Wahoo Kickr Core Not Reading Power

Day and Night. As soon as I plugged the Neo in it was already connecting to all sensors. I was literally surprised when I looked up at the monitor and saw everything was connected. Wow. It was a battle with the Kickr. I almost had to break out the tin foil to get a connection. You old timers will know what I am talking about. :slight_smile: So far I am impressed. I see two differences. First I am riding a mountain bike and only have a 28 tooth front chain ring. The response on the flat with Kicker was that the cadence went up more than real world with almost no resistance. With the Tacx Neo it felt more real to life in the cadence and resistance. I only rode about five miles so don’t take this as gospel. A couple times I sprinted to catch up with a faster rider 500+ watts. What I found was, when I got off it and tried to go to a lower cadence and power output the resistance stayed higher than real world. I haven’t even read the manual for this thing so I could be doing something wrong. So far I am happy with it. Remember, I am a newbie and only road it five miles.

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New Core arrived yesterday (via next day air) and everything worked as expected last night (10-Jan.) I thought it was a pretty fast turn around given that support was engaged the morning of 4-Jan.

Of course longevity is the key so I’m hopeful, but withholding saying it’s fixed until I get several more rides in.

Unfortunately, this seems to be a systemic problem across units produced within the past few months. I purchased a Kickr Core back in November, but waited until after Xmas to use it. Upon pedaling, it started making horribly loud grinding noises, so I got in touch with CS and they promptly sent out a replacement.

Fast forward to last night, I get the new one all set up and ready to go, perform a Spindown with no issues. This morning, I load up TrainerRoad, connect the Kickr, and perform another Spindown within the TR app to make sure we’re all set on calibration. But the moment I switch over to the FTP test on TR, the speed/power signal drops, despite showing the green connectivity on the app and solid blue light on the Bluetooth indicator. I tried shutting off all other Bluetooth devices in the room (HR monitor and wireless headphones), thinking the signal may be experiencing interference, but to no avail. So after another wasted hour of tooling around with the thing, I gave up.

(I realize this a Zwift forum, so I’ll also mention that I flipped over to Zwift after thinking that maybe TR was buggy, but got not power/speed readings within the Zwift program either).

Spoke with Wahoo on the phone today after sending an angry email this morning and they insisted on sending a 3rd replacement. I pushed back and requested that we explore other options, including a full refund or upgrade to the KICKR18. Based on the commentary above, it seems like the upgrade isn’t going to fix the problem, so guess I’ll be asking for my money back too. What a huge inconvenience and annoyance from a reputable exercise tech company. For a $900 investment, I certainly expect better than this!!!

I just ordered my Tacx Neo (several minutes ago) … hope it’ll arrive soon … as I really lost my patience (and what is even worse, I don’t enjoy my indoor riding now … just because of trainer’s issues )

Some news … my Kickr “developed” strong clicking sound today … so definitely … for now, I have “full spectrum” of weird sounds … drone/vibrations … screaming/scrub … and finally clicking … well done Wahoo, well done :-/

I’m done with this sh*t … I mean I’m done with Wahoo basically … I’ll try to ask for the refund later … and will see what gonna happen. And if not … who cares …

I really need a functional trainer now … that’s important to me … I had a serious knee injury last autumn and after surgery, I need continuously rehabilitation (it means I need/should to ride trainer almost every day) … I can’t waste my precious time with non-functional sh*t … that’s all … I don’t want to be rude … but this is the reality

I just hope Tacx Neo will accomplish my needs …

Another “chapter” is … what the h_e_ll should I do with my quite new Kickr Climb (which I got as an early Christmas present from my family to complete Kickr trainer ? ) This Climb unit is great, works flawlessly, but as far as I know it can’t cooperate with Tacx Neo … so probably gonna/have to sell it. But to whom? And for what penny? Probably another $$$ loss … :confused: Not happy …

Never mind … first thing first … I’m looking forward to my new trainer - NEO, now …

Add me to the list of folks with zero power/speed. Given the number of complaints and the details of what the complaints are, I’m guessing that Wahoo got a bunch of bad boards and/or sensors from one of their suppliers. Whoever is in charge of Q.C. at Wahoo has some explaining to do. Hopefully Wahoo is smart enough to admit what is going on and be honest about the details and status of the fix

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Add me to the list of people who keep having problems with the new Kickr line up.

I was previously using a Kickr Snap in our insulated, but not heated, garage and it was rock solid. It could be 30 degrees in there for a week straight and the thing would never stop working. Fast forward to this year and we buy a Kickr Core and the first time temps dip and thing begins to stop working. We got a replacement for it and all was well, and sure enough this week we get cold temps again and it just stops working.

Well, I can announce some “evolution” of my Kickr 2018 trainer … I did another ride today, and …

  • strange “scrub/squeal” sound (you can find the link in my post above) disappeared …

    good news? Well, I’m not sure, as …

  • as it was just replaced by “well known/famous” clicking sound … very loud and, believe me, very very unpleasant … as it is accompanied by a lot of vibrations going through bike’s frame … especially while at higher speeds …

Huh … it’s nightmare, isn’t it ? Anyway, I hope this “story” will end soon, as I’m waiting for the delivery of my new trainer - Neo (hope it comes next week)

P.S. Sorry if you find my posts repetitive and thus annoying a little bit … I just believe the more people are aware of this problem, the better …

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The same issue here. I’ve just received a new Kickr core and it does not measure any speed or power. I’ve tried everything they recommend, customer service is closed on Weekends…so I guess I’ll go through the ordeal of exchange, etc during my working hours. It does not make me feel at ease to see that this is evidently a widespread problem…I wish I had been aware of this BEFORE buying

Update for Godmother_Fox My Neo is working well, Using a mountain bike with a small chain ring limits my speed on the flats but is fine on the hills in Zwift. Getting the hang of it now.

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I’ve now blown out three KICKR Cores in the space of two months. Customer support is always very helpful, but I’m going the KICKR 2018 replacement route before giving up on them completely.

They’ve been a great company in every other regard, so I hope they can get to the bottom of this soon.

Hate to pile on, as Wahoo seems like a good company. But I’ve now gone through two Kickr Core’s, both failed in the same fashion. BLE pairing works fine, but zero power reading. Wahoo seems responsive, was thinking about asking for an upgrade to Kickr '18, but after reading this thread, pondering that solution. I’m thankful I can fallback to a dumb training and a speed sensor, but with Tour De Zwift ongoing, would really rather be riding the Kickr Core.

This happened to me today - however, I did something new for the first time:

  • I connected my Kickr through ANT+ for the first time (got a new dongle, plugged it on my Macbook pro)
  • Worked for around 3-4 minutes
  • Completely stopped working - no more power readings but Tickr X + Cadence sensor were broadcasting through ANT+ no problem
  • Tried to do a spindown when connected to Wahoo Fitness app - can no longer read speed.

I literally tried everything but nothing works. The kickr doesn’t transmit power readings anymore. I contacted support, hopefully they can send another - however I am not too optimistic the replacement unit will work.

Will update here.

Add me to the list of people who keep having problems with the new Kickr Core 2018 line up.

In my case no reply from Wahoo support yet. Really like the expensive product before it stop working -no power view.
I have tried everything - several apps with different Androind/iOS/macOS terminals different BT pairing scenarios ->no success

Very frustrated about not having proper trainer and naturally not needing Zwift now either. -just started and planned to complete tour de zwift stages

2nd Kickr Core DOA out of the box. First one lasted five rides before dying. Both would pair with Zwift and the Wahoo Fitness app, but no power or speed, and unable to perform a spindown.
Back to my LBS…

My Core just went out too. Just 4 rides on it.

Wahoo has responded quickly to me, and agreed to replace the unit again. Feels like they’ve got a power problem of some sort, possibly related to the power supply. I’m hoping that they’ll be forthcoming with public information on this, but in the meantime, I give them credit for being responsive.

in my case, it has been very difficult to contact Wahoo’s customer service…they sent an standardized message to a web request…but they did not respond my to reply afterwards…I tried calling without any luck…no luck with the call-back option either…at this point, I regret making this purchase

Nearly every single thing already said in this thread describes my experience thus far.

My initial CORE failed 8 hours in. I just received my replacement and although it worked on the initial set up, it immediately failed to transmit power on the first ride. Unfortunately, this was a gift and had been purchased >30 days ago, otherwise I’d definitely seek a full refund (probably still will). They clearly don’t have a fix for this issue right now.

It’s been hard to get in touch with customer service by phone.

I’ve liked my initial experience with ZWIFT and would like to continue, but it’s been challenging on account of the KICKR.

I also have the problem when the Core connects perfectly but transfer no power data to my devices, in Zwift or elwere.
Contacted support any they will replace my unit. Sadly this will keep me of my bike for a couple of weeks.

Well. replacement Wahoo Kickr has been ok up until today. I set it up to ride this morning and Ant connection works perfectly as always … no power.
I did all of the suggested “fixes” on the Wahoo site - it is interesting that there is no forum like this for Wahoo - and no avail. My Kickr still shows no power readings after working perfectly for over a month.
I will try and calm down and try it again tonight. If it doesn’t work then I am going to start another ticket at Wahoo.
I don’t have another $1200 to buy something else so if I cannot get the thing fixed/replaced soon I am canceling my Zwift subscription.
You know the thing that upsets me is that I bought this originally from a bike shop who know everything about bikes but it is clear that this new tech is very finicky and they (Wahoo, bikeshops) don’t seem to know how to deal with these types of devices or problems. I think it is out of their realm.