Back to cycling related topic. Yeah!!!
The Wife bought a second-hand PowerTap Pro this fall and has been using it to record and tune her workouts. When I first mounted it on her bike it did not work, but that was easy to resolve: it just needed new batteries in the hub. This past Sunday, at the Early Birds, she came up to me after her clinic to complain that she was not getting a power reading from the hub. I jumped on her bike (not an easy feat; we are the same height, but she has much longer legs … and uses a different type of pedal) and did a couple of quick loops. I was able to get an occasional read from the hub, but it was erratic at best. I assumed the batteries were dead, again. Sunday afternoon I replaced the hub batteries, and still no signal to the head. Hmmm. I put the head into test mode and ran the receiver test (test #2 for those who have read the manual); no indication that it was receiving any data from the hub. I cleaned the contacts on the head and the mount, changed the battery in the head, and did a visual inspection of the wiring, and still could not find out what was wrong. If all else fails, try looking at the manual. So I did. The only thing in the manual troubleshooting section that I had not considered was water in the hub. I saw no sign of moisture, but on the off-chance there is some I have the wheel hanging up in our garage with the hub open for now.
The amusing part of the exercise was looking at the manual. Take a close look at the bullet points I indicate; three of the potential problems are duplicated. Are these twice as likely to be issues as the other possible causes? Or maybe Saris/CycleOps thinks that PowerTap users need some points pounded into our skulls.
As an aside, my thought at the moment is that the problem is in the receiver/mount system. A system that costs $65-70 to replace (ouch!). The mount was broken and glued back together at some point in the past, and that glue failed last month. I used an epoxy to put the mount back together, but who knows what internal wiring damage might have occurred inside the mount either time it broke. I need to check the hub and head with another harness to see of that is the issue, but first we will see what drying everything out good for a few days does for us.
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you know…you are not supposed to read a manual… that’s a lawyer’s job when someone gets f-ed up.
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Problems like that drive me absolutely insane. You know the ones where you know there is a problem, but don’t really know how to fix it exactly.
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funny…mike has been dealing with the same issues in trying to fix mine over the last month. Saris is AMAZING with warranty replacements. First they replaced my computer. When that didn’t work, now they are replacing my hub and rebuilding the wheel. Call them if all else fails as they seem to have a warranty replacement with very few questions asked…
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I’ve heard the early models are a little finicky in the rain. I recommend lots of waterproof grease on the seals. Make sure the cradle is dry as well.
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Twinkie – I avoid manuals whenever possible. As I wrote, I tried all the options I could think of first.
Chris – Yep, drives me nuts. I want a way to more directly see if the hub is transmitting; their test method could show failure if any one of the hub, receiver, wiring, mount, or head fail. Tough to narrow down when the test is really a system, not component, test.
Ali – If it does not work when I put it back together, after airing, I will call Saris. But it is old, and second hand, so I am not hoping for miracles.
Merkeley – Ahh, the cradle. Need to dry that out too. Ms. Chatterbox has a Planet Bike cyclo-computer on the touring bike that goes beserk in the rain due to water infiltrating the cradle. I know at least some of the newer models have the electronics sealed inside the hub and have sealed battery compartments so should be a lot better. All to think about when we go for a second power measuring device.
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tell them you’re me. it’s a 2004 so not that old. they will replace whatever isn’t working but you might need to send the unit in.
btw, tell me about the glued piece?
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