HRM Chest Strap - Not Connecting

[southtampacane]

Interesting thread. 6 days later, my problem still exists, but it is very frustrating because I can have 4 consecutive workouts where the watch/strap connect perfectly to the PM5, and then for no reason at all, the 5th time I lose the connection in the first few minutes. So yesterday (and today) I just stop, turn everything off, start fresh without moving at all, and it works perfectly.

Concept 2 didn't have any opinion on whether a reset would have any effect, so I've decided not to go down that road. But interestingly enough, my rower, acquired in March 2020 (just before the Covid delays in delivery) has about 11m meters, but if I go through the utilities menu to the screen where it shows the firmware (up to date), and then one screen deeper it says my PM5 has 21m meters. When I asked C2 what that could mean (did they send me a PM5 that was a refurbisment?), they said it was odd but had no idea. Not much I can do about it and the rower still seems like its new, so I'm going to just put that out of my mind.

I'm thinking that even though the data is still recording nicely on the Garmin 255/Pro Plus HRM, I may just get a new strap and see if that solves this issue. It is 2 years old and from reading this thread, it may just be time to get a new one.

[gvcormac]

Grabbing at straws: Are you using ANT+ or Bluetooth? Maybe try the other.

[Carl Watts]

So what version of Firmware do you have on the PM5 ?

Factory reset it, its not going to be a PM5 problem. HR straps are a bit of a nightmare to keep running 100% perfect.

Soak the strap in water before you use it. If it doesn't work properly for the first few minutes, that's a classic its too dry until you start sweating.

Water is a conductor, the strap needs to be wet to drop the resistance between the two electrodes.

[Tsnor]

... the 5th time I lose the connection in the first few minutes.

Did you verify CONNECTION loss vs HR monitor losing track of heartrate ?

If connection lost, do you have any likely source of bluetooth interference ? For example, my microwave is an invertor one and it jams 2.4ghz when running. Bluetooth headsets stutter, older 2.4ghz wifi is blocked, etc.

Are you using a bluetooth headset? (I do). Newer bluetooth devices tolerate congested bandwidth better than older ones. Bluetooth runs out of bandwidth pretty quickly when carrying CD quality sound thus all the bluetooth audio compression protocols.

[Carl Watts]

Definitely prefer ANT+ for the heartrate. Lucky enough to have a genuine Garmin ANT+ USB dongle that plugs into the PC, the setup is pretty flawless.

This then separates possible Bluetooth issues as the WattBikes chew up the Bluetooth with separate Cadence, Power source and resistance channels that all need to stay "Connected".