Pairing sensors (example heart rate) / avatar stops = why?

Hi,

Could you make it possible to add/pair your heart rate monitor without that your avatar suddenly stops? A few days ago, I entered an event and after 20 to 30 seconds (out of the pens) I noticed I had not connected my heart rate monitor. Went to the pairing screen and then your avatar looses all of its watt input and comes to a complete stop within a few seconds. Lost obvious connection with the bunch.

So … could you please make pairing your heart rate/cadence sensor available without your avatar has to stop?

Kind regards

Or they can just fix the bug where your Power,HR and Cadence does not show while in the pen. If that worked you would have seen that your HR is not showing and you could repair everything.

So back to your question = Why?
My thinking is that they did that because people would switch trainers mid ride to get ahead in races. They would switch for smart trainers to Z power for the climbs and then back.

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Hi,

Yes that reason would make sence. Perhaps they can modify it that only when you pair a new power meter/other source power meter, your avatar stops.

Bringing up the Zpower, brings also up another issue I have with Zwift. I always ride with 100% resistance, and I expierence this as a handicap with those 20%-40% riders when inclines suddenly drops (example 2nd corner on the FWD KOM). When riding 100%, your power always drops, something the 20-40% rides do not have (so they have an advantage). Or am I mistaken?

There should be events (definitly the Fondo’s), where everyone rides at a certain resistance (read 100%). #Plain leveling field.

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If you are running at 100% then you should be ready to change gears quickly like in real life. That is the idea of 100% to get closer to real life. The opposite is true for people running at 20% if there is a sudden incline they don’t feel it and need to change gears to up the power.

If that happen than we also need to limit the gears people use. Running a 56 48 chain ring vs a triple 40 30 22 is very different.

When an ANT+ dongle goes into pairing mode is loops through all the available channels (1 to 8) looking for devices and assigning channels. I do not think it is technically possible to only re-pair one channel. See page 9 of this doc https://www.thisisant.com/resources/an02-device-pairing

This is why a weak battery in a HRM can cause a drop out in your power source - because if the dongle goes into pairing mode it may drop and re-pair the trainer as well. Sometimes it is quick to re-pair, and not noticed because of 3 second power averaging. Other times it takes a while and you’ll see a drop in power. Some dongles pair quicker than others. And as you pointed out, entering the device pairing screen is like slamming on the brakes.

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Hi, thanks for the explination!
So better double check it before then!

I had the batteries on my V3 pedals die, had to change to the trainer power output… bunch gone!

I love Zwift but I agree with Koen. Why must an avatar stop pedaling to simply pair a heart rate monitor? This limitation of Zwift makes me want to scream and is the #1 point of friction and frustration for me in the game. There’s nothing worse than seeing your group ride off without you - even while you are still pedaling! If changing trainers/power meters is the potential concern, then isolate pairing for the HR monitor from pairing for the power meters.

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I had this frustration yesterday.

I either stop and repair = race over
Or I risk a DQ because my HRM disconnect.

Lose - lose

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This got me a HR DQ from Zwift Games stage 1 B yesterday. After the start I realized I’d not paired HR. So at that point I had to decided: lost the group and race for scraps which count, or do my best race and have it not show up on ZwiftPower? I went with the latter. (maybe there was a 3rd choice: drop out and do the race which started in an hour. I wasn’t thinking straight)

On RGT, if you paired power during a ride your power dropped to zero but you kept coasting. And if you paired HR during a ride, there was no issue: power remained. RGT is now gone, but the Zwift bug remains. And I have been consistent in my use of ANT+ HR.

So the following should happen:

  1. when pairing power, power can drop to zero, but don’t stop the avatar. Traditionally, the pairing screen is the only way to brake in Zwift. That’s weird.
  2. when pairing HR, don’t interrupt power at all.

I paired power and cadence and had to go find where I left my HRM.
Forgot to pair and started riding.
This would have been a good reason for a Coffee Break but as soon as you go to the pairing screen, you come to a stop.

I wish the CB could help this.

I hope it doesn’t ever change - the pairing screen is the quick way to change bikes in Zwift.

Lots of people use it to quickly slow down the avatar then jump to garage, change bike and then go.

Braking is desirable but there’s no need to combine it with pairing. I would make them discrete commands.

I assume it’s something to do with unpairing or changing the power source causing a problem if the rider is moving.

They’ve already got a similar solution in the garage, you can’t change bikes or wheels unless you’re stopped, but everything else can change.

It would require a separate way of stopping, but that is something that should exist anyway.