I did a lot of testing of configurations this morning and found the following:
Garmin Edge 530 controls the Kickr just fine through ANT. It is not using BT based on the lights on the Kickr. So I know ANT control works
This morning everything Zwift worked by connecting via BT through the Android Companion App - BUT I had to start each piece in a very specific order to get it to work repeatably:
Start Zwift on the PC all the way to the pairing screen (nothing to pair since Companion is not running yet)
Start Companion App
Connect Kickr, HRM, Cadence
Spin up for 10 seconds or more so all the connections are solid
Finally OK the pairings and move on to Zwifting
If I don’t follow this exact sequence, the following things happen:
6a. If Companion is running before Zwift PC, the Zwift sees all the devices immediately, pairs them immediately as it saw them last time, OK button gives spinning dial for a few seconds then automatically moves on to Zwifting. But nothing works
6b. If I do all but #4 above and don’t spin up, then when the course loads I get about 1 second of riding and all then Zwift drops all the devices. Power runs down to 0 with no HRM or cadence. I must hit ‘A’ to get back to pairings and reconnect everything.
Conclusion: From this, the best I can guess is my CYCPLUS branded USB ANT+ dongle is not a good match with Zwift.
Question: Does anyone have an ANT+ dongle you know works and would recommend? I see ZwiftInsider suggests the ANSELF and SUUNTO, though the SUUNTO is not available through Amazon right now. Any others that folks recommend?
Wow has this been a painful process. I hope it is just the ANT+ dongle, I’ll see when I can get another. I can operate with BT thru Companion with the necessary sequence until then. As David said, BT is a “dumpster fire” and at least in my case I had to get lucky and find the right sequence that makes it work. Want to get to ANT+ if at all possible.
Bob: you asked if this is a new problem. I’m brand new to Zwift so this is 100% a new setup. New trainer, ANT+ dongle, even a new clean build of Win10 on the laptop to make it a pain cave machine only.
THANKS to everyone for all your suggestions. If you have an ANT+ dongle you know works for you, I’d love to catch that.
I’ll reply to this thread in a few days when I hopefully get a new dongle and maybe it works so we have this for historical archive for the next person that goes through this mess.
Based on this it sounds like it might be something between your ANT+ and your PC.
Ant+ works with other devices like Garmin
You can calibrate your trainer using the Wahoo APP.
Zwift works through companion app.
Zwift does not work through ANT+ on your PC
Zwift does not work using BT on your PC
Zwift partially works on your phone via ANT+ or BT.?
It could be something with your PC receiving and processing the signal. Check your drivers and maybe the new ANT+ dongle will fix it.
Also, I would be curious to see if you can run BKool or RGT which are similar to Zwift with the same issues. I think they both have a free version that you can try a ride.
In ERG mode what are the watts asked for you to put down? Changing gears should NOT change the resistance. Only the Watts the game asks you to put down will change the resistance. The entire point of ERG is not to need to change gears. Am I missing something here or is that what you are expecting to see?
Ever tested with the built-in BT in your Notebook?
If your Notebook doesn’t have BT, try a BT dongle.
BT on Win10 should work fine by now. GPLama has switched to BT and said, it works well, no problems.
The only dumpster fire is BT over Companion to network zu client.
Thanks all. Many replies to reply to, all included in here. I’ll take them in order:
Bob. Thanks for the dongle recommendation. That aligns with what is on ZwiftInsider. I ordered one from Amazon. Results from the BKool test were interesting:
ANT+ does not work on BKool either. Though BKool gives more detail feedback. For my HRM and Cadence is says the signal is weak. Even when I put the dongle on a USB extension cable and hold it right next to the HRM or Cadence transmitter. The Kickr does not even connect, even when I put the dongle right next to it.
BKool connect via the PC’s native Bluetooth and works great. Interesting that Zwift does not even see any devices on the native BT. It clearly works with BKool
Bob and David: Cadence is not coming from my trainer because it is a Kickr Snap. A wheel on trainer, so it does not generate a cadence signal
Andre: Yes, our interpretation of ERG are the same. I must have described it wrong above. It is working via BT on the Companion, just not direct on ANT+
Ben: Yes I tried the native BT. Zwift sees no devices on BT. There is a caution symbol on the BT icon in the pairing screen indicating it’s not working to Zwift’s satisfaction I suppose. Interesting because BKool has no problem connecting via native BT on the PC. I’d love to just use native BT, far more range than ANT+, but Zwift is not happy with it on 2 different computers. BT through the CA sometimes disconnects at the start of a ride and I have to go back to pairing multiple times. Once it’s stable it seems to hold throughout a ride, but that can take many cycles to get it happy. A train wreck of a solution.
Interesting the BKool works with BT without any issues but two different computers running Zwift will not. Could something be interfering with the BT causing Zwift to not get strong signal? Do you have any headunits running at the same time? For the heck of it remove your cadence sensor and run your trainer without it, it is not required. Make sure all head units are off and insure that anything else that could be grabbing your BT is off like headphones, etc.
News Flash - It now works well on internal/native BT. The Zwift update that dopped last night appears to have changed something that now lets the computer’s native BT work fine. This is the case on both laptops I’ve been testing with. The older / slower laptop has rare occassional dropouts from BT, the newer / faster machine is rock solid. Who knows what they changed and why it affects the internal BT system, but it works fine that way now, so no ANT+ dongle needed.
I have already ordered another ANT+ dongle so I may open it and test with it for curiosity to see if this update magically fixed ANT+ as well.
Wow - reading your struggles sounds almost exactly like mine except I’m on a TACX Neo2T. I am now on my second Neo because the guys at Competitive Cyclist took pity on me and shipped me a replacement instead of forcing me to deal with Garmin. I figured after doing all this testing it must be the trainer not Zwift - but I’ve run a whole new bunch of tests on the replacement - same issues, including using a new Ant+ dongle that TACX makes (which is too short btw - doesn’t reach all the way to the trainer from a laptop on a trainer desk.) I am in a paid training program called BaseCamp that needless to say has many workouts presuming we’re running ERG. The trainer won’t run ERG or SIM. I’m giving up for today - I started working on it at 8:30 this morning. I’m so disappointed and frustrated - though I realize these are totally first world problems. I can ride under my own power on it - it’s just hard to do the workouts as precisely as written - and I generally work “too hard”. LOL. I have not tried running the program with the trainer on my phone. I guess I can try that “for fun”. I did try running the trainer on Trainer Road with no luck. Zwift does not recognize my native Bluetooth on the computer so I never used that. In fact I turned that off to rule out interference. I have submitted a support ticket to Zwift with some of the ride logs and Zwift Analyzer data. I’m glad you got yours running. Gives me hope.
Commenting on this for future readers of this thread. I purchased the Anself USB ANT+ dongle that ZwiftInsider and Bob recommended. It works great. I’ve shut off BT on the computer and just run ANT+ for the smart trainer, cadence, and HRM. It’s all rock solid. Wish I had simply bought this dongle from the very beginning.
Elizabeth - A couple things I could suggest to try:
Put the ANT+ dongle on an extension cable and get it closer to the trainer. It sounds like your computer may be a little distance form the Neo2T and that can have a definate affect.
Try the ANSELF ANT+ dongle Bob mentions above. You can buy it from Amazon with free returns so if it does not work, send it back. While you are at it, get a good quality USB extension cable for #1 if you don’t already have one
Have you tried connecting via BT through the Companion App (CA) on your phone. That connection can sometimes be a little flaky, but it generally worked for me. It uses Wifi to communicate between your computer and the CA then your phone’s BT to talk to the Neo2T.
Thanks JB. I am on my second dongle/extension now - the TACX branded one - it was too short so I used the extension I had with my first sensor (a Cycplus). On Tuesday, the first ride I tested the Tacx dongle was a fail, but Wednesday’s scheduled workout was the first time I felt ERG was trying to control the trainer. I tested it by toggling ERG off and my watts immediately increased as well as the road feel the trainer is supposed to produce jumped in because I was on cobbles. I would say that overall the watt compliance was weak and jumped up and down a lot in ERG - I am thinking it’s possible that is connected to the wattage “floor” of the trainer because for this workout there were 7 sections of zone 1-2 where the workout called for 95 watts. Zwift did ask me to send all my log files in, which I did but haven’t heard back. In the meantime I also ordered a 3rd ant+ and extension by COOPOO which is one of the riders in my group recommended. (I’ll remember Anself if I have to try a 4th!). Since the TACX dongle was pricey and isn’t long enough (2 meters - which is a real design flaw - why make a dongle with extension that can’t reach from just above the bike’s bars to the trainer unit?) if the next dongle works I’ll return the TACX dongle/cord. But mostly - this whole experience has been bad. I rode outside yesterday and today is a day off so fingers crossed the ERG works for tomorrow’s workout. And hopefully eventually the power will get less jumpy. I’m used to the old cyclops ERG head units that you had to manually change and they only set in 10 watt increments but they were steady. As for connecting via the CA - I have not tried that. I tried connecting directly with Zwift on the phone but the controllable box did not come up for a connection so I abandoned that. I will explore that route as well.
Connecting to your phone through the native Bluetooth would be a good test. Make sure that Bluetooth is enabled and that your trainer is not talking to another device via Bluetooth like a head unit. Also, let Zwift do the pairing to your trainer when your main screen comes up.
I found this in Zwiftalizer today. It specifically refers to the Tacx Neo 2 ANT+ problems:
" Disable old ANT+ protocols on Tacx NEO (possibly other trainers too) GPLama explains why better than I ever will. Watch [TACX Neo 2 Smart Trainer // Better ANT+ Signal How To] on YouTube. The gist is this - the trainer produces a data stream of ANT+ power data on one channel (old protocol), and a separate data stream of ANT+ FE-C power data on another, (there are other data channels too but let’s just focus on those two). Each channel is on a slightly different frequency close to 4.0 Hz, say 4.0 Hz and 4.005 Hz. Every 200 seconds the stream on 4.0 Hz and the stream on 4.005 Hz both try to open the single radio transceiver at the exact 1/4 second which results in a packet being dropped. This is an ANT+ channel collision. You can see it as a regular pattern on the Zwiftalizer chart for almost all smart trainers. The Tacx NEO is the only trainer I know of that allows the older ANT+ data channel to be disabled. It is called ANT+ Private in the Tacx nomenclature. One packet dropped every 200 seconds is not enough by itself to cause a power dropout in game, but every optimization helps."
This is really good detailed information. I know, or I read, that there are two generations of ANT+ adaptors. It is possible that the two channels transmitted by the trainer are to work with whichever ANT+ adapter version you have. So, your PC could have both old and new drivers installed. There is is link on how to determine which ANT+ you have and how to update the drivers.
Just a FYI and I don’t have any first hand knowledge but :
“ You need to make sure it is plugged in all the way. It will load in Windows but not work in Zwift if it is not seated correctly. It can be scary pushing hard on the tiny chip, but it gets easier after it is seated for the first time.”
I have done that. Gplama has been helpful. The key point is to toggle off “enable ant” in the tacx utility app. Update this week: sim is now working. Which is great. Erg is sort of working but the reaction time and smoothness of the power readings is poor regardless of how smooth I pedal. Just to see if there is any difference I am going to try zwift on a MacBook Air. It was my mom’s and I needed to get it cleaned up - picking it up today so we’ll see how that goes.