Heart rate monitor chest strap

My Garmin Heart rate monitor chest strap is detected on my Garmin bike computer but recently it has not been detected in zwift. Any ideas.
The Tacx smart trainer is detected by the way

Which monitor is it and how are you connecting it to what device?

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Hi Stuart
It’s a Garmin chest strap but I’ll have to check when I get home precisely which one it is. It’s worked OK on zwift till recently. I connect to zwift on my laptop and the smart trainer HRM strap cadence sensor and speed sensor connect via a Usb ANT dongle

Ok, give us full details.

The HRM-2 / 3 are fairly bulletproof.

The Dual less so in terms of connectivity.

Simple question, did you try a new battery? Different devices will have different abilities to detect stronger or weaker signals.

if you have a smart trainer do you really need the speed and cadence sensor?

is the dongle on a usb extension cable so it is closer to the trainer/bike?

Hi Mike
The rear wheel runs on the smart trainer so I presume I still need the speed and cadence sensor.
yes, the dongle is on a usb extension cable so it is closer to the trainer/bike.

Hi Tom
I did wonder about trying a new battery but I assumed that if my Garmin computer can detect the strap then it must be ok.

No, you shouldn’t need the speed sensor at all. Cadence might be needed if that is your preference (it isn’t needed for Zwift to work, but nice to have).

What smart trainer do you have? Tacx…? The Tacx Flow has built in cadence, so you wouldn’t need it at all.

It can’t hurt to give that a try. BT and ANT+ receivers are going to be of different quality, different chipsets, etc. My laptop can stay connected to my BT headphones for a longer range than my phone, for example. If a battery is on its last legs, it’s possible that one device simply can’t pick it up anymore when another can. It’s an easy enough thing to check too.

I’d definitely give what Tom is saying a try. Low battery is often the cause of these sorts of issues.

I have a Tacx Bushido trainer. I’ll put a new battery in the chest strap. I can’t find a model number etc of the strap but I’ve attached a photo.

Some kind of Bluetooth sniffer can be helpful to understand what’s out there. I use BT Inspector (works on Apple products). The free version is more than adequate. There are similar things for Windows/Android.

I think Tony’s HRM is only compatible with Ant+

Also, have you washed that strap lately? I have the same one and find that it can get a bit wonky if not cleaned regularly.

Hi Nigel
I’ve never really thought about washing it. :face_vomiting: Maybe i should. I wipe it with a damp cloth every now and then.

Model should be printed in nearly invisible type on the back of the snap-on gizmo

Yeah I had a look there. The writing is very small and is black on a black background. I’ll try again

I think it’s a Garmin f3arna00 chest strap