Data Field: vPower - Bike Virtual Power

Welcome to
vPower
Version 1.9.3



The vPower data field app has been developed for those who are not fortunate enough to own an expensive power meter. Firstly, this is not 100% accurate. As you can imagine, there is a lot of variables at play to calculate power on the pedals accurately. This is my best attempt to take all these variables into consideration and developed the app with the following key features:

Configurable
- Now supports the following options to be set to improve calculation accuracy:
o Bike weight
o Tyre rolling resistance coefficient (default set for Michelin ProRace 3)
o Default ride position (Tops, Hoods, Drops or Triathlon)
o Trainer mode (default is off). Set this mode if you want to get training power for the supported trainer.
o Trainer - I only have a few at the moment, but will add as I get my hands on other trainer power curve formulas. If you have this, please send to me and I can add for you.
o Calculation - Display calculation as watt, or w/kg.

General
- Data is saved to FIT file and can be viewed in GC.
- Power is calculated if you are moving (cadence must also be over 40).
- Power consists of adding Vertical Power, Rolling Resistance, Drag & Air Resistance together to give total watts at a specific point in time (all explained below).

User Profile
- The rider weight is used from the User Profile.

Vertical Power
- The effort to elevate total mass (bike + body) up an incline.
- Incline is calculated based on the difference in altitude over a set period (based on the logging intervals).
- Gravity has been factored in at 9.81 kg m/s.

Rolling Resistance
- The force needed to counter rolling drag.
- Used normal road surface.

Drag
- The force needed to counter drag generated by the bike & wheels at specific speed.
- Used a set of Fulcrum R5 wheels to calculate drag.

Air Resistance
- The power needed to propel through the air at a specific speed.
- Rider calculated to be in the triathlon position (on tri bars).
- Air density calculated for sea level at 20 degrees Celsius.

----------------- Planned Updates------------------
- None at this stage, so please leave feedback.

----------------- Version History ------------------
1.0 - Initial release.

1.1 - Correct cadence value check; introduced value smoothing over last 3 results.

1.2 - Stability updates. Increased smoothing to 5 samples. Auto adjust size for different layouts.

1.2.2 - Stability updates. Crash should now be resolved.

1.3 - Updated for 1.1.3 SDK. Improved vertical power accuracy.

1.4 - Configurable options, Trainer support, Remove need for cadence.

1.5 – Calculation updates for improved accuracy.

1.6 - Option to calculate w/kg, updated firmware for better device support.

1.7 - Cadence over 40 for power to calculate. Save field to FIT file. Power max and avg in summary.

1.7.1 - Minor changes to fix FIT save & Strava upload issue (I hope)!

1.7.2 - Minor updates. Acceleration now part of formula.

1.8.0 - Support more devices. Averaging settings. Decimal fix for w/kg. Added a bunch of additional trainer support.

1.8.1 - Update issue with power spikes, and compiled for 2.4.2.

1.8.2 - Will now record power even when no cadence meter attached.

1.8.3 - Small fix to text for negative reading to avoid spike in FIT file (thanks Jan!).

1.9 - Re-look at all calculation to address power spikes.

1.9.1 - Improve power calculations (trying to base on actual power meter results). Added Feedback Omnium Over-Drive trainer support.

1.9.2 - Update for new Edge 830, 530, Forerunner 945 and MARQ.



Happy training!

  • Hi, is it possible to get BOTH measures on screen?, i mean watts and watts/kg.

    thank you very much!!
  • Sorry to report that this DataField and the FIT file it creates ends up being malformed. Can't be uploaded to Strava and even GC can't export it out as TCX. (one has to export it as FIT, send it to fitfiletools, strip out the power data before it becomes usable again)
  • The fit file is working now, but the issue now is with the displayed graphic in garmin connect, does not show the name of the graphic.
  • I just installed it on my edge 820. Looking forward to try and see if it works and shows estimated power (ala powermeter) like strava.
  • Hi, i tried to use the data field yesterday, but somehow it didn't work. It would just stay on 0.

    Has anyone experienced the same? I didn't have the bluetooth on my phone, is it needed? Anyway, in my experience it didn't calculate any estimate power, just kept on zero for the whole ride.

    If anyone knows why, tell me about it..

    Im using an edge 820, with 5.1 firmware.
  • Travel Trac Fluid Pro

    Hi - I love your data field. Good stuff. With winter here now, I was hoping you could add my trainer. I have a Travel Trac Fluid Pro and have mapped its Virtual Power vs. Speed using Trainer Road. The equation is:

    P = -0.0011*s^3 + 0.6083*s^2 + 0.1264*s

    P in Watts
    s in mph

    This gives a regression fit (R^2) of 0.9999.

    Thanks for all of your work!
  • Normalised power

    you could add a normalised power field and a power /30 to have more accurate data
  • Power Curve for CycleOps Magneto Dumb turbo trainer

    Hi,

    Great app, if you have time would really appreciate if you could add a CycleOps Magneto power curve formula to your app.

    I use the following formulae in Suunto My Apps... but haven't been able to figure out how to edit Connect IQ apps...

    if(SPEED{KPH} < 17) then
    Power{Watts} = 3.94522*SPEED{KPH}
    if(SPEED{KPH} >= 17 & SPEED{KPH} <23) then
    Power{Watts} = 14.203*SPEED{KPH} - 175.66
    if(SPEED{KPH} >=23) then
    Power{Watts} =10.697*SPEED{KPH} - 91.991

    Thanks again

    Ken
  • Data field doesn't work for my Garmin 520. It displays 'IQ' icon, sometimes combined with yelow '!' explanation mark.
    Changed settings, turned trainer mode on and off but still not working.
  • problem of 65000 watt peaks still remain after months...tried with 3-5-10 sec but the graph shows only high peaks..