Tacx Neo Smart 2 cadence fluctuating widly or showing no signal

Pc with ant. But I have tried BT as well. No joy with either.

A new Neo2 here… arrived with firmware 0.0.0 asked tacx re date and was told fw18 was ok… have bittern the bullet and updated the neo2 and so far all ok via Bluetooth and Ant+ on a Windows pc in zwift with companion app… Have checked bthe power and cadence with wahoo elemnt and they match… hope this helps someone.

iOS update today for Zwift. Cadence fluctuates more than before. 6-15 rpm jumps. Current firmware is 0.0.18. Hopefully TACX gets it fixed soon!

I bough Tacx Neo 2 last week, as above mentioned, arrived with FW 0.0.0, upgraded to the last one FW 0.0.18, connected to PC with Windows 10 by ANT+ FE-C and the cadence sensor shows No signal in FE-C mode… I have owned Elite Drivo II before and this type of connection was without any problem.
I can not connect the cadence properly by other protocol in Zwift, controllable trainer and power source are connected OK…

When I have tried another type of connection (I think cadence/power ANT), it was connected and showed figures, but it leaves the connection during the race ride at once and I was stopping on the road… :o/
It was frustrating, so I take Garmin cadence sensor and connected it with success, it shows figures and I can ride on Zwift.

Please, what do you suggest me to connect cadence on Neo 2?

In my opinion you have the only stable setup for the Neo 1 or 2 at the moment. I have stayed on version 0.15 of the firmware which still has cadence issues, but it’s not 0 as with version 0.18. I too use a Garmin cadence sensor as mentioned above as a workaround.

On February 12 of this year, you likely saw that Garmin as acquired Tacx. I’m not sure were this leaves the priority of fixing the cadence on the Neo and Flux units. It’s been my experience that Garmin’s support has been more responsive then Tacx. Maybe this will be a good thing. (?) As a side note, not everyone that has a Neo or Flux is having issues.

I have again, 2 days ago, sent an email to Tacx support inquiring on the fix for the cadence sensor. No word yet. I feel that the more emails and support calls that Tacx support gets directly, the more attention they are likely to put on the issue.

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Thank you, Vernon.

I have found this article from tacxfaqx.com - Neo 2 Cadence on Zwift
https://tacxfaqx.com/knowledge-base/neo-2-cadence-on-zwift/, the update says, that beta FW 0.0.19 could solve all cadence problems in all applications - Zwift, Tacx…
“Update: firmware version 0.0.18 has been released, but has not been effective for resolving all issues related to cadence with Neo 2. It has fixed the issue for Zwift, but has created cadence issues in other applications, including the in-house Tacx Desktop App. Tacx are currently testing beta version 0.0.19, so if you are experiencing this issue, please contact Tacx Support if you want to try the beta.”

All: Do you have testing the beta FW 0.0.19? Any information about it?

I did try 0.0.19 about 30 days ago and it behaved the same as version 0.0.18.

No joy.

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I made rollback to FW 0.0.15 yesterday after several disconnections from 2h Zwift ride… :o/

The line of FWs is 0.0.15 / 0.0.18 / beta 0.0.19, is it right?!?

Update:
I have changed settings in PC power control to don´t allow the PC to sleep USB + bluetooth.

It is not showing me “No signal” anymore and keeping connection (ANT+) for two hours without interruption.
I will test it in any ride this evening.

You are correct in the firmware revisions, to the best of my knowledge.

For me;

15 works with very few disconnects but cadence fluctuates.

18 works but higher disconnects and no cadence

19 does not control power in Zwift or Sufferfest but it does in the Tacx utility. Also has no cadence.

I heard back from Tacx Support only to say that they’d pass my email to the correct team that is working on the problem.

Vernon McNees

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Milan - just FWIW - my Neo2 works flawlessly - no problem with disconnects, cadence, etc … means everything works well. My FW is 0.18. Maybe because of my setup (Neo2 connected to AppleTV via BLE), which is probably different from your one (??)

Btw - I use the trainer with Zwift only - have no experience with other party apps.

If you need more info, we can share more details at bike-info forum, as I believe you are also there …

Good to hear G odmother Fox,

This issue appears different for many people. I’ve thought about the Apple TV. Resolution is supposed to be amazing.

My setup is:

Ant – combine any of the following.

Tacx Ant+ Antenna or Garmin Ant+ Stick, Neo 1 and Neo 2, Laptop PC, Garmin Cadence, 4iii’s HRM, Garmin HRM.

BTLE setup.

iPad or iPhone with 4iii’s HRM and Neo 1 or Neo 2, 4iiii’s HRM acts as an Ant+ bridge for Garmin Cadence Sensors.

The Neo 1 is now gone due to cadence fluctuations which the Neo 2 was supposed to have resolved.

So, FW 0.0.15 + ANT+ FE-C connection as Controllable trainer and Power source + ANT+ connection of Garmin Cadence sensor + changed power setting in PC as above mentioned (!) = all the Zwift ride without any signal drops or disconnections! :smiley:

Only one thing from being great :thinking: - I experienced lower power figures from the real ones. I have to analyze them, if it is true, not only my feelings…

So I found something, my cadence was working great on my 650b mtn bike but when I switched to my girls 650b hard tail the cadence wouldn’t work and would show zero almost always with an occasional reading. After playing around with the tacx utility app I found if you run you hand past where there is a bulge on the left side of the trainer (kinda by the power/bt LEDs) it would start counting cadence.
So with a few zip ties and an Allen wrench, I zip tied the Allen wrench to the inside of the left crank arm effectively making the crank arm longer. It works great now. The bikes longer chainstay and shorter crank arms were too short to reach the sensor properly. Might no be everyone’s issue but might be some.

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Excellent troubleshooting. I was told by Tacx the sensor on the Neo is as far forward as possible beside the name on the unit so it sounds like you’ve hit the spot.

Another update here after several days:
I stay on FW 0.0.15 with connected 4iiii powermeter by ANT+ for power and cadence (to solve the cadence Neo 2 issue) at the moment… Another thing is, that my powermeter 4iiii gives me better power figures that more correspond with the reality I feel…

I have permanent connection during Zwift rides by ANT+ (Controlable trainer + Power source + Cadence) without problem.

That’s Outstanding!! Thanks for the update.

Is the Neo power high or low? 4iiii’s is 10 minutes from my house. I’ve been thinking about getting their power meter.

Neo power figures are lower.

So the Neo must be wrong! As we all know, the power meter w/the higher number is always right :rofl:

Curious, are you using left only 4iiii? or dual sided? If single sided, then it is measuring one side (L) and doubling it. Imagine your L side is stronger by 3%. Now that becomes 6% when you double it. At 200W, that is 12W. At 300W, that becomes 18W. Something to think about!

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Wow Lin! That’s some pretty deep insite!! I guess by the math you’d be right. Or Left??

If the Neo numbers are lower, I’m a happy camper. Training at 225 watts right now. I was at 180 at the end of outdoor season last year. Which is September or October.

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If you check DCR’s or Lama’s review you can find some power tests there. Both say Neo2 is pretty close in its readings to another power meters. Of course, there is some difference but it should be really insignificant (not recognizable by a common guy). Maybe we speak about defective unit here (?).

Moreover if there was any difference (between Neo2 and another powermeter) Neo2 was mostly on “higher side” of graph.