Kickr SNAP calibration

[Tom]

Is driving me nuts. I got the stupid thing to work with BKOOL after some fussing to where it doesn't go all herky jerky on a simulated steep upgrade. Now if I could figure out how to calibrate the damn SNAP so the power it reports is anywhere near perceived exertion. It seems to be running 20-30 percent low. I'm thinking that the dead BKOOL was pretty lenient and its values ran high but this is nuts. Way way harder than on the road. 2% simulated grades are work. Reporting 20% less average power, my average heart rate is up 5% on a HRR scale.

I'm thinking of trying the method I saw where somebody with a calibrated power meter found that if you crank it down three turns instead of the recommended two turns, do the calibration spindown and then back it off a turn it comes into line.

What's people's experience with this thing? Anybody have any tricks or guidelines?

[chrisn]

I can't suggest and tricks as mine seemed to work fine Tom. Although I can't compare/calibrate it to another power meter, it definitely provides steady readings and the climb % seem to be at the right level of resistance to what I'd expect. This is when using it on Zwift, I've heard other platforms don't necessarily work so well at simulating gradients/drafting etc and keeping it all steady...?

How are you connecting it to your computer? I've been using the iphone app 'mobile link' whilst waiting for an ANT+ USB dongle to arrive for my laptop, and its been working great, to the extent I may not even bother with the dongle.

[Tom]

ANT+ dongle on an extension cord so it sites about three inches from the flywheel. Today was closer but still pretty tough on the simulated steep uphills. Weirdly, it was much more erratic today. Yesterday I had the Wahoo app open at the same time I was using bkool to control it and it was very smooth, I've seen other people reporting that but it is very anecdotal. Still trying to determine the exact technique.

[Too Tall]

Clean tire, pump to 85/90 psi and enough pressure that it takes a good deal of arm force to skid the wheel when holding the flywheel still. After that do the spindown and I'm finding it is very accurate.

[Bewheels]

If you are still having issues after TT advice, give Wahoo a call. The smart trainer market is competitive and I understand Wahoo realize this and do a good job with customer support. In the unfortunate event that there happens to be somethign wrong with your unit, you will have established a service record with them.

[Tom]

Need more data. One thing I need to do is take the time to warm the device up for ten minutes before running a calibration. I did email them, they suggest killing all conflicting apps - but that was the one day I got good results was when I had the Wahoo app recording the session while Bkool ran it and did include that information when I wrote them. I'll try it anyway.

Props to Bkool - this one isn't under warranty any more but for $120 bucks counting shipping they're replacing the resistance unit. That includes sending the old one back so they can diagnose it.