Powertap P1 Power Meter

Rex
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Re: Powertap P1 Power Meter

Postby Rex » Sat Feb 13, 2016 11:48 pm

I purchased my P1's from Pushys via Express Post. Took 3 days to get to Perth. (excellent)

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ft_critical
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Re: Powertap P1 Power Meter

Postby ft_critical » Sun Feb 14, 2016 11:30 am

Clipped my left pedal at the West Head RR. I think the mental adjustment is to just count to three after you would normally start pedalling, then pedal the P1's.

Bluejay87
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Re: Powertap P1 Power Meter

Postby Bluejay87 » Sun Feb 14, 2016 3:28 pm

Where'd you do that? The turnaround?

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ft_critical
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Re: Powertap P1 Power Meter

Postby ft_critical » Sun Feb 14, 2016 5:05 pm

Bluejay87 wrote:Where'd you do that? The turnaround?
The turnaround closest to West Head, as you come back onto the road from the turning circle.

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Re: Powertap P1 Power Meter

Postby Bluejay87 » Sun Feb 14, 2016 5:11 pm

Ahh just about the only possible place. Bad luck. I was there today too. Still yet to clip, which is surprising as I used to do it all the time with normal pedals.

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Re: Powertap P1 Power Meter

Postby Bluejay87 » Sun May 08, 2016 2:17 pm

Anyone found anywhere good to get replacement cleats? Dont feel like spending $40 on the official powertap ones form bikebug. But none of the aussie places seem to sell the Wellgo Rc-7 or Xpedo cleats which are meant to be compatible.

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stevecassidy
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Re: Powertap P1 Power Meter

Postby stevecassidy » Sun May 08, 2016 2:43 pm

Where's your next race? cabici.net lists bike races in Sydney

Rex
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Re: Powertap P1 Power Meter

Postby Rex » Sun May 08, 2016 3:01 pm

Bluejay87 wrote:Anyone found anywhere good to get replacement cleats? Dont feel like spending $40 on the official powertap ones form bikebug. But none of the aussie places seem to sell the Wellgo Rc-7 or Xpedo cleats which are meant to be compatible.
Torpedo7 have them.
$10 a pair

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nickobec
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Re: Powertap P1 Power Meter

Postby nickobec » Mon May 09, 2016 10:02 pm

Rex wrote: Torpedo7 have them.
$10 a pair
T7 is where I got mind from (I have a few pairs of shoes. The red Wellgo RC7 which are identical to the Powertap cleat bar Wellgo name on the RC7. Got a few of the grey Wellgo ones, have more float than the red, but otherwise identical and work well.

Rex
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Re: Powertap P1 Power Meter

Postby Rex » Tue May 10, 2016 8:25 am

I already have some red Wellgo's for spare. I'm thinking of getting some blacks with 0 float since I need to do another T7 order.
At $10 a pair it's worth the experiment!

lesleykng
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Re: Powertap P1 Power Meter

Postby lesleykng » Thu Jul 14, 2016 11:37 am

Sorry, first time poster / powermeter newbie here. Hope other users / owners would be able to help.

Bought these pedals 2 months ago. Have been pretty happy with them until I recently discovered that the R pedal is not giving me any power information.

I have it linked up to a Garmin 520. Both pedal LEDs light up and appear to be functional. Calibration works but I occasionally get notifications on the Garmin that it has not calibrated with the R pedal.

My problem is this... when I do single leg drills / tests with just the right leg there is ZERO power output. Single drills with the left leg work just fine.

R-L balance information is provided. I have read however that if the right pedal loses power, the left just doubles the reading and is able to estimate the measurement.

I have not had the chance to upgrade the firmware as I am an Android user. (something to keep in mind for potential buyers out there). I have replaced the batteries (even if the previous ones were relatively new) and there is no change. I have written Bikebug and awaiting a reply. Just wondering if I was missing something.

Is my R powermeter pedal busted? or is this a Garmin headunit communication limitation issue?


Cheers.

Rex
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Re: Powertap P1 Power Meter

Postby Rex » Thu Jul 14, 2016 4:38 pm

Hi mate,

The left pedal is the Master and the right is the Slave, so if the left is not being used then no power will be recorded.
Thats my understanding anyway.

It's worth going to the dcrainmaker.com website, find the Powertap P1 review and read the hundreds of comments at the bottom of the article as it's likely every question you can think of has been asked and answered already :)

BTW My P1's were returned a few weeks ago due to an issue and a replacement pair has been sent out to me, no questions asked.
Super customer service.

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nickobec
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Re: Powertap P1 Power Meter

Postby nickobec » Thu Jul 14, 2016 11:39 pm

The right pedal not being recognised by a Garmin is a known issue.

I always get the message, but my Garmin gets the data from both pedals.

If I thought my R pedal was not sending data, I would have R-L balance displayed and see what that showed.

If it was 0, 50 or 100 constantly I would think there was an error. If it varies between 40 to 60%, the I know both pedals are working.

Rex
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Re: Powertap P1 Power Meter

Postby Rex » Fri Jul 15, 2016 12:10 am

nickobec wrote: If it was 0, 50 or 100 constantly I would think there was an error. If it varies between 40 to 60%, the I know both pedals are working.
Yes that was my method of diagnosis before sending them back.

Question Nick, have you upgraded your firmware?
Have you looked at your data and noticed if your pedal balance goes to 0 when you stop pedalling?
Or does it stay as it was before cadence goes to 0?

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nickobec
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Re: Powertap P1 Power Meter

Postby nickobec » Sat Jul 16, 2016 12:06 am

Rex wrote: Question Nick, have you upgraded your firmware?
Yes, it is a complete PIA.
You need to update each pedal separately.

I do not own an ipad or iphone, but my LBS who I bought the P1s from does. So I go borrow their ipad to upgrade. Need to do it again soon.
Rex wrote: Have you looked at your data and noticed if your pedal balance goes to 0 when you stop pedalling?
Or does it stay as it was before cadence goes to 0?
Don't display pedal balance, so I don't know, will try next training ride,

lesleykng
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Re: Powertap P1 Power Meter

Postby lesleykng » Mon Jul 18, 2016 12:42 pm

Thanks for the replies guys. Very helpful.

Will look into the Rainmaker comments.

The garmin does displays pedal balances in smaller increments (e.g. 52-48 etc) so I guess that is reassuring.

I did write BikeBug (purchased online) regarding the issue and they have recommended upgrading the firmware. Just a bit peeved that this advice was given after I had already mentioned that I am unable to do so as I don't own any iOS devices. Disadvantage of not buying from your LBS I guess.

Will let the forum know how things progress. Thanks again.

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nickobec
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Re: Powertap P1 Power Meter

Postby nickobec » Mon Jul 18, 2016 11:18 pm

Rex wrote: Have you looked at your data and noticed if your pedal balance goes to 0 when you stop pedalling?
Or does it stay as it was before cadence goes to 0?
My pedal balance stays were it was when I stop pedalling for at least 20 seconds.

When I said
nickobec wrote: The right pedal not being recognised by a Garmin is a known issue.
I meant at the beginning of the ride. The Garmin takes a few seconds longer to find the right pedal, but pretty quickly start displaying pedal balance.

Today I had my right pedal, not get picked up at the beginning of the ride an stay that way for 40 minutes, so pedal balance was blank for the first 40 minutes, then it sprang into life, for 20 minutes, then stopped working for the rest of the ride with a couple of bursts of activity. For the last part of the ride, it was showing the same pedal balance, which was 61/39 for the last 10 minutes.

Note this is the first time this ever happened. Checked all my recent rides just in case, everything is fine in pedal balance land until today.

Replaced batteries (they where only 3 weeks old) and we will see what happens tomorrow.

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Re: Powertap P1 Power Meter

Postby Rex » Tue Jul 19, 2016 11:27 am

I had that problem, and found it was a flat battery issue.

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nickobec
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Re: Powertap P1 Power Meter

Postby nickobec » Tue Jul 19, 2016 3:16 pm

Rex wrote:I had that problem, and found it was a flat battery issue.
Yes that was my issue, last pair from a batch of Li-ion batteries, I had be using since I got the P1s and the others would last 8 to 10 weeks. So surprised, but everything appears ok. Will get a good look at the output for the whole ride tonight

edit
post ride analysis in Golden Cheetah shows pedal balance correct for whole ride

Rex
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Re: Powertap P1 Power Meter

Postby Rex » Wed Jul 20, 2016 2:17 pm

Have you used non-lithium batteries at all?
Looked at longevity ?

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Re: Powertap P1 Power Meter

Postby ft_critical » Wed Jul 20, 2016 8:04 pm

The battery life is poor. I get about 1mth out of batteries.

The pedals got wet - very wet for the first time on the weekend. Both lost all battery charge

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Re: Powertap P1 Power Meter

Postby nickobec » Wed Jul 20, 2016 10:26 pm

Rex wrote:Have you used non-lithium batteries at all?
Yes cheap no name alkaline batteries, while waiting for deliveries of my lithium batteries.

Get almost two weeks, before my Garmin says "low battery"
ft_critical wrote:The battery life is poor. I get about 1mth out of batteries.
I get about 100 hours out of lithium batteries ( 8 to 10 weeks of use for me)
ft_critical wrote:The pedals got wet - very wet for the first time on the weekend. Both lost all battery charge
Which explains the lose of charge in the right battery, I got soaked on the weekend.

Little disappointed in battery like of the P1 compared to a G3. Which gives me 6 months+ from a single battery. Bluetooth?

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Re: Powertap P1 Power Meter

Postby Rex » Wed Sep 14, 2016 11:55 am

Being an non-iOS user, I was forced to buy a BlueGiga dongle to update the firmware of my P1's, via my PC.
$24 later I was ready to go.

Left P1 updated no problem.
Right P1... fail.
This pretty much killed my right pedal as I couldn't recover my firmware at all after this.

I went to the trouble of borrowing a family members iphone and tried the Powertap App to recover firmware but that didn't worth either.

So I only had left power which was doubled to give me a power figure that I know was inaccurate as I'm aware my left leg is 4-6% weaker than my right.

So I've sent them back to Pushys.... again.
Hopefully they'll do right by me.

Watch this space.

lesleykng
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Re: Powertap P1 Power Meter

Postby lesleykng » Wed Sep 14, 2016 12:10 pm

Updating the progress of my pedal...

After a while, the power readings from the right side of started failing and when I calibrated with my edge 520 it would fail for the right pedal. I took this up with bikebug (via email communication) and they had advised me to update my firmware.

This was a problem for me as I did not have any iOS devices. I eventually borrowed a friend's iPhone - updated and still with no result.

After a week, the left pedal failed as well and the power readings would now only come intermittently and when it did produced low readings.

I took this up eventually with Bikebug and after a few emails, I put my foot down and told them that I was sending the pedals back. Shared with them a workout demonstrating the lost power readings as well.

I sent both pedals back... Bikebug had NO communication with me for 4-5 weeks (not even to say they received the pedals) before I got an email saying they were replacing the pedals. A completely brand new box (including new cleats etc... I only sent back the pedals) was sent to me as a warranty replacement.

Its been about a month, new pedals are still working fine... for now. Happy with the warranty replacement. A bit unhappy with Bikebug's communication (I would have preferred being able to call a phone number) but in the end, they did come through... so mixed feelings.

I really do like the pedals. However, hearing other people's similar stories make me question how reliable the product is. Its good to see that ?Saris will replace faulty pedals and provide warranty service.

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nickobec
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Re: Powertap P1 Power Meter

Postby nickobec » Wed Sep 14, 2016 7:35 pm

Update on my pedals, after 11 months of use/abuse (grounded them a couple of times crit racing, but did that with my previous pedals).

Raced the North Dandulap Handicap in very heavy rain.

Next ride right pedal was dropping in and out. Got home found flat battery (only 3 weeks old, normal life 8 weeks). Thought the battery was a little damp, but it was late at night. Next battery in right pedal survived two rides, then flat, replaced and noticed both red and green led on, no reading from pedals, could not calibrate.

Off to LBS, where I bought them from, used their iPad, could connect to left but not right pedal. Handed the pedals and box to LBS, two weeks later brand new pedals + cleats and batteries collected from LBS.

I love the P1 pedals, but next time after riding in the pouring raining, pull my batteries out, see if damp and bung the pedals into bag of rice if damp.

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