TimothyH

Anyone using the Wahoo RPM cadence sensor?

Does it run down batteries very quickly?

I have two. Both kill a battery in two or three weeks, less than 400 miles.


-Tim-

dr_lha

I have not replaced the battery in mine yet. Got it in June. I've ridden more than 400 miles since then!

mpapatheodorou

I bought it last April. So far I have ridden for almost 3000km. No battery change yet...

TimothyH

What GPS units are you guys using?

Do you happen to know what firmware you are on?


-Tim-

Athens80

If you believe the reviews on Amazon, a lot of the 2032 batteries sold cheap are old and depleted when you buy them.

mpapatheodorou

Garmin Edge 520 with the latest firmware (7.20). The Wahoo rpm cadence sensor has the latest available firmware also.

dr_lha

Wahoo ELEMNT. The RPM came as a pack-in with it.

2.0.16.

2wheelcyclone

How do you update the sensor?
I've had mine since April and still original batteries. I do notice if I move the bike the sensors "wake up" which might lessen the battery life.

TimothyH

I want to thank everyone for assisting. It means more to me than you know.

Whahoo Fitness app will show the sensor with a badge icon to indicate that there is firmware available but not installed.


I've gone through over a dozen batteries, purchased at Home Depot, Kroger, Walgreen, Target, etc.


-Tim-

mpapatheodorou

You can also use the Wahoo Utility for upgrading the firmware of your sensor. The Utility searches automatically every time that you run it (and connects to the sensor) and it prompts you to upgrade if there is anything to...

TimothyH

So both my sensors are firmware version 2.0.16 and hardware version 6.

I just replaced the batteries in both and tested OK in Wahoo Fitness and Wahoo Utility on my iPhone.

I'm beginning to think that it is my phone or perhaps my car polling for the devices continuously. That really doesn't make sense based on what I know about bluetooth but it is the only thing I can think of. I have turned off bluetooth on my phone for now to test.


-Tim-

cdnredraider

The first battery I had in my RFLKT died quickly. I imagine their quality control on the speed/cadence battery isn't better. That being said, now I have about 2500 miles on both my RFLKT and BlueSC with no battery changes.

rjdennis

i have been getting 1500-2000 miles out of a battery

bobwysiwyg

Ditto!

Jo k

Original Battery supplied has been going well since purchase 12 months ago/4500km + spin sets x2 / week 12 months .
Try updating the firmware

John_V 

Purchased both RPM sensors for my wife for Christmas. She rides a little over 100 miles a week and I've only replaced the batteries in her sensors once. When I first put them on her trike, they were both around 50% charged, most likely from sitting on the shelf. She is using them connected to an RFLKT on an iPhone SE running Cyclemeter. She also has a Wahoo TICKR connected to the phone.

wnl256

I've gone 400 miles since I bought the edge and the cadence and speed sensors to go with. I've had problems with the speed sensor, and replacing batteries seems to have helped. But the cadence sensor is still on its original batteries and it has been fine.

unterhausen

I was having trouble with mine pairing, and replaced a batch of batteries because of that. Maybe delete from your other device and set up new? Seems like wahoo told me to do that

dbf909

I purchased a speed/cadence senor pair. When I opened the package the speed sensor worked great and the cadence sensor battery was totally dead. I replaced the battery and it worked fine but was totally dead about 7-8 days later with minimal use. I replaced it again with a brand new Duracell from a different package and it died in about a week.

So I called up the nice folks at Wahoo and they sent me out a replacement Cadence sensor. It arrived with a good battery and has been going over a month with no issues. The speed sensor is still going strong as well.

Both Cadence sensors were upgraded immediately out of the box to firmware rev 2.0.19. No other issues - they work great both paired to my tablet for indoor trainer use and paired to my phone for outdoor use.

unterhausen

I apparently was confused in my previous post, I have had trouble with my heart strap burning through batteries a little faster than I want. Cadence sensor has never been replaced. Upgraded the firmware, hopefully that will solve some of the issues I have had with it

TimothyH

Interesting.

All three of my cadence sensors are still burning through batteries. They are firmware 2.0.19.

Wahoo headquarters is right down the road and an LBS offered to RMA them to I might try it on one and see if it improves.

JohnJ80

I have both the RPM and Speed sensor on two bikes. On my main bike, I replace them every year just because. I ride about 3000 miles per year. On my other bike, which I ride a lot less, it's going on two years and no replacement. I'm a big fan and I love these sensors.

J.

weiwentg

Bumping this thread, because I just bought a cadence sensor to use with the new Elemnt Mini. The cadence sensor's battery was dead out of the box. I figured oh well, must have been on the shelf a while, and I replaced it with one I knew to be almost fresh (I'd been experimenting briefly with some Bluetooth trackers for my keys, but those burn my phone battery like nothing I've ever seen, so I stopped after a few days).

Anyway, that battery lasted 2 days. Maybe 40 miles.

Not sure what the firmware was. I believe I let the utility auto update the cadence sensor right after buying it, but I can't be bothered to find out.

I'm also not that impressed with the Mini, but that's another story.

Ald1 

Having the same problem and will be returning it. 2nd battery (or unit died) about 5 miles into a trip. 1st battery lasted two rides. Maybe unit problems and not battery?

John_V 

When I first got my RFLKT, three years ago, it had horrible battery life. It turned out to be an issue with the firmware. When Wahoo finally got a firmware version that solved the problem, I got an email from them telling me to update to the latest firmware, which I did. They also told me to do a hard reset to my RFLKT by reversing the battery for 3 seconds and then unpair the RFLKT from the phone, power off the phone and then pair it back up to the RFLKT after powering up the phone. That seemed to really help with the battery problem.

Obviously, the RFLKT isn't an RPM sensor, but doing the above is worth a try since you have nothing to lose and it may help solve the problem.