PowerPod Delay to Garmin 530

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wad06
Posts: 7
Joined: Sat Sep 21, 2019 5:59 pm

PowerPod Delay to Garmin 530

Post by wad06 »

I have a PowerPod v3, a Garmin Edge 530, a Wahoo speed sensor, and a Wahoo cadence sensor.

When riding with the PowerPod, the power, speed, and cadence numbers on my Garmin 530 are all delayed about 5 to 7 seconds. When I ride without the PowerPod, the delay from the speed and cadence sensors is only about 1 to 2 seconds.

First, is this normal?

Second, why would there be a difference between the delay on the speed and cadence sensors depending on whether the PowerPod was present? Does the delay increase with the third sensor?

While not the worst thing in the world, it is a bit annoying. My workaround thus far is to display 10 second power on my Garmin, but to be honest, I'd prefer to either use 3 second power or real time power.

For testing purposes, I tried the same experiment (with PowerPod / without PowerPod) with my Fenix 6. I got the same result.

Thanks in advance for the help.

Will
spangelsaregreat
Posts: 139
Joined: Sun Aug 13, 2017 2:53 pm

Re: PowerPod Delay to Garmin 530

Post by spangelsaregreat »

Don't have any delay in my cadence or speed sensors but I would say about a 5 second delay in power reaction from the PowerPod is normal. Remember the PowerPod is usually set to dynamic power which has power smoothing built in so you should just chose straight power on your Garmin. If you use any power smoothing you will in theory slow the power change even more.

Dynamic power on the PowerPod should then switch to raw power if you accelerate hard. It does to this but still with the same delay. I have also tried setting the PowerPod to raw power but I still notice a delay in its reaction but you just get really jumpy power figures as you would with any power meter.

I guess the delay will be due to the fact PowerPod does need to read all info from all its different sensors, calculate the power and then send it to the Garmin. Once you realise that and ride accordingly it becomes something you don't really notice too much.

Regards
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