SRM zero offset fluctuation after battery change

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pcates
Posts: 11
Joined: Tue Feb 12, 2013 6:57 pm

by pcates

Has anyone had an issue of zero offset fluctuation after a battery change? I recently changed the batteries in mine and now the zero offset seems to be all over the map. When indoors it's anywhere between 800 and 1100. However when going outside i've had it go anywhere from 55 to 2400 and the power numbers are either unrealistically low or high. Indoors the number is stable, it just changes from day to day.

Is there some settling in period for the strain gauges?

Any suggestions?

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HammerTime2
Posts: 5813
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Location: Wherever there's a mountain beckoning to be climbed

by HammerTime2

Was the battery changed by SRM, or was this a do it yourself job?

Hmm, in light of pcates' post in Replacing an SRM battery... at home :o), perhaps this was a do it yourself job. Rather crucial information which should have been provided, no?

BdaGhisallo
Posts: 3250
Joined: Wed Mar 17, 2004 1:38 pm

by BdaGhisallo

Check out the Wattage list on Google Groups. That is the place for power related questions.

https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgr ... um/wattage

pcates
Posts: 11
Joined: Tue Feb 12, 2013 6:57 pm

by pcates

HammerTime2 wrote:Was the battery changed by SRM, or was this a do it yourself job?

Hmm, in light of pcates' post in Replacing an SRM battery... at home :o), perhaps this was a do it yourself job. Rather crucial information which should have been provided, no?


haha i suppose so. It wasn't done by SRM however i did have someone qualified put it in. Needless to say when indoors it's stable, though a little on the high side. Pre Battery change zero offset was in the 600 range. It's just when out in the cold that it goes all wonky. I know temperature can affect strain gauges but this much?

by stable i mean the zero offset doesn't drift. It just changes. (which i know is a drift but it stays at a certain number for an extended period)
Last edited by pcates on Thu Apr 11, 2013 6:24 pm, edited 2 times in total.

pcates
Posts: 11
Joined: Tue Feb 12, 2013 6:57 pm

by pcates

BdaGhisallo wrote:Check out the Wattage list on Google Groups. That is the place for power related questions.

https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgr ... um/wattage" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


You're right probably best there.

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micky
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by micky

Did you do the calibration after changing the battery?

sungod
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Joined: Fri Dec 24, 2010 9:37 pm

by sungod

i'd also check that the chainrings are correctly aligned, mounting surfaces and bolts are clean and tightened to the correct torque

Geoff
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by Geoff

...

pcates
Posts: 11
Joined: Tue Feb 12, 2013 6:57 pm

by pcates

Calibration was done 3x afterwards. All were in the same range as the original slope. Chainring bolts were torqued to suggested 10nm. Now I did crank the crank bolt pretty tight since its an FSA and my torque wrench doesn't go that high. I wonder if that may be the reason for the higher then normal zero offset (when in the house at a steady temp it's in the 800 range up from the low 600 range before the battery change). As I mentioned the zero offset is stable. Just high. When I went to check the zero offset after doing a couple hill repeats it was around 1400 so I'm not sure if this is due to some sort of residual strain in the gauges. But the power numbers were accurate based on previous outputs.

Where I was having the big issue was with temperature. It seemed when the temp was hovering around 0 (32 for you guys to the south ;) i was getting all sorts of wonky numbers. 55 for a zero offset and 65watts going uphill.

Since the numbers, now that its above freezing, seem to be ok now this may all be a moot issue. Still I'm curious to know the reason behind all this in case it becomes an issue again in the future.

Squint
Posts: 240
Joined: Mon Oct 10, 2005 9:23 pm

by Squint

Sounds like the replacement battery may be even more depleted than the original. Have you tried swapping them? I test batteries before installing them. Non-rechargeable lithium batteries (including popular button cells like CR2032s) cannot be tested by measuring open circuit voltage. They need to be tested under load. Many will read 3-3.2V but dive to 0.8-1.2V under load.

What I do is put a 100 Ohm resistor across the terminals and measure the voltage in parallel.

http://support.radioshack.com/support_t ... gd-B08.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

pcates
Posts: 11
Joined: Tue Feb 12, 2013 6:57 pm

by pcates

^^ that's a very good point. The replacements I found were 3.5V as opposed to 3.6V. I didn't think that would make much of a difference but if they're running low then perhaps that's the issue. Thanks for the link btw.

Squint
Posts: 240
Joined: Mon Oct 10, 2005 9:23 pm

by Squint

Unloaded, you can't really compare voltages. The 3.5V ones might actually have more life in them than the 3.6V ones.

by Weenie


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