Another Stages Power Question: problems with data inconsistency

stephanb

Here is a link to my last Trainer Road (before the one I'm about to do).  If that doesn't work it is on the team list I think.

 

http://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/1534051-2015-OS-Wk10-Thurs-INT

 

You will notice that my power was dropping throughout the ride, not so much in the beginning, but more and more as the ride went on.  Both my Garmin and my computer were dropping, not always at the same time.

This happens to me every week or two, and then other times it is working absolutely perfectly in the same position and everything.  It is really frustrating, but I try to use it as training for when the power meter may not work during a race, and I have to readjust and deal with it.

Any ideas?  

Battery is fine, computer is like 2 feet from my bike. 

stephanb

Just finished today and the power meter worked perfectly, good signal to both trainerroad an my garmin.  It is very inconsistent and has me scratching my head.

Today's ride.

http://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/1546296-2015-OS-Wk10-Sat-INT

Joe Crispino

Hi Stephanie, question,  do you calibrate before you ride?  I have stages also.  I seem to be having the same problem.  I calibrate before I ride, however, when I'm riding in a specific gear at specific cadence my power seems to spike and drop.  how is your data field set up? I was told to set it at the "3s average".  I have only had two rides with it but I'm thinking it's my setting.

stephanb

Hi Joe,  I don't calibrate before I ride. don't even know how.  On trainerroad it gives me an option of hitting a button to zero calibrate whatever that is.

tim cronk

Stephan, your TR files are private (can't view them) I have a Stages in the house (Heathers) going on 3 years now and its rock solid (I've replaced Quarq twice in the same timeframe)... Anyway I would contact Stages with your data discrepancies... Heather uses her's with garmin 500 and TR all the time, calibrates it with Garmin only pre-ride when prompted to... Garmin and TR should have the exact same data since its coming from the same place.

Michael Nardone

I calibrate every ride on trainer road and outside. Easy enough to do. No problems in trainer road so far

stephanb

Tim, I don't know why they are coming up as private since my account says public.  Don't know how to change that.  Perhaps its because they are workouts that come from EN?    I have an email into my LBS where I bought it last year.  Today it worked perfectly on both Garmin and TR.  I'm actually quite proud of my workout, sad that you can't see it

John Schneider

I have been calibrating before each ride with a stages pm my numbers were very inconsistent, no tr for me, found out after calling stages yesterday that when you calibrate at the 6 oclock position your foot should not be in the cleat keep it off the pedal entirely hope that helps

Brad Marcus

Stephen - have had similar experience with my Quarq. Not often, but on various occasions. I just changed my battery 2 weeks ago and have been ok since. Btw - I can pull up your TR files, but I don't see the drop offs that you mentioned. For me, when it occurs, one drop to zero can throw off the NP for an entire interval, so I realize how frustrating it is. I'd call Stages if it keeps occurring and see what they say. Good luck!

stephanb

Thanks everyone.  I've put in a ticket with stages.  The bike shop also encouraged me to do that. 

One thing I'm going to do that i learned online is pair it with the garmin again and not use the searching function, but the Ant ID number so that it will only look for that number. 

Here is my training peaks link of the thursday workout that was so messed up, http://tpks.ws/jsvn

every time the watts line drops is where it is happening, because I am not letting up on pedaling.   I do have my Garmin 510 mounted on an xlab bottle mount which online articles say causes problems in some cases, but I haven't had problems when I am out riding with just the garmin 510.  It happens with both the trainer road and the garmin 510 at the same time so it can't be the location of the Garmin causing the problem since the computer is off to the side about 2 ft from my pedals.   Thanks again. 

tim cronk

Yeah it looks like data is getting dropped or not recorded .... RPM/cadence drops at the same time.... Will be interesting to see what Stages says.

I'd really like to see that on a TR file really hard to see on TP... Or even the Garmin File... If you don't mind What is your user name in TR?

Have you done the latest firmware update? That is the first thing Stages will ask.

stephanb

Here is the reply. So it looks like it may actually be something different. I will have to work at finding a different spot for my bike or router. That is right next to my set up as well. They were fast in replying, and even over the weekend. I'm not sure how to set up the Wifi to channel 1 but will try to figure that out. I also already tried to enter the stages manually in my garmin but it already had the id number in it. Guess it does that when you use search in past?


Hi Stephan,

I am sorry you have been having some trouble with dropouts while riding the trainer. I took a few minutes to look at the file you sent over, as I was able to pop it into a piece of software that could analyze it a bit better. On that file there were a few drops, but it looked like the same was happening to your heart rate as well as speed, which makes me think there might be a bit of interference where you are doing your indoor riding. This is pretty common, and I have a few tips that might help you.

The first culprit is usually Wifi signal. ANT+ and Wifi actually occupy a set of frequencies that overlap heavily, with ANT+ having a just bit more on the high frequency side. Usually it helps to set your Wifi router to the low end (Channel 1) to leave more of the band open for ANT+ communication. I would also recommend moving away from a router if you are pretty close to one.

There are a plethora of other signal interference issues we have notices (even microwaves in close proximity can be an issue). If the Wifi settings do not help, take a minute to look around for anything else emitting a strong signal that you could either power off or move away from.

I would also recommend to make sure you have entered the ANT+ ID manually into your 510. This can be done on the Devices screen, and makes for a much stronger connection to your head unit. There is not currently a way to do this on TrainerRoad. I have actually been getting a bit of time with TrainerRoad myself recently (and think it is super fun). I have found that I get a much stronger signal when pairing to my phone or computer using Bluetooth, rather than ANT+ (always a Strong signal with Bluetooth, but bouncing between Strong and Weak with ANT+).

As far as outdoors, you are experiencing this same issue, yes? It looks like that is what that TrainingPeaks file was, but I do not have a Premium account, so could not analyze it in much detail. If you wanted to export that and send it over as a .TCX I could look at it further. Again, manually entering that ANT+ (and making sure you have the power meter firmware as well as head unit firmware up to date) would be a good first step.

Let me know how these steps work for you, and we can dig into this further if need be.

Thanks

stephanb

Thought I would give an update that might help others in the future.

I first purchased a USB extension chord and brought the ant stick farther out next to my bike. This improved things but it was still not a solid connection with occasional drops.
I would recommend that for someone who can't get bluetooth.

I then purchased a BLE USB Dongle from mouser electronics (Not sure why this is the only one that works with pcs, cost me 20 bucks).

The bluetooth solution ended up being the best one for me. I have the stages power meter going to that and my heart and speed/cadence going to the ant. It worked perfectly for the power meter, while my heart and speed/cadence did mostly fine with a couple drops.