TACX Genius w/ ANT+ connectivity issues

My setup is a TACX Genius (calibrated properly), connected through ANT+ to Zwift running on a PC.

In the last few days when I start an activity it feels like there is no resistance on the trainer and I can’t get to pass 60rpm, no matter how fast I’m pedaling.

I need several retries of re-pairing in order to see Zwift properly registering the power and the cadence. I hate it when this happens as it might even take me 20 minutes to resolve it.

I still haven’t found the troubleshooting pattern. I have tried first starting Zwift then the trainer, and the opposite as well, with all possible combinations of the two options given in the pairing screen (see screenshot).

What I have noticed by viewing the logs in the Zwiftalyzer, is that when I have a proper pairing, a second channel is registered (I have no idea what exactly it is).

Any ideas what this might be?

Do you have another app running in the background or do you have a head unit turned on?

Well, it’s Windows, there are lots of stuff running in the background, though after I boot up my machine, I run Zwift without doing anything else.

And your trainer connects to Zwift right away and you can see power and cadence numbers? When you click on the the Heart rate monitor box in the Zwift pairing screen does it show your HR Monitor?
Could your monitor be paired to something else like your IPad?

Yes, it connects right away, no problems there. But when I start the activity, I don’t have any resistance from the trainer and my cadence can’t get over 60rpm, no matter what. The HR monitor has nothing to do here, this behavior happens with the HR on or off.

Menos, I don’t think the connection is correct. If you stay on the pairing screen does the name of your trainer display in the power, cadence and control boxes? If you stay on that screen and pedal do your power and cadecne numbers change? It sounds like your trainer may actually be pairing with another device.

There is no chance my trainer is connected elsewhere. It is connected to Zwift on my PC. Cadence and power do change, cadence up to 60rpm and power up to 100W but with no resistance on the trainer.
If i unpair and pair again for several times, eventually it behaves properly.

The only other thing that I might recommend is getting your ANT+ dongle as close as possible to your trainer. Your IPad is BT so if your HR monitor works there but not on your PC it go be something with the ANT+ connection.

Bob, I appreciate your input, but I have to say that’s all irrelevant. The HR monitor has nothing to do with the problem. I don’t even own an iPad. The distance from the dongle to the trainer is 70cm and the ANT+ connection is excellent, Zwiftalizer shows no drops and no reconnects.

Yes, sorry about the IPad. Another user is having similar issues and I confused the two. Best of luck.

I have the exact same problem, using Elite Direto XR + PC + Ant+. I can’t exceed 65 rpm, meaning I get way behind in any race, no matter how fast/hard I pedal. Other numbers like seems to be OK. I have also connected HRM working without any problems.

If I connect to my Ipad via BT all numbers are correct, including cadence.

Did you find out the reason for this?

Your RPM figure has nothing to do with your speed in Zwift. You said that the other numbers are ok, so if your power figures were normal then this wouldn’t affect your speed. Something else must be going on here.

Does this happen all the time?

Sorry, you are right about other numbers. At the time I only noticed the rpm.

So, this is ant+ related.

I have tested restarts, soft and hard, plugging ant+ usb cable out and in, restarted trainer, tried pairing, and re-pairing.

Finally, I took the ant dongle out from the extension cable, and back in again, and it started working. I will see next time if the same procedure must be done again, or if it was only temporary. Possibly, the extension cable I found was not correct USB version…?

I have a workaround, and if it must be repeated, I will by a new extension cable.

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Hi Manos @MKelaiditis

For ANT+ troubleshooting, I tend to drag and drop the Zwift log files into this website.

It gives what appears to be a lot of useful information about the ANT+ connection with detailed descriptions of what appears in the graphs. Check it out.