Something wrong with erg machine?

asouthmayd · Post by **asouthmayd** » June 10th, 2009, 12:00 pm

Hi all,

I just recently started using a club that has 3 erg machines. They are Model D with PM3 monitors, so they looked pretty good at first--before I got on one of them. The first of the 3 essentially had rust on the chain, so I scrapped that. On the second one, the split numbers were bouncing around all over the place, even during a steady row. So, the third one is the one I've been using. There seem to be two problems with this one, both of which I wanted to ask about:

1. When I erg, I usually set the drag factor to about 120, or around 4 or 5 on the adjuster on the side of the erg. However, on this erg, when I put the adjuster to 5, the monitor gave me a reading of 80. Only when I set the adjuster to 10, the highest possible resistance, did the monitor give me a reading of 120. Is there something wrong with the monitor and it is giving me a faulty reading, or is the damper adjuster broken and not giving enough resistance? What should I do about this? I am doing competitive training, but I've heard that setting the damper too high can be harmful to training, decreasing output and increasing risk of injury....

2. When I'm doing an easy paddle at the drag factor of "120" (when it is set to the highest, 10), my split numbers a way higher than they usually are. I usually paddle at a 2:00, and the splits when I was paddling on this erg machine were at 2:30. However, when I did sprints, and went as fast as I could, the numbers got down to where they normally are. Once again, is there something wrong with the monitor?

Thanks a lot,

Alex

Citroen · Post by **Citroen** » June 10th, 2009, 12:33 pm

Open the fan cage, clean out the crud then get a pot of C2 chain oil (or 20w oil if you don't have the C2 oil) and oil the chains.

Those machines have clearly never been serviced since they left the factory.

You may want to hook up the monitors to a PC or laptop and upgrade the firmware to the latest level. Run http://software.concept2.com/pm3firmwar ... 1Setup.exe to do that.

asouthmayd · Post by **asouthmayd** » June 10th, 2009, 12:45 pm

Hi Citroen,

Thanks for the advice. I will do that. How exactly do I open the fan cage?

Also, how do I hook up the erg machine to a laptop? Is there a cord already in the erg machine, or do I need a different cord?

Citroen · Post by **Citroen** » June 10th, 2009, 1:13 pm

asouthmayd wrote:Thanks for the advice. I will do that. How exactly do I open the fan cage?

http://www.concept2.com/us/service/indoorrowers/modeld/

http://www.concept2.com/us/service/indo ... enance.asp

http://www.concept2.com/us/service/indo ... anuals.asp

asouthmayd · Post by **asouthmayd** » June 10th, 2009, 1:42 pm

Great, thanks a lot.

So, if all goes well, cleaning out the fan cage and oiling the chain should make things go back to normal?

Also, should the people at the club have the USB cord, or is it already connected to something in the machine?

Citroen · Post by **Citroen** » June 10th, 2009, 2:29 pm

asouthmayd wrote:Also, should the people at the club have the USB cord, or is it already connected to something in the machine?

The USB on the PM3/4 is a stock USB-B, so any USB-A to USB-B printer cable will work. The cable shipped with the machine is 5 metres long (USB limit). In a gym they'll be hidden in a store room somewhere.

Taking a laptop into a gym will be seen as a sign of ubergeekiness. I get some very odd looks when I take my laptop into my gym.

asouthmayd · Post by **asouthmayd** » June 10th, 2009, 2:32 pm

That's alright; I'm sure my 6 x 500's will cancel out any perceptions like that. I just hope the gym lets me clean out their machine.

Citroen · Post by **Citroen** » June 10th, 2009, 2:46 pm

asouthmayd wrote:That's alright; I'm sure my 6 x 500's will cancel out any perceptions like that. I just hope the gym lets me clean out their machine.

Tell them it's a health and safety issue and you'll sue if their unmaintained erg causes you an injury.

Here in the UK any mention of health and safety normally spurs the folks into action. We're a country managed by the health and safety wonks.

asouthmayd · Post by **asouthmayd** » June 10th, 2009, 3:12 pm

Citroen wrote: Tell them it's a health and safety issue and you'll sue if their unmaintained erg causes you an injury.

Will do. That ought to make them think.

iain · Post by **iain** » June 16th, 2009, 8:37 am

Re drag factor, on one of the forums a DF of 95 was recorded at a damper setting of 10. I have come across 125. This is caused by crud in the fan and the monitor will adjust for it so putting on 10 isn't a problem if the DF is only 120. As for your times, there should not be a difference on the paddles. changing DF will affect teh feel, but a higher DF is unlikely to significantly slow you once you have got used to it, so I don't think it is likely that the DF is higher than shown.

- Iain

asouthmayd · Post by **asouthmayd** » June 16th, 2009, 4:15 pm

Thanks for the info, Iain. This was interesting though: I went to another boat club today (they have about 50 ergs), and I jumped on one of their newest ergs (a Model E I think, or maybe a really new model D). I set the drag factor until the monitor read 120 (so I put it around 5 on the damper adjuster), so, theoretically, it should feel the same as the one I've been using, since they're both apparently at 120, right? Well, it may have been psychological, but it felt much easier to pull on the newer one, even though it was set for a 120 as well. When I set the damper on the new one to 10, I pulled, and it definitely felt tougher than the old beat up one I've been using, but not by much. When I checked the DF, it read out as 220. Is it possible that even though the old beat up one I've been using reads out as 120 when set to 10, it is in reality like 180?

Citroen · Post by **Citroen** » June 16th, 2009, 5:02 pm

asouthmayd wrote: Is it possible that even though the old beat up one I've been using reads out as 120 when set to 10, it is in reality like 180?

It's possible if the monitor is configured for the wrong model of machine. Check with Main menu --> More Options --> Utilities --> LCD Contrast

Once on the LCD Contrast menu press [Change Units] three times, then press [Change Display] three times. That will bring up the hidden menu where you can set the erg model.

asouthmayd · Post by **asouthmayd** » June 16th, 2009, 5:07 pm

Okay, thanks, I'll try that.