Vector 3 - battery consumption reports

So I wanted to share my battery experience with V3. Not that I want to complain or anything. It's just a finding...

Installed my V3 29/11 and today E1030 mesaged me "low power in pedals".

This is exactly 60 hours 23 minutes of training on my Indoor bike. This half of what is claimed (120 hours).

Cycling dynamics was OFF 90% of all time. Torque measurement is ON all time.

Let us see what a fresh pair of batteries will do (Duracell LR 44). Cycling dynamics will be OFF all time. Torque measurement is ON all time.

0 Old_Greg over 5 years ago

I use a Wahoo Element Bolt. It was actually Wahoo customer service who helped confirm I was having power dropout issues w/ my Vectors. Spent 6wks sending FIT files, photos and email reports to Garmin to diagnose, to no avail. Took Wahoo 1 day to figure it out via review of the same FIT files. Garmin Customer Service says they're unable to analyze Wahoo FIT files, so worth asking Wahoo for help if you're a Bolt user.

Per Garmin Customer Service: GCM doesn't consistently report low battery status. You may have to unpair/repair for it to show true battery level.

0 DerDembo over 5 years ago

Since I am usually riding with a 735XT and the Bolt (most of my rides seem to be brick workouts anyway) I am pretty confident, that indeed I never got the low battery warning on the 735XT. Still happy with Vartas bought from amazon (with them being the seller of course). I have C1/3Ns ready but so far do not see the necessity to use them.

0 aarhelger over 5 years ago

Recently installed my new Vector 3 and got about 10 hours before the low battery notice came up on my Garmin 520. These are the original batteries. I am hoping replacements will last much longer. 10 hours is pretty pathetic.

0 alessusnik over 5 years ago

With the new or the old battery doors?
Difference: https://forums.garmin.com/forum/into-sports/cycling/vector-3/1355524-details-regarding-vector-3-battery-door-redesign-and-customer-availability

0 aarhelger over 5 years ago

alessusnik: Yes, the new battery doors. Rode again the next day and got the message again 1/2 through the ride so I have now replaced the batteries with the Cr1/3n 3 volt battery. Will see how long these last.

0 aarhelger over 4 years ago in reply to aarhelger

Update. The Cr1/3n 3 volt batteries lasted 143 hr, 2356 miles. Haven't had any problems with them during this time so I guess I will stick with the single 3 volt batteries! Cycling dynamics is on but my phone is NOT connected.

0 1171115 over 3 years ago

I'd be nice if they released an accessory to recharge batteries and allowed us to put rechargeable ones inside the pedals

0 nickdodo over 3 years ago

Two sets of batteries since getting my V3.

1st Set 144.25 hrs

2nd Set 150.5 hrs

I use Duracell 1/3N.

Cycling Dynamics on 100% of the time. I changed after the end of the ride where I get a low battery warning - I also check the status on Garmin Connect for the activity. On both occasions it has "Battery Status: Low". On all other occasions it has "Battery Status: Good". So far the Garmin Connect status seems to be a good guide to when to change the batteries.

0 Skyhart over 3 years ago in reply to nickdodo

I changed mine after about 80 hours. Garmin Connect had their status as "OK" and when I tested them they were at the high end of "needs replacing" which means I probably could've left them for another 30 hours or so. I swapped simply due to the fact that I have an important ride coming up and I didn't want to forget and have them die on me during it.

0 dscurtis over 3 years ago

I changed out the battery covers and circuit boards in both pedals back on 5/23/20 (I had received the upgrade/replacement kit a few days before that). I also installed CR1/3N's in both pedals, vs 2 x LR44s in each one. I'm just reaching the 120 hours estimated battery life. It's been ~3-1/2 months and ~1,800 miles and they're still going strong. I have cycling dynamics turned on and the LEDs and the sensor battery status still indicate that they are "Ok". I will probably change them out before the end of this week, as I have a big ride coming up this weekend.

To give myself an automatic tracking method, I created a goal in Garmin Connect (Goal Type = hours and a target of 120 hour) to track the hours ridden since the date that I changed the batteries.