Recently, after a hiatus from cycling due to my son being born, My Kickr v5 will connect to Zwift and Trainerday via bluetooth no problem, but 9/10 times there will be no cadence or power data until I start a Factory spindown and am about halfway through the 3 minute warmup. Then the resistance on the warmup will dump (also not sure if there should be this much resistance on the factory spindown warmup, feels like 350 watts) and whatever app i’m using will start to measure cadence and power. I am unable to complete a factory spindown at this point because my speed will never go above 19, despite full on sprinting and grunting.
At this point, whatever app I’m using is displaying something for power and cadence…and since I can’t do the factory spindown, I usually force close wahoo and then the app starts reading my suggested warmup power (this morning 78 watts), but at a resistance that feels to be many times more watts (78 watts felt like at least 500). Then I can do the automatic spindowns by getting up to speed and just stop the pedaling. But it takes several of these automatic spindowns before power feels realistic. At this point when power feels right if I transition back to factory spindown in the Wahoo app I can complete it.
I know that multiple apps shouldn’t be connected to the Kickr simultaneously, but through days of troubleshooting and experimentation, this is the only way I could get an indoor ride done. I definitely tried making sure the Kickr was only connected to Wahoo for factory spindown and then only connected to Zwift or Trainerday for the workout. All firmware/software etc is up to date. Picture of this morning’s workout in Trainerday attached. You can see throughout the warmup the power was reading exactly on target power, but this felt much higher than 78 watts. You can also see the 5 auto spindowns I did as the wattage drops. After the 5th, power seemed correct and measured much more realistically and erratically (at this point I was somewhat gassed from putting out what I assume was 300ish watts for seven minutes non consecutively)
I think the issue may be that you are trying to do a Factory Spindown on a unit that specifically is designed to NOT have you do a Factory Spindown.
My 2 cents:
Make sure you have the latest firmware installed.
Using the WA only, record a ride on your bike for about 10 minutes making sure to coast for a few seconds every couple of minutes and allowing the unit to internally perform it’s auto calibration.
After that, go to Zwift and/or Trainerday and do what you would normally do but DO NOT perform another Factory Spindown.
If the above does not resolve your issues, then I would highly recommend contacting the support folks directly:
Edit: I should add that there is nothing wrong with having multiple apps connected to the Kickr and Kickr Climb. I do that all the time and usually with SYSTM on my MacBook Air and Zwift on Apple TV, also using the Zwift CA, while listening to music from my phone airplayed to bluetooth speakers or wireless earbuds. Oh, and I’ll also be running a Kickr Headwind, wearing a Trackr HRM, and, on occasion running an Ant+ cable to record my Garmin ant+ only cadence sensor.
I see your point about the Kickr v5 not needing factory spindown (allegedly), but that is the only way I can get power and cadence to read on Zwift or Trainerday. I should have mentioned I rode with no resistance or power/cadence readings for about ten minutes before trying the factory spindown this morning, just hoping it would start reading. I also let it spin down a dozen or so times. There’s something about the factory spindown that starts the resistance and readings in Zwift/Trainerday. I have replicated this workaround for four workouts. It just sucks because every workout is a zone 5 when I start out this way!
yeah, that shouldn’t be. Make sure you contact support then. They should be able to get you sorted. Don’t expect a response on the forums though. I know they lurk here and do chime in now and then, but the best place for service is direct.
I wonder if something is interfering with your signal. I’ve had this happen when I have opened another app that “grabs” and hangs onto the control even after closing it. Might be worth the old, toggle your BTLE off and on again and see what happens.
And, just to be clear, when you are running Zwift and Trainerday, which app are you giving trainer control too? And, I assume you’ve force closed (swiped up) the Wahoo App while you are in Zwift/Trainerday
Edit: oh and welcome to the forums and CONGRATS on being a parent!
One thing is that you gave to be on the LATEST firmware version on all of these. You can try the manual calibration on the V5. If that isn’t working through the Wahoo App, you need to contact support.
Coincidentally my Kickr V5 is suffering the exact same problem.
If it’s cold the unit will not transmit any power and cadence data, after about 2-3mins of warming the device up power and cadence suddenly start working.
I also thought it was related to the factory spindown, which I was having to perform before any training session for power to start working. However, I’ve noticed that it’s simply due to the device being “cold”.
Maybe the V5 have a genuine fault because I see more and more of these issues being reported, and the early V5s are now over 5 years old. I bought mine in Nov 2020, never had a problem with the unit until about a month ago.
