JerryZ

I am planning on upgrading my trainer to smart, most likely the Kickr Snap and also Zwift. I will be using my laptop with Zwift. Question: How close must my ANT+ dongle be to the smart trainer to pair reliably? Will it connect with my laptop on a tray in front of the bike or will I need an extension to get the ANT+ closer?
Thanks!

anotherbrian

I have no problem with the dongle being 6' away, however that's on a short USB cord that moved the dongle away from the PC.

My PC that is upstairs and through a couple walls connects to the SNAP via Bluetooth as if it were sitting right next to it.

The old PC I took out to the garage to run Zwift has pretty sad frame rate so I'm looking for ways to stream the video from the gaming PC elsewhere in the house. Bluetooth control of the trainer is do'able, but I do want to pick up my existing ANT+ Powertap, cadence, and heart rate sensors as well. I'm going to experiment with putting the ANT+ dongle on an extension cord immediately above the trainer and hope that's enough (and look around for some network or wireless USB bridge if not).

SpeshulEd 

My Macbook Pro dropped the connection constantly. A USB extension cable is cheap and will get you started worry free.

https://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-...xtension+cable

Bmach

My bike is about two feet from my laptop, so far never been a problem. I have my laptop to the side of my bike and it is connected to a flat screen in front. I can reach the keyboard from the bike. I could not ride if I had to look at my laptop.

anotherbrian

Update on my previous response:

I've been connecting from about 15' away through a floor/sheetrock without any dropouts between an old style Garmin dongle and a KICKR SNAP/Powertap hub/Garmin speed/cadence/Garmin HRM strap.

JerryZ

Sounds like there is no way of knowing how it's going to work. Once I get my setup figured out, I'll just have to try it at the laptop and perhaps it will work like that. If not, then I'll extend it toward the trainer. Thanks for the help all!

SpeshulEd 

Why would you have your laptop in a different room than your trainer?

anotherbrian

I don't have a laptop, though I do have a PC with a high-end graphics card in an upstairs bedroom/home office.

Bikes/trainer are in the garage, and I won't bring them into the house. I did put a cheap 22" LED TV in front of the trainer with a Steam Link box, and it's able to display/interact with the PC seamlessly.

SpeshulEd 

Gotcha gotcha! I went back and read your original comment about the PC and then it made sense.

It's possible that you're not having as many issues because it sounds like your ant+ stick might be stuck into a powerful PC mobo as opposed to a laptop.

I remember reading this article years ago when I was into DJing and having issues with a controller...basically says that not all usb ports are created equal...
MacBook USB Port Inequality - DJ TechTools

anotherbrian

My ANT+ stick is at the end of a long USB extension cord as close to the bike as I could get it, so at least there is no interference from a metallic case or any other electronics near the PC/display/wireless kbd+mouse/etc.

Over the years I've seen people complain they had dodgy connections between a Garmin on their bars and a crank or hub power meter, so I'm very pleased mine is working as far as it is.