Garmin Vector 3 dual pedals and single leg drills

Hi all,

I was doing Tunnabora and running through the single-leg pedaling drill when I noticed that TR does not pick up my right pedal. My left pedal is picked up fine, but my right pedal shows “0” watts. I turned on my Garmin headunit and confirmed that both pedals registered. I stopped the workout and calibrated the pedals on TR, but the right pedal still wasn’t getting picked up.

Is this working as intended or a known issue that’s being worked on? I have a wonky L/R balance unfortunately so if TR only uses the left-side pedal, I’ll probably stick with my Kickr’s power numbers.

Thanks!

Hello! Did you ever find out the answer to this? I’m having the same issue. My right pedal doesn’t register on my garmin either.

I would try unpairing and repairing the right pedal in garmin connect. If that doesn’t result in the right pedal power being reported I would contact garmin CS about it as it would fall under a garmin issue. Best to make sure you have some ride files with this occurring saved as they will often want to look over them

That usually means the right pedal isn’t paired. I actually do a set of ILTs when I change batteries just to make sure it’s set up correctly. You have to Link the right pedal every time you change batteries.

Consider the left pedal as a master and the right as a slave. The right pedal pairs to the left and then the left sends the data to your head unit. You can operate the Vector 3 as a single left sided power meter but not a single right sided power meter. It’ll work ok with single left legged drills (but the power may be doubled), but it won’t register right legged drills as there will be no power being delivered to the left pedal so will think your not doing anything. It will keep the right pedal paired as there will be movement to keep them both awake.

This isn’t a fault of either the power meter or any platform. If you want to do single legged drills us the power from your smart trainer.

Hope that all makes sense?

It doesn’t :sunglasses:

So are you saying this is normal? I’m having this problem. On single leg exercises, my right pedal reports zero or very low watts, while on the left, it reports around 300 watts. Of course those numbers aren’t real. Why this?

Vector 3 dual here. Converted to rally shimano.

I verified this on a edge 530. Even the left/right cycling dynamics meters are wrong. Left almost always reporting higher, even when i purposely apply more force on the right.

I did this:

  • calibration
  • resetted install angles
  • checked firmware
  • unlinked and relinked the right pedal.
  • swapped batteries
  • swapped battery doors

Oh, i should say that in “normal” both legs pedalling, the watts seem to be right.

If someone had any clarificarion, it would be much appreciated.

Sorry, I’ve re-read my post and I don’t think I can explain it any simpler. I suspect that what is happening is just how this system works with single legged drills. I’ve sold my Vector pedals so can’t even test it out again for you. Sorry.

If you want to see power reported for your single leg drills, pair your smart trainer with your Garmin.

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Ok, i have re-read it. And what you say, makes sense in single PM setup, mine is dual.

If i pedal with just the right leg, then right pedal > left pedal > head unit/phone. The pedal shoud be able to recognize the watts are coming from the right one. Otherwise, how would cycling Dynamics work after all?

My theory is that the Vector need power to the left pedal to transmit anything to the headunit.

The right pedal pairs to the left, and the left then sends all the data to the headunit. The left pedal can function as a single sided powermeter which then doubles the power if there is no right pedal paired. If there is only power to the left pedal, it thinks it is in single sided mode and doubles the left power. If there is no power to the right, the left goes to sleep and doesn’t send any data.

I might be totally wrong, and like I said, I sold my Vector so can’t test it out!

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Looking at my data it seems only Garmin and TP handles the power channels correctly i.e both left and right channel.

Zwift, Trainer Day, TR only seem to take the left or master channel. Would need to look at a few more files to be 100% sure.

I think as long as the right pedal is paired to the left, then Zwift, TR etc receives the data from both channels, but interpreting the cycling dynamics is Garmin proprietary.

I’ve done a couple of Zwift Dual Analysis where I paired my pedals to both my headunit and Zwift. The files were clearly identical.

I think L/R metrics only get transmitted via ANT. I connect to TR via bluetooth. Anyway, when i connect a edge 530, it should connect via ANT. However on L/R metrics, the wattage is also wrong. With me just right pedalling and it reporting close to zero on the R.

Again, all of that makes perfect sense in a single setup. On dual, if it’s linked, if there’s watts coming in, but no pressure on the left pedal o course it must come from the R. Anyway, the wattage from the R, should somehow tell the headunit it is coming from the R.

Anyway, as long as in the end the wattage is correct, i don’t mind. I was just worried about my setup.

Interesting, as mine are clearly different. Zwift being lower due too my leg inbalance or so I thought (it adds up). Garmin and TR being “true” with both channels showing. Trainerday is also lower the same as Zwift. I therefore assumed it wasnt seeing both channels in Zwift but maybe there is another reason for the difference. Not sure if the connection type is the same off the top of my head

When I say identical, there was a difference of around 0.25 - 0.5% over certain durations, but that’s close enough.

It could be any number of reasons - the way that the two systems record and report the data will be slightly different.