Drivo Erg Mode

Moderators: Elite Admin M, Elite Admin S

benjamin.debray
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Dec 26, 2018 10:21 pm

Re: Drivo Erg Mode

Postby benjamin.debray » Wed Dec 26, 2018 10:34 pm

I feel everyone's pain. I have had a Drivo for over a year and it has lagged or simply locked the resistance in erg mode during workouts since I bought it. I was hoping that Elite would release a firmware update at some point in the past year but I now know that this will likely not happen. The best I can do is to use the Zwift Companion App whenever I have an interval of less than 30 seconds and just shut off erg mode and restart it again after. I just wish I had bought a Kickr or kept my dumb trainer.

I could jump through all of the hoops that Elite has everyone go through to fix the problem but I haven't heard of one person having a fix for this issue and since there is no app yet, to update the trainers firmware, there is no actual way to update the trainer even if there was a fix. I just can't believe that the Drivo 2 has the same bug. Probably the last Elite product I purchase. After dealing with Wahoo customer service and how good they were at fixing my Bolt computer, I will replace this thing with a Kickr.

gerardwval
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Jan 05, 2018 9:14 am

Re: Drivo Erg Mode

Postby gerardwval » Sat Dec 29, 2018 3:04 pm

I can also confirm what has been said.
For weeks I try to explain that I have issues with Zwift workouts where resistance is dropping and then going sky-high.
I logged a call at Elite and one reaction of the Elite person was: "I do not know how Zwift works.... try it in my e-training app".
NO! I use zwift, not the app where I have to pay a lot for.

I think this will not be resolved by Elite. They don't want to...

Gladius
Posts: 5
Joined: Fri Nov 17, 2017 10:53 pm

Re: Drivo Erg Mode

Postby Gladius » Wed Jan 02, 2019 7:19 am

It's a Zwift issue. I do not have this problem in Golden Cheetah (ERG mode) or BigRingVR in ERG mode.

saffiexx
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Dec 14, 2018 2:47 pm

Re: Drivo Erg Mode

Postby saffiexx » Wed Jan 02, 2019 10:31 am

I’ve got exactly the same problem ERG not working and I use Zwift and although have used Elite E to try to get it to work, it doesn’t. I’ve only had this Drivo since beginning Dec, think I’m going to send it back.

paulblamire
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Jan 27, 2019 12:25 am

Re: Drivo Erg Mode

Postby paulblamire » Sun Jan 27, 2019 12:50 am

I have to agree with the general findings. The screenshot below shows a step test done in myEtraining, 40seconds at 120w then 30 seconds at 220, you can see the overshoot in power to 288w even though the cadence is quite steady (I was trying to hold around 90). You can feel this very obvious power increase, and if you're doing these over threshold, the extra 30-50w for a few seconds can make a big difference. This was in the in a gear of 44-18 or so (tt bike so that is the small ring). This was power smoothing 2, bluetooth connection.

I tried Bluetooth vs Ant+, small ring vs big ring, power smoothing of 2 vs 4

drivo-erg-myetraining.png
MyETraining response, BT, low gear, 2 smoothing
drivo-erg-myetraining.png (22.9 KiB) Viewed 9429 times


The screenshot below shows the result using Trainer road app, power smoothing of 2, ant+ connection.

drivo-erg.PNG
TrainerRoad response, ANT+, low gear, 2 smoothing
drivo-erg.PNG (26.19 KiB) Viewed 9429 times


I am very happy with the smooth power reading, it's smoother than my Quarq power meter which you can see in the below screenshot. The drivo power reading was used for the control in all tests, that is to say that the Drivo did no use the quarq power meter to adjust the resistance.
drivo-vs-quarq.png
Quarq Power output (top) vs Drivo power (bottom)
drivo-vs-quarq.png (83.87 KiB) Viewed 9429 times


The main problem seems to be that in the firmware, there is little or no feedforward, so the driveo sets the magnet position to hit the target, say 120w at 90rpm, and then when the target goes to 220, it starts moving the magnets but moves them too far due to the slight lag in the power response to that change. What it would benefit from having, or improving is a system where the drive knows roughly what magnet position is needed for what power level at a given trainer RPM. This should be quite consistent, as the eddy current braking effect is determined by the magnetic flux, and the rotor rpm.

paulblamire
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Jan 27, 2019 12:25 am

Re: Drivo Erg Mode

Postby paulblamire » Mon Jan 28, 2019 6:32 pm

I tried to post a detailed reply to this thread by it looks like my post has been censored by the moderators.

glenn.haag
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Dec 20, 2018 10:01 pm

Re: Drivo Erg Mode

Postby glenn.haag » Fri Feb 01, 2019 1:55 pm

same problem here.. :evil: you cant do 30sec intervals on a trainer for 10' SEK! realy bad! I have same problem with my Vortex smart but this one was 7' SEK cheapier, thought the Drivo was mutch better.
Next year I Think I sell my Drivo and by a Kickr power instead.

scoob
Posts: 54
Joined: Thu Mar 16, 2017 4:37 pm
Location: Scotland

Re: Drivo Erg Mode

Postby scoob » Sun Feb 03, 2019 9:00 pm

Hi folks. I raised this as a thread for a Drivo II which I just got this month.
I see it’s also a long running Drivo issue - possibly the same thing but not sure.
I’ll leave the Drivo II thread open as don’t know if it’s the same thing yet, but adding y voice to there being an ERG issue.

scoob
Posts: 54
Joined: Thu Mar 16, 2017 4:37 pm
Location: Scotland

Re: Drivo Erg Mode

Postby scoob » Sun Feb 03, 2019 9:03 pm

Can one of the manufacturer team perhaps help me understand how erg ramping works?

My understanding (limited as I didn’t code the applications that use it or the firmware) is that an application sends a command to increase to a power level of ... watts. The trainer then initiatives that change.
Is that correct?

And it doesn’t matter whether it’s Zwift, Sufferfest, TrainerRoad or whatever??

scoob
Posts: 54
Joined: Thu Mar 16, 2017 4:37 pm
Location: Scotland

Re: Drivo Erg Mode

Postby scoob » Sun Feb 03, 2019 9:38 pm

@Elite Admin S @Elite Admin M - can you comment please.


Return to “Drivo & Drivo II”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 10 guests