Power meter or Trainer paired to Zwift

mattitheowl
mattitheowl Posts: 72
in Indoor training and turbo forum
I've always ridden on Zwift with my Tacx Bushido doing the power and controlling the resistance but I got a new power meter and thought I'd pair that with Zwift so that my numbers are consistent with outdoor rides. It seems to have stopped the trainer from controlling the resistance though. In the pairing screen it still says the trainer is controlling the resistance but it isn't actually making it harder on the hills, all that happens is that when I go up hill my power will stay constant and my speed drops on the screen. What am I doing wrong?

Comments

  • gethinceri
    gethinceri Posts: 1,517
    power meter, always
  • bobmcstuff
    bobmcstuff Posts: 11,196
    https://zwiftinsider.com/getting-started-power-meter/

    Connect PM as power source and the trainer as controllable.
  • mattitheowl
    mattitheowl Posts: 72
    bobmcstuff said:

    https://zwiftinsider.com/getting-started-power-meter/

    Connect PM as power source and the trainer as controllable.

    That's exactly what I've done but it's just not providing any variable resistance. It just feels flat. It used to bring me to a near standstill on a 20% gradient, yesterday I didn't notice it until I saw my speed drop to 3mph even though I was still doing my FTP at 90 cadence!
  • Dorset_Boy
    Dorset_Boy Posts: 6,918
    Were you in Erg mode?
  • mattitheowl
    mattitheowl Posts: 72
    Dorset_Boy said:

    Were you in Erg mode?

    That only gives me the option in "workouts" and not just on free rides as far as I can tell.
  • thistle_
    thistle_ Posts: 7,146
    I assume you've got the Bushido Smart, not the regular Bushido?

    In simulation mode your power shouldn't affect the resistance of the trainer.

    On Bluetooth at least, I've found that Zwift sends the "indoor bike simulation" data to the trainer (wind speed, grade, rolling resistance, wind coefficient) and then it's up to the trainer to decide what to do with it. Apparently it's the same with ANT+ but I haven't tried that.

    * Have you tried turning up the trainer difficulty in Zwift to 100% and going for a ride up the Alpe or the KOM? That would definitely tell you whether or not the resistance is changing or not. I have my trainer resistance set to about 30% and I don't really feel gradients below 5% but my power numbers go up as I'm pushing harder.
    * Have you tried out a simulated ride using the Tacx software with your new PM, to see whether it's the trainer or Zwift?
    * I think the Bushido Smart only works as a controllable over ANT+. If it can connect to Zwift using Bluetooth have you tried that? (or vice versa)
    * Can you try connecting your Bushido as a power meter to another app (e.g. IPBike, Strava, nrfConnect), then trying Zwift again to see whether the Bushido's power meter just needs to be connected to something to get it to work as a controllable?

    It sounds like the sort of thing Tacx tech support should be able to help with. I'm not sure how good they are at responding to support requests though.


  • mattitheowl
    mattitheowl Posts: 72
    So it worked fine controlling the gradient until I changed the power to the PM on the bike. Then it just felt flat. No matter the gradient I could still just sit at a constant cadence, with no change to the trainer. It's connected to Ant+ (as far as I can tell). I'm going to try pairing it up as the power again tonight and check that it still controls the grade but it's coincidental that it stopped when I changed the power to the bike.
  • mattitheowl
    mattitheowl Posts: 72
    I tried it again last night and it seems to be working. I'm wondering if the Ant+ was just out of range as it had a bit of a moment the other day where it dropped all my sensors mid ride. Thanks for all your help.

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