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Home > Forum > Triathlon Forum > Garmin Drops ANT+ and BT at once

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Garmin Drops ANT+ and BT at once
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HLS2k6
Aug 3, 20 11:20
Post #1 of 12 (2195 views)
I’ve got an Edge 520 that’s old but still kicking. This weekend, I went riding a couple of states away and had frequent signal drops for 30 seconds at a time.

All at once my ANT+ Powermeter, my Varia and my phone would drop, so it was hitting Bluetooth & ANT simultaneously. It happened 6x an hour on multiple rides.

Are there some places where signal interference causes this? It hasn’t ever happened to me at home & I haven’t ridden yet since getting back. I’ve ridden in the other state many times without drops, but this was the first time doing so in 2020. If it’s interference of some sort, would a newer model work any better?

Or is it more likely the computer needing files deleted or something else?

I tried a search, but didn’t find anything really on point. Thanks for any advice.
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Re: Garmin Drops ANT+ and BT at once [HLS2k6] [ In reply to ]
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jhammond
Aug 3, 20 11:31
Post #2 of 12 (2172 views)
There's definitely places where BT and ANT+ have problems. I have a Stages PM (gen. 1) tied to a garmin 920XT and there are several places along my normal routes where signal drops every time while I ride through that area. I haven't been able to figure out exactly what causes it (I'm assuming underground cables or something similar as there's nothing above ground that I can see that would be a problem).
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Re: Garmin Drops ANT+ and BT at once [HLS2k6] [ In reply to ]
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2wheels
Aug 3, 20 13:38
Post #3 of 12 (2051 views)
ok this could be coincidence but I was getting this a lot, and updating the Varia firmware seems to have fixed it. I plugged my Varia in to the computer with a cable and connected it to Garmin Express. It told me there was an update and since then it has maybe happened once in probably the last 10 hours of riding? Before that it was every 20-30 minutes or so. I did a 4.5 hour ride and it didn't happen once, which would have never been the case before I updated. But it was also a different route. Worth a try anyway.
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Re: Garmin Drops ANT+ and BT at once [2wheels] [ In reply to ]
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marcag
Aug 3, 20 13:49
Post #4 of 12 (2024 views)
 

I saw many times that one faulty Ant+ sensor could block another on a 520.

I have a connect IQ app that talks Ant. It will stop receiving messages if the speed sensor connects then periodically disconnects
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Re: Garmin Drops ANT+ and BT at once [marcag] [ In reply to ]
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HLS2k6
Aug 12, 20 19:15
Post #5 of 12 (1798 views)
Deleting device history had no effect.

Turning off all other devices (in my case, a Varia & my phone) completely eliminated the problem.

I’ll separately reintroduce each & see if one or both is the culprit, then update this thread with the hope that it might be helpful to the next person.

Fingers crossed that it’s as simple as my Varia also needing a firmware update.
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Re: Garmin Drops ANT+ and BT at once [HLS2k6] [ In reply to ]
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jaretj
Aug 13, 20 4:46
Post #6 of 12 (1644 views)
When I had ANT+ and BT devices drop out it was because of my phone talking Wifi
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Re: Garmin Drops ANT+ and BT at once [HLS2k6] [ In reply to ]
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Ohio_Roadie
Aug 13, 20 20:24
Post #7 of 12 (1454 views)
This was happening on my wife’s 1030. I dug around and found some beta firmware on the internets and it fixed it. Not sure if Garmin has actually fixed it or not. When was the last time you did an update?
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Re: Garmin Drops ANT+ and BT at once [HLS2k6] [ In reply to ]
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dcrainmaker
Aug 14, 20 4:52
Post #8 of 12 (1334 views)
Yeah, there were issues on some Edge 520 units where basically the communications stack would overload, and then you'd see the drops like that (especially with phone connectivity enabled). It was never clear to me why it occurred for some people/scenarios, not others.

-
My tiny little slice of the internets: dcrainmaker.com
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Re: Garmin Drops ANT+ and BT at once [dcrainmaker] [ In reply to ]
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HLS2k6
Aug 14, 20 18:33
Post #9 of 12 (1219 views)
dcrainmaker wrote:
Yeah, there were issues on some Edge 520 units where basically the communications stack would overload, and then you'd see the drops like that (especially with phone connectivity enabled). It was never clear to me why it occurred for some people/scenarios, not others.

Thanks, Ray. That’s my situation for sure. Turning off BT on the Garmin fixed it completely. Honestly, it’s really no hassle to reconnect & upload the file after each ride.

What’s weird is that my 520 worked perfectly with these exact same connections “stacked” for a very long time, then started failing one day just as suddenly as falling off a cliff.
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Re: Garmin Drops ANT+ and BT at once [HLS2k6] [ In reply to ]
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rmba
Aug 15, 20 21:42
Post #10 of 12 (1064 views)
I have had occasional 10-20 second dropouts like this on my 530 over the last month or so.

This morning, I lost all ANT+ and BT connections for the last 45 minutes of my ride.

It seems I get a 'radar disconnected' message from the Varia first (but maybe that's just the first to tell me).

I need the BT connection so my wife can live-track my rides (and the Varia is helpful for traffic).

.....any other suggested fixes?
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Re: Garmin Drops ANT+ and BT at once [rmba] [ In reply to ]
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COBRI
Aug 15, 20 21:44
Post #11 of 12 (1062 views)
I’ve had similar dropouts in the last week or so (Bluetooth from phone as well as ant+ HR monitor) - they seem to drop out at the same time which is weird
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Re: Garmin Drops ANT+ and BT at once [rmba] [ In reply to ]
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2wheels
Aug 16, 20 10:18
Post #12 of 12 (933 views)
Did you already try connecting the Varia and the Edge to a PC with a cable and checking for firmware updates with Garmin Express? Because that seemed to be the magic that fixed it for me.
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