Originally Posted by
RGMN
After playing with this and a chance conversation with my firmware architect at work I actually have the Garmin 130, Garmin RTL510, and Bontrager Ion 200RT working reliably. Both the RTL510 and the Ion 200RT turn on when the 130 powers on, they turn off when the 130 powers off, they change modes reliable, and I can control each one independently if I want. I've found that if I keep the Light network Configuration to "Auto" the 130 adjusts the light modes of both the Ion 200 RT and the RTL510 depending on the ambient conditions. If I switch the Configuration to "Independent" both switch to the last state the lights were in when they were last in the "Independent" mode. I have both set to "Off" so I can quickly shutoff the lights when I need to.
The key to getting this to work is to have the head unit add the lights when everything is in position on the bike. My firmware architect worked on a project a few years back that investigated the use of ANT+ in an industrial setting. He remembered that ANT+ would attempt to determine the "quality" of the connection and would adjust during operation to optimize it. He remembered the initial pairing established a base setting and if this was too far off the system couldn't adjust sufficiently, with inconsistent communication as the result. So I tried what he suggested and it seems to have made a difference.
As far as finding the lights on at random times, I figured out that when I unmounted the 130 from my computer after syncing it would create a network with the lights, turning them on based on the time of day. But my bike lives in the basement when not in use, and the computer I use to sync it is upstairs. The 130 couldn't (still can't) reliably create a light network that far apart, thus the lights would sometime be on, or off, or at seemingly random states. Now I take the 130 off the computer and place it on the bike after syncing and everything is good. I haven't had any random operation of the lights since starting to do this.
Overall I'm really liking having the radar.
That sort of is what my experience with ANT+ light networks was. It’s kind of a “Simon says” kind of thing. It’s not in the “just works” category of tech products I own. Now that daytime running lights have become a thing, hopefully we see the wrinkles in this ironed out. In my opinion, once you pair the lights and the computer, it ought to just work after that.