Adding reflective stickers to the treadmill belt.
Pinned
If your treadmill belt is textured, press the sticker down with your thumb until you see the texture in the sticker. Seems to help with keeping them in place
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Official comment
Great advice Jason!
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My biggest issue is I sweat, a lot. The reflective stickers stick fine initially but after a week or two, they lift off. I read on another site how someone used the "enclosed template" and painted them on with white-out. I'm not sure if it works because mine did not come with a template. I am probably going to try and make a template this weekend and try it out.
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Hi Peter - The link to the template is on our Help Center, here is the link: https://npe-inc.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360038382092-What-if-I-need-more-Runn-sensor-strips-
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So far, I've been lucky with the reflective tape I picked up at the hardware store. It's designed for outdoor things like mailboxes, trailers, etc. The adhesive is obviously better than that of the 3M stickers. I tried using the template and painting my tread, but the readings in Zwift went from very consistent with the stickers to very inconsistent with the paint. In the end, I spray painted flat black on the belt and went with the reflective tape cut the same size as the template.
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I have a textured treadmill surface so I used clear fingernail polish. This seems to work pretty well now after about 5 runs of about 30 to 60 minutes each. The original stickers didn't last but for a couple runs. Made sure the stickers were pressed into the textured track and then brushed clear nail polish on, let it dry, and off I went. I tried the whiteout, aluminized tape, using duct tape, and putting the reflective stickers on top, etc. With everything I tried, the reflective stickers would come off in just a few belt rotations. Keeping fingers crossed the nail polish works. I might have to reapply from time to time, but so far so good.
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Hi, What I ended up doing was using a Dremel to remove the textured surface a little bit larger than the stickers. This left a flat surface, but didn't go down into the fabric of the belt. It also seems to have taken off the shiny aspect of the belt and exposed a matt finish. Works ok for now. We'll see over time.
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Hello Everyone,
Thank you for the feedback on the issue of textured belts creating issues with the sticker adhesion. We have found a good alternative sticker material from a company called Gear Aid. It is linked here: https://www.gearaid.com/products/tenacious-tape-reflective?variant=28044145937
I have personally used this tape on highly textured belts and it adheres very well.
If you have issues with the included stickers adhering, please send a support request to support@npe-inc.com and we will work with you on a solution.
Kind regards,
Tim Eskew
Vice President - Marketing
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Thanks Tim sounds like a good solution.
I think I am nearly there with my unit now....I first tried paint using a stencil which bled on the textured surface and created white blobs which didn't trigger the sensors.
To cover these unsightly blobs up I used black Gorilla All weather tape ( https://uk.gorillaglue.com/gorilla-tape-all-weather-extreme/ ), with a bit of super glue. This then gave me a smooth surface which your stickers seem to adhere to pretty well.
The LEDs on the unit are now toggling back and forth each time a sticker passed under it so I am a now a happy bunny.
Might be an idea for future iterations of the RUNN to include some gearaid tape or additional instructions around textured treadmill belts to improve the customer journey and reduce customer frustration?
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I've been using the Gear Aid tape for a couple of weeks now, and it seems to be a very solid solution. I cleaned the area under each piece of tape with alcohol, let it dry thoroughly and pressed each piece of tape down firmly. I also cut each piece with rounded corners, to reduce the opportunity for corners to come undone. So far, none of the pieces of tape are showing any sign of coming unstuck.
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I have exactly the same issue with the textured belt on my Nordic Track treadmill. The stickers provided barely stick at all, and fall off almost immediately.
I’m located in the UK and the link above to buy GearAid tape is for the US only. I’ve just ordered the following tape from Amazon UK, which is hopefully the same product:-
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I cannot get the stickers to work on my textured belt in the slightest. Tried a white paint marker, tried double sided tape. Stickers fall off after a couple belt rotations or when I increase speed to 4mph. Not worth the effort to get this to work, I’m sending it back. Wish I didn’t have to!
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@Mdacheetham sort of. The tape alone did not stick. I used Stormsure Flexible Repair Adhesive to create a flat surface, and then stuck the tape on top of that when it was dry. The tape hasn’t shown any signs of coming loose.
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Hi WEEZ,
We have an updated version of the sticker I'd be happy to send you that should stick better. We are including them with all new Runn units going out the door, but it's possible yours was shipped before we got it in stock. If you can send your mailing address to marketing@npe-inc.com we'll get the new stickers sent out.
Thank you,
Daniel
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