Power tap reading too high

gregkeller

Just purchased a new power tap pro, built into a open pro rim. I wired the harness myself and went through the manual setting everything up (refresh rate/sample rate/wheel circumference etc). Then i got on the thing and went for a 40 mile ride. The data for that ride was way off, my max wattage was 1999, my average power was around 320 watts (this was a pretty easy endurance ride), so i cant figure out what is wrong with it, when i am not pedaling the wattage is 0 so it doesn't sound like a torque thing. Any tips, or should i just call up power tap tomorrow?

ric_stern/RST

assuming that it is off (it may not be... how heavy/tall are you? what category are you?) then flick into torque mode and when you are coasting make sure it's zero (in torque mode). hold down the button to zero it.

if it's still giving you an average of ~ 320 W or whatever, then that's either the correct power for you, or you have a damaged PT...

(don't assume that just coasting and seeing the watts are zero that the torque is also zero, you need to check the torque as well).

ric

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gregkeller

just did ran the test mode and it seems to have fixed the problem. Must have been with the torque value. Thanks for the help, figured since everything else was ok (speed/distance/cadence) that the torque value must have been screwed up. I figured myself a pretty strong rider (200 lbs) but doubted that i could put out 320 watts for three hours with an average heartrate of 145. The heartrate does seem to be a little bit quirky, where it works sometimes but goes out for no apparent reason, thinking its just because i have on 5 layers of clothes.

Woofer

There are two main sources of problems with HRM drops - either not enough moisture between the strap and you, or radio interference from nearby power lines/cell towers.

You should zero the PowerTap at the start of every ride.

zaskar

Iwas going crazy trying to figure out why my hrt monitor would give high false readings. when i would zip my jersey down it would work. come to find out it was static electric being caused by jersey flapping in the wind. i use a static spray for that now and no more problems.