Variation between Power meters

Douglas Sutherland

I upgraded to a Kickr for the OS, and now run P1 pedals on the new tri bike (yup, xmas came early). I am noting an inconsistent difference between the two - the P1s are clearly lower than the Kickr, but a lower W/easy pace the difference is small (4-5W), but at high/FTP interval work the difference is big (10-12W). Anyway to match the two?

DS

Brian Hagan

Doug, I've hear a lot of reports of the kickr reporting higher power numbers than other power meters. You've got 2 very different gauges measuring power at different places (foot Vs rear). I dont think they will ever be the same.

I have the opposite issue with my Computrainer / Quarq, but I use the Quarq to be consistent inside and out.

Steven Ford

What Brian said, My 2 cents just pick which one you want to use for your numbers on the trainer and stick with it. 

Satish Punna

You could use the P1 pedal power to control the kickr and ignore the kickr power completely.  After all you will be using the P1 pedals out on the road racing so makes sense to go with that number.

Shaughn Simmons

DS, try to get past the differing power read outs.

Key is to accept the new PM, focus on the baseline power numbers it gives you and train with those consistently during the OS and forward.  

THIS is what will make you stronger for the upcoming 2017 race season.

SS

Brad Marcus

@Doug- I've recently posted about this exact issue on another thread. I have the exact same setup as you (Kickr and P1 pedals), and also a power differential (Kickr reads higher than P1's). I use TrainerRoad with my setup, which may or may not complicate things further. I've tried the TR powermatch setting, which was put in place to alleviate this very issue. But I found that I do not like how it works since it basically jumps back and forth between having the Kickr's tension controlled by the my P1's and the Wahoo powermeter....very jumpy feel and readings which ultimately gives you a higher VI. I also tried to have the Kickr controlled by my P1's through TrainerRoad. Although I know I had the settings correct, it didn't seem to work correctly. Finally, I have decided to run TR controlled by the Kickr and ALSO use my garmin head unit to read power from my P1's. Although the numbers do not match up, you will be able to use the same numbers being read on your head unit (from the p1's), once you get back outside. And, that's what is important, right? I suggest you do an FTP test or if know your FTP, ride steady at that number and record the data from your Kickr (using TR) and at the same time from your P1's (using your garmin or other head unit). This way you will have numbers to compare from both. The setup is as follows if you are using TR:

1 - Connect TR to your Kickr
2 - When you click on the Wahoo Kickr under devices in TR, enable erg mode and make sure that powermatch is disabled.
3 - Make sure that you are not connected to your power meter too!
4 - Connect your Garmin head unit to your power meter and any other devices you want to use, like HR monitor.
5 - I start/stop TR and my Garmin at the same time. If you want to capture data in a specific interval, hit your lap button on your Garmin at beginning and end of your interval (like a 20' FTP test).

Dawn Cass

Doug, I would agree with the comments above. I wouldn't worry to much about getting them to match. Take one now in the OS to start your measure and go from there. The actual number doesn't make a difference in the end...it's how much stronger you become after a training block. The one thing I would say however is if you are using kickr measure inside, you will obviously want to "re-baseline" with the P1 pedals when it comes to riding outside.

robin sarner

various issues as below.

I use my Quarq or Stages to drive the Kickr.      Wahoo Fitness app.      sensors - pick Kickr - Control w/ ANT+ Power meter - enter device ID.

Tom Glynn

+1 for Brad comments. Like others say, you just need to get over the power differences. I use the Kickr numbers indoor (mostly winter) and my P1s outside (mostly summer)

Duane Dennis

Interesting read guys. I have anew Kickr V2, and noticed immediate differences in terms of RPE for a given wattage. I only have a hub based powertap, so I can't make direct comparisons, but I knew it was off. I went from about a 240-250 FTP on the powertap, to a 208 on the Kickr based. :-( Wahoo had me do an advanced spindown which is a utility kinda buried in the app, but it resets the brake or something. I also eliminated all other sort of BT or WIFI or ANt+ interference, and those steps, plus the advanced spindown thing brought it back into the ball park, based on RPE anyway.

I was thinking about getting some P1's to compare, but after this thread now I'm rethinking it. Maybe I'll just go with what I got, and not worry about. As stated above, in the big picture, the number doesn't matter, as long as it's consistent.