Can you please confirm the firmware rev you are using and what the offset value is when performing a manual zero?

---

PowerTap Product Manager

Firmware is 5.80

When I calibrated just now the value was 500.

This morning I tested again before calibrating and turning the cranks in the stand was giving 600+ watts.

On the ride over the weekend when I had the huge wattage numbers I calibrated twice. First offset was around 340 and second was around 440.

Temperature was mid 60s to start. Bike came from the basement. So shouldn't be a problem with temperature swings.

After the calibration this morning, and with the bike in the stand turning the cranks again, I was getting a reasonable 1-2 watts.

MaxDaddy,

I would pull the electronics cover and see if there is any moisture in the electronics area. Let it sit over night and try it again. I bet it fixes the problem.

---

PowerTap Product Manager

Has anyone else had a problem with recently updating their powertap G3 cap (Ant+ version). Ive owned a G3 for the last 2 years and have raved about its reliability compared to my buggy series 1 stages crank, but in the last 2 weeks its really failed me.

My battery went flat, and as I normally do, while changing it I did a check for firmware upgrade and now have a corrupted firmware that wont reset. Im running a mac and it continuously comes up with "unable to verify firmware" during the update process. PowerAgent tells me when i check the firmware version its 16.0.0.0 which was never a released version. My hub will no longer connect with any Ant+ device

I tried it today by installing all the relevent programs on a buddies PC. Despite the pc recognising that I had plugged a device in, poweragent denied there was a device present. Its tearing my hair out!!

Any advice from anyone?

legendontour,

Most of the time what changes is your operating system and other updates like java. Please make sure you are up to date with java and you are on the latest version of PowerAgent. Once that is done open up PowerAgent and plug in your cap with the battery out for at least 10 sec. If it was stuck in bootloader mode from the last time you tried to update your firmware version will come up as 16.0.0.0 then simply perform the update again. PowerAgent will walk you through the remainder of the steps necessary for update.

If you've done all of that already and failed you are likely wanting to reach through your computer and strangle me. If that is the case just let me know and we can get you a new power cap.

Cheers!

---

PowerTap Product Manager

Noob question for you on P1 pedals.

Looked on your website and in user manuals but couldn't find out if I am able to update the P1 firmware if I do not have any Apple devices.
For info, I use Windows OS on my mobile and on my laptops.

Thanks

Hi Guys

I am getting this error on my Powertap p1 pedals

https://www.youtube.com/results?sp=SCjqAwA%253D&q=powertap+p1+pedal+fix (not my video but exact same issue)

right pedal has updated fine but the left hand one wont, as there is a firmware miss match my garmin is throwing up an error.

Any help would be most welcome.

My cap is not recognized on 2 pcs.

I put it on my wife's mac and was able to update it no problem.

If this was 2005, I would give them a pass.

But this is 2016 and you have to work really hard to architect your your app to not be able to recognize an attached USB device.

ddt83,

Can you tell me where in the process you are getting hung up? Is it connected and lets you know that there is an update available?

I would try a couple things.

1. Confirm you are on the latest version of the App. We have done a lot of debugging recently and the latest version is much better.
2. Please confirm that when updating the left pedal you were doing it under the left sensor and NOT trying to 'find another' sensor from the right pedal page.
3. Make sure you are on a wifi connection. 4G works but wifi is much more reliable.

If all of that fails a call to our CS dept is your next best option. They can walk you through the trouble shooting process step by step.

800.246.5975

Thanks!

---

PowerTap Product Manager

Hi Jesse,

Blast from the past here. I also have a 2.4 powertap that shows nonzero watts while coasting down hill. The faster I go the bigger the watts. I just double-checked that autozero was turned on and it does reliably read zero when stopped. Any thoughts?

Also, is there any continued availability of the upgrade kit to make a 2.4 talk ANT+?

If not, do you have any instructional materials about how to talk to your wife about a new PowerTap? :)

Thank you,

Jon

Hi Justin,

Just wanted to give a big shout out to Powertap and the distributor here in NZ (CycleSport).

I've had P1s since around May and towards the end of May my right pedal crapped out. I didn't notice until later as the left continued to work. Sent back last week and today received my replacements.

Seems to have different battery caps as well.

Great work guys

Ha! Interesting. I just bought a used powertap 2.4 SL hub and am wondering the same thing. Been looking for the ANT+ upgrade donge thingy everywhere but cant seem to find it, of course these things are probably around 8 years old by now, but still...I haven't laced the hub into a rim yet so am not getting power readings yet anyway, but my garmin 910XT does "find" the powertap, except when I try to calibrate, it gives the number 16230 or something (very high!), my other Powertap has the internals upgraded to have the Powercap and it always reads somewhere in the 500's. I am assuming that the number shown is actually the ID number? So no way to manually calibrate with the older 2..4 hubs? Will using the "upgrade" dongle help in this? Since I am assuming its already working with ANT+. Thanks for any replies.

That does sound like an I.D. number.

I bought an upgrade dongle on the forum and haven't used it yet, but I think the number of upgrades that it will perform is limited and the seller told me that it has one left. Was thinking about taking it apart and seeing if I could image its memory now and then re-flash after upgrading.

I did call PowerTap and they're not selling any more upgrade kits, but they are selling NOS LYC computers if you wanted to use it as non-ANT+.

If you ever get round cloning that image do let me know ;) although im wondering, if my Garmin can at least identify the powertap, doesnt that mean its ant+ updated? I'd rather not use the LYC. I do have a newer Poweratp Joule, the non gps kind, but I think this works on ant+ only as well.

I think so. If a Garmin can see it, it seems like it must be talking ANT+ already. You should be able to make the speed sensor indicate something nonzero by wrapping a strap around it, then unwrapping to make it spin around a skewer.

Thoughts on what you'll lace it to?

Hey thats a good idea! I did try to just put it on my bike with just the hub n cassette but I guess my Garmin was not impressed!

Build needs to be fairly budget so will be into a DT Swiss RR511 rim, alpine triple butted spokes. I wanted something a bit higher profile (powertap has only 24 spokes) but going carbon wasnt in the budget yet. Plus I there's not really a great offer of carbon rims as opposed to carbon, which are mostly coming laced from the factory. I'm also a novice wheelbuilder so I'd rather trash a €70 rim than a €300 one!

Do the G3 and GS hubs come with the auto zero function set as a deflault to be on ?

Reason I ask is that I have bought a GS hub and although it's not built into a wheel yet, it wakes up when I spin it and talks to both my polar v650 and the Powertap iPhone app no problem.

I can't see an auto zero option on the v650.

I can see the 'auto zero offset' switch in the app but it is defaulted to the off position and can't be altered to the on position manually.

You can manually zero the hub through the app.

Any help / guidance appreciated.

Cheers,

WD :-)

Hi,

Couple of questions. I have a PT 808 rear wheel from 2012. I have just done the latest firmware and now the pairing is between 0 and 9. I have rode a number of times and the number has been fluctuating bewtween those values. It used to be 520 or so.

Other question, My garmin is been reading/getting very sporadic watt number from my 808. Going from 90 to 150 to 220 for example. Always on a average power and NP much lower for any ride compared to previous rides and efforts with HR.
Any advice for fixing these 2 issues would be great.
Manuel

I just got wheel set with Powertap G3 hub. I use Polar M450 as head unit and there is no zero/calibrate option there either. Today I went for test ride and the power values displayed where just way too high, above 1500W when easy spinning. Looks like values are multiplied at least 10 x. When coasting the cadence and power values didn't drop down to zero. I had to stop moving to get them zeroed. The speed values were right I think.

EDIT: Link to test ride session: https://flow.polar.com/...g/analysis/886208570

I suspect that the problem is with the missing calibration/zeroing.

I don't have iPhone or ANT+ compatible head unit so is it absolutely necessary to get one to use the hub with Polar cycling computers ?

The dual BT Smart/ANT+ cap has some sort of USB-connector ? in it but I don't have a cable for that. Could it be possible to view/modify hub settings by using PowerAgent with suitable cable or are there other options ?

A bit strange if I have to borrow iPhone every time before ride to get correct values or buy iPhone. Any tips how to solve problem ?

The tension adjustment screw was extremely tight on mine from the factory, it freaked me out a bit but I was eventually able to get it to get it to release without bending the Allen key, though it felt close to doing so. So I think you're safe torquing it as hard as possible as long as you do it in the correct direction, though if your Allen key is bending, I'm not sure what else you could do to apply more force, so that might be a warranty issue.

@ pulmark

Interesting that you polar reads the cadence, this is the response I got from their (Polar’s) help desk :

-----------------

Mr Atack,

Thank you for contacting Polar Customer Care.
I am sorry to inform you that the Polar V650 doesn't support speed and cadence from Powertap, only Power.
Please keep your Polar Speed and Cadence sensors paired to your V650.

Best Regards,
Customer Support / Olutoyin
Polar Electro UK Ltd
-----------------

With regards manual zeroing from the computer, it can be done once you start your exercise. Have a look at this thread I started here :

http://forum.slowtwitch.com/...n_P6077485/#p6077485

The USB port is to update the software in the power cap. I haven’t used this as the phone app checked the version and updated the software for me via Bluetooth.

I know they have just updated the app and I haven’t looked to see if it still has this functionality – I suspect it does as it would be a bit of a backwards step if it was removed, but you never know …

The only thing I don’t know yet which would complete my questions is if the hub automatically auto zero’s in use, I have asked PT help desk but still await a response …

Hope this helps ?

WD :-)

Thanks for your response, WD Pro !



The problem with M450 head unit is that it doesn't have any manual-zeroing option as V650 seems to have it. In the morning I discussed with fellow rider that uses Polar V650 and PT G3 with BLE only powercap. She said that when starting training V650 it goes through some sort of guided calibration routine. This feature does not exist M450.

I don't know if the issue is with powercap why M450 doesn't have this "calibration" or "manual zeroing" option. I have the dual one with ANT+ support also. The PT web site says that for the dual one the firmware has been updated lately 07/2016. The single BLE powercap firmware has been updated 05/2014. The latest M450 firmware update has been 05/2016 so dual powercap has been updated after that.


The port in dual ANT+/BLE powercap seems to require some special connector, it is not standard micro-USB or mini-USB connector that I use here in Europe. I have both micro-USB and mini-USB cables but none of them seems to be compatible.

I have to figure out what is the connector type. The PowerAgent software would be then the option to configure hub settings if possible. The VirtualTraining software requires a special BlueGiga BT-USB dongle.

But then PT web site says that for the dual ANT+/BLE powercap the firmware update can be done only by using iOS app, so iPhone, iPad or iPod:

https://www.powertap.com/...ual-ant-ble-powercap

So I don't know if the cable connection works. At the moment, I think that I will just borrow Garmin ANT+ head unit for testing. At least it should be possible to do the manual-zeroing with it.


I contacted seller and also Polar support, Finland. The seller had contact with Saris and I just got message that after doing the zeroing, G3 should work then automatically ie. auto-zero enabled.

A couple of days I read somewhere from Internet that if the initial G3 calibration is totally out of scope (manual zeroing not done), auto-zero might not work. That might explain why my G3 hub doesn't give right values even when coasting. I suppose that the auto-zero feature means that during coasting the hub zeroes itself automatically.

Do you have the single or dual BLE powercap ?

The lady that I asked for help this morning has written a short review of G3 with Polar V650. She has the hub with BLE powercap only, not the dual one. The review is in Finnish only. She told me about the manual-zero support in V650. She does the manual-zeroing every time when starting training session.

http://energianurkkaus.fitfashion.fi/...ar-v650-powertap-g3/

In the review, she also says that latest firmware update for V650 supports displaying normalized power too.

I contacted Polar support also and they asked more information. I sent them detailed info about my case, will see what happens... I would like to have similar support in M450 as in V650 so that "manual-zeroing" could be done by using head unit.

Ok, done a bit more digging / checking my hub and software etc.

The hub is brand new and I believe both my iPhone app and power cap are up to date.

The power cap carries both Bluetooth and ant logos but I have only used Bluetooth functionality.

I took the power cap off when I first got it (no other reason other than being nosey) and I seem to recall it having a standard micro USB under there ? I have checked the instructions and they suggest the same ?



I have just woke the hub up to try the updated app (it's not in a wheel yet - awaiting some post from China ...). Everything appears reasonably straight forward :



And the zero function apppears to work ok :



I will report back once it's in a wheel and I can check if the auto function works ok :-)

WD :-)

Ok, i have one for everyone. I just got a set of p1 pedals. I was using them on trainer road via my iPhone last night. Usually i use my macbook but i left my Ant+ stick at my office. I was doing a workout that has a lot of one leg drills and noticed that my left leg was delivering power, but the right was not. I opened the settings and the left pedal is paired via the trainer road app, no option to pair the right. The pedals are find, i checked the power tap app and did one leg drills on both sides, with power working fine.

Any ideas?

The left pedal pairs with external devices, the right pedal only pairs with the left pedal, sending its data through the left pedal. The fact that it's working through the Powertap app but not the TrainerRoad app is odd.