Quarq - Garmin 800 Question



Felt_Rider

Well-Known Member
Oct 24, 2004
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I have been using Powertap with the Garmin 800 for a while now and yesterday was my first experience with setting up the Quarq and Garmin 800.

I did some searching last night on vast sea of information on the web and did not find what I was looking for so I thought I would check with members here that use or have experience with the Quarq - Garmin 800 combination.

This how the screen appears with the Garmin 800 - Powertap combination showing the offset value, the option to control Auto Zero and the Torque value that I have used a number of times to do a weighted static torque test to validate the power meter.




This is how the screen looks with the Garmin 800 - Quarq combination with the offset value, but no option to control Auto Zero or view the torque value.



One, I am not familiar yet with this combination so I am not sure about that offset value, but doing a very quick test on an incline at the street in front of my house the power output numbers appeared to be at the wattage that I would expect to see based on perceived pressure applied to the pedals also based on common experience with the Powertap on that street.

More importantly is this typical for the calibration screen on the Garmin with the Auto Zero option and the torque value missing or should those two options be present for the Quarq like the Powertap?

I went through all the other settings and everything seems be setup correctly in the Garmin. The short Quarq test data also appeared ok within WKO+ just as I would hope.
 
That is the correct calibration screen, They 800 only auto zeros for SRM and Powertap
 
So for the Quarq there is not an Auto Zero, it has to be manually zeroed by spinning backwards at a convenient moment.

Okay, so I think I have found the answer to my primary question with more searching.
http://www.trainingfx.com/faq/item/150-what-about-field-calibration?.html

So there is not an independent torque value field like the Powertap when doing a static test.
1.You calibrate unloaded to see the unweighted offset value.
2. You calibrate again using your hanging weight on the crank and the value will be in the same line as the Current Calibration field.

I guess I am good to go....../img/vbsmilies/smilies/smile.gif
 
Originally Posted by mx416 .

That is the correct calibration screen, They 800 only auto zeros for SRM and Powertap
Thanks.....comforting to know at this point since I bought this used. I just had a few seconds last night to see if it would sync, check out the wattage output, and see the data in WKO.
 
You are correct on the calibrating, the offset will change when hanging a weight on pedal.

I don't really use the pedaling backwards to zero, I stop periodically to zero the cranks if there's a big temperature change. But, the zero offset is really stable on my Quarq
 
Originally Posted by mx416 .

You are correct on the calibrating, the offset will change when hanging a weight on pedal.

I don't really use the pedaling backwards to zero, I stop periodically to zero the cranks if there's a big temperature change. But, the zero offset is really stable on my Quarq
Not to be pedantic... Isn't calibration done when hanging a weight on the pedal and 0-offset when pedaling backwards?
 
Calibrating the powermeter is done with a weight, however the zero offset will go to a certain number based on the weight that is on the pedal.

You can zero by pedaling backwards or using the calibrate screen on the Garmin