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Question about Smart Trainers
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Have recently taken up riding on Zwift using a Wahoo Kickr 2018. Occasionally the signal from the trainer to my laptop drops in the middle of a ride. I have used the Kickr both at home and at my office, and this issue seems to only occur while at work. My office is adjacent to a company that manufactures wireless networking and radio communication equipment, so I'm guessing their testing, etc. might have something to do with the signal interruptions.

My current setup is a Wahoo Kickr that is paired via an ANT+ dongle to my MacBook Pro. I use the Kickr as both the Power Source and Controllable paired device with Zwift, and use an SRM power meter as the Cadence sensor. I am using a USB extension cable so the ANT+ dongle is within inches of the Kickr.

My SRM power meter displays to a PC8 head unit. The signal between these tends to drop at similar times to when the Kickr loses connection with Zwift.

This issue is particularly annoying when trying to do a race. I've had occasions where the signal has dropped and Zwift is registering a much lower power number than what I'm actually putting out. I've actually been dropped from the pack because of this.

Has anyone had similar experience? Anyone have any creative solutions?

It would be awesome if in the future Wahoo (and others) would have a USB port on the trainer as an alternative to a wireless connection. As it is most smart trainers need to be plugged in to a power outlet, and it's recommended to use a USB extension cord which mostly negates the benefits of them being wireless.


Geoffrey Nenninger
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Re: Question about Smart Trainers [GDNenn] [ In reply to ]
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As you noted, it is probably some other 2.4ghz frequency messing up the connection. Note that there are many 2.4ghz frequencies running about at any one time. If you have the dongle plugged directly into your Mac, I would suggest that you buy an extension cord to get the dongle as close to the trainer as you can. I have my cable hang down about the level that the crank is parallel to the floor. This gives you line of sight access to the trainer.

Secondly, if you don't have the power cable plugged into the Mac, you could be losing signal due to the fact that the Mac, and windows PCs will also do this, will start to reduce the power to the USB ports. This is possible, but probably not your issue with the dongle.
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