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Power meter connection drop

Former Member
Former Member over 4 years ago

I am still using a fenix 3hr to record my training sessions. It works perfectly fine with the (2018) Rotor INpower on one of my bikes. However, I started using a Rotor INspider power meter on another bike and am not too happy with the data recording, because the watch-to-pm connection drops very frequently. I cannot tell if Garmin or Rotor are to blame, but the fenix makes the problem worse, since it records the missing power values as "0" digits in the fit file, i.e. the same way it records coasting (freewheeling). Interestingly, some Edge models apparently record "Null", i.e. a string, if the connection to a sensor drops, which makes it easy to curate the data afterwards.

Now I have two questions. 1) How frequently do fenix 5 users experience dropping connections to Ant+ sensors, especially power meters? 2) How does the fenix 5 (or 6) series record missing data in the fit file? ("0" or "Null"?)

  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 4 years ago in reply to Data

    Hi! I checked with the f5 myself. In the tcx file, there is no power value logged when the connection was lost (i.e. no Watt field at all), whereas with the f3, the tcx file contains 0 W for these track points.The downside of the f5: it drops the connection much more often ...

  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 4 years ago

    1) with a Fenix 6 I am getting dropouts to power meter on every ride. Problem the same with a different power meter on another bike. 

    Had no issues with these sensors with 920xt. One power meter just had a battery replacement. The problem is the Fenix 6 Ant+ connection as I don’t have dropouts with a Bluetooth connection to indoor trainer.

    2) on Fenix 6 the dropouts are recorded as 0 rendering the data useless. 

  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 4 years ago in reply to Former Member

    Interesting. I also have an update. F5X+ 50 % of the time no connection to my INspider (ANT+ or BLE), F3HR hardly any dropouts. However, the f5x+ is doing just fine in combination with my old (ANT+ only) INpower. So it seems to get confused when the sensor transmits both signals, ANT+ and BLE. It cannot be the signal strength since the f3hr has no problem with the INspider.

    I aslo noticed that when I export the f5x+ activity from Garmin Connect as fit file, the dropouts appear as 0s in GoldenCheetah, whereas when I export the data as tcx and inspect the file, the dropouts are real dropouts, i.e. there is no "Watt" entry for each of these data points. So I could curate the data. However, with about 50 % of the data points missing, this would be a pointless exercise ...

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to Former Member

    Literally point-less indeed..

    Interesting that the TCX exports differ. I import files in GoldenCheetah from the watch via USB, and power meter dropouts are '0', but cadence sensor dropouts are missing data. So the Connect processing-to-TCX throws the 0's watts out, because 0 watt is impossible? On the other hand 0 cadence is possible, so that has to be left in.

    What I don't get is why the watch records 0 when power data is missing. Maybe it is in the ANT+ specifications, I have not checked that.

    I have the (subjective) idea that dual mode sensors work better when they use ANT+ only, so I disabled the BLE-variants of dual mode sensors that are paired to the F5+. I prefer to have those paired but disabled instead of deleted, otherwise the watch keeps reminding me to add newly discovered BLE sensors.

    Apart from programming yourself, maybe a solution is a FIT file repair tool, if there is one that allows to quickly delete 0 power data.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to Data

    Why 0 Watt is impossible? What wattage then when not pedalling? 

  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 4 years ago

    Hi.. my fenix 5x sometimes drop too.. to read power meter (my rotor inpower)

    but now i use edge 530 everything is okay...

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to macnuts

    Perhaps I should have formulated more clearly that I was just theorizing?

    Question was: why is  "no power sensor data" recorded as "0 watt", while  "no cadence sensor data" is not recorded in the FIT file at all. 

    "No cadence sensor data" can be distinguished from "0 cadence", but "no power sensor data" cannot be differentiated from "0 watts". Maybe it is in the ANT+ specifications. I have not checked.

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    Fenix 5X Plus Ti & Stages LR (dual side) Powermeter. 
    No dropouts whatsoever. 
    I remember Stages having some connection problems with some watches (F3 i think) on their older models but they increased transmission power. 
    Let the manufacturer know, if many have problems the might fix it in next version or even in a firmware update?