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Can't connect to sensors

ash_D
over 7 years ago
So I have an issue where I cant do a treadmill run (the watch just doesn't record pace/distance and won't calibrate at the end of a run) and thought I would connect my footpod up from my fenix 3. The VA3 9 times out of 10 won't detect it, and when it does finally detect it will lose it after a few seconds. The footpod works fine as the Fenix 3 can see it and connect (and stay connected).

Anyone else having issues with connecting footpods or other sensors?

Im really not sure if this is a firmware bug (I can't find a way to reinstall the firmware), or a hardware bug. Of course no one from Garmin will respond to my support emails either :(

The VA3 is starting to look like a bit of a lemon to be honest
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 7 years ago
    I've run CIQ watch faces since their inception as well and have had a few issues, but none related to battery life or sensors. My experiences were more the watch face locking up or displaying incorrect information.

    But either way, process of elimination from the base software is an important step IMO.
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 7 years ago
    that's a good point, Jim, as my experience ended around the time of 2.0 inception iirc.(spring 2016)
  • 0 over 7 years ago
    Thanks all for your suggestions .. I have a couple of comments

    1. I did contact garmin, they advised a "reset to defaults" which I did that made no difference. They then pointed me at the webupdater to reinstall the firmware, this application crashes everytime (yet works fine for my 920 and fenix3). I will try and contact them sometime today while im at work about this and see what they say - i'll report back later!

    2. The whole conversation about watchfaces. I can 100% tell you that they can cause issues. I was using actiface and line and could not complete a treadmill run (I have a long rambling thread on this already). I came across a post in the VivoactiveHR forum where someone had mentioned a similar issue. I removed all my custom watchfaces and have no problems completing a treadmill run since. It seemed that during a treadmill run (without the GPS enabled) that the watchface would try and refresh the GPS for some reason and then that would register in the run and cause it to think that it was an outdoor run - it would then start trying to record by GPS instead of the cadence sensor. Feel free to doubt me as much as you want .. but install and have the line watchface set as your face and try and go for a 5k treadmill run :)

    Many thanks guys!!
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 7 years ago
    Glad you got it fixed, Ashley.

    I knew I wasn't crazy :)
  • 0 over 7 years ago
    Well .. I didn't fix the sensor issue, but I fixed the treadmill issue (which is what the sensor workaround was for)

    Hopefully a new firmware version will sort these issues out
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 7 years ago
    ...Anyone else having issues with connecting footpods or other sensors?


    I connected a cadence sensor to my VA3, but I haven't used it in anger yet. Instead I have my VA3 send HR data to my 510, which it has done flawlessly for ~10 rides (+1.5 hours apiece), so I know that method of sensor interface works as expected.
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 7 years ago
    Ashley,
    Which watchface was it that was refreshing the GPS? I would guess it was one of the ones that provided sunrise/sunset or tide data, as those would require GPS location to provide that data. That being said, a watchface should not be able to refresh a GPS location while the GPS is shutoff for an activity. I wonder if this issue is only with the VA3 or with other watches. I am trying to figure out a good way to test this (I can't think of a way to do it the simulator and I only have the VA3 and the VAHR physically.)
  • 0 over 7 years ago
    I believe the line watchface does this ... I actually found out about this on the VAHR forum. I was using SC8 when I was having issues (but also had line installed)

    I think youre right about the sunrise/sunset idea too .. I had that enabled on my watchface, i'll try removing it from the watchface tomorrow (weekend) and see if that makes a difference
  • 0 over 7 years ago
    For watchfaces that use a location for lat/lon to calculate sunrise and sunset, they do not turn on GPS (in fact, they can't - it's not possible). Often for a watchface to show rise/set, you'll hear that you need to start up an activity (such as "run") that does start GPS, and you want to wait to get a GPS lock.

    When there's data and you exit "run" GPS is turned off and when you go back to the watchface, it can get the last lat/lon seen by the app that did fire up GPS. The data will go stale in a period of time (maybe a few hours), so when the watchfaces see a valid lat/lon, they save off that lat/lon for the times they can't get a new one. What ever you heard about Line or SC8 starting up GPS was incorrect.

    For folks that know CIQ, the only thing a watchface does as far as location is look at Activity.Info.currentLocation (the location during an activity, the last location when it's ended), and use it if it's not null. Nothing involving GPS itself.
  • 0 over 7 years ago
    jim_m_58 - it's not what I heard, its what I know. I can reproduce this issue every time 100%, and in fact I have to make sure I was correct. Could you please install either (or both) of those watchfaces and try it out for yourself. I have seen you disagree with a few people about this, but the fact is that THIS is actually causing our issue (whether this be a watchface bug or a firmware bug I don't know)

    Not trying to troll or cause any issues .. just want to help anyone else out who has this issue