"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - Powertap SL 2.4 question

Testing out a Powertap SL 2.4 wireless from a teammate. Went for a ride this evening and noticed the 'Power Display' portion of the screen seemed to be trying to 'find' or reconnect to the signal (the lil rolling square) every so often. Is this normal?

I downloaded the data onto PowerAgent7 to see if I could locate how often and how bad the signal was being dropped.

I got a total of 5 different activities with durations of:
19:42
48:34
05:41
10:35
00:21

Is that normal? Everything seems to be functioning ok except for this problem. Trying to decide if I want to buy this unit.

yea that's normal. The powertap stops reading if you stop for more than a certain mount of time and will count it as a different workout. It's nice actually because if you do two different rides on it, it will automatically separate them.

5 files in one continuous ride is not right. The PT is only supposed to break up rides after a few hours time. The few guys I know with 2.4's had prolems initially just like this. Saris returned their money after so many unhappy phone calls. All but one went back to wired 2.4. It's your money, but that would just be too annoying to me to buy, IMO.

How long did you ride, and how long did the PT read?

Definetly not right.

The PT 2.4 wireless should not go into "find" mode unless you've stopped for a fairly long period of time. In addition, the computer should not break up your ride like it did.

How long has your friend had his 2.4? Some of the early versions had a problem with the hub that caused symptoms like those you describe. Essentially, the hub was not transmitting a powerful enough signal. Also, look at the downloaded results from the ride -- do you see drops?

If so, have your friend call Saris; their customer service is very good. If they detect a problem, they will send you a shipping label and have it back in about 10 days.

The PT 2.4 wireless should not go into "find" mode unless you've stopped for a fairly long period of time.

You can set that time up to be something like 1-2-4-10 minutes or something like that. I have mine set to 1 min, I like my Powertap to shut off if I'm just hanging out at a long stoplight.

Even with wired you can occasionally get ride files like that. On certain routes I get a lot of interference from power lines, etc.

Even with wired you can occasionally get ride files like that. On certain routes I get a lot of interference from power lines, etc.

The wired may get a couple of datat drops, but should not be off long enough to break it into different files. In my last 20 hours of riding, I bet I've only got 2 minutes of data drops.

I went ahead and bought the unit from him. ~2200 miles on the odo and is in relatively new looking shape. I've heard so many good things about Saris customer support that I went ahead and called them about it. They want me to try a few things first and then send it in and they'll fix it on their dime.

Not bad for $500 - including the OP wheel and DA 10 speed cassette that shows no wear. He thought he had killed it somehow and bought another one in a hurry for an upcoming race. Then he read that there are batteries in the hub. Replaced them and it came back to life. Since he had two , he offered it to his teammates first at a good discount. I couldn't pass it up at that price.

How do you change the interval between the time it will count a stop as a different ride?

That's a great deal!