My Polar Wearlink HR transmitter doesn’t transmit a signal after I wear it during the swim.
The intention is to use it for HR data on the bike and run so I put it on before the swim to save time in T1.
Even though it’s sending a signal every time before the swim, in 50% of my races it doesn’t send a signal after I get out of the water. It seems to be the salt water swims that cause the most problems. (I realize that the W.I.N.D. signal frequency won’t transmit through water but it should transmit after coming out of the water)
I never had the same issue with the “plastic strip” style transmitters. They always work even after wearing them in the swim, in salt or fresh water.
Is there a contact gel or other product that can help the Wearlink to pick up a signal and transmit after wearing it in salt water?
It looks like you have the W.I.N.D. transmitter, which is what I have. You have to stop your watch and restart after the swim. I do this when I first get on the bike after T1. You should get your HR to pick up. It’s annoying but it’s what I read on the Polar site.
You’re exactly right. It’s a W.I.N.D. strap. Just like you I do shut off the watch and start it when I’m on the bike. I’ll turn it on before the swim to check that it has good contact and the shut it off again. This weekend I did that and started it up on the bike. It read crazy numbers for heart rate and never settled down before I finished the bike and run.
This has happened several times before. I don’t have the exact numbers but it seems to fail more often after a salt water swim.
I wish Polar would sell an old style plastic strap like the T31 with WIND transmission. I never have problems with these “old fashioned” straps because the electrodes are inside and not exposed to the salt water like in the Wearlink doft strap.
The problem with working in water isn’t the strap style, it’s the WIND frequency. It just doesn’t transmit in the water. After a while swimming the watch stops looking for the signal. I’ve always used the “seek sensor” function after transition, but if a start and stop does the same thing, that’s even easier.
The problem with working in water isn’t the strap style, it’s the WIND frequency. It just doesn’t transmit in the water. After a while swimming the watch stops looking for the signal. I’ve always used the “seek sensor” function after transition, but if a start and stop does the same thing, that’s even easier.
Thanks everyone. I didn’t describe the problem well enough. The watch is turned off during the swim. I don’t need it during the swim. I turn it on in T1 to have HR numbers for the bike and run. The watch pairs with the strap right away.
The problem is that the HR numbers that the strap is sending to the watch are all over the place. It will usually be a crazy high number and stay on the same number for a few minutes then jump to another obviously bad number and so on for the rest of the bike and run. So the problem seems to be with the electrodes picking up the heart-rate. The salt water seems to interfere with the ability of the electrodes to get a good HR. It works great in training. It’s only in races when it acts up so I’m assuming that wearing it during the swim is causing the problem.
I have had exactly the same problem with my Polar strap. E.g. Wear the strap (not watch) in the swim (fresh or saltwater), switch watch on as I set off on the bike and it won’t pick up HR or else gets stuck on a crazy high figure. Bring the watch close to the strap to make it reconnect" doesn’t work either. Really annoying.
My guess - and it’s only that - is that the wearlink straps can absorb water, which the plastic straps cannot. So once the strap is soaked with water - either fresh or salt - it effectively “short circuits” it. I’d bet that the strap is designed to be soaked with sweat, not fresh or salt water. Unfortunately, I would guess this means there isn’t an effective solution for it. I might try rubbing the strap with contact gel first to “presoak” the strap with an effective conductor.
I also wondered if it was shorting out by having a lot of water on the back of the transmitter unit, forming a short circuit between the metal pin connectors.
Anyway, it is a problem of the past for me as I’ve just got an Garmin Edge 500 so will be using Garmin gear from now on.
I have worn mine in a recent 15K pelting rain and no issues. Stopping the watch or SEEK SENSOR on the QUICK MENU should help sync it back up. A previous post mentioned bringing the watch up to the transmitter, this works with all none WIND units, not with the RS800’s, CS600s or now the new CS500. I am in contact with the poster and lucky for him, I work in his area so he gets a visit. There can not be too much of a water barrier between the belt and chest throughout the run, versus a hot run and dumping tons of water over your head. I would make sure the belt is worn high enough on the chest/sternum area.
I need to belatedly show some love to Polar here. The day after I posted this I heard from the Polar rep “wvarta” by email and two days later he was in my office with a replacement Wearlink to try in my next race.
Polar support in both the US and Finland also wrote to me. The consensus is that if the Wearlink strap becomes saturated with salt water the conductivity of salt water may cause the electrodes in the strap to short out and fail to pick up the electrical signals when the heart “depolarizes” in each beat (I guess that’s where the company got its name from).
For a year wearing mine under my wetsuit in ocean swims it didn’t short out and gave a HR reading on the bike. It was only in the first race this year that it failed to pick up HR on the bike. So, it’s possible that the new Wearlink strap will work.
The ultimate solution for a triathlete with a Polar W.I.N.D. watch like the RS800 would be a heart rate strap like the T31 version with the electrodes enclosed in a watertight plastic strip. With these straps the salt water can’t get inside to short out the electrodes. Right now the W.I.N.D systems are only available in the Wearlink “cloth-like” strap.
Credit to Polar and wvarta, they’re reading this forum and they were all over this very quickly. I’ve got no doubt that they’ll continue to improve their classic product.
It was a pleasure meeting you in Somerset NJ, who knew you worrked blocks from my hotel which made hand delivery possible, oh and thanks for your kind words. See if you can find the Adidas shirt with the laminated sensors
So now you have to grab a waterbottle of fresh water and flush the Wear Link and see if this help neutralize it.
Another issue that I have found which causes swanky readings is due to the connectors having ANY corrosion. This happens when you dont wash off the connections after most every run/swim/ whatever. The straps seem to last about a year for me before they start with some corrosion and occasional poor connection which results in the exact symptoms which you describe. I think that I am actually due for a new one soon.
Here is one that I bet not too many have had though…just the other day I was running under some high transmission lines, and there was high humidity which was coming off the ocean, and it was HOT for Maine, and I was sweating. I could hear the buzzing of the transmission lines, and just when I was underneath the loudest buzzing, I felt what I was pretty darn sure was a shock (I have been shocked by discharding piezo before, so I know what getting shocked is). Pretty wierd, and a first for me.
