New Boy Questions

[el_senor_mike]

Hi everyone!

Finally took delivery a PowerPod on Friday and excitedly fitted it to my bike on Saturday ready for Sunday ride.

I fully understand that these questions might have been answered elsewhere, and I have looked but can't find anything.

Few things:

1. The Power Pod refuses to pair to brand new Wahoo cadence sensor and Wahoo speed sensor. Both have paired and transmit data to my Wahoo Elemnt just fine. So, based on instructions, if the Power Pod isn't recognising speed and cadence sensors I am to pair with headhunt instead. Done that.

2. Installed Isaac software on Mac (not the prettiest software install) and did the basic setup (rider weight, road type, etc). Saved fine.

3. Came to calibrate, PowerPod wouldn't play. I press the button and get the orange light. First time I did it I got the red and green light flashing, so I stopped, press the button and it turned orange. Then it just starts flashing orange. Doesn't read the watts so can't calibrate 0-50 and 50-100 as instructions state. Gave up on it, thinking I'd sort it another day (club run so people where waiting to go).

4. Started riding and it started sending power data. Seemed initially to be wildly inaccurate - 350w on the flat barely pedalling. Seemed to settle down, oddly. Numbers seemed reasonably consistent with what I'd expect (used to have a Stages and I train on a Wattbike). However, downhill and spinning on the flat it just goes to 0 watts.

5. Stopped the ride halfway to see if there was anything on the Wahoo Elemnt I could change in relation to power (you could with the Stages). All I could find was "Exclude Zeros" for cadence. This seemed to stop the watts dropping to zero on a downhill.

6. However, on visiting my Strava rides, I seemed to have spent a long time on 0 watts over the course of 61 miles - approximately an hour. Is this actually correct (i.e. freewheeling, stopping, slowing down, etc) or does this suggest something isn't right?

7. How can I tell if the Power Pod is correctly calibrated? With the stages you just left it at 6'oclock and you got a calibration number. With this, there's no way of telling, and since it hasn't let me do the out and back calibration ride I don't know if it's working correctly or not. I assume that even though it wouldn't let me pair it, it is now using my speed and cadence sensors to calculate the power.

I'm sure it's an awesome product, but DC Rainmaker's review make me feel like it was plug and play and go - it certainly hasn't been that way. I'm sure once it's all set up it'll be great though!

[djaustin]

I've found most of my troubles have been related to sensors. My PP has never successfully paired with my Wahoo speed sensor, nor my Giant inbuilt speed/cadence sensors. But it des work flawlessly with the magnetless ANT+ only Garmin sensors. I now save the Wahoo for my turbo bike.

[Velocomp]

1) PP should pair to Wahoo sensors. Our experience, however, is that the Wahoo sensors are noisy (data quality is not as good as Garmin)

2) You can confirm in Isaac if sensors are paired, using Edit/Edit Profiles/Extract from Device/Wireless ID. You should see separate IDs for speed and cadence sensor

3) If you got the orange light then PP was ready for calibration. If you got red/green then you were in out and back calibration mode. It sounds like the instructions weren't followed, so it is likely your PP is in some unknown state of calibration. I suggest you do a new Best Accuracy calibration.

4) If you got power data then your PP is paired to your speed sensor. It's not surprising the numbers are wonky, due to 3) above. Get your cadence sensor working and you will have good performance on downhills, too

6) Use Isaac to download and post your .ibr ride files.

7) If you follow the O&B instructions you will get a good calibration. Other PMs require daily recalibration; do it once correctly with PP and you will be all set.

I think if the instructions are followed all your questions will go away...