Powertap G3 + Garmin 910xt best practices

thaimai

So it looks like I'm not the only one who got a new PM recently.  A few other threads have answered some questions I had BUT I do have a load of other questions.  

My question has to do with pairing the PT with the 910xt.  Once the 910 found the PM, I went to the 'Calibrate' option of the watch and saw that it was doing something.  After a few seconds, it said Calibration Successful with the following values:

Current: 502

Torque: 0.19

The bike is on a trainer and I wasn't pedaling.  Is this what I'm suppose to do after pairing?

I also noticed that in the 'Sensor Details' of the watch, the Auto Zero is ON.  I think I noticed this setting in PowerAgent when I installed the latest G3 firmware the other night.  I assume there shouldn't be any problem with having them both on right?

Reading a new thread by Thomas Jones, he did a 'stomp test'.  Is this something that needs to be done as well?

What do you do (if anything) before each ride?

Peter Noyes

Everything is perfect. Calibration should be done with no pedaling and should be 500 +/- 10. Auto zero should be on for powertap.

William Jenks

Yup. All that it's doing is setting the zero point. It's really a misnomer to call it a calibration. It's just setting the offset.

thaimai

Thanks guys!

So nothing to do before an indoor/outdoor ride? Just hop on and go?

Since my head unit is the 910xt, I'll have the GPS and power info when I transfer the ride to Garmin Connect.

So if I want to get more in depth with the power data, I have to disconnect the PT and transfer the rides over and analyze them. Is that correct?

William Jenks

There's no real "disconnecting" to do. You do have to take your 910xt to be nearby your computer and the ANT+ stick, but you shouldn't "decouple" or "recouple" it to the bike PT. If you just download the data, the PT should still be coupled to the 910 next time you use it.

thaimai

oh what I meant to ask was, do I need to unscrew the PT from the hub on the wheel to transfer the rides over via USB cable?

Is that the only way to do if I want to use software like Golden Cheetah to analyze power from the rides?

William Jenks

I'm confused why you would want to do anything by wired USB... As long as your 910 is picking up the data, all you have to do is transfer that to your computer FROM THE WATCH. The hub does not store any data. You should have a little USB ANT+ stick that if you stick on your computer and have the watch nearby (and on) it will automatically download via Garmin ANT agent or something with a similar name.

thaimai

hmm I guess I was thinking that the PT had other data but I guess it just transmit the data to whatever unit can accepts it. oh well.

thanks William!

Mark Maurer

Bill is correct, it will download to your computer and then you can import it into Golden Cheetah. In fact I did that today with all of last week's rides.