Polar CS200 - problems with cadence mount - HELP!

kenbaxter

Not the best press but bit the bullet and bought a Polar CS200 Cad HRM/computer. Should have heeded the reviews - can't get the cadence sensor to work for love nor money. I'm assuming either the sensor is duff or the unit doesn't receive anything.

How can I test this? Held the cadence sensor few inches from unit and passed magnet across it numerous times - I presume this would create a signal? Any tips to working out if it is duff?

Thanks.

Eddy S

I have cadence sensors for a CS200 mounted on 3 of my bikes and haven't had a single problem with getting any of them working or continuing to work.

Your sensor might be duff but have you checked the setting under the menu "Settings", then "Bike Set" and ensured that "Cadence" is set to ON for whatever you have as your current bike? (It can be "off" for bike 1 and "on" for bike 2 if you so wish).

Bad press? What bad press? It isn’t warranted. I've had my CS200 since they were released autumn '05 - it works every time, gives me all of the data I need reliably and the unit only mildly misbehaves when the batteries for it or the chest strap starts going flat. I know the manual isn’t the best but I reallty don't understand why folks have so many difficulties with it :?:

kenbaxter

Yes. Its definitely "on". When its on you get a "CAD" symbol, and when its off this disappears.

Think the sensor is duff. When you move a magnet near the speed sensor it "chirps", presumably setting up the signal. Nothing from the cadence sensor.

Not a good start, would have expected a Polar product to work flawlessly out of the box for a 90 quid bike computer!

Eddy S

I have my CS200 set up for auto start so your experience may vary...

The CS won't auto start just turning the pedals and you don't get the same 'chirp' if just trying to get a cadence reading. Also, the cadence sensor is a lot slower to react and provide a reading. It needs the magnet to be passing it for a while to generate a read out, not just one or two passes.

I'm sorry to hear that you having a bad time with the unit - it's just something I've not experienced with it.

kenbaxter

Eddy.

Thanks for you help.

If you put auto start to off, then start it, and with the bike on a turbo, or just spin the pedals say backwards, do you get a reading on cadence or does the speed sensor have to be working for the cadence to start? Have tried passing a magnet past the cadence unit as it is now off the bike but still nothing?

Cheers.

Eddy S

Fortunately my track bike is in my office for training on the rollers so I have just tried a couple of things:

In auto start mode, I span the front wheel just to get the display working, then stopped the wheel. I kicked the pedals over and the got a cadence reading on it’s own.

I then set it to manual start, pressed the start button and then kicked the pedals over again and got a cadence reading.

The front wheel doesn’t have to be moving to get a cadence reading/output but in both cases it took between 10 and 20 seconds for the 1st cadence reading to register – I said it was slow!

Just one more thing – make sure the magnet sweeps past the sensor literally as close as you can get it. All of mine are set up with only 1 or 2 mm clearance.

Oh, and one last thing: if you change a setting, turn the unt off then back on before trying to see if the the new setting works.

Hope that helps some more. 8)

richa

Ken,
Mine was a little but tricky to mount but works OK. It;s almost impossible to get working by "passing the magnet over the sensor" you need to actiually mount the magnets. The give it quite a few revelations of the pedal.

Dave Cornwall

Mine works when the sensor is within 4mm of the magnet. I've noticed though that it doesn't read until I've been pedaling for about six seconds. same thing happens on a ride, if I coast, it takes about six seconds after I start pedalling before it reads again.

Hope this helps

Dave

kenbaxter

Many thanks for these comments. Re-installed it all again but no matter how hard I try, the cadence sensor is doing nothing! Am giving it up as dead. Shame as it looks like a good product, just can't understand how something at that price and with a name like Polar goes out as a duff. Next battle is to get the online retailer to refund!

Once again thanks for your efforts on thisi - if I get a replacement I'll refer back to this thread.

Ken

Steveorow

I had the same problem when I purchased a year ago . Had been using POLAR products for about 10 years and their Tech Support have always been good . Phoned POLAR ; they said send the the sensor back to them . I got a replacement 3 days after the call to them . Worked fine with the replacement .