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Indoor Trainer Cadence issues with 530

Hannah61
over 4 years ago

I recently purchased a 530 to replace my old trusty 520. I set it up according to the instructions. I am reasonably tech savvy.

Apart from that I have made no changes. I have an indoor trainer which is a Tacx Neo and I use the same bike on and off the trainer. My roadbike has a duotrap cadence meter which has worked fine for many years.

With my old 520 my cadence readings were fine no matter when I was on the road or on my indoor trainer and I don’t recall any challenges setting it up.

With my new 530 my cadence readings are still fine out on the road. However, on my indoor trainer my cadence readings start ok but quickly overshoot to nearly double what they should be (I have been riding for 5 years using sensors so I am sure about this). My cadence then continues to spike and revert to normal levels and then spike and revert to normal levels. Also it seems to be that towards the end of the ride or when I am pushing for a higher power output that the cadence reading settles down to something more reasonable. After trawling through this forum and others I have concluded that this issue is probably the Tacx cadence itself which is a calculated number. I know I don’t have a smooth pedal stroke due to an old knee injury. I also checked that it’s the Tacx cadence output by using the Tacx Utility where the readout exactly corresponds with my cadence readout on my 530. 

I have updated the Tacx firmware to current.

After much fiddling about changing sensors connections on my 530 I still cannot isolate to reading the cadence from my duotrap but the power from my Tacx. So as far as I can tell I cannot solve this problem. The only way not to have the Tacx cadence output showing on my 530 screen during my ride is to disconnect my Tacx indoor sensors entirely from the 530 device which would mean I also dont get the power output which defeats the purpose of having my Tacx for indoor training in the first place.

So my ask is, just in case I have missed it somewhere, ...can anyone tell me how I can solve this?

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    The neo might be different but I have a cheaper Tacx Flow (wheel on) and the trainer sensors are in two independent groups (separately enabled/disabled), one for the "power" meter from the trainer and one for the speed/cadence. I have played with getting speed/cadence from my separate Garmin Speed & cadence 2 sensors and just using power from the trainer. The numbers seemed to be about the same although I did notice that if I am using the smaller ring the cadence from the trainer seems low (counter-intuitive?) compared to using the big ring. Overall my speed/cadence seems pretty much like riding outside on the flat but the trainer flatters me with hill climbing (against a known course) where it seems to overrate my ability by 30-40%, ie I shoot up hills faster than in the wild.

    PS, did you pair the trainer via the "Indoor Trainer" section (the recommended way) of the 530 or via the "sensors" as you might on the 520.

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    How have you paired the Neo to your Garmin?  It is it paired as a trainer or as a power meter?

    If it is paired as a power meter the Garmin won't take cadence from it unless you have also paired it as a cadence sensor.

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    First, I am sorry you are running into issues like this. 

    I would be curious to know which Neo specifically you have, and what steps you went through to pair the trainer. 

    You could try pairing the Neo as only a power meter, and then pairing your cadence sensor separately, but this would only work if you were using an external app to control the resistance of the trainer while you're riding. 

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to Garmin-Blake

    Apologies Blake - time got short the last couple of days. The model is TACX Neo 2800 (Smart) and I believe its a 2017 version based on the serial number. I initially paired both the Neo and the DuoTrap all through the Menu>Settings>Sensors>Add Sensor approach but this led to the problem I explained in my initial communication above. If I pair the Neo through the Menu>Training>Indoor Trainer>Trainer Sensor and the Duotrap through the Menu>Settings>Sensors>Add Sensor then when I am on the Indoor Trainer I do not get a cadence reading at all on my 530 screen. 

    When I pair the Neo through the Menu>Training>Indoor Trainer>Trainer Sensor I dont get an option just to pair the Power meter, I only get the single option to pair with the Neo trainer which is identified by the 4 digit number associated with the serial number. 

    So I am not sure how I can only pair it as a power meter? Is there something I need to do on the TACX side?

    Also for clarity of the purpose of all this - I am using the Indoor trainer to follow a training program provided by my personal trainer (yes I know!) each week which has specific power, cadence and heartrate targets to meet for specific intervals of time so this is kinda important.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to L.Rouge

    Apologies bparker52 and thanks for the reply - time got short the last couple of days.

    My model is TACX Neo 2800 (Smart) and I believe its a 2017 version based on the serial number. I initially paired both the Neo and the DuoTrap all through the Menu>Settings>Sensors>Add Sensor approach but this led to the problem I explained in my initial communication above. If I pair the Neo through the Menu>Training>Indoor Trainer>Trainer Sensor and the Duotrap through the Menu>Settings>Sensors>Add Sensor then when I am on the Indoor Trainer I do not get a cadence reading at all on my 530 screen. 

    When I pair the Neo through the Menu>Training>Indoor Trainer>Trainer Sensor I dont get an option just to pair the Power meter, I only get the single option to pair with the Neo trainer which is identified by the 4 digit number associated with the serial number. 

    So I am not sure how I can only pair it as a power meter? Is there something I need to do on the TACX side?

    Also for clarity of the purpose of all this - I am using the Indoor trainer to follow a training program provided by my personal trainer (yes I know!) each week which has specific power, cadence and heartrate targets to meet for specific intervals of time so this is kinda important.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to Wongataa

    Apologies Wongataa and thanks for the reply.  - time got short the last couple of days.

    My model is TACX Neo 2800 (Smart) and I believe its a 2017 version based on the serial number. I initially paired both the Neo and the DuoTrap all through the Menu>Settings>Sensors>Add Sensor approach but this led to the problem I explained in my initial communication above. If I pair the Neo through the Menu>Training>Indoor Trainer>Trainer Sensor and the Duotrap through the Menu>Settings>Sensors>Add Sensor then when I am on the Indoor Trainer I do not get a cadence reading at all on my 530 screen. 

    When I pair the Neo through the Menu>Training>Indoor Trainer>Trainer Sensor I dont get an option just to pair the Power meter, I only get the single option to pair with the Neo trainer which is identified by the 4 digit number associated with the serial number. 

    So I am not sure how I can only pair it as a power meter? Is there something I need to do on the TACX side?

    Also for clarity of the purpose of all this - I am using the Indoor trainer to follow a training program provided by my personal trainer (yes I know!) each week which has specific power, cadence and heartrate targets to meet for specific intervals of time so this is kinda important.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to Hannah61

    To pair a trainer as a power meter you go to sensors->add sensor and pair as a power sensor.  I don't know why that isn't working for you.  It worked with my Elite Direto.  If your trainer is paired as a power sensor then your Garmin should get cadence from a separate cadence sensor if one is also paired.

    If you have want your Garmin to control your trainer according to your plan you will need to pair the trainer as a trainer, not a power meter as far as I know.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to Wongataa

    Thanks Wongataa but I just tried that setup again to make sure. ie Removed the Indoor Trainer Sensor altogether and then Menu>sensor>add sensor and paired the trainer as a power sensor as well as the cadence from the Duotrap. Back the original problem of cadence spikes. Cycled for about 1 min then my cadence reading jumped from approx 80 to 130 without my legs going any faster!!

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to Hannah61

    I am not sure what's going on with your setup.  Very strange.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to Hannah61

    My recollection is that I paired the Smart Trainer via the Indoor Trainer section of the menu and that it said it was paring to the 5 digit ID representing the trainer but that this in fact lists separately as the trainer (power meter?) and the speed / cadence sensors of the trainer.

    In my experimentation I have disabled the trainer speed/cadence sensors and have taken these reading from my separate speed & cadence sensors.