kickr signal issues - please help

redvision wrote:

So quick update, spent the evening on to wahoo support and got nowhere really. They think it is an issue with the signal card as the bluetooth is dropping which is then causing the ant+ to drop as well. I can't imagine how a bluetooth signal drop could cause the ANT+ to drop as well, but from the data logs i had to send them this is their diagnosis.

redvision wrote:

They have offered to send me a replacement signal card but as the unit is brand new I think i will just send the unit back.
Not sure whether to accept an exchange or ask for a full refund.

redvision wrote:

a reflection of their smart trainers?

redvision wrote:

Slowbike wrote:

It's not Sale of Goods act - it's Consumer Rights (if bought after Sep 2015) - it's nothing to do with Wahoo either - it's the shop you have a contract with. The shop can take it up with Wahoo.

I'd request a return the item for a full refund due to faulty product - as it's (I asume) less than 6 months old it's assumed it was faulty at point of sale.

If you bought it using a card then contact the card issuer and inform them you have a disupute open with the retailer - don't forget to tell the retailer that too - card issuers have greater powers of pursation over reluctant retailers.

Thanks for this info.
Yes, it was bought on xmas eve and has been used twice since it was delivered.
I really didn't want to have to use the law unless absolutely necessary but i am getting nowhere with wahoo or the store so i think it might be time.

Dyrlac wrote:

[But agree with the legal position expressed above. Retailer's position is ludicrous]

Chip Hawkins Hi Guys,

Really sorry you are having issues. We are investigating with Zwift but so far have not found the smoking gun. There do appear to be a few different things being lumped together.

1) Something is causing the resistance to go away during rides: This one is the most troubling and unfortunately we have not been able to reproduce it yet in the office. We were primarily testing ANT in relation to this problem, from reading here it looks like it's definitely happening with BT and it appears iPad Pros. We're going to try to reproduce it today on our dyno with an iPad pro.
We have identified that when it happens the KICKR is somehow taken out of simulation mode and Zwift is sending grade commands that are being kicked back as error incorrect mode. Zwift is looking at handling this error and putting it back in sim mode. This should lead to a drop in resistance of a few seconds that will recover when the mode is restored by Zwift while we continue to try to capture in our debug environment and understand the root cause.

2) BT drops are occurring when using Zwift on iOS: BT on iOS is generally very stable and connections are extremely robust. We're going to keep working with Zwift to try and understand what's going on here. I've seen iPad pros mentioned several times which we haven't tested much with and also BT headphones. Because the iOS device shares a single radio for Wifi, BT Classic, and BTLE it is possible that they are struggling when doing multiple connections at once. We are working to ensure that our firmware and Zwift handle disconnects gracefully with a short loss in reported data being the worst part. We are also working to understand why we are seeing disconnects in the first place. We have not been able to reproduce this in our office yet either.

3) ANT drops occur when using Zwift PC and KICKR: ANT+ is locked to a single frequency, so much more susceptible to RF interference, especially in areas with lots of Wifi or BT traffic. Because it is a low power lossy protocol in the presence of lots of noise packets are lost. Anytime 8 packets are missed in a row the radio considers itself "disconnected" and goes into a search mode to resync with the transmitting radio. This presents itself as reported power going to zero on Zwift while it reconnects. It is possible to use the receiving radio (ANT dongle) in scan mode where the radio stays in receive mode 100% of the time and receives every message from every ANT device in the area. This can eliminate disconnects and likely the need for the extension cable and placing ANT dongles right next to the KICKR radio, but is a pretty major rewrite of the ANT implementation on Zwift's end. If you have the ability to set the Wifi channel on your router it is also helpful to set it to a fixed channel on the low end of the spectrum like channel 3. This will keep your computer and iOS devices from communicating over wifi on the same frequency that ANT uses. If you are in an area with lots of Wifi traffic this might not be possible, but can definitely help.

I'm going to work with our customer service group to make sure best practices and FAQs on our support site are up to date and useful to help with troubleshooting. Some of the information I read posted from our support group is not entirely wrong, but also not entirely right. It's not necessary to unplug KICKRs for 5 minutes to reset them. If you finish a workout the KICKR will remain in the mode it was left until 20 minutes have elapsed without the flywheel turning. Zwift can set the mode upon startup, so it isn't necessary to unplug and reply the KICKR to reset it. If you do want to reset the KICKR you need to unplug it for about 30 seconds to ensure the power drains from the capacitors and memory is cleared.

We're hoping to release new firmware next week hopefully in conjunction with a Zwift update that will minimize the side effects of the disconnects we're seeing while we continue to investigate the root cause.

thanks,

Chip from Wahoo