I’m sure this may have been asked before but I cant find anything, is there any way of getting 3s power average in system. This is std accross all head units and my power jumps around so much due to left side dominant and it takes too much of my attention,
is there a way to change this to 3s average, I know there is power smooting but from what i understand that is something very different.
Thanks
Stu
Welcome to the forums @Stu_Trout !
What type of trainer are you using and what are you using to report/record power? You may be able to set the 3 sec avg on the app for the PM or the trainer itself.
If you can’t and If you’re concerned about the power jumping all over the place, that really is normal but if it bugs you to see it (as it does me), just select power smoothing.
Its a stages SB20, Ive had a look but nothing looks obvious, ive stayed away from power smoothing as i understand it changes the actual power that wahoo recieves rather than just they way it displays it which is what i was looking for but maybe I will have to give it a go
It will absolutely NOT change the way power is received. (At least I’ve never heard that before).
There is a setting in SYSTM, gear 
icon top right corner when you start a workout, where you can choose power smoothing in SYSTM if you’re worried about how the Stages might change the actual power.
Edit: I dug a little deeper into your bike and it may actually be not the greatest at ERG (because of its monster flywheel) in terms of providing a smooth ERG experience. So, if it’s the look of smoothing you’re after more than the actuality of it, I’d say try the SYSTM setting change.
Edit 2: might be worth a read if you haven’t already.
Thanks, will take a look but when ever i see a link to a DCR review, i shudder as I know hours of my life has just dissapaeard.
I get the comment regard the flywheel. I do find myself having to use the brakes occasionally when i change from a very high cadence (and i guess power maybe but not noticed it before) to get the erg under control again
thanks for the quick help!
To add clarity: changing the power smoothing setting in SYSTM won’t change the power received. However, it appears to change the FIT file and the information sent to linked apps (like Strava). I haven’t conducted a recent test, but I looked at a workout I did in 2021 with smoothing on (before I chose to turn smoothing off) and a more recent one with it off. In Strava, the old one looks, well, smooth and the more recent one doesn’t. Maybe something else was going on that I don’t remember, but I think that turning smoothing on in SYSTM will change the record of the workout. If you want smoothing but also want a unsmoothed record, you’ll probably need to dual record.
Personally, I’m happy watching the numbers bounce around.
100%. The power graph while riding, and what gets uploaded to your history and any external apps will show the smoothing.
While I realize the actual power I put out can be (is) pretty erratic my eyes prefer to see the smoothed graph (even if it’s a lie). I’m a Sufferlandrian, I’m used to being lied to about numbers of intervals, length of efforts etc.
According to the manual:
The Power Smoothing function in the SYSTM app will give a rolling 3-second average power on the screen, […] The app will record the actual data, not the smoothed data, so the graphs will still show the natural power fluctuations.
So the fit filles should have actual values. Quite different from your experience though.
That’s not been my experience. With smoothing on my graphs post ride always look pretty smooth. When off, not so much.
Me too.
I figured i would follow this us, for me it seems like it only smooths on the power reading, not the graph in the app or when it uploads to strava.
you can see the current power top right in the devices window at 284 yet the smoothed power at 173. I was purposefully accelelerating to test what was happening. Also the spikey nature of it helped when comparing the wahoo data to strava data.
Ok, I’m interested in this! Thanks for raising the question.
I prefer NOT to see the smooth blocks that I used to see until I realized power smoothing had been ON for my KICKR Bike rides on SYSTM. After several rides, I realized why it was happening, and because I want to SEE the fluctuations my legs were putting out, at least on the graphed results, I turned it off.
I may toy with this again, but the reason I knew it was off was because the graphs on SYSTM as well as on STRAVA and GARMIN CONNECT were ALL SMOOTHED. That meant the output WAS smoothed also.
I just read (here https://support.wahoofitness.com/hc/en-us/articles/4402734188050-What-does-the-Power-Smoothing-function-do- ) that Wahoo says that the output is not smoothed, only the current reading as you ride is smoothed, but it certainly wasn’t that way back in January and February 2022 when I got the KICKR Bike and started SYSTM.
If it works for me now, I’ll be happy to have the 3-second readout, rather than the fluctuating numbers I see now, which made it very tough when I did my first Half Monty 2 days ago. I eventually just learned to stay steady and not even worry what the power said, as long as it was not trending too far too long in either direction.
I use 3second power on my outdoor rides, via my Garmin EDGE 830, and even that does some bouncing, but maybe not as bad.
I think I’ll try using it again. I think I’ll do my first Full Frontal in the next couple or 3 days and it may help a little, but ONLY if it doesn’t hide the fluctuation in the graphing that results.
Maybe they have updated it which would explain why there are different views here, let us know what happens when you try it again.
I believe they HAVE changed this since early this year, so I think the power smoothed results MAY NOT be impacting the files generated. At least the results are NOT the very clean blocky look that used to occur till I turned Power Smoothing OFF, back in February '22.
I tried this tonight, did Recharger in ERG mode with Power Smoothing turned ON and it did as you said, digital power display bounced a little less than I think it has (though there’s still more bounce than I’d like, probably because either I or my KICKR Bike aren’t as consistent as they ought to be. I’ve suspected the KICKR Bike is the culprit, but maybe I’m looking for a scapegoat? 
In fact, I bet not many of us are as well balanced as we wish!)
The graphic display beneath the numerical display during the ride, as well as the results in Strava and Garmin Connect both show the fluctuations without making them look like blocks of perfect power output.
Then I did the Open15 in Level Mode 2 and Power Smoothing turned on, and played with it a bit. Same result, a little less bouncy on the power numerical display, but the graph display beneath, as well as Strava and GC graphs were not blocks but fuzzy edges relating to my imperfect pedaling output.
Just what I want to see!
