Protecting my ports from rain

[SilasGreenback]

I’ve never had success using the powerpod in rain due to ports blocking.

I’ve got a V3 with pitot tube and vaguely remember that there’s a pressure port or something underneath that the rain can block and its not the front tube that blocks.

I was wondering about making a shield with sugru mouldable glue…..basically an upside down volcano to hopefully prevent the rain from running down the body of the pod and blocking the hole.

Is that likely to work or more likely to cock up my readings??

[Velocomp]

If the bottom hole becomes plugged, then there can be problems.

Your idea is an interesting one and I would give it a try. Let us know how it works out, and send photos!

[SilasGreenback]

I shall indeed give it a try.

I guess the key thing will be to do the set up and calibration with it in place.

Shoulder op first so may be a while but will feed back results when its done.

[SilasGreenback]

Initial mould. Need to let it cure. Then wait for some rain!!

Tis a bit crude but not overly noticeable under my speedo.

John - if it works, I already filed a patent!!!

https://imgur.com/a/TvK6245

[Velocomp]

Initial mould. Need to let it cure. Then wait for some rain!!

Tis a bit crude but not overly noticeable under my speedo.

John - if it works, I already filed a patent!!!

https://imgur.com/a/TvK6245

Interesting! Let us know how this works out...

[spangelsaregreat]

I thought it was the actual sensor within the Power Pod (in the hole the pitot tube goes into) that gets blocked? The advice is to blow into that to unblock the port (never worked for me). Interested to see if the pressure hole is actually the issue in the rain but have never seen that mentioned before.

I have always thought a pitot tube with a 90 degree bend in it would be a possible solution similar to what most aircraft have.

Regards

[Velocomp]

The wind sensor detects the pressure difference between the wind pressure incident on the pitot tube, and the "natural" air pressure of the environment (the air pressure inside the case, basically the barometric pressure). Therefore there are TWO ports: one for the incident wind, and one for the ambient air.

If either port is blocked there will be problems. The pitot tube is the one more likely to be blocked, because it is facing moisture, which can be driven into the port. But if, somehow, the ambient air port is blocked, there can also be problems.

In this thread efforts are being made to protect the ambient air port.

[spangelsaregreat]

John

Thanks for the clarification on the two ports.

Regards

[lorduintah]

YOU MIGHT WANT TO GOOGLE ON PITOT TUBES AND HOW THEY WORK.

I would suspect that your patent application is already covered in the plethora of details embedded in the design of the pitot.

Regards,

Tom

[SilasGreenback]

Well, after months of no rain in my rides combined with weeks off after shoulder surgury I finally got to test it.

1 hr commute with 45mins getting soaked through the rain, averaging around 18mph into the wind and rain.

PP kept working where I’d have expected it to give up.

I can see the pitot tube being the likely culprit for getting blocked but with the tiny ambient air hole and surface tension of water I’d say the latter is a prime candidate to get blocked.

Anyway, highly unscientific test says so far so good.

As much as I hate it, roll on a few more rainy days to test.

[Velocomp]

Well, after months of no rain in my rides combined with weeks off after shoulder surgury I finally got to test it.

1 hr commute with 45mins getting soaked through the rain, averaging around 18mph into the wind and rain.

PP kept working where I’d have expected it to give up.

I can see the pitot tube being the likely culprit for getting blocked but with the tiny ambient air hole and surface tension of water I’d say the latter is a prime candidate to get blocked.

Anyway, highly unscientific test says so far so good.

As much as I hate it, roll on a few more rainy days to test.

Very interesting! If you have a ride file please post it.

[SilasGreenback]

Will do. I’ll upload when i get back tonight. Not sure about the calibration though. Knocked the pod and mucked up the angle calibration so watched it “learn” for the first 15mins or so. Not sure it settled at the right level but will post anyway. Come the weekend i’m going to redo the calibration/set up.

[SilasGreenback]

morning ride in the rain - you can see the big spike then it settles early on.

evening ride - not sure what happened but it didnt seem to register power to start with which you can see with the big lag before settling.

I need to swap stem and reset myu bars so will inevitably need to do another calbration ride but what's your view on the calibration for these rides? The evening one felt about right from last time i was training with powerbut feel and reality can be very different things!!

[Velocomp]

morning ride in the rain - you can see the big spike then it settles early on.

evening ride - not sure what happened but it didnt seem to register power to start with which you can see with the big lag before settling.

I need to swap stem and reset myu bars so will inevitably need to do another calbration ride but what's your view on the calibration for these rides? The evening one felt about right from last time i was training with powerbut feel and reality can be very different things!!

For your morning ride PP was pointed up. It took 90 seconds to calm down, then fine

Afternoon just the opposite; pointed down then OK after 90 seconds.

How bad was the rain on the morning ride? There is zero evidence of sensor blockage...

[SilasGreenback]

Rain was enough to p*** me off! Especially as i thought i’d miss it so left the shower proof top at home!

On a scale of 1-10 with 1 being a little spit here and there to 10 being torrential it was around a 4-5. Enough to fill my shoes and soak me to the skin.

I normally tend to angle pp down slightly to reduce chances of the pitot feeding water in.

Needs some more testing but in the past, with that amount of rain I’d start to see power fluctuations in this ride timeframe but I saw nothing. Then another 15mins or so power would read 0.

[SilasGreenback]

I forgot to ask - with the learning does that happen every ride until i recalibrate or will it learn and store the learnt change for next ride. So in effect its a continual process so i can forget redoing calibration rides?

[Velocomp]

I forgot to ask - with the learning does that happen every ride until i recalibrate or will it learn and store the learnt change for next ride. So in effect its a continual process so i can forget redoing calibration rides?

Recalibration process is continuous; you don't have to do new cal rides.

[spangelsaregreat]

Hi

How has your Sugru mod been working? I have bought some to try but we are in a heat wave at the moment so no rain.

Regards

[SilasGreenback]

Sorry for VeRY late response! Stopped recording power for a while as riding habbits changed.

Was doing well in showers. Always stayed showing sensible readings at times where it’d normally stop working. Never tested in a proper deluge though.