ANT+ Problem(?) and Advice

General Discussion
1

Hi All,

Bit of advice needed if there is anyone out there that doesn’t mind.

Booted everything up ready to take part in the Zipp Classic at 5pm (UK), and all seemed to be normal, until literally seconds before the event started, at which point all four pairings just disappeared (Power, Control, Cadence and HRM) … all were connected using ANT+, as they have been for every Zwift ride for the last three and a half years without any previous issues.

Restarted Zwift, and everything reconnected but the Zipp events do not have late join, so booked to so at 8pm instead. Again everything connected initially but dropped while warming up in the start pens. This time early enough to do some investigating, as Zwift kept connecting then dropping all four. Tried moving the dongle from the extension cable to the laptop itself (no change). Eventually was able to ride the event by connecting the trainer using Bluetooth instead (but Garmin HRM doesn’t have that option).

Thinking this looks like the ANT+ dongle being on the way out (it has served me well since late 2017), but wondered whether anyone else has ever experienced anything similar and can offer some further insight before I just splash out on a new one. At least it is the cheapest part of the setup!

Could it possibly be as simple as needing to renew the drivers, for example?

Thanks in advance,
David

2

I had Any + weirdness and I seemed to solve it by moving the dongle to a USB port on the other side of my lap top.
I think there was interference from other things plugged into the other side.
I too saved some rides by quickly switching to bluetooth.
I also put my laptop on a cooling pad.
Not sure what worked but it does so I’m happy and not messing with it.

Good luck.

3

Some people do find their ANT+ dongles fail after a while, yes. One scenario that’s perfectly feasible is a bad solder joint that ends up failing as the dongle heats up through use, which just might explain the kind of thing that you’re seeing.

4

Thanks Steve, sounds like it might well be something like that … tried the dongle in all three USB ports and behaved exactly the same in all three, whether attached to the extension cable or plugged in directly.

Given that it all worked fine when connected by BT, will get a new dongle (it is only a cheap thing from Amazon after all) and give that a try. Cheaper than splashing out on a BT/ABT+ Heart Rate Monitor at least.

David

5

Definitely worth a try. These things are usually either the dongle, the extension cable or the USB port itself. You’ve eliminated two of those, so hopefully a new dongle will sort it.