Joule Manual calibration ?

O2BFast

 I was trying to manually zero the Joule a couple days back for my Quarq and I thought it seemed weird that the screen showed "Bad Data" on some of the offset values.

 

Did a quick Google search and that looked to be a pretty common issue and seemed to require a firmware update to 14.065 from my current 14.063 version, but that appeared to be in beta test from Saris.   

 

Curious what, if anything, the group does with a Quarq / Joule to manually zero ?   It looked like you might just be stuck with auto calibrate until that upgrade comes out to the firmware.    

 

Any input from anyone on how to calibrate things ?

 

Thanks,

Mike

 

tim cronk

I recently got a Joule as well. Manual zero -- I had the same results as you. It did say somewhere in the Joule manual to leave it on AUTO so I just assumed that was the way it was going to be. Seems accurate as far as I can tell with the 4 spins in reverse with the crank. I am consistently getting 5-10 watts higher on the Joule/Quarq than I get with same ride on CT. Which I think makes sense due to all the moving parts on the CT .

Some other notes. I have used my Garmin 310xt at the same time as the Joule and the HR seems to go haywire on both. At first they appear fine and then they both read way to high and way too low. When I only use one device HR seems fine. Obvious interference of somekind.

Lastly on the Joule is the distance reads consistently high. I have calibrated the size wheel (differences appear to be minute anyway) and I am getting maybe an extra mile logged for every twenty compared to the garmin. Thats pretty significant 5% or so. Funny thing is the garmin always logs and extra .25 mile per half mararthon so I'm already higher mileage than most courses. On a 2 hour CT trainer ride yesterday the CT said 32 miles 16mph avg and the Joule said 43.5 miles 21.25mph avg. Thats about 50% too much???

Sorry couldnt answer your question but just confirming the same thing! Good luck Tim,

neilmacd

 Hi guys,

I was having the same problem.  When I called support, they had me push AND HOLD the joystick button when I selected the Manual Zero item on the menu.  That worked.

Neil

O2BFast

After doing some research on the calibration issue, it seemed that this was a known issue from CycleOps.    They had identified this and worked up a Beta firmware update.   That firmware update was several months old and I wondered why they hadn't released it.   Anyway, I found an email through a few groups of a guy to contact at Saris to request the beta firmware.    I think I had 14.063, but not 100% sure.   The forum said the beta was 14.065.

After emailing the guy at Saris, he had me do a couple of things to request the upgrade.    Did that and upgraded to 14.067.   Things seemed to go relatively smooth for the upgrade.    One of the items mentioned on their beta info was that they had corrected an error in the speed / distance calculation that typically resulted in distances being too far.   This fix might correct one of the other issues.

I haven't tried it out yet and will do that tonight.   On the down side, I have to re-pair the Quarq, HR, Cadence, etc. with the Joule again.  That all went pretty fast last time, so I'm hoping things work and I'm able to manually calibrate the Joule with the Quarq.   

It sounds like it must not be a huge issue for folks here because I didn't see anyone else notice this and mention it.   Just kind of bugged me that I wasn't able to manually zero, when I should be able to.

If anyone needs the contact for the upgrade, just let me know.   I would put it here, but just can't remember it right now.

 

Mike

 

tim cronk

Mike, Yes please on the contact for the upgrade. I have done a couple more rides and am registering about 1 extra mile every 20. After a short stop on a ride today my power numbers were way off and I had to re-auto calibrate which seemed to work. But I continue to have distances too far. Thanks Tim,

O2BFast

Here's the guy I emailed over at Saris:

Geoff Streato

gstreator@saris.com

Once I asked him via email, he had me go into Power Agent and "contact customer support" and then send a message with "beta request" in the subject. After that, he had me email him again to tell him I did the prior step of sending the request from Power Agent. Finally, he sent me some other instructions to go into Power Agent and then update the firmware. I'm guessing he needed something from Power Agent so it specifically let my PC access the new firmware.

Once all that was done, it installed.

I gave it an initial test yesterday on the trainer, so can't vouch for any improvement in the distance calculation. I still didn't seem to be able to manually zero the Quarq, but I really didn't have a lot of time to mess around, as I had to get my ride in to get to another committment later in the evening.

I'll mess around with it some more.

Good Luck !

tim cronk

Thanks Mike.

I have sent emails to both customer support and then to gstreator@saris.com. We shall see.

Are you having any problems with the HR ? Mine works fine until a pee break. When I walk away from bike and come back a few minutes later it wont pick it back up again unless I re-activate it in the Joule. This is very wierd as it works fine at the beginning of the ride.

Tim,

O2BFast

Good luck. As for the HR, that is pretty normal to have what you mention happen. That happens to me and also happened when I had a PT with LYC. It just loses it's signal when you step away and doesn't know what to do unless you re-link it. It's pretty easy to just re-find the HR strap. It doesn't lose the power meter because it's attached to the bike....... Kidding of course, but I have had to re-link the HR after taking a nature-call every time.

tim cronk

Mike,

I have heard back from Saris once asking me if I would like the next step to try the beta. I said yes please it doesnt work as advertised. I am waiting the next step. I have since done the research you have already done. I am completely blown away to the known issue and how long they have been going on. Hopefully its soon.

Tim,