Tandem Cycling - Wireless interference

So a couple of weeks ago we broke the bike in half and put the pieces in the back of the Prius to drive something like 8 hours to Virginia, ride on and off for a bit over a week, and then come back. I didn't notice anything amiss while in VA, but on return, the odometer on the captain's computer (I've never trusted the one on the stoker's bars enough to bother checking) registered something like 74,392 :eek:

OK, this was metric, but even so, we'd be getting into Rudy and Kay territory, after just 14 months :D

So I took off the head to go to the computer to look up the manual to reset the odometer, and noticed if I held it within a few inches of the keyboard, the speed started to display and wildly jump about.

So next time the heads go in a shielding bag. Will see how much shielding is required...

I'm guessing the Prius creates more EMI than the average car.

Hmmm....we've hauled our bike across country in the Prius twice and haven't had anything like that happen to our Flight Deck.

It might be that the FlightDeck uses a different frequency range, or has a digital encoder in the transmitter, making it easier to separate real signal from noise.

My laptop did this to my cyclometer. It clocked my laptop at over 99mph, which is where it pegged; however the "max" speed was much much higher, though I forget just how high (a little below 1000mph I think). That was almost a decade ago and since I've switched to wired mounts.

Those detector loops they put in the pavement at intersections to make the lights turn to green (which don't detect bikes -- Grrr!) do that to my wireless. So does an LED headlamp especially when set to flash mode.

Just curious what computers some of you are using that have interference issues.

I've gone through a couple of wireless computers (Sigma and a VDO) that drove me crazy for just that reason. I have since landed on a Cateye ( V2C) that has been dead reliable for the last year or so.. but I must admit, the cateye hasn't been in bed with my laptop yet....it least not that I know of!

Bill J

One of the reasons we use a hardwire computer . . .
At the rate you two are going, you'll bypass us by next weekend!!!
Funny!
Pedal on TWOgether!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem

it was an older Cateye wireless (translucent red, from 1999); i forget the model, but it was laughably high-zoot at the time. It reacted with two different laptops (a Mac PB Pismo, and a Mac 12" AL PB); it never was affected by the one desktop i had while it was around (a 3rd generation iMac). Besides the laptops, the cyclometer was otherwise unaffected and ran problem-free. I might have purchased a second one, but the same data for 1/4 the price (on a wired cyclometer) didn't make it worthwhile in my case (note: i had originally purchased the cyclometer to keep a running calibration on my motorcycle at the time, and then switched it to my bicycle, until the battery expired and one too many house-moves contributed to lost parts).

One of the reasons we use a hardwire computer . . .
At the rate you two are going, you'll bypass us by next weekend!!!
Funny!
Pedal on TWOgether!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem
Yeah, I would normally run wired. And I may switch. Wireless is nice if you're going to break the bike down all the way to put into cases (as you will recall we - and hence our bike - are substantially taller than you two, which means breaking it down winds up being quite thorough). As we have no immediate plans to break it down beyond breaking it in half to pop in the car, it isn't really worth the fuss. At the same time, it's what we have, and I'm not in a great hurry to spend money on something that is replacing what mostly works.

WB-Man:
Agree, if it ain't broke, don't fix it!
Our tandem is a bit smaller and a tad shorter than yours.
Wheelbase is 63 1/2" and size in 20 1/2 x 19".
Pedal on TWOgether!
Rudy and Kay/zonnatandem