Taxc Neo Repair

collym

Hi there,

I have a Taxc Neo in need of electronic component repair. The warranty is voided so sending it back to Taxc is not an option.

Basically what happens, after approx 5 mins on the trainer an acrid smoke emanates from the device and it loses all resistance rendering it effectively useless. If anyone knows of an Electronic Engineer or company that might be able to fix it I would appreciate the recommendation.

Thanks

Collym

smacl

Don't know about the Neo, but have replaced the brake unit on my Tacx flow after picking up spare parts on ebay. Much as I love boards.ie, you'll probably get more info on the tacx user forum; http://forum.tacx.com/

spyderski

It's not due to this, is it?

“Why does the NEO smell like burnt plastic after a sprint over 700W?”

Tacx Factory
Now I would have expected this to have been a slightly sticky question, what I didn’t expect was that Martin would crack of huge grin and laugh. Martin explained that they burn in the capacitors on each Neo at the factory putting a current directly into the units, which would be comparable to 500watts of effort. The smell some riders have commented on, is that same capacitor burn in occurring when the rider generates higher wattages than that factory burn in. It is a completely normal aspect to new capacitors and should pass after a few minutes. The issue is, that at home not many riders are going to be able to maintain in excess of 500watts for a few MINUTES. A result the burn in at higher than 500watts takes longer in the home environment. Martin has argued that they should be putting greater current into the trainers, to burn in at a higher power in the factory, but apparently this is limited by the current delivered to the factory by the electricity grid, and it was not felt to be cost effective to increase the current available in the factory for the narrow use case.

http://www.titaniumgeek.com/gear-reviews/the-house-that-tacx-built-tacx-factory-visit-titaniumadventures/

collym

To be honest, I was not putting out anything close to those wattages when the burning smoke started appearing. Probably only around 200 watts.

Apart from the fact that they store electrons, I know little or nothing about capacitors, much less about replacing them. Hence the need for someone to take a look at the unit and ascertain if it is even possible to fix it?

Lusk_Doyle

What did you do to void the warranty?

smacl

collym wrote: »

Apart from the fact that they store electrons, I know little or nothing about capacitors, much less about replacing them. Hence the need for someone to take a look at the unit and ascertain if it is even possible to fix it?

Electrolytic capacitors are the small to medium sized metal cylinders you find on PCBs, typically used to smooth output on power supplies or passively filter noise from a signal. They're rated for capacity and voltage, and get bigger in size as either increases. Cheap ones sometimes pop when overloaded, in which case they need to be replaced. Popped capacitors are visible to the eye as they either have some fluid around them or the top is convex where it should be flat. Replacing them just requires buying new ones like for like, unsoldering the old ones and soldering new ones in. Anyone handy with a soldering iron and solder pump could do this for you. Other things that commonly overheat, smoke and become damaged in these units are coils, notably the large ones that make up the electro-brake. These would be more difficult to source, and if they're gone I'd tend to replace the whole PCB (or even brake unit which may be no more expensive). If it is not something you fancy doing yourself, maybe try calling in an expert.

nordicb

I had one tacx turbo for repair not long ago, that had a magnetic resistance unit, but had no resistance at all. Resistance is achieved by powering up magnetic coils via a transistor using a rectified mains voltage. Many of these have a thermal protection built in and would limit current if overheated or simply die like in my case. I would suggest taking it to a repair shop for a proper look, there are no tacx branded parts there, generic fairly discrete stuff is used, most likely can be fixed at little cost. The control head unit is more complicated.

collym

@smacl: Thanks for the info. Hopefully it's something small, either way I don't fancy chancing my arm at it. I called a couple of places and they said... "A turbo wha?...Nah, we wouldn't handle anything like tha..." I'll try a few more places.

collym

nordicb wrote: »

I had one tacx turbo for repair not long ago, that had a magnetic resistance unit, but had no resistance at all. Resistance is achieved by powering up magnetic coils via a transistor using a rectified mains voltage. Many of these have a thermal protection built in and would limit current if overheated or simply die like in my case. I would suggest taking it to a repair shop for a proper look, there are no tacx branded parts there, generic fairly discrete stuff is used, most likely can be fixed at little cost. The control head unit is more complicated.

If you can recommend a repair shop in Dublin, I'll get in touch with them?