TACX NEO drops resistance on its own

General Discussion
1

With the first-generation Tacx Neo, I used to ride without running any training program or app. I would simply turn on my Garmin bike computer connected via Bluetooth and pedal. It displayed power and cadence, and everything worked fine.

Recently I tried doing the same, but the trainer keeps dropping the resistance to almost zero on its own, mostly but not only, after high intensity short sessions, as if to allow me to cool down..

I’d appreciate any advice on how to disable this behavior. I want the trainer to provide dumb constant resistance.

Thanks.

2

That’s not normal behaviour for either the trainer or Zwift.

Are you able to connect to another device running Zwift to see if it remains.

Also are you able to use Ant+

These might rule things in or out.

I suspect it’s a connectivity issue rather than anything more sinister.

3

Can you confirm you are running Zwift, but not pairing the trainer to Zwift on the Resistance tile on the pairing screen? Instead you are pairing the trainer to the Garmin device for resistance control, right? Only one thing can control the trainer’s resistance.

Another option you could try is shutting off the Garmin device, pairing everything to Zwift including Resistance, and then moving the Trainer Difficulty setting in Zwift to zero. That will disable all resistance changes related to road gradients so it will feel like a perfectly flat road at all times.

4

I wonder if the fan(s?) in the trainer are faulty and the trainer is overheating, particularly since you mention high-intensity sessions.

This does sometimes happen on the Neo, and repair is possible.

5

Thanks guys for the replies. I am not using zwift or ANT+. I posted the problem also here because I saw no responses at a Garmin TACX forum and I hoped it’ll be better here :slight_smile: Tried again today, the trainer just moves from load to zero load, but when I start a heavy session, it does allow me to complete it

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6

Hi Paul, I used to sometime pedal without any app. connected. ((Knowing how 200W, 300W etc. feel). In the last coupe of days, when the NEO isn’t connected to anything, the load is Not steady as it used to be. (I am not using power/electricity cable) it is not connected to anything

7

Thanks Steve, How do I check if the fans work. BTW there might be some dust inside as it was not used for a few years. a lot of dust might be heavy on the fans..

8

If you’re not running Zwift then I recommend talking to Garmin support and doing your testing in the Tacx Training app since that’s what would help with the support interaction.

9

Yes, the image I attached is from a training with the android Tacx Training app. I contacted support, hope they’ll manage to instruct how to resolve this. Thanks.

10

This old thread might help, and confirms that overheating can lead to resistance dropping. Not to say that this definitely what’s happening to you, but I think it’s a strong candidate.

11

Thank you Steve :folded_hands:t4:

12

I forgot to tell that it happens also right on the beginning of pedaling, in low intensity. so it is unlikely to be a fans problem

13

I’ve taken the Neo to an official Garmin/Tacx service center for repair.

14

I hope you will report back about whatever they say is wrong with it.

15

Paul, I’ll be happy to share. Repair may take at list a week, I’ve made a note in my calendar for a week from now. If the service center provides any findings or conclusions regarding the repair, I’ll post an update here.

16

The technician called today and said the NEO works alright without him doing anything significant.

He suggested that I do get electricity cable (mine was lost) , and that he will install another hub, used, free of charge.

When I’ll see him on Sun. or Mon. I will try to understand from him what was the cause of the problems in the first place.