I am TOTALLY frustrated with my connectivity with Zwift. At the moment, I’m glad I have had a free week to explore. My connectivity with Zwift has been less than abysmal. I wish it were not so. ANYONE who is a regular here and has no problems, I would greatly appreciate some input. Either I cannot pair or no signal detected. My sensors are Wahoo cadence & speed, coupled with CYCPLUS ANT+ plug in stick. I do not have smart phones, smart trainers smart bikes or any of the like. This afternoon, I spent 2 hours peddling my bike by hand, trying to get a signal, pairing. NOTHING. Then I come here after dinner, hop on my bike select RICHMOND route with my trainer disconnected and pedal away like crazy. All worked wonderfully well. After a kilometre, I stopped for a couple of minutes while I properly geared up. By that time, I lost the signals and my ride was over completely. WHY!? With this kind of connectivity, it is not worth me spending my money on something that doesn’t work. OR, is it my finger trouble, I don’t know, all I know is that it doesn’t work consistently. As I said, if ANYONE has some answers to this, I would be truly grateful. By the way, with those sensors etc, I’m using windows 10 on a pc.
How close is that ANT+ dongle to your sensors? It is sounding like it might be too far away. Generally you want to put the dongle into the end of a USB cable about 6’ long so that the dongle will be very close to the sensors.
Are you using a desk top or laptop?
Lap tops can run hot and start doing weird things.
I put my laptop on a cooling pad, basically a fan pad.
I think I have a bad USB port.
I switched to a port on the opposite side of my lap top and have had no problems.
I used to use an extension cord but think mine may have had a short.
I think the damaged USB port may have been from tripping over the cord on more than 1 occasion.
Make sure your sensors have fresh batteries and you can hear the soft “beep” each time the magnet goes by.
Look for a lead that includes a base (a sort of weighted disc) into which the dongle plugs. Garmin do one but there are much cheaper options. I bought one of the cheap ones, it included a no-brand dongle so I used it and its been fine.
David, I am very convinced that you problems have nothing to do with Zwift and that you would see the same issue with any other cycling app.
Your first step in troubleshooting would be to go to zwiftalizer.com
This is a free tool which enables you to drag log file from your last ride and get its analysis. The web site tells you where to find the log file, and Zwift stores logs for up to 10 of your last rides in the same folder (the naming convention is very easy to understand). The most important information will be quality of your connection, and whether or not you used ANT+ or Bluetooth. If Zwiftalizer.com tells you that your signal was extremely weak and connection was very poor, you need to either bring ANT+ dongle closer to your trainer or think about possible interference. It sounds like your connection is marginal. ANT+ rarely works beyond 15 ft (5 meters), but realistically one can only hope for a good signal within 10 ft (3 meters or so). It is a low power connection. If your PC is further away, you need to use an USB extension cable to bring your dongle closer to the trainer.
CYCPLUS ANT+ got quite a few negative ratings on Amazon. Maybe you simply got a lemon.
My dongle was about 2-1/2 metres away from my bike sensors, which, should be close enough. I have since returned my “CYCPLUS” ANT and am now waiting for my Garmen ANT. Garmen will not be received until after February 3 as they are currently out of stock. Projected shipping date February 4. I shall look into the links as you have suggested to try to troubleshoot some of the problems I have been having.
Thanks again to all who have been sending me tips etc, in trying to sort out my issues.
As many others have suggested, a USB extension cable would certainly help - a poor ANT+ antenna in a noisy environment at 2,5m is not close enough. Bring the antenna right besides the bike.
And as other have also said - this has nothing to do with Zwift. You would see the same behavior in any app using this connection.
Thank you. I will certainly look into purchasing an extension cable for my dongle. Heck, I could put my bike sideways beside the computer and then it would be less than a metre way!, lol but then I could not see the screen!. The trials and tribulations of modern technology. Maybe I will go back to my old 3 speed and ride around outside in all weather conditions, including this snowy weather I am currently living in.
Thanks to all who are sending me excellent tips!
If at first you don’t get far, keep peddling some more!
Hi David, one more thought: since you are using Wahoo sensors on your real bike, is there a possibility that you also have a bike computer on the same bike which you turn on and which also connects to the same sensors via ANT+? In general, devices such as speed sensors or cadence sensors are either not capable of talking to multiple devices in parallel, or may have difficulties with doing so efficiently even if they can. If you bike computer “captures connection” to your sensors before Zwift, Zwift would have to compete for the same sensors with the bike computer. You do not need a bike computer because Zwift shows all necessary information on screen, so if you have one, turn it off.
Good thought, but my other bike computer is a very basic one, its wired to the bike! Though, I do have an ancient one that is purely mechanical, and is in mph! Why do I have such stuff from 50 years ago? Maybe someone will want it badly enough! lol
ANT+ allows multiple connections - I always run a head unit attached to my ANT+ devices while they are also attached to Zwift. I have attached a 3rd device for past two Zwift rides troubleshooting an HRM device I have as well. You are probably thinking of BT
