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Edge 830 won't calibrate trainer?

I recently upgrade from an Edge 800 to the 830 and love it. I use most of the features. One I cannot get to work is calibrating my trainer. I have a Kinetic Rock n Roll with the smart module (yes, wheel on) and it connects/pairs with my Edge easily. I can use the adjust grade easy enough, but my watts are always really low. I can calibrate the trainer in the Kinetic app, but that does nothing when I want to do a free ride and use the trainer for power. Every time I hit the calibrate, it tells me to reach the specific speed then immediately fails.   RETRY. Same result each time. Is it not possible to calibrate the Kinetic using the Garmin? I'd rather a bit inaccurate power than having to spend $$$ on a power meter. I don't really race, but the data on what I put out would be nice.

  • if You wanna get accurate power numbers on this setup, You must buy power meter for your bike (spider-based or dual pedals 4example), the wheel-on trainers always are far away from reality, with 10-20-30% minimum. if you can "calibrate" it via its own app, that is "enough" , you dont need to do it again with a head unit like the Edge, the result of the calibration is stored in the trainer's electronic. 

  • Thanks. I kind of figured that's how it'd end up, but this is my first bluetooth edge so thought I'd ask.

  • check how is the trainer paired to the Edge (Edge -> sensor details and there ), via ANT+ or Bluetooth, better to choose the ANT+ , and let nly the mobile phone connect to it via Bluetooth

  • The phone (iP6s plus) is connected bluetooth and the 830 is ant+ connection.

  • I have exact same problem.  The benefit to the Kinetic Control Power Unit is you can set a specific power and forget it.  The Kinetic unit allows you to change gears or cadence and it maintains the power. This is not possible with typical on-bike power units (I use Stages, PowerTap).   However, the Kinetic unit drops signal from Garmin 830 frequently and when it reconnects the power is messed up.  No amount of calibrating on the Kinetic app (on iPhone) will change this and the Garmin 830 lacks ability to Calibrate the power on the Kinetic unit.  To confound matters, the 830 does not identify the sensor (indoor trainer) so it's not possible to 'select the sensor' and run a calibration from the 830.  In the 830 Indoor Trainer menu it seems to see the trainer and it even has a 'calibrate' function - however, it simply fails the attempted calibration.  I removed every sensor on the 830 yet it still gets power from the Kinetic unit.  not a lot of helpful information available.  I may try to call Garmin tomorrow and ask for any insight they may have.  

  • Thanks Bill.   I'm glad it isn't just me or my head unit with this issue. Seems backwards to have the ability, but not be able to use it. I look forward to what you hear back from Garmin. 

  • " The Kinetic unit allows you to change gears or cadence and it maintains the power. This is not possible with typical on-bike power units (I use Stages, PowerTap). " It is the ERG mode of the trainers.  If You are using a 3rd party app like Zwift or TrainerRoad which have "PowerMatch" feature then You can train with your (more accurate) bike power meter's values (instead of the wheel-on's power numbers because that is always inaccurate) as a target power and the indoor trainer is only braking to keep the resistance on the target (based on the bike powermeter's value, so ignoring its own "estimated" numbers). Ofc, the 830 doesnt know this kind of PowerMatch and as i know other head units neither on the market. and doing (serious) structured trainings with a wheel-on (without any bike power meter ) is totally pointless, inaccarute , not consistent, a dead-end. (it was already dead-end in 2015 when the Tacx Neo introduced, luckily there are cheaper direct-drive trainers already which are already much better than the "best" any wheel-on)

    the question is the why does the signal drop happen, because there is interference with Wifi in the room (you should check the router's setup and avoid the channel 9-10-11) or with any devices on 2.4GHZ (Bluetooth headphone, speaker, etc) or just the the Edge 830 is dropping it somewhy (if it flawlessly works with an another/older head unit))