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Garmin Edge 500 not showing speed

harrastharrast
in General Training Discussions

This is one of those pesty little issues that should have an easy fix (if I knew what I was doing).  My Garmin Edge 500 syncs just fine with my Quarq powermeter and my ANT+ heartrate monitor, but when it comes to my ANT+ speed sensor, something isn't right.  The sensor appears to be working: it has a LED that displays for about the first 5 seconds when the magnet passes the sensor, but the Edge 500 doesn't show speed when the wheel is spinning (I should mention that I am doing this in my basement).  I've have drilled down into the Garmin menu and it shows a speed sensor number, maybe 6 or 7 digits, so it looks like it has identified the gadget but still no speed.  I have tried to rescan and I still get nothing.  I also configured the Garmin for a speed sensor and a cadence sensor separately (rather than a speed/cadence sensor all in one).  If you have any thoughts, I would be thrilled. 

Comments

  • GMAN 19030GMAN 19030
    First guess is the magnet is too far from the sensor.

    Second guess is the battery in the sensor needs to be replaced.

    Third guess is that speed doesn't matter on a trainer.  

  • John WithrowJohn Withrow
    I agree with Bob... Sounds like the magnet on your spoke isn't lined up properly with the little arm on the Cadence/Speed sensor or it is too far away from the spoke. You might want to try letting the arm barely touch the magnet exactly where the little arrow is and spin the wheel to see if it picks it up (even if it lightly clicks every time the magnet touches it on the rotation) If it does pick it up, then you can back the arm off just a little bit. If it doesn't and you have reasonably fresh batteries, then you may have gotten a defective unit. I've had mine for almost a yr and have never actually changed my batteries. Is it working for Cadence? Is it the Garmin one or some other brand?
  • dotcatlindotcatlin
    this just happened to me. brought it to lbs and felt like a dummie when all i had to do was move the sensor in a bit. oh well! if you put your bike in and out of car at all, or closet--there's a chance you may have bumped it a little out of place...
  • Joseph LombardiJoseph Lombardi

     Well..you say it isn't showing speed...but don't mention cadence...is it showing cadence? If it is showing cadence but not speed...its not the magnet.  If you're not seeing cadence either..it very likely is the magnet.

  • John WithrowJohn Withrow
    My Garmin Cadence/Speed sensor has 2 seperate magnets. On is on my crank (held on by a zip tie) to measure cadence, the other is a little round disk that screws onto one of your spokes. The sensor has 2 seperate spots that read the different magnets. The body of the sensor has a line on it that gets lined up with the crank magnet. The little arm that spins out/in after you loosen the screw has a line on it near the end that should line up with the spoke magnet. So you could show cadence or speed or both depending on which magnet(s) are properly aligned.
  • Joseph LombardiJoseph Lombardi

     Yup Ok John...I have the same sensor set...up jus thought they somehow worked together not idependently...how bout something in the bike set/profile...ie. if you don't have the correct bike selected and the wheel diameter is not set properly would that cause somehting screwy with the speed readout?...just thinking out-loud here.

  • GMAN 19030GMAN 19030
    Joseph, the cadence and speed do work independently with the GSC.

    He would still get a speed reading with an incorrect wheel diameter setting. It won't be accurate but there would still be a number.

    I'm still betting on the magnet being too far or misaligned from the sensor.
  • William JenksWilliam Jenks
    Under the bike setup menu (at least on all the other Garmins I have...i don't own a 500) there is an option to check as to whether you have a speed/cadence sensor. If you say "no", then it gets the speed from the GPS. If you say "yes" then you have the option of typing in the wheel circumference (e.g., 2100 mm) or having it calculated by the GPS in conjunction with the magnet and sensor.

    Turn this option off, and your speed (outdoors) should magically reappear. Turn it back on, and it goes away...that means there is an issue either with the magnet alignment, the pairing or the calculation of the wheel circumference. (Mine once somehow thought my wheel was 900 mm... I was riding very slowly for a while... :-) }

    Also, recognize that things get more complicated if you have a PM. With a PM, the head unit will display a cadence whether or not the GSC is working and paired. That's done by the irregularity in your power - it uses the "pulses" in your power to give a cadence. However, real GSC data override this. I mention this because if you have a PM, you can't count on the fact that you're seeing cadence data to show that the GSC is working and paired.

    Wm
  • harrastharrast

    It's a bontrager unit--speed only.  I figured the Quarq has cadence so didn't need that gangly speed/cadence sensor.  I'm going to try to reposition the magnet (again) and see if that does the trick.

  • harrastharrast

    The sensor is too smart. 

  • harrastharrast

    My situation is a little odd: I have a quarq with a cadence magnet mounted on my bottom bracket and a separate bontrager speed sensor mounted on my chain stay.  It seemed simpler this way, but I don't know now. 

  • GMAN 19030GMAN 19030

    I wouldn't concern yourself with the speed sensor.  Speed is completely irrelevant indoors and you can use GPS for speed when outdoors.  The absolute only things I care about indoors are power, cadence and time.

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