Hi all, just an update. I changed my Bluetooth dongle to a TP-Link Bluetooth dongle from a generic Amazon one and have no issues. I did so because my son who has experience with this sort of thing mentioned something about how they deal with bandwidth protocols and requests and some drivers being poorly written/designed. I have no clues about the intricacies of what he was saying so I might of misquoted him but my ZPlay controllers have gone from glorified paperweights to working 100% of the time with direct connection
Thanks! I got a TP-link UB500 nano usb dongle and disabled the laptop BT and now the controllers connect without any issues. Must be a bluetooth driver issue.
I appreciate that there can be differences with Bluetooth adapters, but my PC has an Intel AX210, not exactly generic Amazon junk. And Iāve got Xbox controllers and other controllers that all connect to the same Bluetooth adapter from 20-30 feet away; the Zwift Play controllers were tested and had connection failures from 3 feet through 10 feet away.
That being said, it doesnāt even matter, these are permanently removed from my bike at this point. A waste of $100 and not worth the hassle at all. Especially when they continued to randomly brake on their own too.
Removing them again, I also find that my hands are more comfortable on my bars too. I didnāt realize how much the controllers were getting in the way.
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Me again.
Play Controllers are still worse than stepping in fresh dog doodoo.
Tried them again today and my normally very stable set up lost connection several times.
I gave up, ended the ride, disconnected the controllers and came out of Zwift.
Logged back in for a race and suffered more drop outs and weird resistance changes.
They are absolute pants.
what device are you running zwift on? and do you use the internal bluetooth?
If so try using a bluetooth dongle - this solved the issue for me.
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Same for me, and not just any Bluetooth dongle. I tried several that seemed to have good specs, but made no difference. Was about to give up, but I thought Iād try some better known brands instead. As it happens, the first one from TP-Link worked like a charm and Iāve not had any disconnections since. Went back to integrated BT just to check I wasnāt dreaming, and persistent dropouts straight away. W10 PC.
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Windows 10 on a PC built specifically for Zwift and it does nothing else.
Everything up to date, Zwift on v1.57.3
I have a pcie card with antennas now as used a dongle in the past with no luck/no change.
PC is three feet from my SB20 with direct line of sight.
Today, I removed the controllers, restarted Zwift, deleted them from knowndevices.xml and had zero issues during a crowded pace bot ride and then a busy race.
I donāt get drop outs any other time, only when I connect the controllers.
There is something with the controllers that upsets my system.
They constantly cause resistance changes and then lose connection.
Very frustrating but Iām done with them now.
First let me say that I am not discounting your experience along with @Chris_Holtonās experience. I am simply puzzled.
Suppose the internal Bluetooth device is the culprit for dropouts. How can one explain that the controllers did not have any issues before its most recent firmware update? Many of us had the same issueāthe controllers functioned fine until its most recent firmware update.
Thoughts?
Completely agree, and equally I canāt offer any explanation. I also canāt say exactly whether it was a game update or the controller firmware update that caused the issue, but they used to work fine for me. Then at some point they went haywire and stopped completely soon into every ride. Then there was definitely a game update which changed the behaviour so that they were disconnecting and reconnecting every few minutes. I suspect that was an attempt at a fix.
Thatās how it is for me now, as I said until I moved from integrated BT to this particular TPL dongle (actually USB stick plugged directly into the PC).
yes same hereā¦ i am currently not using my zwift play controlers because of constantly reconnecting due to signal loss.
in the pairing screen you can see the signal quality symbol of the play controlers going from green to red and back all the time.
All my others components have a very stable connection, no problems here.
The Controles are unusable with this issue.
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i had this - try plugging the controllers in to power while using them to see if that helps. not ideal but maybe a short term workaround
ah ok, i will try this!
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if that works iād recommend using a bluetooth dongle - that has solved my issues without need to use them while plugged in to power.
So is there a solution for this issue yet or not? I have 2 pairs of these things. The first developed the disconnection issue over time. Rather than deal with the back and forth with support, I just bought a new pair. Those were better for about a month, now theyāre doing the same thing. Always the Left controller constantly disconnecting. Zwift shows the left controller has a weak signal. My new, purpose-built PC is more than capable and I make a habit of disconnecting any other BT devices that could interfere before starting my ride. At this point, Iām just going to quit using them and chalk it up to lesson(s) learned for trying something in Beta.
Zwift should be issuing refunds for those who are having this issue rather than expecting folks to troubleshoot back and forth on an issue thatās clearly widespread.
Sounds like you need to do the back and forth with support and get two replacement sets. Or perhaps you can get return one or both. Itās interesting to me that the Play controllers are āBetaā but the Click controllers arenāt, even though they both have many similar reports of failures and pairing problems.
internal bluetooth or bluetooth dongle?
try them with them plugged in to power while using them.
Chris,
thanks for the suggestions.
Iām using the internal bluetooth on a new 2k alienware gaming PC that I use only for Zwift. (Yes its way overkill). The only other BT device connected is my PM. I even disconnect my mouse and keyboard before starting a ride.
Also had the controllers running on ATV prior to that. I have had the exact same issue on both devices.
I have tried both plugged-in, and battery alone. This doesnāt change the behavior for me. I suspect the issue is related to a weak BT signal coming from the left device. I too see the multiple attempts to connect when I start a Zwift session. If I click back into the controller pairing screen, I can see Zwift is complaining about a weak signal from the left controller even though its about 4 ft away and unblocked.
Iāll just be riding without them going forward. Theyāre great when they work, but Iām tired of futzing with them. They end up just being a distraction at this point.
If i was you iād try a bluetooth dongle, turn off the internal bluetooth and use the dongle in stead.
I was having disconnects every 30 seconds or so and it fixed it for me. Everything else had zero connection issues just the controllers. Probably worth a go before giving up and losing the money on the controllers.
Iām not having disconnect issuesā¦Iām having no direct connect issues. I cannot get Zwift to see my play paddles on Win10 using a ASUS BT500 dongle. I can go to add device in the Windows BT menu, and connect there, but Zwift wonāt see them.
Also, is Zwift not able to utilize ANT and BTLE simultaneously? My power, cadence, resistance and HRM are ANT devices, while the Play paddles are BTLE. Sucks to use companion as a bridge, especially when it sometimes takes a long time to get companion connected
I believe that is exactly what you should not do - Zwift canāt see BLE sensors connected with other device.
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