Vector 3 + iPad signal issues, possibly TR specific?

TrainerRoad Software
1

I’ve been having issues for a while now with cadence/power dropouts and I’m trying to get to the bottom of it. My set up is as follows:

Kurt Kinetic Road Machine
Garmin Vector 3 for power/cadence (connected via Bluetooth)
iPad for running TR

Naturally, with all the issues Vectors are infamous for I at first assumed they were the culprit. After several battery doors and following Garmin’s advice to the letter (using mineral oil, etc) I’m not sure they are.

Here’s some recent TR rides that illustrate the problem:

Ebbetts
Ramp Test
Pettit

And here’s some Zwift sessions from the same time period:
Zwift 1
Zwift2

As you can see, the difference is night and day! With my sleuthing hat on, I then decided to try moving my trainer setup to a different area of the house:
Brasstown

Much better! So now I’m thinking that there’s some kind of signal interference issue at play, rather than it being the pedals.

So 2 questions really. Firstly, why would TR be affected but not Zwift? Does TR poll cadence/power info more frequently or is Zwift doing some weird smoothing?

Secondly, has anyone got any tips for solving interference problems? I’ve tried the obvious things I can think of. Deleted Garmin connect from my phone and turned off all bluetooth devices in the vicinity (except the iPad of course).

I know the easy answer here is to move my training set up somewhere else, but that really isn’t an option as my house is tiny and there’s nowhere else it could be set up permanently.

2

Hey there!

For basic interference issues, this article is a great resource:

However, if you have all your bases coverd and are still experiencing signal issues, go ahead and reach out to our Support Team so that we can take a closer look. You can reach us at support@trainerroad.com :+1:.

3

Thanks Bryce, that article has helped I think. I’ve been testing various things today and I think I’ve figured it out.

I live in a terraced house and share a living room wall with my neighbour. I train right in the corner where the cable modem used to be until I moved mine upstairs. My guess is that my neighbour hasn’t and they have their WiFi router right next the the wall. Over the last few months my bike setup has been creeping closer and closer to that wall. I’ve moved my setup back a metre and hey-presto, flawless performance!

Looking forward to my next workout now to give it a proper test!