Drivo Erg Mode

[benjamin.debray]

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]

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]

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

[saffiexx]

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]

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

MyETraining response, BT, low gear, 2 smoothing

drivo-erg-myetraining.png (22.9 KiB) Viewed 14200 times

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

TrainerRoad response, ANT+, low gear, 2 smoothing

drivo-erg.PNG (26.19 KiB) Viewed 14200 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.

Quarq Power output (top) vs Drivo power (bottom)

drivo-vs-quarq.png (83.87 KiB) Viewed 14200 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]

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

[glenn.haag]

same problem here.. 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]

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]

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]

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