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I got a turbo a couple of months ago and have been trying to get involved with a bunch of mates who do regular races over the winter to keep a bit of fitness up. On the occasions when it works, it's pretty good, but unfortunately it only works about 50% of the time. The other 50% I have some sort of disconnection such that I miss the start of the races, and it's beginning to piss me off. Other times the turbo connection will drop for a few seconds mid ride, and that means getting dropped with naff all chance of getting back to the group. The software seems extremely clunky, for something which is paid for by so many users.
The problem seems to be around the bluetooth connections to the Kickr Core and Garmin HRM. I've had most success (i.e. about 50%) connecting directly to the laptop (Dell Inspiron from about 2015...). A lot of the time it'll say No Signal though. I did try connecting via the Companion app, but it doesn't seem able to support both devices - the HRM says connected, but just returns 0bmp all the time. Probably doesn't help that my phone is also from about 2015 so possibly the old Bluetooth is to blame?
I really don't want to buy a new phone or laptop just to allow me to ride indoors. Would it be worth getting a bluetooth or ANT+ dongle, long USB cable, and place said dongle somewhere nearer the turbo and HRM? like under the saddle perhaps? Which would be better? Would be grateful for any tips, as I'm on the verge of flogging the blasted turbo and buying some new wheels instead.
Cheers!
I recently got turbo and had similar issues. Got a Ant dongle and no issues now with hrm, turbo and cadence sensors - never any connection issues. So may help sort it for you - was a cheap attempt fix and works great.
Edit - I didn't bother with cable as laptop is only about 5ft from every so don't see the need.
Edit again - I got anself dongle from amazon, seen few places recommend it as is multi channel can cope with multiple inputs.
Thanks. Will give the ANT+ a go then and see if it improves.
Can you borrow a modernish phone for a few hours from wife/kids to test ?
Anrdoid/Apple really does work well from a connection point of veiw.
We have a cheap ant+ dongle and have no issues with HRM straps (garmin + wahoo) and Tacx turbo. The dongle is about 1ft away from front wheel.
I've had similar issues, the whole setup is quite fragile at times so it's been lots of trial and error to see what works.
Most recently I've had a reliable setup (using a MacBook) by using a ANT+ dongle (cheap from eBay) along with a USB extension cable. The ANT+ dongle simply sits on the floor under the bike.
I then connect both my trainer and HRM via ANT+ (selecting the "FE-C" named options that come up I recall) but also go to the effort of actually disabling Bluetooth on both my phone and laptop. This probably isn't needed but at one point things were connecting via different protocols and it was messing up, so I keep them disabled out of habit now.
But now it all works pretty solid. I used to get terrible trainer lag over Bluetooth previously. Also with ANT+ you can get the log files from Zwift to analyse for dropouts with https://zwiftalizer.com/.
I'm not sure this sounds like your issue but do you have BT headphones connected at all?
I was plagued with various gremlins until I switched back to wires, been fine ever since.
Good point above, that was another setup issue I had, multiple devices trying connect so disabled phone Bluetooth. Once got dongle not had any further issues, don't know if its a priority connection?
As above, wearing bluetooth headphones kills my mac mini bluetooth connections to the trainer.
Zwift will comfortably run ANT & BT connections - I leave the trainer/cadence/controller on BT and have HR on Ant.
Had similar problems and read somewhere that bluetooth is a 1 to 1 connection. Correct me if this is not true. But since then I've checked that I've turned off bluetooth on the phone before hand and it's all worked fine.
Trainer through bluetooth.
HR is through a cheap ANT.
Similar Issues on BT
ANT+ from Wiggle - all good now
I’m not a Zwift user but I do have a Kickr Core. I literally just use it with the 2020 iPhone SE. Bluetooth connection to the trainer, a cadence sensor and a hr monitor. I then run Bluetooth headphones with Spotify off the same phone. Touch wood it all works perfectly. Phone is on the handlebars so not too far from the turbo itself. I believe you can connect some sensors to the Kickr directly then use that to just make one connection to the computer you’re using....might be worth trying that?
Don't forget that the issue could also be your wi-fi, a weak signal that drops every so often will cause the same issue.
I'd suggest stripping it back to a basic system first of all to eliminate as many variables as possible.
First for me would be: Borrow an iPad, do a race with the mates with only the Turbo connected and without the HRM connected.
If this causes problems, then the issue is your wi-fi (also a possibility it could be a dodgy Turbo but this would be less likely). Look at solutions to get a stronger more reliable signal, extenders, mesh etc
If this doesn't cause problems, then use the HRM Monitor next time
Next time, use the laptop with just the Turbo, if an issue, try an ant+ dongle
etc.....
I use Apple TV, Wahoo HRM and Tacx Turbo all connected via Bluetooth, running off WiFi and have zero drop out or connectivity issues.
Did dither over whether to use Apple TV and TV or iPad etc but am glad I went with the Apple TV option - got a reconditioned unit from Apple very cheap.