Stac Zero Halcyon Support (Lack of)

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Stevers

Active Member
I get only really well with the Halcyon which suits my purpose nicely, not least because it’s compatible with my wife’s 6 speed tourer, and both of my retro 7 speed road bikes, and I even rather like its ‘industrial’ design. In the two years that I have owned it there have been three failures. Just outside the warranty period (October 2019) it bricked itself during a firmware update and Stac Zero/4iiii were fantastic with their support and managed to help me load the 2006 beta firmware which is excellent and gave me up to 10% resistance on hills. Full marks 10/10 A+++ etc.

Then three weeks ago (August 2020) one of the linear actuators that move the magnets seized in a fairly open position and made the unit unusable with perhaps 200W at 130 cadence. I contacted Stac Zero Support only to get an e-mail to say that support was withdrawn and that the Stac support address wasn’t monitored. I then contacted 4iiii who just said that the promised Fliiiight upgrade package for the Stac Zero still isn’t available. Anyway those nice people at Stac had put the Actuonix OEM part number on the actuator and being in the UK I sourced one from RS Components for delivery next day (approx. £100). These can be sourced over the pond for less, but if the UK post office gets their hands on it and charges an admin fee for import duty all bets are off on how much that would end up costing! One of the mounting eyes was thicker than the original, so I couldn’t use the original circlipped pin, but the supplied bolt and Nyloc nut worked well, and the Halcyon was up and running again. Three weeks later I’m on the trainer thinking how well it was working, when I feel the resistance randomly varying again, and bingo the other actuator fails - this time close to the wheel so still able to offer meaningful resistance (240W at 90 cadence).

I find it odd that these actuators should fail within three weeks of each other (after two years and 3,500 miles) so have contacted support at Actuonix to see what they think. Should I hear from Actuonix I will record their response here. It seems those of us with Halcyons have been abandoned by 4iiii, and hopefully recording my experience here will prove helpful to others.

Steve
 
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Stevers

Stevers

Active Member
Have had a reply from Actuonix who have kindly offered me favourable one off terms on up to nine actuators. They are not familiar with the application, but have stated that the duty cycle on the PQ12 motor is 125 hours. It's hard to estimate the hours ridden before failure, but I reckon they comfortably exceeded the duty cycle at over 200 hours. My son has also just told me that all linear actuators have a bit of a reputation as a consumable. Another reason to ride on the road when you can!

Steve
 

NatV

New Member
I get only really well with the Halcyon which suits my purpose nicely, not least because it’s compatible with my wife’s 6 speed tourer, and both of my retro 7 speed road bikes, and I even rather like its ‘industrial’ design. In the two years that I have owned it there have been three failures. Just outside the warranty period (October 2019) it bricked itself during a firmware update and Stac Zero/4iiii were fantastic with their support and managed to help me load the 2006 beta firmware which is excellent and gave me up to 10% resistance on hills. Full marks 10/10 A+++ etc.

Then three weeks ago (August 2020) one of the linear actuators that move the magnets seized in a fairly open position and made the unit unusable with perhaps 200W at 130 cadence. I contacted Stac Zero Support only to get an e-mail to say that support was withdrawn and that the Stac support address wasn’t monitored. I then contacted 4iiii who just said that the promised Fliiiight upgrade package for the Stac Zero still isn’t available. Anyway those nice people at Stac had put the Actuonix OEM part number on the actuator and being in the UK I sourced one from RS Components for delivery next day (approx. £100). These can be sourced over the pond for less, but if the UK post office gets their hands on it and charges an admin fee for import duty all bets are off on how much that would end up costing! One of the mounting eyes was thicker than the original, so I couldn’t use the original circlipped pin, but the supplied bolt and Nyloc nut worked well, and the Halcyon was up and running again. Three weeks later I’m on the trainer thinking how well it was working, when I feel the resistance randomly varying again, and bingo the other actuator fails - this time close to the wheel so still able to offer meaningful resistance (240W at 90 cadence).

I find it odd that these actuators should fail within three weeks of each other (after two years and 3,500 miles) so have contacted support at Actuonix to see what they think. Should I hear from Actuonix I will record their response here. It seems those of us with Halcyons have been abandoned by 4iiii, and hopefully recording my experience here will prove helpful to others.

Steve

Thank you so much for the linear actuator fix!!! RS Components are back ordered until next week but I am definitely ordering one to replace mine which snapped off right where the metal rivet meets the plastic eyelet. I tried epoxy and even made a tiny grommet from wire to no avail....I am hoping you'll see this reply so you could advise about the connector ribbon. Does it come with the actuator replacement? also I don't see where it plugs into the trainer unit on existing piece. Thx for any advice on installing new actuator.
 
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Stevers

Stevers

Active Member
Not quite twelve months on, and another linear actuator bites the dust. I've put about 2,500 miles on it at >230W, so probably over 130 hours. Replaced from my little stock of actuators from those nice people at Actuonix. It now seems less likely that it was a faulty batch of actuators originally. When testing the actuators off the frame, don't get a finger trapped in the mechanism as no mercy will be shown - don't ask me how I know! With careful alignment and a home-made wobble board there is no wheel rub, and it's good for >600W and 10% hills. Really like riding the Halcyon, not wanting to use anything else, but do expect the actuator on the other side to fail in the next few weeks. :-( If so, I'll be ready...
 
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Stevers

Stevers

Active Member
This week my Halcyon has decided not to charge. In the process of running a very low battery for a few days it managed to brick itself again - this being a recognised problem with low battery. The Chinesium 18350 1200mAh battery was the original, so I substituted another battery (same make) and after unbricking the unit using the link to the instructions posted earlier, was again able to establish communication with the Stac Zero app. Happily this seems to confirm that the 'new' battery is charging - the Halcyon lives to fight me another day!

Update - New battery was actually charging during my ride, when the old one at best lost a few percent, the old battery also not charging in a separate charger, so definitely a dud battery - not a fault with the Halcyon which is working well again.

Update 2 - The 'new' battery typically starts at 99% charge, but drops to 81% during my ride, then recharges back to 87% by the end of the ride. Shades of what the original battery did right from the start until total failure. This might of course be intentional, but it does seem odd. Have now got a brand new battery and will try that next.
 
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Stevers

Stevers

Active Member
With my Halcyon having a steadily reducing charge visible on the phone app, I decided it was time to fit the new battery. This requires complete disassembly of the trainer and re-alignment of the magnets afterwards. To put it mildly I was not amused to find that my new 18350 cell wouldn't fit. How can this be you say? Well it seems not all 18350 cells are equal. In addition to the various capacities available some have add-ons that make them longer. My new cell had a button, this made it too long to fit, so an honest mistake in not buying the flat version; except, it's not as simple as that, because the Trustfire battery supplied was also longer than 'standard' having PCB protection making it 36mm long. As far as I can tell, the only maker of such a battery is Trustfire and these apparently unique batteries are only available via Amazon.
TrustFire 18350 Li-Ion Battery 3.7 V 1200 mAh PCB Protection Circuit (2 x Flat Top)
Since they are only available in pairs and I rarely use Amazon that's £20 with postage!
 
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Stevers

Stevers

Active Member
The new batteries are here, but not fitted as one of the old ones is now showing 87%. More interestingly BKOOL is now detecting my Stac Zero Halcyon as 'Oreka trainer 8771' plus 'ANT+ power sensor 0771'. These devices only come up when I spin the Halcyon up, if I don't pair the 'Oreka' device it rides at 27% fixed and no Simulator mode.
 
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Cander

Regular
Hello Stevers! Thank you for writing this down, very useful info. Got this week in the same situation with my 2018 Halcyon with estimated ~400 hours on it (mostly SIM/ERG-usage). The right actuator failed first, and perhaps coincedently the left one failed aswell just the day after while I was debugging it (making sure ribbon-cable hadn't fall out etc).

While the whole Halcyon/4iiii-2020 support drop business decision can be its own topic of discussion, I must say I'm disappointed in the performance in this part. They maybe just don't last longer by nature of the part type (as you suggested Stevers), but with this short expected lifespan (hundreds of hours, not thousands), it would have made sense from the beginning to state that while the frame, weights magnets etc for sure will last decades before the trainer likely become obsolete of other reasons, the actuators ARE consumables. And like almost already include a spare set and replacing instructions in the box.

Question: How much did you end up paying for your stash of actuators from Actuonix? Wondering if it might be worth a shot trying to fix it (and hoping it will run a few more years). I (as yourself) had the earlier problem with it bricking, but that was eventually solveable in the manner you mentioned. But must be taken into account anyway that one now running unsupported, so any other issues that might arise will be harder/impossible to fix. Yourself don't seem to be afraid of a repair challange though - nice to see, kudos for that :-)

Nevertheless as pre-Halcyon era Stac user I'm fortunate to have the static/manual power-meter resistance unit laying around in spare after the upgrade, so I anyhow atleast have an usable trainer remaining. I feel sorry for you Halcyon users who don't, or soon will not have! :-(
 

MrBobb

New Member
My actuators lasted 2 years and 3 years, and I paid usd$75 each, and these things were originally designed for robotic? and a robot has how many actuators? must say am not impressed. I bought the Halcyon primarily for no-noise and am reading the direct drives are just as silent and better performance, so if I buy today, guess where would I go. I want Toyota reliability and better warranty.

Another gripe I have with the Halcyon is, it seems to want the battery charged up. I don't use this outdoors, and it bothers me that I have to deal with one more battery thing when I can be happy just have the thing plugged in full time. The battery puts out 3.7v and the actuators are 6v, mhhhh.
 
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Stevers

Stevers

Active Member
Question: How much did you end up paying for your stash of actuators from Actuonix? Wondering if it might be worth a shot trying to fix it (and hoping it will run a few more years). I (as yourself) had the earlier problem with it bricking, but that was eventually solveable in the manner you mentioned. But must be taken into account anyway that one now running unsupported, so any other issues that might arise will be harder/impossible to fix. Yourself don't seem to be afraid of a repair challange though - nice to see, kudos for that :-)

Actuonix in Canada very kindly gave me a good deal for up to nine, and I bought five. With UK import duty (effectively VAT at 20%) they were less than £50 each, and I have four left. That second actuator is still OK, I just don't know if it was UK stock or one direct from Canada. 4iiii did get in touch recently to offer me a complete Fliiiiiight for a very good price, but I'm nervous that my FTP at 270W is higher than they recommend. The Halcyon on the other hand has readily coped with me climbing at >300W at 75RPM, and it does seem the Fliiiiight might not.

As a cyclist I do my own repairs, and I even built two of my bikes up from bare steel frames (including the painting), so looking after the sainted Halcyon hasn't been too huge a stretch for me so far.
 

Cander

Regular
Actuonix in Canada very kindly gave me a good deal for up to nine, and I bought five. With UK import duty (effectively VAT at 20%) they were less than £50 each, and I have four left. That second actuator is still OK, I just don't know if it was UK stock or one direct from Canada. 4iiii did get in touch recently to offer me a complete Fliiiiiight for a very good price, but I'm nervous that my FTP at 270W is higher than they recommend. The Halcyon on the other hand has readily coped with me climbing at >300W at 75RPM, and it does seem the Fliiiiight might not.

As a cyclist I do my own repairs, and I even built two of my bikes up from bare steel frames (including the painting), so looking after the sainted Halcyon hasn't been too huge a stretch for me so far.

Thanks. I'll have a go myself getting a quote on them.

One other concern that came to mind is the deprecated & removed Stac Control Panel app. While you can connect and do some of the settings in the 4iiii-app, but not all important things like adjusting watt vs virtual speed. Reached out to 4iiii and asked if they could unofficially provide the .apk-file (to be used atlleast until it probably finally will break in some years due to operating system upgrades)

Regarding the Fliiiight, my perception is aswell (based on mainly DCrainmakers review) is that we FTP 300w+ riders would not be happy with it (atleast if one intend to high intensity riding on it). I asked 4iiii if you could keep using existing Stac Zero wheel weights to improve inerita performance, so in theory just making it just better than the Halcyon when Fliiiight's "smart inertia pulsing tech" is added. But they "did not recommend this", which I interpret that it might be some compatibility issue
 
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Stevers

Stevers

Active Member
Deprecating the Stac Zero app is below the belt. I'm running the app on a cheap Motorola G3 (c2015) without a Sim card that doesn't currently do much else and won't need upgrading in itself. There is no reason to deprecate the app unless 4iiii are afraid of something. My theory FWIW, is that the Stac Zero Halcyon is a better product to use and that the 'smart inertia pulsing tech' just reduces the resistance available without doing much more than the weights achieve. Incidentally I've never experienced any 'road feel' to speak off on real or virtual hills. In reviews people that liked the Halcyon were very lukewarm about the Fliiiiiiight, and perhaps that says it all.
 

JustinH

New Member
Thanks for sharing your experience here. I am a long time Halcyon user with over 12,000km on my unit and it just konked out on me the other day. It seems to be the driveside actuator. @Stevers I have a question for you, did you buy the 100:1 gear unit? And did it come with the ribbon installed? My unit has this for a code which leads me to assume 6volt and 100:1 gear. PQ12-100-6-P.

I have the Stac control panel app on my android but it keeps saying 2005 is the latest firmware. I have tried to update to 2006 via the 4iiii app but it doesn't seem to connect well with the unit and just "spins" while trying to figure out what firmware version it has. I also dabbled in the bluetooth app but couldn't figure it out.
 
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