Help! I have a Stages Power Meter (probably circa 2014) and a Garmin Edge 530 (since last summer). Over my last 3 rides, when I sent TR workouts to my head unit, I can ride a short time and then the power and cadence turn to 0’s. I cannot get the data to report unless I turn the Garmin off and back on. Today it happened with Buckhorn and I when I got the Garmin turned back on, I opted not to do the workout and it was fine the rest of the ride. It has happened at least 4 times in the last couple of weeks BUT one of those was just a ride, no workout…That’s why I am not certain it is problem with TR. You guys are smart so I am looking for help here. When it first happened, my Garmin froze and stopped recording (I couldn’t even turn it off until I got home and looked up how to do a hard reset). LBS recommended I sync Garmin to laptop for updates. There was a map update and that’s it. Power meter firmware is up to date and has a new battery (Energizer) as of right before the first freeze. Garmin is up to date. I calibrate power meter before every ride. Yesterday it was just spinning and I didn’t have time to putz with it so I rode anyway; today it calibrated fine. Any ideas? Could I have a bad 530? I know there was faulty units when it first came out. Is it simply the Stages getting old ? I have no idea on the life expectancy of a power meter. Thanks so much for any advise! I look forward to the responses.
If you never had freezes before and they started immediately after a battery change I’d look there first. I don’t have any experience with Stages but know PowerTap P1 pedals can be fussy with batteries, maybe check you’re using the correct type and try a new one?
Use the Stages app and perform a zero reset.
The ADC value should be around 800. I had a unit that kept dropping out. The ADC value read really low (392) and Stages replaced it under warranty.
Bad:
Good:
While you’re at it, check the battery level in the Stages app. People have reported that the unit starts to drop out when the battery level drops below 70%, which is annoying, but nice to know. There’s a chance that your new battery may have sat on the shelf for a long time.
Battery indicator:
Stages notoriously go through tons of batteries; definitely have the right one as I buy them often. I should have been more detailed but didn’t want the post to be too long. I changed the battery maybe a month ago and everything worked fine; about 2 weeks later Garmin froze so I replaced battery again. Next ride got the notification “Power Meter battery low” from my Garmin even though the Stages app showed full. Reseeded battery and haven’t had any troubles with low battery notification. I checked and I bought the batteries in Dec 19, there is no date on the package though but I have been buying Energizer instead of knock offs hoping to get more longevity out of them. Will see what happens next ride and maybe try another one but 3 in a month is unusual. Thanks!
Zero reset was 892 and battery was 100%. Think this a Garmin issue more than the Stages? The Stages is old (not sure what gen) but I think they are known for poor Bluetooth connectivity. I will do some research on that. Thanks for the info!
Hmm not sure.
I have a Gen 3 stages that connects via ANT+ to a Garmin 1030.
Now I’m wondering how accurate the battery meter is. Will have to put a multimeter to the batteries one of these days.
The best source of disposable batteries is, IMO, McMaster-Carr. They rotate their battery inventory to avoid sending out old stock, as many of their customers, such as myself, use them in industrial settings where battery failure can be quite costly.
I figured out I have a Gen 2 based on the pictures. I had occasional drop outs with Edge 500 and Edge 530 in areas with lots of telephone pole or electrical wires but the power would always recover. Now it just says 0 for cadence and power when it happens and it doesn’t change if I flip screens. I think I am going to get a 4iiii’s and start fresh. How long is a power meter supposed to last? I believe mine is at least 6 years old and that would be 6 years of ‘year round’ riding not just the summer.
I would contact Stages first and see if they replace under warranty. Never had a problem with gen2 and gen3, with both a 520 and 530. Will mention that unlike most people I see, my speed sensor is on the front hub.
You could try repairing it. I don’t know about the 530 but I had to manually pair my Stages with my 510 and choose 1 second recording to make it work without dropouts.
One thing I’ve noticed is that when I have a power reading of 0, the units are still connected. When the power reading goes blank then the units got disconnected.
Yeah - No numbers, I think it shows dashes or underscores. I will try to unpair and see if that solves it.
So I unpaired and repaired the Stages last weekend. Now when I calibrate it, I get a number like 890 whereas before I was getting 0 (even though it said “Calibration Successful”). Time will tell if this fixes the issues but it has been better this week. I did a TR workout outdoors on Tues and the Garmin did not freeze. Success!