Powerpod Compatible With Duotrap S?

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klhutch52@gmail.com
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Joined: Mon Sep 17, 2018 12:51 pm

Powerpod Compatible With Duotrap S?

Post by klhutch52@gmail.com »

I have a brand new PowerPod which I have properly charged and have connected to Isaac successfully. When I try to pair it with the Duotrap S speed/cadence sensor on my new Trek (both the Trek and the Duotrap are a few weeks old) I get the blinking green light which continues for 5 minutes and then turns off without displaying either a solid yellow (or should it be green?) or solid red status condition. The Duotrap S work flawlessly with my Lezyne head unit. The PP will not pair with the Lezyne either but that may be normal before it has successfully paired with a speed sensor, I cannot tell from the owner's manual. I have tried multiple times without success, one time while pushing the bike to make sure the speed sensor was sending data and once after performing a full factory reset using Isaac. It appears to me that the PP that I have is "deaf" to ANT+ signals. The only other speed sensor that I have is a GSC-10 which is listed as incompatible so I have not tried it. I see a few other mentions here of the Duotrap and none of them indicate that it is incompatible.

Do I have a defective PP unit? Is there anything else that I can try?
Velocomp
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Re: Powerpod Compatible With Duotrap S?

Post by Velocomp »

Please email technicalsupport@velocomp.com for next steps
John Hamann
klhutch52@gmail.com
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Re: Powerpod Compatible With Duotrap S?

Post by klhutch52@gmail.com »

I've seen a lot of these threads end with the post above which is fine for the OP but which does not help anyone who looks at the thread later on because they have the same or a similar problem. So here is the rest of the story.

It should be mentioned that Velocomp technical support replied very quickly to my messages and was very helpful.

I do not know for sure which step below fixed my issue which was that my brand new PowerPod would not pair to either my Bontrager Duotrap S speed/cadence sensor or the GSC-10 sensor I had on another bike. The status light would flash green for 5 minutes and then stop without displaying a steady yellow or green (I've seen both colors mentioned in the instructions) light to indicate success or a steady red light to indicate failure. The things I did, in the order I did them are:

1) I did a reset of the PP using the Isaac software. This most likely resets the internal software registers to their factory default state, Velocomp can confirm that if they care to. This type of reset will often fix oddball problems but by itself it did not solve the problem with my PP.

2) I did a power on reset of the Duotrap S. Velocomp advises you to do this by removing the battery from your speed sensor, putting it in backwards for 10 seconds, and then putting it back in correctly. The theory is that the backwards battery shorts the power supply terminals of the sensor and discharges any capacitors on the power supply line. This guarantees that when you put the battery in correctly the sensor will go through its full power on reset procedure. Apparently this is a safe procedure with most bicycle speed/cadence sensors but I have too many devices that use coin cells that would be damaged by putting the battery in backwards to recommend this. What I did instead was to use a small strip of aluminum foil to short out the battery terminals on the speed sensor. It's your speed sensor, take your pick between the two approaches. This type of reset will often fix oddball problems but by itself it did not solve the problem with my PP.

3) Section 1 of the PP tips and troubleshooting guide mentions a hardware reset procedure for the PP. I did not see it until last night because that section does not apply to the issue I was having. Even then I only looked for it because I remembered having read that someone mentioned doing that either on this forum or another. I also thought that the reset I did in step 1 was the same thing but nothing else had worked so I tried it. To do this you hold down the PP button and keep holding it down for about 10 seconds. After a few seconds you get the green flashing that indicates sensor pairing but keep holding it down. Eventually you get a red flash, now you can release it, the PP has done its hardware reset procedure. Within 30 seconds of doing that I had the PP paired to the speed sensor and my Lezyne head unit. This type of reset will often fix oddball problems but since I had already done the other two resets it is impossible to say if step 3 alone would have solved the problem or if one or both of the other two steps were also required.

So the takeaways are:

The PP is indeed compatible with the Duotrap S sensor

There are 3 different resets you can do when you are having trouble, two on the PP itself, one on your speed sensor. If you are having trouble don't give up until you have tried all three.
Velocomp
Velocomp CEO
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Re: Powerpod Compatible With Duotrap S?

Post by Velocomp »

This is a great post.

We certainly don't mean to keep information secret, but as you found out, there are a number of possible steps. Tom has those steps summarized in emails he can quickly send to anyone.
John Hamann
klhutch52@gmail.com
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Re: Powerpod Compatible With Duotrap S?

Post by klhutch52@gmail.com »

Oh, I did not mean to suggest that you were being secretive. Once a problem is solved the OP is happy and forgets about anything but riding with the PowerPod, and you are undoubtedly onto the next problem. I was trying to gently suggest and lead by example that there is value for all of us to have the conclusion of the matter recorded here.

I suppose there is a fourth part of the system that might need a reset in some cases -- your head unit. That is outside the scope of this discussion!

Don't know how I managed to forget to mention this last night but but I had just enough time between dinner and sunset last night to take a spin with the PowerPod and I now have Watts!
benadrian
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Re: Powerpod Compatible With Duotrap S?

Post by benadrian »

I just got a PP V3 and had this same problem; my Duotrap S was not syncing. I started with step 3 in the above post and that did it. Just FYI.

Cheers!
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