I am having low cadence readings too. I switched from a desktop Mac to Apple TV4K and picked up a 4iiii heart rate monitor to bridge my Garmin speed/cadence sensor to Bluetooth. My trainer is a Kickr Snap. Zwift looks much better on the ATV but I am not getting reasonable cadence readings. I can be pedaling easily at 90+ rpm but the reading on Zwift will be only about 65. Sometimes I can stop pedaling and the reading will remain at 65. Occasionally I can drop cadence to 40 and the reading will climb up into the 70s. If I shut Zwift down and start the 4iiii app on my phone, the cadence reading will be correct.
I cannot figure out where in the process, sending or receving, the problem exists so I don’t know who to contact.
@Mark_Weiss_AZ
There is a known step you have to take with the Viiiiiva HRM to pair it to Zwift. Because you’re able to pair and pass data to the game app, I’m not sure that this is going to help your specific case, but it’s worth double-checking.
Yes. I renamed the HRM to Viiiiva and now it does not seem to work as anything but a heart rate monitor. It is no longer picking up data from the Garmin speed/cadence sensor.
This morning the ANT link was not working at all so I removed the Viiiiva’s batter for about an hour. Before reinstalling the battery I removed the HRM from the devices lists on Zwift and the Viiiiva phone app. Installed the battery and started fresh. With Zwift off I paired the HRM with the Viiiiva app, checked that it worked, then added the Garmin ANT+ speed/cadence sensor. While I did not receive a message that the Garmin sensor had been detected, turning the crank showed that the signal was being received. Low rpm and high rpm read correctly. Next step was to start Zwift. I had to choose the HRM from the list and the same for speed/cadence. Both seemed to register appropriate readings on the devices screen so I started a ride. I had time for only five minutes, but all readings seemed appropriate. Changes in cadence seem to require three to four seconds to register, but I was able to see 40 rpm to 110 rpm and back to zero. I ran through this a few times and the readings remained consistent. I admit that I did have a bit of worry the first time I ran the rpm up through the 60-ish range.
I’m back to the Viiiiva not working again. Low cadence readings have been occurring pretty regularly (confirmed by operating my Garmin Edge Explore simultaneousy) and now I’ve lost heart rate readings. Garmin was picking up HR but it was not appearing on Zwift. I reset all of the components again and now I can receive HR only with the phone App. Additionally, the phone app will no longer pair my Garmin speed/cadence sensor. Error message every time.
Even replaced the new battery in the Viiiiva. All of the components work flawlessly on their own, but when they need to interact it all goes wrong. I purchased the Viiiiva strap in order to avoid replacing ANT+ components already on multiple bikes. It may be better to just get a set of the readily transferable Garmin strap-on sensors and ditch ANT+ altogether.
I’m nine months late to this party, so hopefully you were able to get these issues sorted out. But I thought I would share my own experience in case anybody arrives here looking for guidance.
I’ve had a similar experience with the Viiiiva a couple of times, and ignoring Occam’s Razor, I started the problem solving each time by looking for the the most complicated explanation possible. I shut down, re-booted, uninstalled, re-installed, replaced batteries in Garmin sensors, repositioned them, and on and on. And every time, the problem ultimately turned out to be the battery in the Viiiiva. In my case, it appears that 15% battery life is the tipping point where I start to get signal drop on Zwift. First I lose wattage, then cadence, and finally heart rate. On both occasions I installed a “new” battery which it ultimately turned out did not have enough charge to kick things back up. So, my general advice is, whenever you start to get signal drop, assume that its time to replace the battery in the Viiiiva, even though it may not be completely dead. Also, don’t cheap out like I tried to do with “dollar store” batteries; spend a bit more to purchase premium batteries. Additionally, don’t just throw a new battery in without following the specific instructions for battery replacement outlined in the Viiiiva manual, which includes instruction for discharging the pod before installing the new battery. Next, I found it helpful to confirm that all components were connected and working together by getting on the bike and checking this in workout mode of the 4iiii app (where you can also confirm battery levels). This will help you isolate the problem; if it’s not working there, you will obviously not be able to pair to your AppleTV/computer or Zwift. In my case, once that was confirmed, I still needed re-connect all of it to Zwift, which included re-specifying power source and trainer information. Be sure to shut down the 4iiii app before attempting to re-connect all of it to Zwift.
So for me at least, at the end of the day all of my problems were related to a low battery, complicated by improperly installing a “new” battery that had only a 15% charge. Ride on.
No soluiton was ever found. Viiiva eventually told me to take it back to the store. The store told me that they are no longer a Viiiva vendor and that I should have returned the HRM sooner. Beyond 30 days I was on my own. Viiiva offered an exchange, which I took, but not a refund. Refunds they said, was the reseller’s responsiblity. Changing batteries, changing configurations, changing start-up procedures, nothing worked. The replacment device exhibited the exact same issues as the original. The effective solution turned out to be CABLE. The CABLE device took longer to set up but has worked flawlessly since.