Originally Posted by
friday1970
I just received my Bryton smart speed sensor tonight, paired it with my Bryton Rider 330, and it states it's activated and ready.
It's snowing outside, dark, which means I haven't been able to take it out for a test ride yet.
I just wonder, how do they work?
I'm used to the traditional setup, where I have a bike computer like a Velo7, a magnet attached to the spokes, a pickup attached to the fork, and then I input either the tire size or the circumference of the tire into the bike computer. Magnet triggers the pickup, and based on my stated tire circumference, outputs my speed on the bike computer screen.
So with the smart speed sensor, it wraps around the hub, and once paired with my GPS, that seems to be it. Nothing else to input. But how does it work to know what my speed is? Especially since I operate in the world of so many different tires. 20" for my recumbents, 26" for my MTB bikes, and 700c road bikes. When I ride each one, the GPS goes with me, and I'd like to attach my speed sensor to any bike I ride, no matter the tire.
As found on the Garmin page for it's speed sensor - "The speed sensor contains a magnetometer that measures the three dimensional components of the ambient magnetic field (similar to an accelerometer measuring acceleration). As the wheel rotates, the magnetometer measures its own rotation within the surrounding earth's magnetic field."
They are generally auto sensing in that they can determine the wheel circumference, with Garmin units letting you set that manually in the head unit as well.