Quarq Cinqo & iAero Observations - Help Needed

[graphaelian]

I took my Cinqo/iAero out for its maiden voyage today and it was interesting to say the least. Here are some observations...

1. First I was getting speeds that were extraordinary - the iAero had me doing 35 mph on average and 209 max! Wow, these power meters DO make you fast Not sure what went wrong there.

2. It seemed to me that the Cinqo was reading low - I have an SRM PCV on my other bike and my RPE didn't match my power output. Only when surging up a hill or riding at a recovery pace did my RPE match my power output IMO. At tempo pace it felt like the Cinqo was reading low. This could be due to point # 4 below.

3. There is a serious lag for the power to drop to 0 after I stop pedaling - This is something I experienced w my 1st gen iBike so I thoguth maybe I was getting power readings from the iBike and NOT the Cinqo - To check I covered the air pressure port, pedaled, and low and behold I was putting out power so it was the Cinqo that was reading my wattage. I'v read elswhere that this is a firmware issue w the iAero. Anyone fixed this w their setup?

4. The pairing process was easy and straight forward but I couldn't zero out the PM - I kept trying to do this under WLS CFG > PCAL and i kept getting a message that it was in PROC or it said that the process FAILED. Any thoughts?

Last, I downloaded my file, but I did not bother to do a tilt or coastdown before the ride, because for now I'm only interested in data from the Cinqo. I can see data from both devices in the iBike 2 SW. I want to drag and drop the Cinqo data into CP, but I just can't seem to figure how to do that? If I save the file and then drag and drop it into CP all I get is the iBike data. How do I isolate and save the Cinqo data for import into CP? Anyone crack the code on this one?

Thanks in advance for the help.

gene r

[coachboyd]

1. Check the wheel circumference settings in your iAero to make sure they match your wheel size, and check to make sure you don't have two magnets passing by the speed sensor (that one is a great practical joke to play on somebody)

2&4 The Cinqo can be zeroed at anytime by backpedaling 8 or more revolutions. This "auto zeros" it. Also, you have to pair your devices before you try to zero. Meaning, put the iAero in the regular riding screen and hit the center button. You'll see spd found, hrt found, Pin found. When you see all that then you can go back into setup screen, wrls cfg, scroll through the menus and zero the Quarq. You have to have the crankset found for it to zero it.

3. This can be an issue with the way the Quarq transmits the power packets. I can't recall exactly but I think it does it 4 times per revolution (somebody correct me if I'm wrong). But I know that when you go from putting in wattage to coasting, the Quarq will still send out data for a few seconds that says it's getting power.

And the last part I have already emailed you the answer, but for anybody else you simply have to directly open the csv file with excel. Then copy the data from the DFPM power column starting with the first number over to the "power" column. Save your data and then you can open the file with cyclingpeaks and the Cinqo data will be shown. You will have to click the drop down to tell the software that you were the one who did the ride.

[graphaelian]

Boyd, you are...THE MAN!! Thank you!!

I can't believe I didn't think to open the excel file! Duh!

THANKS AGAIN!!!

Best,

Gene

[Tom_Anhalt]

2&4 The Cinqo can be zeroed at anytime by backpedaling 8 or more revolutions. This "auto zeros" it. Also, you have to pair your devices before you try to zero. Meaning, put the iAero in the regular riding screen and hit the center button. You'll see spd found, hrt found, Pin found. When you see all that then you can go back into setup screen, wrls cfg, scroll through the menus and zero the Quarq. You have to have the crankset found for it to zero it.

Boyd,
Can you expound on this a little bit? From my reading of the iAero manual, I'm not aware of a way to "manually zero" the CinQo besides the backpedaling routine (and I think it's actually only 4 revolutions required instead of 8). Are you saying that there's a wrls cfg option to "force" the zero, like the Garmin allows you to do with the CinQo? If so, does it give you any feedback on the offset number?

In my playing around so far with the iAero unit I've been loaned, I haven't found this option, if it exists...and it would be great if it did since it would allow one to do a static check on the torque reading of the CinQo (...are you hearing that Gene? )

[coachboyd]

The pCal function is for zeroing the Quarq data. Make sure you have all sensors paired and then when you get to pCal hit the bottom button. You should see the word Start. Hit the center button and you will see "Proc" (proceed). This is zeroing the signal from the Quarq and it will say done or fail afterwards. The Gen3 units will say zero afterwards. Today I tried to put pressure on the crank as I zeroed and I got a fail message. I am not sure right now if you can check the calibration of the Quarq using the iAero. I know if you have a Garmin you can, but it will read the measurement off in newton-meters, not pound-inches like other devices.

[graphaelian]

I fixed the speed issue today simply be removing/re-inserting the battery. I'm now back to human speeds.

I also followed your advice Boyd and spun thr cranks backwards 8xs to zero the Cinqo. Should I see a message letting me know it reset?

Last, I took the bike out for a spin and today my RPE matched my power output. That said I'd love to benchmark the Cinqo against another PM so i'll have to hunt down a freind who has a PT and report back.

Best,

gene

[mieke@quarq]

Hi Gene,

Just to clarify, you only need to spin the CinQo backwards for 4 complete revolutions in order for it to completely re-zero itself. The prototype CinQos (of which Boyd has) used to need 8 revs backwards to re-zero. Boyd, on a side note, yours only needs 4 revs now since we updated the firmware the last time we had it here.

You will not see any feedback on the iAero (or Garmin 705) when you "auto zero" since it is all done internally on the CinQo itself. I'm guessing your first ride was done without having zeroed the CinQo after the initial installation which could be why your power didn't totally match your RPE. We recommend always auto zeroing before you head out on a ride and also periodically throughout a ride if the temperature is changing a lot.

Mieke
Quarq Technology

[Tom_Anhalt]

The pCal function is for zeroing the Quarq data. Make sure you have all sensors paired and then when you get to pCal hit the bottom button. You should see the word Start. Hit the center button and you will see "Proc" (proceed). This is zeroing the signal from the Quarq and it will say done or fail afterwards. The Gen3 units will say zero afterwards. Today I tried to put pressure on the crank as I zeroed and I got a fail message. I am not sure right now if you can check the calibration of the Quarq using the iAero. I know if you have a Garmin you can, but it will read the measurement off in newton-meters, not pound-inches like other devices.

Thanks Boyd...I guess the version of the iAero manual I have is old, since it doesn't mention pCal (I was wondering what that function was ) Thanks for clearing that up.

Is there any chance that the firmware can be changed in the future so that a torque reading is possible (like the Garmin)? Trust me, it's a lot easier to do a static check of a CinQo than running it for multiple rides against another PM. (BTW, the Garmin torque reading number is N-m x 32...i.e. you have to divide the number by 32 to get N-m)

Gene...If you want to do a static check of your CinQo, drop me a line, I currently have access to a Garmin 705 that we could use to check it (Thanks Mieke! )

[graphaelian]

Sorry I haven't responded to those that forwarded info and advice. Mieke, thanks for the tip on only having to back-pedal 4xs to zero offset.

Tom, thanks for the offer. I think my Cinqo is reading correctly based on power #s over the last 2 TT sessions I've run. That said I put out a lot less power on my TT rig, >20% delta, than I do on my road bike at similar heartrates (fully rested and hydrated in both cases) so something's amiss. I may take you up on your offer at some point.

Last, during yesterday's session my Cinqo lost contact w the iAero frequently at various intervals. I woud either see a Pinfail message or the iAero would "freeze" at a certain wattage for roughly 20 seconds until it came back to life. My first instinct was to suspect that my iAero battery was low, but it was reading 286, so that probably isn't the issue. Anyone else have this happen? If so any ideas on why this happens? Thanks in advance for the help.

Best,

Gene