Is there anyone out there that can report (after one year of availability) how much better direct connect via PC is than ANT+/BLE…?
Thanks!
Got mine two days ago. Yesterday, it lost connection for 30 seconds, so i was dropped out of the pave partner group and my avatar did a full stop, because no power information was transmitted.
With BT, loosing connectivity, only lets the other riders disappear.
While the Acceleration with direct connect feels better, i will switch back to BT, because the riding experience is better.
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that is not true. If you see riders disappear then it is related to network issues.
Bluetooth and ANT+ only transmit power and cadence and HR data.
In my case, with direct connect, i have client side errors, with BT server side errors.
I don’t understand how Bluetooth can cause server errors.
What device are you using for Zwift and how do you pair your device.
What device are you running Zwift on and how is it connected to the network? The radio frequency of Bluetooth can interfere with 2.4GHz WiFi traffic…
Zwift running on dedicated zwift w11 pc.
Wahoo kickr v5, headwind, direct connect, climb
Pc connection via wlan, kickr via dircon ethernet cable to router.
If kickr is in this configuration, dircon connection is dropping after minutes so that the avatar does a full stop.
If kickr is in BT mode, no disruption is happening.
I have noticed that the router ports have 1gbit auto conf and the dircon only 100mbit. Change the router port to 100mbit. Wlll test tomorrow.
No new firmware for dircon. Still fw 1.0.
So as a reply to the thread opener, dircon does not work for me.
With your setup, I would want to test with the PC on Ethernet. Or verify that the PC is on 5GHz WiFi and not 2.4GHz.
With 100 megabit ethernet, you also need to know if duplex autonegotiation succeeded and both sides are in full duplex mode. I have seen situations where one side is full duplex and the other side is half duplex. When that happens there is a lot of packet loss. It’s not a very common problem. It would also be useful to know if you can see error counters for the interface on the router that’s connected to the trainer. That can also happen when you have a faulty cable.
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I appreciate the feedback, Victor…
PC is and was on 5GHz. New cables from PC to Switch and Dirco to Switch.
Today, a lot of dropouts on the WAN side. Also WLAN was not stable. Had to go back to BT between PC and Kickr. It may be the case, that I have to test again with new router / repeater firmware. That will arrive soon, as the manufacturer states.
I did not do a capture, but i think dircon is communicating over zwift backend to companion and pc.
Are you using a WiFi repeater that uses WiFi for backhaul to your router? And is the switch serving your trainer wired to the repeater or directly to the router? I’m not sure I understand your network topology, but WiFi repeaters should be high on the list of things to eliminate when troubleshooting. Powerline Ethernet is often more reliable. Or if the repeater can be wired to the router that would also be good.
That was the hint that helped.
Eliminated WLAN today and substitute it with Powerlan.
PC, Kickr connect via cat6 to switch to powerlan to router.
Iphone with companion app via wlan repeater to router.
Now, direct connect works without hickups. Not one single connection disconnected or something else.
Thank you.
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Out of lack of enough users reporting on dircon, last week, I bit the bullet and purchased one… I wired it to one of my Orbits, and so far so very good!
I used to have a micro drop every few rides (not big deal) but annoying going up ADZ -a complete distraction, and I am planning on a vEveresting… Now, I tested dircon weekend/today over several rides/workouts and “Zero” drops!!!
The initial connection is lightning fast… Just hoping nothing changes going forward…