And just like that my halcyon decided to stop working. It’s charged. The blinking lights come up but just for 2 seconds. Then they stop and they will not blink again for like a minute. I use the spoke magnet and can repeat the process. Blinks then stop.
This is far from ideal
I’ve got myself a new trainer. As I’ve not thrown my Stac out anyone who can arrange carriage is welcome to it for spares. I’m in the Uk
Fixed my issue…
Lucky me…
I also had to do the DfuTarg trick once.
Couple of times I had problems with the magnets not moving but fixed it by reconnecting the wires. So far their website always had a solution to any of my problems but now I am worried about the limited lifetime of the actuators. I hope they will last at least until the next version of the 4iiii trainer.
Hi - those who have purchased replacement actuators: how easy is it to replace the old ones. Can a “mechanically challenged” person do so without too much heartache? Thanks.
Getting the heavy metal cover off (if you have one) is tricky, and I didn’t bother to put mine back - mine is an early model and was originally supplied without one. The circlips that secure the actuators to the pins are a quite small, difficult to manipulate and then easily mislaid. My replacement actuators were of a slightly different design and I had to use the supplied bolt and Niloc nut at one end. It’s also a little fiddly plugging the ribbons back into the motherboard, but easier if you have the later ‘lifting clip’ version of the board. These ribbon connections are not ever so secure in my experience. Just take it steady and watch out for those circlips. Small pliers and tiny screwdrivers proved very useful.
The Beta 2006 firmware is exactly the same as 2005 firmware - it’s a workaround used to unbrick the unit and force an update. It’s not true that the actuators only move at a change of slope in Sim mode as they will also have to increase resistance with speed to simulate wind resistance. I’ve been doing zone 2 (easy) rides at 15mph, when zone 5 (hard) rides top out at 21mph average at twice the wattage - which neatly matches the theory of wind resistance increasing with the square of the velocity.
Could you elaborate on the “reconnecting the wires” part of this?
Mine bricked today, so I hit it with the DfuTarg (v2006) trick, but only one of the magnets is moving when given marching orders.
Sounds like the same issue I had. Check this link for instructions. https://stacperformance.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360015134472-Halcyon-Support-for-Ribbon-Cable-issues-
Thanks my friend. A good and spot on link… No luck for me unfortunately. Ribbons are already hot glued in place and have zero play. Can’t disengage and reengage the one not carrying signals properly.
Last off season and the beginnings of this off season add up to around 200 hours of usage. Would have preferred to get more usage, but at least I picked mine up on discount when they were unloading the last of the non-4iiii labeled gear.
Thanks - i was altogether too sanguine about the difficulty in replacing the actuators and getting it working again, but i finally managed it. The hardest part was getting the circlips, as you called them, off and removing the pins. I resorted to brute strength, and forced the pins out, but they were not reusable after that. Fitting the new actuators on was not too bad, reusing the larger screw-in bolt from the old fittings on the screw-in side, and using the hardware that came with the new actuator on the other side where i had to break the pin out. I guess it is not as secure a fit as the original hardware, but it seems to be ok. Getting the cover off and inserting the ribbon cables was pernsnickity but do-able. In general, the whole process needs better eyesight than i have. Once i had it reassembled, i found that i still needed to do the DUFARG reboot, which took quite a while to actually work. The whole thing is finally working, which is satisfying, but it really was not worth the trouble. I only persevered because I’m cheap and i had already bought the new actuators.
I have a question to other halcyon owners.
Today I noticed the right side arm has more wiggle the the left arm… Not sure if it was there before or not… The arm is constantly shaking when the trainer is in use. Not sure if there is any performance issue with this. I already check and can’t find an easy to access lose bolt …
Does any one read me?
My STAC died yesterday.
The non drive arm is not longer moving right.
It might be the other… I have no clue…
The drive side is very wiggly the other side doesn’t get to the wheel …
This is causing the power to be either too high or too low, depending on where the non drive side landed last…
Mine died at the start of the first lockdown with, if I recall, a similar problem. As they are no longer offering support for it I decided to cut my losses and get another trainer. I’m in the UK and have still got it taking up space and anyone is welcome to it for spares if they want.
The trainer is still listed on the site, but out of stock.
This is a great concept, but there are limitations with the design, needing an all- aluminum (welded and NOT steel-pinned) wheel. These are somewhat hard to find based on a range of comments I’ve seen here.
STAC contact me after i sent en email to support.
They stated that STAC Halcyon support is dead, but they will provided an opportunity to current STAC owners to buy a Fliiiight brain in a “few months”.
If they offer me a competitive price, I may get it and just set it up for my wife…
The silent is great, but what i think it REALLY a game changer is the automatic calibration without the wheel down bullshit i have to do now with the TUO.
You dont know how annoying it is until you have to do it!
I got the reply today.
That is probably the single best feature on this systems!
To add to this… my Halcyon resistance unit died recently. Not an actuator failure, but it stopped being able to charge, and then the battery ran down. I’m still not entirely giving up on the smart unit, and when I have some time I want to play with it a bit more; but in the meantime I’ve switched back to my original STAC Zero resistance unit.
Frankly, the dumb unit works a lot better. Yes I have to shift gears and keep more of an eye on my target power, but it also removes a lot of fiddly issues I had with Bluetooth and firmware. The remaining annoyances boil down to when I put the bike on or take the bike off the trainer: switching wheels, and aligning the magnets with the wheel at the right distance.
Right now I’m kind of eyeing the Stages SB20, not the Fliiiight, as the evolution on the STAC Zero. As I understand it the SB20 uses a slightly different magnetic effect for controllable resistance, but it is still a contactless approach that makes for an extremely quiet device, and it solves the whole “how to install the bike onto the trainer problem” 
%
Hello,
First time post. Unfortunately it’s due to what I believe , after reading this thread is an actuator failure on my Stac Zero Halcyon. I believe I can manage the repair, or my son with better eyesight and dexterity can!!! I had hoped that it was just the ribbon cable had come loose but mine was hot glued on and not going anywhere. Those actuators are pricey little buggers even though I am in Canada and can get free shipping. I contacted Fliiiight about the problem but they were not super helpful, however they did offer a good deal on the Fliiiight trainer. My worry, and I was not able to pin them down, is that they are using the same actuators for this new version. Seems like virtual inertia makes the actuators work overtime!!
Mike
Have been posting my experiences with my Halcyon on the Cyclechat thread:
August 2021
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. 
September 2021:
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.
October 2021:
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!
December 2021:
New battery from Amazon still not fitted yet, as having eventually been externally charged, that original ‘dud’ battery is still showing 80% charge at the end of a ride. No sign of that second (fourth) actuator failure either. Both actuator cables now taped to the motherboard connectors with insulating tape.
