Has anyone had any data download problems regarding their powertap? I don't have any serial ports so I bought the USB cradle for it. I installed the drivers and loaded up cycling peaks. Cycling peaks times out and says theres no unit found. Same for PowerAgent. I've spoken to Saris and I've done everything they can think of. This totally sucks and I might have to sell my power tap if I can't download data off it.

Can anyone help?

Sometimes it takes a really firm push to seat the powertap in the cradle. Push till you really feel a click.

Otherwise, you have to make sure you install the poweragent software and the USB driver before you try to connect. Once you install the USB driver, the powertap will only work in one of the USB ports, so make sure you're using the "correct" one, whatever that may be.

That's all I can think of...

Make sure that you power the computer head on and that it says "Host" on the screen.

I had exactly same problem on my Vista laptop. The first thing to check is if there any other software that may interfere with PowerAgent. It could be something like Windows ActiveSync.

In my case there were no interference with another software. PowerAgent was showing new COM port (COM11) but was unable to find PowerTap on it. You can find this information in Edit -> Application Settings -> Preferred Device Port. The default setting in the drop-down list is "Automatically detect port". Keep it this way, but if you open the list you'll see available COM ports.

Here is what I ended up doing to resolve the problem:

1) connect PowerTap's cradle to a USB port. There's no need to attach Powertap itself, but it won't hurt.
2) open Device Manager (right-click on Computer (or My Computer), select Manage and then Device Manager).
3) Navigate to Ports (COM & LPT) and click on "cross" to show the ports.
4) Your cradle will show up us one of the COM ports. Mine was COM11.
5) Right-click on the port and select Properties
6) Click on Port Settings tab
7) Click on Advanced button
8) There's COM Port Number drop-down list. From that list select COM3 or COM4. Disregard "in use" message and warning.
9) Start PowerAgent software. Make sure that PowerTap is in cradle and turned on. PowerAgent shoud find the PowerTap on the new port.

Man, this is so weird. I went out a bought a cheap serial to USB converter and it worked. It still doesn't work with the USB Cradle from Powertap.

I've done that and it doesn't work. Depending on which port I plug it into it's either COM3 or COM4. It's the strangest thing. I guess I'm going to be returning the USB cradle.

For some unknown reason, mine will change ports inexplicably. So, check and make sure its set on the right port.

Also I've found it helpful to have the PT in the cradle, turned on, displaying hose, before you open the cycling peaks software. If you open Cycling Peaks before you put the PT in the cradle (or the PT has timed out) sometimes Cycling peaks doesn't recognize it.

One time my powertap locked up and wouldn't download - the cpu said "host" but Cyclingpeaks said no device was recognized. I finally decided to remove the battery in the CPU and reinstall it. This unlocked the cpu and it has worked fine since. I thought I would lose my ride data for that day but it was still on the cpu and downloaded fine. This was the only problem I have ever had with mine.

We have a winner for best out-of-context quote.

I've had a ton of problems with the usb cradle. I basically need to leave it in the same port 100% of the time to guarantee that it works.

I don't have a PT, but if you're plugging in a USB device that acts like COM ports, I'll shift it beyond COM4. You should be able to use device manager to change it if that's not the case. In any case, you got it working with a serial/USB converter.

I got home from my 2,000 kj commute and went to DL my ride data. CPU said "HOST" but neither Training Peaks nor PowerAgent would recognize it. I took it off the USB cradle several times and made sure I heard a good click. I then realized "hey the CPU displays "HOST" even when not in the cradle. I pushed mode and select and the screen wouldn't change. Just for kicks I docked it on the bike and gave the wheel a spin and still nothing. So I googled and found this thread. This post in particular caught my attention. When I removed and reinstalled the battery on the CPU I lost fours of ride data. So beware....

my apologies jrobe.

When I DL'd my PT today, yesterday's ride data was on there. Last night when I removed and reinstalled the battery the screen displayed zeros for all the values. I assumed that since the CPU had zeros for every value that there was no data. But in fact yesterday's data was still there. Thank you for your post. It gave me the courage to remove and reinstall the battery to unfreeze the CPU.

What he said. Your computer is not finding the powertap because has the wrong com port. I had the same thing when I first installed mine.

You are lucky. I got my powertap about a week ago and was having problems. I took the battery out and i DID lose the data. I didnt care because it was just an hour or so messing around with it but the next upload did not show it.

Vireo, I have the same problem if I turn the head unit on when it's in the cradle. If I turn it on before I put it in the cradle then no problemo.

so i came home from this epic ride and go to download the file. it freezes half way through and then hangs on "HOST" even after i take it out.. took the battery out and put it back in and computer seems ok (although seems I lost my ride file which is annoying) but now it can't find the USB downloader on either of my computers. Think I fried the downloader?