Speed from BT sensor is not shown on the dashboard

topcaser · April 01, 2015, 14:37:15

Hi,

I coupled my speed and cadence sensor (BT) with Locus. Locus showed realistic values in the coupling dialogue if I spin the wheel. I have assigned in a second step the speed and the cadence to two dashboard fields. Nevertheless, if I spin the wheel both values show 0. Are there further steps to do to get it running?

Menion · April 01, 2015, 20:21:37

Hi,

I think, that in case of dashboard, you'll need an GPS changes. So try to at least at home, enable GPS in Locus and get fix. Then, Locus should receive every one second new location, so every one second, you should get refreshed content in dashboard.

topcaser · April 01, 2015, 20:31:25

Hi menion,

thanks for the reply. I will try this tomorrow. But is there no other way to show the speed more quickly? This would mean that showing the speed from the sensor is very laggy. Furthermore I must have turned GPS on. Let's assume I will run out of battery on a long biking tour and I turn off the GPS. This would mean, that the speed is not be shown any more?

Oh, by writing this, a new idea poped up in my mind: To save battery it would be nice to only have the dashboard on a black background. This would save additional battery for AMOLED devices. Maybe the black background can be easily switched with the map. What do you think?

Menion · April 01, 2015, 20:44:55

Hmm because screen consume even a more power then GPS, make any sense, keep turned screen on with updated speed, but has disabled GPS? Can't imagine, it may be useful. Isn't better to have recorded track with display turned off?

And dark theme for amoled .. idea already exists here http://help.locusmap.eu/topic/support_amoled , but to be true, I really hope, it won't be needed to do this in the end. Amount of work should be too much compare to gain.

tommi · April 02, 2015, 07:14:15

Though I'm a fan of a dark theme, I think topcaser's need can be excellently fulfilled by selection of the black map (Maps/online/blank/dark).

Menion · April 02, 2015, 07:22:08

Ah yes, you are correct. You can even track for example sample "MyTracks" daskboard, which covers full screen and you may simple create an dashboard in dark theme!

topcaser · April 02, 2015, 08:14:35

Ah, that sounds good. Note that this idea is not equivalent to the idea you linked. I want to have a black screen during biking (with GPS off it saves really power and works still like a typical Tachometer) whereas the linked idea wants dark menus.

Back to topic: I can't try it out yet since there is so much rain in Germany. Maybe I can try it in the afternoon.

Do you know in which time distances a typical Tachometer is updated?

topcaser · April 02, 2015, 08:16:43

Tommi, is it possible to switch between normal maps and dark map on a finger click?

April 02, 2015, 08:31:34 »
My wheel spins at 30 km/h 3,8 times per second. This means, a new sensor pulse is received every 260 ms.
At 20 km/h it spins 2,6 times per second which means a sensor pulse every 390 ms.
Probably, 1 second update on the dashboard is fine.
That said, I am not sure whether this is valid for cadence

Menion · April 02, 2015, 08:54:45

Typical bike computer is probably updated faster then once per second. Here it is also possible to make it work in that way, but it's you "users", who should tell me if it really make sense. Because I do not think so.

topcaser · April 02, 2015, 09:14:21

In that cases I (as a software quality manager) used to say: let the user decide by implementing an option in the menu. That said it's also a question of costs. And this is your part. In my opinion (but I am often wrong and developers tell me why) it's not time consuming to implement an option to refresh the dashboard more often. Third it's a matter of importance. Do you work agile? Then someone ranks this feature against others and sort it in the backlog.
If you would ask me personally as a user I would love to see it

April 03, 2015, 13:40:26 »
Hi, I tried it today and you were right. As soon as a GPS signal is available, the speed from the sensor is also shown. Nevertheless, the cadence jumps to zero from time to time and I assume that this has something to do with the refresh rate of the dashboard. I would highly appreciate to see the dashboard updated more frequently and that said also been refreshed without having a GPS signal. I will try runtastic bike tomorrow and let's see how this app performance regarding the sensor. Nevertheless, Locus is my number one app and I would be really happy if you could update the app.
Thanks for supporting, Bernd

Menion · April 03, 2015, 16:36:57

Good day Bernd,

hmm software quality manager. Such users are always welcome

.

- time required to implement: average. Nothing serious, I think it may be done and tested within two hours
- importance: you are first and still last who wants it

But, biggest disadvantage: two faster frequency of updates, twice more operations for Locus dashboards. In case of app, where battery is most precious substance, this is not what all users wants.

So for me still remains question "is it needed", where my answer is "no". Zero values you saw will be more an issue then problem of frequency. Even that I have at home speed/cadence sensor on bike, I never used it. Have to change it once we will get some sun here.

Updating of dashboard even without GPS do not make sense, on second side it leads to situations like this, where all seems to be set and Locus show nothing. So I'll try to fix this problem. Thanks for feedback!

topcaser · April 07, 2015, 18:58:19

Hi,

I tried today the app Ipbike and this app has not the problem that the cadence shows 0 from time to time. I then connected with the Locus app to the sensor and double checked the pure sensor values in the sensor menu. Here the value is also not 0 from time to time. To sum things up: Only the dashboard shows cadence = 0 in some situations. Is it a problem of the dashboard?

topcaser · April 07, 2015, 21:12:34

I have a further question: I found out accidently that my heart rate sensor is also recognized. So I have in principal three more data: the cadence, the speed and the heart rate. Is this information also stored in a track? That said, I have two speed information: from the BT sensor and from the GPS. Which information is incorporated in the track?

Is it possible to get a gpx file which is compatible with e. g. sporttracks (a windows fitness tracking tool which understands gpx files).

Menion · April 07, 2015, 21:19:49

HI,

I'll have to change my own cadence sensor soon to see if there really isn't any problem. I've anyway improved system how dashboard is refreshed so you will see in next Locus version. Anyway to be true, I do not expect it will help

.

Speed from GPS is stored in separate field from GPS from sensor. If you export track to GPX file, speed from GPS is not exported at all, speed from sensor is exported. HRM values are also stored in separate value.

Last question ... I believe that GPX file exported from Locus should be fully compatible with all apps that are able to read GPX files. If there will be any problem, let me know and I'll gladly check it.

topcaser · April 07, 2015, 21:26:28

menion, thanks for that information. Sounds really good.

Regarding the gpx file I will also double check it. Since gpx is a XML file I am pretty sure that the GPS coordinates are right in place for all tools. Nevertheless, heart rate, speed and cadence needs also to be in XML fields, the apps understand. I do not know if they are standardized. I will double check it and report it here. In the meanwhile (since I have to wait for better weather in germany) I want to say thank you for the excellent support. Loucs is worth every single cent.