I had the usual stuck steering left in a race on Wednesday.
Trouble was, I disconnected the play controllers and I stayed stuck on left - steering disengaged because the red light disappeared from the back of the avatar bike.
Sadly, it seems I also had kickr bike steering connected and ticked - which means this was a bug - I should have been able to retain steering having turned off the play controllers - but steering “went away” - but another part of zwift clearly though it had not and kept my avatar in its “steered position”.
When I hit a corner I was thrown back into the pack, and I tried reconnecting play controllers and then everything was working again.
The same (both the unwanted left steering and the dreaded brake engaging to a complete halt of the avatar) happened to me on November 7th (only to mention the last occurrence: it happens sooner or later every time if braking is allowed). It is very frustrating: in those circumstances the only way out is to turn off the play controller with the consequence that all the additional features attached are also lost. This makes the tool almost completely useless, without considering that in the meantime all the advantage that has been hard won on the saddle is also lost.
Could it be a problem of poor waterproofing? could the cause be sweat creeping inside the electronics? I really don’t know what else to think…
Please find a solution to this bug as soon as possible especially now that the play controller is indispensable for virtual shifting.
Today I opened Zwift, and I connected everything whitout any problem. I choosed “col du Toumalet” climb and started the ride. At the very begining, my avatar wasn’t moving at all while I was pedaling. I noticed the brake light was on. So I shuted off both controler and the avatar started to move. So I didn’t even tried to switch controlers “on”. I keeped them off. I think I will remove them until they do a fix for that problem. It’s so anoying!
Another one with brakes constantly stuck on all of a sudden. Seems to be R controller and IMO is a hardware fault.
These are a new replacement pair after the left controller previously failed (continuously steering left).
All worked fine for a few rides; probably 5-7hrs riding total; today booted up for ZRL and avatar won’t move. After doing some troubleshooting post race it’s the Right play stuck braking.
Since I still have the old pair I switched both and was back to the left controller causing hard steer left but no braking issues. Same fault as before.
Switched the Right controller only and all was good; confirmed for me a hardware fault.
Tried hard reset and calibration of right controller but it won’t calibrate and hard reset did nothing.
All reported to support and orders team to request a new replacement again.
Same, happened yesterday on a free ride at Maruki Island, couldn’t even start the ride without disabling the right one. Kept the left one on to turn.
Need a definitive solution for this after 6 month since the purchasing.
I was riding with Zwift Play on and then suddenly the brake engaged and wouldn’t stop. The right Zwift Play was a lot of haptic feedback. If I hold down the paddle button on the right Zwift Play then the brake would disengage. The problem didn’t go away after turning off and on the Zwift Play.
Wow, I can see this is a common issue with the Play controllers. I purchased them in September and briefly used them on “Repack Rush” to get the feel for them, but only over the last 2 days tried them during Zwift events. I’ve been running Zwift software successfully on a Windows laptop, and to be honest the Play controllers value for me is being able to navigate the screen so as to avoid touching the laptop keyboard and touch pad, which is problematic when I’m sweating. I don’t believe I’ll be using the Play controllers for steering and braking, at least for the near future. In any case, only over the past two days (12/4 and 12/5) was I finally able to use them in events. The hardware version is 8.0 and the firmware is up to date (1.2.1). They were connected to power. In both cases, they paired fine and worked fine to navigate the Zwift software screen prior to the events. In the first event, they worked fine through most of the event, though I was using them primarily to give “ride on” messages! However, well into the event on 12/4 the bike suddenly braked, even though my fingers were not near the brake toggles. The right controller was flashing red. The bike remained stopped with brakes on and I was only able to finish the event by turning off the controllers. In the second event of 12/5, as mentioned I was able select/pair them and use them to navigate the Zwift screen. When the event started however, the brakes on my bike were on and I was only able to start riding by shutting off the controllers. I don’t have any issues with the Zwift software or my Wahoo Kickr during these events. I agree with some others that sweat could be a factor as I was sweating on them when they braked in the first event. Being only 24 hours until the second event, it seems possible that there still may have been moisture in one or both controllers that may have caused them to be braked right from the start of the event.
I’ve seen this reported as a fixed bug in June, but this is a relatively new bug for me.
I’ve had Zwift Play since release, and other than the (sort of) fixed drop out issue I’ve had no problems with them.
That was until last week, when I was 5km into a race when my brakes suddenly came on for no obvious reason and could only be turned off by pushing in on the left paddle. I ended up turning off the left controller for the rest of the race.
This has since happened on a couple of free rides, also around the 5km mark (coincidence?).
When it happened last night I was with a pace partner (NO, I won’t call them robowotsits). I used the teleport to switch to a different partner, and as soon as I did that the brakes released and worked as normal. To me, this indicates some sort of software issue.
I’ve previously had the brakes come on by themselves when the controller batteries were getting low (not sure if that’s intentional?), but on these occasions the batteries are fully charged.
Firmware is up to date, and Zwift is running on a dedicated, hardwired PC with a stable Bluetooth connection.
I would love to see a button mapping option some time in the near future, as having brakes on the rockers makes them too easy to accidentally activate when sprinting on the hoods.
I used the Play controllers in 6 events over the course of 2 weeks and they worked per expected only twice. Especially disappointing was in 3 events the brakes came on mid-event without me touching brakes and another in which they started vibrating for no reason. Basically you need to shut them off during the event and fall behind (as you were stopped for ~30 seconds). Zwift suggested re-calibrating them, which in itself was difficult to do (controllers not responsive or behaving as they should), but I was able to complete a re-calibration a couple times, though the issues did not go away. As one other person indicated, they seem vulnerable to sweat/moisture. Zwift support has otherwise been slow to respond other than indicating their technicians will review. Bottom line is either I received a bad set of controllers, or they clearly were not fully tested before coming out of beta.
This just happened to me today as well. I was perhaps 30 min into a ride with the robodude (ahead of it, actually) and suddenly i felt buzzing, and saw the brake was on. My rider avatar stopped of course, and for about 15 seconds I tried wiggling the brakes to see if I could unlodge or free it, to no avail. I had to shut them off. maybe a min later, feeling OK with things, I turned the steering Play devices back on, and within seconds, the braking happened again. I left them off for the rest of the ride, and when ending the ride, I figured I could see which device had the stuck brake, and in my case, it appears to be the right one. It did have sweat on it, so I will let it dry out, and see how things go tomorrow. if still a problem, I will contact support.
Hi Peter. I used my Play controllers in 6 events. Your issue with the brakes suddenly engaging during an event happened to me 3 times (once where they started vibrating non-stop) and in another event the brakes were on at the start and couldn’t be disengaged. In all cases I had to turn them off to continue the events. I totally agree they seem to be negatively impacted by moisture/sweat. Zwift support has not provided any concrete help other than to ask me to re-calibrate (which made no difference).
The Play controllers are still “beta” for whatever that’s worth. If they’re willing to take them back and give you a refund that might be the best option.
Have a look at all the recent comments on this thread. It’s not fixed. This is the 50th comment since they announced that bug fix. Maybe the fix was a real one, but there is clearly something else going on that hasn’t been fixed.
(as an update) - Today, one day later after my first and only braking issue, I did an hour ride and had no issues. I did remove the right Play controller and bonk out some moisture from the slot at the bottom of the controller. I also charged them up. I have not calibrated them, and I did confirm the firmware is up to date.
So I think in my case, it may be some sweat is getting into there. If I nail down the reason is sweat 100%, then I may get bld and see what I can do with some silicone or some sort of waterproofing gasket sealer on one or both, if I can see the smoking gun/culprit means of ingress. warranty be damned…
