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Any one else having lots of drop outs?

I have had my Garmin RS200 and my Garmin 830 for about a month now. Sending structured work outs from Training Peaks via Garmin Connect to the 830 and using it to control my 2016 WaHoo KICKR. I can also use Rouvy on my IPAD to control the trainer and then just record the Rally metrics on the 830.

The first few weeks, everything looked perfect in GC. Last week I started noticing a few power and cadence drop outs each ride and it continues to get worse every ride.

Here is today's workout

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/6752400906

Not sure what to try. I get the drop outs if I use Rouvy or the 830 to control the work out. I recorded a short workout today on my  FR945 and it shows the same drop outs too.

It seems that may have coincided with the FR945 beta firmware I installed, but not sure, I will leave my 945 off and a long ways away for my next workout. Not sure if the 945 could cause this or not?

I will submit a ticket, but any suggestions on things to try would be appreciated.

  • Thanks for chiming in .  I've had the same experience with two sets, although the second one had the problem a lot less frequently. I just ordered the third. If the new set has the same problem, I'll return it and give up. 

    Garmin was zero help, actually less than zero! When I contacted Garmin support about the first set, they asked me to (in effect) prove it by sending them a video (twice!). They had no explanation or advice, and when I asked if this was a known problem, they said no!! They still hadn't agreed to replace them when I was at the end of the return-window (I hadn't bought them direct from Garmin), so I just returned them and ordered a second set.

    One take-away: don't order direct from Garmin! 

    Regarding whether the culprit is interference (as suggested by ), this makes a lot sense. I had the same thought when fiddling with the first set on my indoor Zwift setup (where I want to use them), and interference seemed plausible since it's an indoor environment with a lot of signals rattling around.So I turned off everything with bluetooth (including phones, watches, laptops, kickr core, etc.), with the Rally's connect by ANT, but no joy. I also rode with the pedals outdoors on a completely different bike, but had the same problems. So I doubt the problem is caused by interference. Moreover, my setup isn't unusual in any way. So if the problem were caused by interference, one would think that it would be a commonly reported problem.

    That said, given that this seems to be a relatively rare problem, I still don't have an answer as to why some people have encountered the problem on several sets of pedals.

    js

  • Hi, Garmin reviewed the data files for each pair and agreed that they were defective and agreed to replace the pedals under warranty. Very frustrating to have 6 defective pairs but there you go. I never used the bluetooth connections and always used ANT and always used the pedals outside on the road, never inside on a trainer. I do not believe that there was any interference as you suggest and Garmin never suggested interference as a cause, but thanks for your opinion. Best wishes, have a great day. 

  • Good info and thank you for sharing your issues and experience. I am on constant lookout for issues with my Rally XC200s.  I've been comparing them to two different trainers and the only issues I run across are slight difference in reported power (expected of course) and occasional dropouts in a BLE connection to my iPad when running them to TrainerRoad. I have a quite a bit of DCAnalyzer files I've built. I'm feeling fortunate that I think mine are still good to go.

    I hope they can work out the bugs in the first year or so. I"m glad to hear Garmin took care of replacement. 

  • I've now had my third set of pedals for several weeks, and for the most part they work properly. I do see occasional PP dropouts, but they are not only infrequent but also very short - mostly associated with times when very little power is being generated (which makes sense). I'm keeping this set, as I don't want to gamble on another one.

    I'm now 99.99% certain that the pedals were the problem. The new ones work properly when used with the same setup and same environment in which the previous pedals didn't work properly. Going back to the question of how could this be an infrequent problem with the pedals when some people have encountered it with several sets of pedals while most people haven't reported it...  My conjecture is that it isn't an infrequent problem; most people don't encounter it because most people don't pay any attention to PP - they use the pedals primarily just to report power, and don't spend time looking at the Cycling Dynamics screen. 

  • There is a minimum torque threshold that you need to above for Cycling Dynamics to report values. Below that threshold it will not report any values. This could be interpreted as a drop if you did not know about the threshold. 

  • I think I just noticed this yesterday. I need to collect some data to be sure what I saw was what you are describing. More to follow.  

  • Thanks - as I thought, this does explain the occasional, only at low power, PP dropouts with 3rd set of pedals. But not the problem with the previous pedals (likewise others that have been reported), which is that PP drops out frequently, sometimes for several seconds, during continuous high torque/power. 

  •  I am seeing frequent drops of instantaneous PP readings on the right pedal only. It's interesting in that it does not seem to impact cadence, power or any other data that I can tell. I'm suspecting it's been there a long time but gone unnoticed as I usually just look at a power screen. I"ve put quite a few rides into the DCAnalyzer and it does not seem to show there nor does it look obvious in m Garmin data after the workout. It seems that JUST the PP drops in and out. I am going to record again at home tomorrow where there is less possible signal interference.

    Garmin RallyXC Power-Phase Drops

  • Hi et. al. -

    I just noticed that a few weeks ago Garmin released a software update for the pedals (https://forums.garmin.com/sports-fitness/cycling/f/rally/276395/new-rally-100-200-version-3-00-now-available). When I tried to update my latest set of pedals (received a couple of weeks ago), it turned out that 3.0 was already installed, which might explain why the current set don't have the frequent PP dropouts.

    The release notes don't mention PP dropouts, but they fiddled with a lot and might have inadvertently fixed the bug. Regardless, if you're having dropout problems, I suggest you update the software and see if anything changes.

  • Thanks I’ve been on 3.0 for a while now. I’m going to try them on my other trainer today.