In theory BLE is a more stable connection so I try to use it for whichever system I care more about. TR for workouts, zwift when racing. I do the same thing with a slightly newer macbook. Be aware that whichever program you open first will grab the ant antenna and not share it with the other one. Both can do bluetooth but for whatever reason macos only lets one at a time see the ant+ hardware.
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Ah I see interesting. I did not know that about BLE. So technically would a better setup be to use something like the NPE cable instead of an ant+ antenna and do two Bluetooth connections?
No, what you have will be best. Both programs can access the bluetooth antenna but a given device will only talk to one thing via bluetooth at a time. Both cant talk bluetooth to the power meter at once but one can use bluetooth and one can use ant. Unlike bluetooth ant+ just broadcasts and whatever wants to listen to that signal can do so. My HRM sends data to my watch, computer, garmin etc all at once via ant.
This is also extra important to keep in mind if you ever need to re-pair stuff at an event with lots of other people who also have lots of devices.
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This^^^. I run TR on BLE and Zwift on ANT+. I tried it the other way around and switched after I found BLE is solid for me and I never get dropouts. But with ANT+ I get 1 or 2 momentary drops on Zwift about one out of five rides. If I was doing racing on Zwift Iād be sure to use BLE. Then on top of this, I also run my Edge 1030+ off of ANT+ to capture my workout/HR data, as I like some of the Garmin data.
I use TR on my samsung phone with native ant+ to control the trainer, and then bluetooth broadcasting to AppleTV for zwift. I do get occasional ant+ drops, but not enough that it concerns me. With my Hammer 1, it maintains whatever power target in erg before the drop out, so worst case scenario itās a few seconds longer in the interval.
The only issue I have is if I do a spin down in TrainerRoad, it seems to disconnect Ant+ while doing the calibration. Thatās Hammer related I think, but Iāve struggled with firmware updates via rouvy and I am not too bothered as it seems to be working fine. I just have to turn off and back on again to get the Ant+ reconnected. Nowadays I tend to go with weekly or when weather changes calibrations (pain cave in an unheated shed), so do them in a cooldown.
How is the smart trainer controlled? Trainerroadās workout resistance or gradient of Zwiftās roads?
In theory both methods work. I use the former (TR controlling the trainer, Zwift as visual candy using the power output from the trainer to calculate speed); using the latter depends on TR letting you select the trainer as a power source without controlling it, which Iāve never tested. No Erg mode possible in that setup, it would be similar to a TR workout performed outside.
The way to do it is first connect the trainer to Zwift (Ant+) for cadence and power, not ERG. Once connected and inside the game, then start trainerroad and connect to the trainer via BLEā¦ works flawlessly, done it for a couple of months now and is great
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Yes, thatās what I do too.
I usually do the oppositeā¦connect TR via BT first and then to Zwift via ANT+.
The only reason I do it that way is because I can connect to TR almost immediately and it takes Zwift a couple of minutes to fire up on the PC because of their crappy UI.
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The downside of this approach is that you have to disable the channel you donāt use in TR (ANT+ in your case), otherwise TR hogs both ANT+ and BT. Zwift is more civil, it does not block a transmission channel it does not use. But if you do disable either ANT+ or BT in TR, then you can start it first.
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I have Zwift connected by ANT with the controllable turned off, using my computer, and TR connected by Bluetooth from my phone.
I was running both on my laptop for a while but thatās a bit annoying messing around with windows and stuff, plus it causes my computer to be really slow (itās a piece of junk at the best of times). Whereas TR on my phone works pretty flawlessly, I need it on hand as a wireless hotspot (training in a lockup outside of wifi range) and for music anyway.
You could leave the trainer controlled by Zwift and do the workout as if it was an outside workout if you wanted to (but still via the TR app - i.e., adjusting gearing and cadence to hit the marks). I would think that might be fairly difficult though, and possibly not worth it unless you were doing a longer endurance type workout and wanted something to keep the interest up.
I run TR on an iPad, so I donāt have that issue.
Also, Zwift tends to remember the last setting I used, so the trainer just comes up as a āpower sourceā and not a controllable trainer.
That makes loads of sense. Never thought of it in those terms but that sounds exactly right
On the longer endurance ride i usually struggle with finding Zwift that engaging, just leave it on in the background for progression and end up watching something on Netflix, prime, disney+ etcā¦
Yes, personally if I am doing a longer endurance ride indoors I will not use TR at all, and listen to podcasts etc - or often over winter I might be doing it in a group so weāll be chatting on Discord etc.
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I run Zwift via Ant+ on either my PC (at home) or MacBookPro (when away for work) connected to my Trainer (KICKR Core or Neo). I disable the controllable box on the bottom right of the Zwift menu.
TR runs on my iPad and connects to my Trainer and Pedals (Garmin RallyXC 200) via BLE. I use PowerMatch almost exclusively. I think I am going to do some āoutdoorā Zwift endurance rides in the future for fun.
I also connect my Rallyās to my Garmin Edge 1030 via Ant+.
The only issues I experience are occasional competition to control TR if Zwift tries to control at the same time. That only happens if I forget to disable that connection. Also, in a hotel, with my Neo and MacBook Pro, I see a lot of BLE dropouts on TR (I do not see these issues as much at home, if at all.) I believe there is some sort of signal interference in the hotel WiFi of other devices nearby.
Deleted my post in an older thread and moved it here:
Is there a way to upload a TrainerRoad workout to a head unit (my case a Wahoo Bolt) and do that workout āoutdoorsā while doing a Zwift ride?
My set up is the following:
Zwift on Apple TV
TrainerRoad on iPad Air
Zwift Companion app on iPhone
Wahoo Kickr V5
Wahoo Tickr
Wahoo Cadence Sensor
Main info:
Garmin specific:
Wahoo specific:
Additionally, you will need to make sure that the āControlledā setting in Zwift is empty (not paired to your trainer), so you only have one device controlling the trainer (your head unit).
Alternatively, just run both apps together as instructed here, and skip the head unit, like the link already shared above describes:
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Yes it should work fine.
Setup:
- Zwift connects to Kickr as controllable trainer
- Bolt connects to Kickr as power meter
- TrainerRoad uploads outside workout to Bolt
To do a workout, just start riding around in Zwift. You have to start the workout on your Bolt, and follow the workout by looking at Bolt. You are doing a TR outside workout, with Zwift simulating riding outside on a road.
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