Garmin sensors connecting to 2 ANT+ units simultaneously

bikingjohn

I'd like to excute Workouts on my Garmin Edge 500 during my ride, but the Workouts won't start unless I've stopped and reset the ride (count as one Activity as it's reset).

Now I've another idea. Use my Edge 500 exclusively for Workout recording; at the same time my smartphone as another ANT+ head unit to collect Garmin Cadence/Speed sensor and Garmin HR sensor.

I'm not sure if the sensors could work with two ANT+ head units at the same time. If it's possible, I'd buy Suunto Movestick Mini USB Interface and use it on my Android phone with USB host.

gorseey

Yes this works fine , i have my Edge 800 and trainerroad.com running on my computer both collecting data from Paired ANT+ sensors when using the turbo.

chris_bass

I was going to ask the same thing thats good to know! i was worried it might get confused or something!

bobones

I'm pretty sure you don't need to reset the current ride: just stop the timer and start the workout. Same when the workout finishes: you need to restart the clock to continue, but I've never had to use the reset when doing workouts out on the road.

philwint

Does it also work the other way round?

i.e. can one Garmin device simultaneously connect to and receive data from two ANT devices eg HRM + Cadence monitor?

chris_bass

yeah, i have speed/cadence and heart rate working off mine (forerunner 405 and edge 500)

bikingjohn

bobones wrote:

I'm pretty sure you don't need to reset the current ride: just stop the timer and start the workout. Same when the workout finishes: you need to restart the clock to continue, but I've never had to use the reset when doing workouts out on the road.

Thanks!!!! it works! Stupid me didn't figure it out.

rich164h

bikingjohn wrote:

I'm not sure if the sensors could work with two ANT+ head units at the same time. If it's possible, I'd buy Suunto Movestick Mini USB Interface and use it on my Android phone with USB host.

I can't think why you wouldn't be able to do this, all the devices are doing (as I understand it) is transmitting. There's no two-way communications between the head unit and the sensor, so you should be able to set up two head units to pick up the transmissions from the sensors. I think the confusion comes from the terminology that's used. In garmin devices they use the word "paired" which is the same as in the bluetooth world where there is two-way communications between paired devices. The pairing in this case is to get the head unit to pick up the transmitted ID code so that it definitely picks up your HR monitor for example, rather than the guy who's cycling next to you. Maybe ANT+ as a protocol could be two-way but I'd be surprised if the simple sensors used in cycling actually work that way.

bobones

That's one of the fundamental difference between ANT+ and the new Bluetooth sensors: Bluetooth will only pair with one receiver. People use TrainerRoad software with a USB ANT+ receiver in their computers at the same time as their Garmin head unit, which proves that ANT+ sensors will transmit to multiple receivers simultaneously.

Hamilan

Hi,
I am trying to have two people in the same room wearing Garmin HR monitors and getting their data recorded in two different computers with USB ANT+ dongles, but so far I can only get both computers to display the data coming out of one of the hr monitors.
Is what I am trying to do even possible? Any suggestions of how to do it?
Thanks!

chris_bass

Hamilan wrote:

Hi,
I am trying to have two people in the same room wearing Garmin HR monitors and getting their data recorded in two different computers with USB ANT+ dongles, but so far I can only get both computers to display the data coming out of one of the hr monitors.
Is what I am trying to do even possible? Any suggestions of how to do it?
Thanks!

i'm not sure if this would work, but could you get them to detect the relevant heart rate monitors when they are not near each other (out of range of each other) and then it should stay locked on to the correct one even when in the same room.