Zwift Mileage vs Schwinn Mpower Echelon 2 Power Meter Mileage

Bugs and Support
#1

I am noticing a difference between miles ridden on the display on my Schwinn AC Performance Plus MPower Echelon 2 versus those on the Zwift programming. For instance, last night I logged an hour, and according to Zwift I covered 15 miles or so (which seems realistic with 1000+ ft of elevation) yet the power meter on the bike indicated i rode for 25 miles. Is this a common occurrence? Should i not be worried about it, as does it really matter?

I tried searching the forum, but didn’t come up with anything regarding this. It took a bit to get my Schwinn AC Performance Plus w/ MPower Echelon 2 connected to Zwift, but now that it does; it has been rock solid.

#2

The Schwinn AC Performance Plus MPower Echelon 2 knows nothing of the virtual elevation changes within Zwift. Just ignore the distance traveled and speed since both will hardly ever match and neither are important in the grand scheme of things.

4 Likes
#3

That is what i figured. Thank you for the quick reply.

#4

Yes, Paul is correct. The Schwinn MPower 2 Console does not account for elevation changes (up OR down). According to their literature, the distance reported on the monitor is a calculation based upon the power output on a flat road. That’s why if you were to put out 200W for 5 min on a 10% DESCENT on Zwift, you would cover a substantially GREATER distance on Zwift than you would on the MPower 2 Console.

#5

@Matt_Tucker

I’d be grateful if you could let me know if you have the echelon2 console with or without the power upgrade. I want to purchase the same bike but am not sure if I need to spend the extra money for the power upgrade, or if the base console will work with Zswift. Was the setup otherwise straight forward?

Your advice is much appreciated

#6

It has the power upgrade. It was straight forward. I upgraded the firmware on the console, then setup a CABLE (Connect ANT+ to BLE) (http://store.npe-inc.com/cable-connect-ant-to-ble/), and now have the whole system running on an Intel NUC. It works flawlessly, once i turned off my WiFi Adapter from being able to shut itself off and power-manage. All in for my setup (bike w/ echelon mpower console + CABLE + Desk + NUC + Fan) I am about $1900.

#7

Many thanks for this. Unfortunately my monitor does not have the power upgrade. I wonder whether an alternative would be some power pedals as opposed to buying the power upgrade. The cost would be similar (used pedals) and perhaps give me more versatility in the future.is this a route you considered?

#8

The power upgrade on this bike works with Zwift, but is not accurate at all regardless of calibration. My power readings are way high. If you run into power drops, its more than likely your wifi router. Turning off the 2.4ghz band on your router will instantly solve this, but then you are left with the shorter range of 5ghz and may just need to get a signal repeater or two depending on the size of your home.

#9

So how is it that Zwift says that it’s compatible then if the power output and distance is way off between the two?

#10

Because it doesn’t know about the virtual elevation changes, in-game drafting and the effects of different in-game bikes and wheels used within Zwift.

When riding indoors (and outdoors also) power and HR over time are king. Speed and distance travel especially virtually means little.

#11

So I rigged my recumbent bike up with Wahoo Speed and Cadence sensors and my distance and speed is off as well … so what this tells me is that I should not even consider spending a ton of money on an AC and the Echelon2 upgrade because ultimately it’s going to be a similar experience. Is that correct?

#12

Within Zwift speed is determined by watts. It will rarely match the wheel speed of your bike.

For a speed sensor like yours it works this way:
Your wheel speed and the known power curve of the trainer you picked is converted to watts. With those watts, your weight, height, in-game bike, in-game drafting, in-game wheels, in-game road surface, and virtual elevation changes your in-game speed is determined.

That is why watts and HR over time is king and in-game speed and distance is irrelevant.

#13

I appreciate that explanation.

It’s too bad that Zwift doesn’t allow me to change my wheel size like the Wahoo settings do. Obviously with a flywheel, it’s much smaller than a regular tire … but within the sensor settings, I can actually set it to the right size and my distance and speed and basically bang on. But as soon as I jump into Zwift, everything is off and my watts are 400 constantly.

I figured that if I got the AC and the Echelon2, this would be totally resolved. I understand that the elevation changes are more difficult for Zwift to deal with, but I thought that was the entire point of zPower. I was clearly missing some crucial information.