My Zwift set-up has been perfectly reliable for years. Nothing has changed, but recently I’ve had two momentary dropouts during races, which utterly ruined the races.
I’ve e-mailed support for assistance. Maybe we’ll find something fixable. (Any suggestions?)
The most frustrating thing is that the connection re-establishes itself in about 5 seconds. But by that time the group is long gone and the race is over.
I’m not sure if Zwift has any sort of “grace period” built in for momentary connection issues. If not, could one be added? If there is one, could it be extended to 10-15 seconds? At least in non-elite races…?
Are you getting back into the race, but you’ve been dropped from the group? There isn’t really a way around that given how the game works. Everyone else has ceased to exist for you so you lose the draft.
Hi @Gru, welcome to Forums! I’m Francisco from Zwift Support.
I’m up for checking this out more to figure out what’s going on.
I took a closer look at your account and noticed some BLE disconnection problems with the HR and KICKR SNAP Power| Controllable Trainer over the past week—it’s been happening a lot. To get to the bottom of it, it might be a good idea to check out this article: BLE and ANT+ Interference Troubleshooting Tips
I couldn’t find multiple log-in sections, so there might be interference as this setup was working fine before as you said.
The game version is updated to 1.84.0 and judging by the firmware your trainer has: 2.3.63, you have: KICKR SNAP (2017), which is updated based on the Wahoo page.
A clean fresh installation of the game, resetting your devices, and turning off all BLE signals. Then, turning on only the BLE devices you plan to use with Zwift; could do the trick most likely.
I never leave the race. Something loses connection and my avatar stops, and the race rides off into the distance. By the time the connection re-establishes there’s no chance I’m going to get going and catch up.
I don’t see much in the BLE and ANT+ Interference Troubleshooting Tips that seems applicable. I’m connecting from the KICKR directly to the computer’s built in bluetooth. The KICKR is 45 inches away from the computer with nothing but air between them.
The computer says that bluetooth is operating normally. I checked for updates to the driver and Windows says “The best drivers for your device are already installed.”
That’s not what’s happening to me. Seems like you’re having a disconnection from the Zwift server and I’m having a disconnection from my trainer. When it happens to me, my avatar stops and I can still see the other avatars as they ride away.
Built in Bluetooth on PCs varies a lot in terms of antenna quality, different chipsets, etc. So if you are running on Windows, you might consider getting a well-tested Bluetooth USB dongle and putting it on an extension cable so its antenna is physically separated from the other transmitters in the PC. I use a TP-Link UB400 (Bluetooth 4.0) on a 2m extension cable and it’s very stable. I think I’ve had one dropout in the last year. Alternately, if your Bluetooth adapter supports the use of an external antenna, you could get an extension cable for the antenna itself.
For advice about which one to buy and how to set it up, I recommend these guides:
i had dropouts in a couple rides recently and i narrowed it down to:
i had two bluetooth adapters plugged in (i put in a new pcie wifi card a few months prior and and was already using a usb adapter before that), which were probably conflicting with eachother
i added a gpu the size of a small cat and i dont think my 500w psu liked it so i swapped that out for a bigger one too
so far so good, couldn’t tell you which one, or either, was actually an issue though.
Only thing I can say is start with Zwiftalizer.com to get more info on what’s actually happening.
What version Kickr do you have? If you have a V5 or V6, it might be worth getting the stupid dongle and doing direct connect. I did and it is rock solid at all times, and the 10Hz power updating is great in racing.
The videos were very helpful. Thank you. I already follow most of the tips but did check performance settings and such.
I also followed the breadcrumbs and processed a few logs on zwiftalizer. Some days there are several bluetooth disconnects. Some days, none. Yesterday there was just one.
I’ve ordered a bluetooth dongle and a USB extension cable.
I followed Mike’s instructions in the video above.
Removed all connected Bluetooth devices.
Uninstalled the internal Bluetooth.
Disabled Bluetooth in BIOS.
Added Bluetooth USB dongle on the end of a 6’ USB extension cord.
Placed the dongle 2’ from the trainer (not in the line of sight path of any other signals).
What brand of dongle? I have a TP-Link that has stayed connected from 15 feet away.
A couple of things to try:
Go into Device Manager and delete all BT drivers and re-add the Windows driver
A bit more drastic: reinstall Windows and start fresh in the Registry.
Do you live in a crowded WiFi environment or have WiFi in the house? Try changing channels. I have had WiFi interference from my neighbor across the street that is over 200 feet away.
Dropout in Zwiftalizer.
It’s also a TP-Link Bluetooth USB dongle.
I’ve got WiFi on channel 6 (avoiding the not-recommended channel 10). I did sweep the area some time back and choose a channel as far away for any others as possible. It’s not a terribly crowed WiFi environment.
I think I’ll monitor it for at least a few days before re-installing Windows. I did already uninstall/reinstall Zwift.
I did already uninstall/reinstall Zwift.