Varia connection mid activity

Normally I use the following sequence in the morning when riding to work:

- switch on Edge (1040)

- switch on Varia headlight (UT800) (-> gets detected by Edge)

- switch on Varia radar (RTL515) (-> gets detected by Edge)

- start activity on Edge -> this turns on the lights as everything is in auto mode

In the evening I don't need the lights from the start of my ride, so I want to switch them on as it gets dark.

However if I turn on the headlight and radar AFTER the activity is started, the radar and headlight isn't being detected by the Edge.

I can manually connect to the radar under the sensors menu, but there is no way to connect the light.

Any ideas?

Top Replies

aweatherall 5 months ago in reply to Fireblader666 +1

This is how you control the light network behavior
aweatherall 5 months ago in reply to Fireblader666 +1 verified

There should be an option to control whole network enabled on/off. Switch that off and then back on.

All Replies

0 EyessOnlyy 5 months ago

I never turn off (by button) my lights, ut800 and 515. They remain in the standby mode. So they start when I power on the Edge 1040. I cannot say how it works (or not) for me in the use-case you described. I was not in the situation to turn on the lights after activity already started

For the lights control I use the Smart Bike Lights data field. With some predefined conditions in which they should turn on, blinking and so on.

From that data field I have the option to quickly manually override the mode selected by "smart mode" configuration.

0 Fireblader666 5 months ago in reply to EyessOnlyy

Thanks for the reply.

EyessOnlyy said:
I never turn off (by button) my lights, ut800 and 515. They remain in the standby mode. So they start when I power on the Edge 1040.

-> This seems to drain the battery.

Will have a look at the Bike Lights data field.

0 EyessOnlyy 5 months ago in reply to Fireblader666

Fireblader666 said:
This seems to drain the battery.

I consider it a very small disadvantage - I was not not in the situation to leave home and get my radar empty before ending the route - compared to the big advantage of having it turned on automatically.

(yeah this might lead me to charging more often than others and, maybe, killing my battery faster in time)

Fireblader666 said:
Will have a look at the Bike Lights data field.

https://apps.garmin.com/en-US/apps/0d9fd828-c932-4470-9c37-fd2828881888

I simply love it since I've started using it

0 Fireblader666 5 months ago in reply to EyessOnlyy

EyessOnlyy said:
This seems to drain the battery.

I consider it a very small disadvantage - I was not not in the situation to leave home and get my radar empty before ending the route - compared to the big advantage of having it turned on automatically.

Might be true for the RTL515, but not for the UT800. My commute takes me an hour of cycling, which means I can just reach the end with the headlight turned on all the way. When I leave the UT800 in standby (blue blinking LED) it drains the battery enough overnight so I can't get to work safely (tested it once).

Bike lights data field already installed and configured... Will test when I cycle home this evening :-)

0 EyessOnlyy 5 months ago in reply to Fireblader666

You might be true here. I did not had the chance to test the UT800 on 1h+ rides, at night/dark conditions. My thoughts were based only on the 515 experience.

Out of curiosity I will go check my battery on the UT800. It is in stand-by since more than 3 months

0 Fireblader666 5 months ago in reply to EyessOnlyy

Yesterday evening turned on the light again during an activity recording, Again the light network is not being formed, which means the Bike light field also doesn't work. Only possible to set the light mode on the lights themselves.

But the second I stopped the activity, when I got home, the light network gets formed.

So this seems the be a clear bug in the Edge 1040.

0 aweatherall 5 months ago in reply to Fireblader666

After turning the bike lights back on go to the lights under sensors and toggle the light network off and then back on. It should then reconnect the lights.

0 Fireblader666 5 months ago in reply to aweatherall

The lights are not listed under sensors. Only the radar of the RTL515 is there, and that I can manually connect from the sensors menu. No way to manually connect the lights.

0 aweatherall 5 months ago in reply to Fireblader666

Is the RTL515 only paired as a radar and not as light as well?

Are you sure you don't see a "Lights" under sensors. If they are disconnected it would be the last entry in the list.

0 Fireblader666 5 months ago in reply to aweatherall

No, it is paired as a light. Along with a UT800 headlight... but lights do not show up as sensors. (As they do not measure anything)