Performance Monitor update-refresh?

[jackarabit]

Plugged in to ErgData running on a PC or tablet, a PM3 or 4 will stay on for much longer than 4 minutes. Very handy to have the thing stay on for a six minute break in a recent HM and 30 bucks for an umbilicus and a free app is cheaper than a new monitor. Jack

[Carl Watts]

The power down time was a firmware change, you can revert back to an older version and change it. Its about 30 seconds where as it used to be minutes.

If it was me I would be looking at picking up a cheap new PM3 or PM4, anything new always pretty much has has issues to start with. The PM3 and PM4 is now so good because its had 10 years to evolve.

Rechargables are really not required now and the standby currents are so low the Alkalines last 2 years. Recharables are only good in the PM4 if you connect it to a PC thats providing the proper charge or else that PM4 pack only lasts 3 years anyway. You can now get very low self discharge Ni-MH AA battereies in "D" adapters or "C" adapters that work really well if you want to stay with rechargables.

I hope the PM5 also moved to a sealed battery compartment and used the "Nokia" type of spring loaded contacts to the board. Battery leakage is still the biggest killer for the monitors.

[Hollywood_Kuma]

Thanks Carl.

I'm running the latest firmware version (version 318) on my PM4 monitor (hardware version 249). I'm getting two minutes time out, but still find this to be too aggressive. Five minutes would be better, or the option to set this. But, as you say, the battery drain is so low, so I think that C2 could simply up the timeout to 5 minutes.

We use PM3s at my rowing studio and, although I haven't timed them, they seem to be similar (or possibly even more aggressive) than my machine at home. It's a real pain when we row as a group, set up a complicated variable interval set, and then the coach speaks for a second too long and all the monitors go blank.

I'm really fed up with the nervous tick I have developed in terms of pressing the "change units" button four times every few seconds, because of my constant fear of losing the display.

Whoever took the decision to reduce the timeout in the firmware to such a ridiculously short time needs to be taken out and publicly flogged.

I agree with you about the merits of a sealed battery compartment. I have a Model C and a Model D. On the Model C I didn't use it for a long time, and the monitor was destroyed by leaky batteries. My fault, of course, but it would be nice if this potential problem could be made foolproof.

By the way, do you know from which firmware version the current aggressive timeout policy was implemented? I don't want to go back earlier than I have to in order to rectify this annoyance, and I can't find any reference in the C2 software development timeline for the firmware in respect of this change.

Thanks again.

[Hollywood_Kuma]

Thanks Jackarabit,

This is helpful to know, but it doesn't really fix the main problem I have. The issue is mostly happening when I row with my crew at my rowing club. There are normally eight of us, and getting everyone to connect an iPhone, put the support on top of the monitor, cable up, and start the software. It's just going to be too much work.

It often happens that we set up a complex variable interval set, the coach explains something, and then everyone loses their monitor settings and we have to waste time, and become agitated, setting up the whole program again.

The ErgData suggestion is helpful in terms of my home machine, however, so I will try this.