during a new install...in other words, WOT was holding back for a few passes, since this happened at the dragstrip during a bracket race.
I somehow made it to the 3rd round of eliminations, but only because I dialed in artificially high and did what I had to do at the finish line, which was sandbag, and/or brake...I know that's all some people do, but I'd much rather run the car all out, and depend on consistency, rather than sandbag.
Hasn't done it since, and car runs 100%, so I'm at a loss.
Hmmm, then I wonder what was going on with mine? No idea what I did to "fix" it either. Can't really call FiTech and try to get info now that it isn't acting up...Hopefully it was just a fluke.
I know this is getting to be an older thread but wanted to bump it just to warn people about the power jack.
Good thing is its apparently a fairly soft pin and it bends back without breaking at least the first time. I have been very careful with it since that first time. I don't want to find out if it will take being bent more than one time. I mentioned the issue to both tech support and sales. Tech didn't respond to that specifically and still waiting for a response from sales, thinking its been 3-4 weeks now.
Good to hear it was not just me. I don't know if it was bent out of the box or if I did it the first time I plugged it in. It slowed me down because I was not sure if it was supposed to turn on by itself or what the deal was. After finding there was power at the TB end of the harness I looked closer at the power jack and saw the issue. I think the center pin sticks out a little too far so you can hit it before the rest of the plug self aligns as it drops into the socket.
Good thing is its apparently a fairly soft pin and it bends back without breaking at least the first time. I have been very careful with it since that first time. I don't want to find out if it will take being bent more than one time. I mentioned the issue to both tech support and sales. Tech didn't respond to that specifically and still waiting for a response from sales, thinking its been 3-4 weeks now.
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I had this issue with mine, the centre pin was off to the side so had to aim power pin correctly when plugging in, then would have to fiddle around to get to power up, yesterday evening it would not power up at all, it flickered twice when driving along though.
Took it to my cousin who is an Electronics Technician, was easily pulled apart, 4 screws at the back then gently removed the thumbstick button, he did not like the look of the soldered connections from the power jack to the board, said they look weak and could of possibly cracked and would explain why centre pin was skewed, he added some additional solder to strengthen.
Plugged power cable back in this morning & it fired right up.
Took it to my cousin who is an Electronics Technician, was easily pulled apart, 4 screws at the back then gently removed the thumbstick button, he did not like the look of the soldered connections from the power jack to the board, said they look weak and could of possibly cracked and would explain why centre pin was skewed, he added some additional solder to strengthen.
Plugged power cable back in this morning & it fired right up.
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174 Posts
After doing the above worked for a bit then started playing up again.
Checked the connection at rear of Throttle Body, it has 12V, the existing Tip has 12V, polarity of tip is centre positive, but the Handheld will not turn on.
Went and purchased a Cigarette Power Adaptor with multiple tips, found the correct size, checked polarity was correct, plugged it into Cigarette Outlet and tip into Handheld and it started working.
Figured something wrong with existing tip from supplied loom, so cut it off, then spliced in Tip & Wire from Cigarette Adaptor, checked it had 12V & correct polarity, plugged in Handheld and again nothing.
Went back and purchased a second Cigarette Adaptor, plugged it in and it does power up Handheld, swap straight over to original power lead and nothing.
I'm lost to know what the issue is, no response back from Fitech Support yet.
Thinking may have to power from another source permanently.
Checked the connection at rear of Throttle Body, it has 12V, the existing Tip has 12V, polarity of tip is centre positive, but the Handheld will not turn on.
Went and purchased a Cigarette Power Adaptor with multiple tips, found the correct size, checked polarity was correct, plugged it into Cigarette Outlet and tip into Handheld and it started working.
Figured something wrong with existing tip from supplied loom, so cut it off, then spliced in Tip & Wire from Cigarette Adaptor, checked it had 12V & correct polarity, plugged in Handheld and again nothing.
Went back and purchased a second Cigarette Adaptor, plugged it in and it does power up Handheld, swap straight over to original power lead and nothing.
I'm lost to know what the issue is, no response back from Fitech Support yet.
Thinking may have to power from another source permanently.
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Dan, I know you're far, far away, but I called FiTech about my handheld intermittently losing power and/or little mouse button not functioning...they are sending me another handheld.
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128 Posts
Sounds like you may have a phantom power issue. That is, it shows voltage unloaded, but drops out when loaded. Try and check the 12 volts while the handheld is plugged in, maybe at your splice? Could be a ground or power problem at the TB where it feeds to the hand held. Just a thought from a geek!:nerd:
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174 Posts
Thanks Bob & John, yes have already contacted FiTech, they asked me to send copy of receipt to organise warranty replacement.
In meantime have removed splice and instead connected Cigarette Adaptor wires to run of ACC power with an inline 2A Fuse, works fine this way.
Needed it up & running for next weekend as there is a Car Show at local raceway in which there are cruise sessions around the track, most guys just take it easy around top of track then line up against someone along straight for a bit of a race, get about several laps per 20 minute session, start around 35mph and can get up to 120mph, all should give the TB some plenty time to learn under WOT and then plan to head back to strip.
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1 Posts
My husbands handheld will not stay powered up. Terminals are good on both ends. He plugs it in and it will turn gray and then turn off.
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49 Posts
As somebody else said about the pin being bent, I had the same issue. Took the handheld apart to straighten the pin on the power plug. This was nearly 2 years ago. Since that time, I'm always very careful when I plug in the connectors to make sure I'm going in straight so I don't bend the pin again. So far so good.
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