My Fix for Power Spike and Cadence Dropouts.

Have had my Garmin Vector 3 for about 3 months. In the last few weeks have had nothing but problems. When riding Cadence drops out every few minutes and power spikes. Have taken batteries out and cleaned them and contacts. Same problem. I have the new battery caps.

So after searching around the internet I found the usual add baby oil to battery surface and rear. Add baby oil to contacts. I used ear bud. 

But I also read and applied the following. Cut small strip of electrical tape and wrap battery's so they wont move. Thin tape and only overlap tape by 5mm.

I have now ridden 3 rides of approx 1hr each and have had no problems. Garmin Edge 1030 and Zwift now work spot on. No dropouts and no Power spikes.

Will Update over the next month. If you try this and have success also please leave reply here so other users can see if it will  work for them.

And Garmin why don't you fix the problem. I should not have to spend over $1000 on pedals that I have to apply electrical tape and baby oil. 

Regards Magicman. 

  • Thanks for this post Magicman. This prompted me to take a close look at my pedals.

    The root cause here is that there is no conical spring in the pedal covers. This is common practice in battery compartment design - open any torch and you can see this.

    While there is a minor spring on the pedal end this will only act to take up the tolerance of negative terminal protruding into this space.

    Without a cover end spring the overall assembly lacks enough continuity compliance to eliminate open circuit during shock loading.

    The small sheet metal loops on the door are too stiff to perform this function.

    Your fix works because you are creating a custom shrink-fit between the batteries and cylinder housing. This acts to retain the batteries in position better during shock. It is not really ideal.

    For reference I am a product designer and have designed products like this. And Garmin, please don't use plain stainless steel springs, they oxidise over time which will compromise conductivity. I recommend the Duracell battery terminal design guide for further guidance.

    Cheers, Spot

  • So after searching around the internet I found the usual add baby oil to battery surface and rear. Add baby oil to contacts. I used ear bud. 

    this is more or less the official Garmin way, that works for me very good, but would be better to be informed when you buy the pedals and not when starting the first problems and replacing the pedals by RMA!

  • I agree. But also that in between batteries they are loosing contact. That’s why people using single cr1n batteries have far less problems. By using electrical tape, the  2 lr44 batteries have less chance in loosing contact between each other. 

  • 2 weeks in and still no problems with this fix.

  • 2 weeks in. Only 1 power spike. Working perfectly with this fix.

  • Cr1n3 or whatever battery can be used if you don't have generation 1 battery door. Most likely your new pedal has new door. But I have to say my Vector 3 battery bay + door was replaced then I started to use this double battery (with the confirmation of Garmin engineers) and after a few months the problem was back. All together it took 8 (eight) month to have my Vector 3 replaced to a new(?) one as official distributor here thought they have to provide only 1 (one) year warranty instead of two. I can see some changes such as the metal part is no longer black but grey, however the battery vendor for left side was different to right side. It is unlikely Garmin has two suppliers... Probably the inside was replaced?

    So I suggest to have it replaced as you will experience more similar cases. 

  • Dear Garmin, please skip USB charging on the Vector 4 model and go straight to internal battery with wireless charging.

  • Dear Garmin, please do us all a favor and skip USB charging on the Vector 4 model (if and when they are manufactured) and go straight to an  internal battery with wireless charging (like my Galaxy phone). Think of the possibilities. We could even top off our pedal batteries while chilling out during a coffee ride stop. 

  • Still no problems. Has any one else tried this yet?

  • I have been using Vectors for a couple of years and, since I got the new doors a long time ago no problems till this week! I think this is because i have put in new batteries and perhaps the ones i bought this time are a slightly different size. I shall buy another make.