Couple of PM5 questions

[psychopomp1]

Hi,

I recently took delivery of a brand new Model D with PM5 last week, just a couple of queries wrt the PM5:

1) I have to manually connect to my Suunto HR chest belt (smart bluetooth) EVERY time i row, is this normal? But when I used the PM4 yonks ago it remembered the HR belt once it was paired...

2) I understand the battery on the PM5 is charged as you row but the power on this has gone down from 80%>70%>60% (checked under 'utilities') despite rowing 10k every other day. Why is the battery level decreasing on the PM5 instead of increasing?

Cheers
Psycho

[jackarabit]

To the best of my knowledge, there is no OEM rechargable battery pack offering for the PM5. The generator powers the monitor functions and display WHILE rowing. Why are the batteries, be they Brand X or the superduragizer variety, discharging at a rate unacceptable to you? I have heard the power requirements of both the USB stick and screen illumination mentioned as loads not present in the previous PMs. My experience with the PM3 and 4 on my machine and the PM5 at my gym indicate that the PM5's appetite for batteries is notable. Perhaps you should contact Concept 2 with regard to available remedies.

[thecrashton]

As far as I'm aware... the chest strap needs to be paired each time. That's what I've been doing anyways. Kind of annoying for sure - I set up a row in RowPro and hit ROW.. then realize I forgot to pair the strap, then have to pair the strap, and re-initialize the row in RowPro otherwise the PM5 doesn't align with the parameters set in RowPro for the piece.

If I'm also doing this wrong.. would love to know!

[Bob S.]

As far as I'm aware... the chest strap needs to be paired each time. That's what I've been doing anyways. Kind of annoying for sure - I set up a row in RowPro and hit ROW.. then realize I forgot to pair the strap, then have to pair the strap, and re-initialize the row in RowPro otherwise the PM5 doesn't align with the parameters set in RowPro for the piece.

If I'm also doing this wrong.. would love to know!

In the days when I was still using RP, I often had the same problem and sometimes it took a repeat or two to get it going. Very annoying.

[bisqeet]

Might depend on the heart strap...
My garmin strap is recognised automatically, the polar h7 isn't usually...
But then they both have different interfaces (ant vs ble)

[Mat]

Hi together!

After nearly 1 year of use (900,000m) with a usb stick and heart rate belt my battery has 80% charge left.

I have a Polar H7 belt. You have to use a usb stick if you want the PM5 to remember your heart rate belt. Without a usb stick you have to pair them every time you want to row.

Source: http://www.concept2.com/service/heart-r ... pm4-or-pm5

Mat

P.S. I forgot my girl-friend rowing on the same machine but without stick or belt. So add another 600,000m to my 900,000m

[Moo]

WIth regards the PM5 using loads of battery it sounds like you might have the same problem I had. My PM5 had become faulty whereby it wasn't taking power from the generator whilst I was rowing so it was using purely battery power.

A way you can test this is to remove the batteries from the PM5 and then start rowing, if the screen doesn't light up and start recording metres then either the PM5 or the generator is faulty. Contact C2 and they'll sort you out with a new one under warranty.

One other thing to check whilst you are taking batteries out is that the PM5 battery door has either a bit of foam stuck to the inside or it's a REV 'D' version, my came with an old version of the door which meant that the batteries kept disconnecting. You can order this as a non cost item from C2 - http://www.concept2.co.uk/service/monit ... uct-notice.

I have a Polar H7 belt which as long as I use a USB stick gets remembered.

Cheers

Paul

[psychopomp1]

Thanks, that probably explains why my PM4 used to auto-connect with my chest belt as it came with a log card which i never removed. So will buy a tiny USB drive to keep plugged into the PM5.

Wrt to the batteries on the PM5, according to the C2 technician i spoke to this morning in Nottingham (fella called Don) he said hardware 502 versions of PM5 running firmware 20 (like i have) are supposed to partially use battery power & partially use flywheel power when rowing. However this is not happening, ie the batteries are solely being used to power the PM5 when rowing. He said fw 21 will fix this, but he has no idea when this fw will be released. Also my PM5 doesn't power up when the batteries are removed and rower is used, he did suggest a temporary fix but i can't remember it.

The battery cover on my PM5 doesn't have the foam and is 'Rev D' but according to C2, this doesn't need to be replaced as only rev A and B had the issues.

[Moo]

Thats a bit odd - if you follow C2 official troubleshooting they suggest taking the batteries out and rowing and that the rower should power up without batteries when you row. I've just rechecked mine and it powers up fine without batteries in (although it's a lower hardware version)

http://www.concept2.co.uk/service/monit ... ery-issues

I also spoke with Dom and they did a straight swap under warranty when I said that my PM5 was crashing/turning off and not powering up without batteries.

[Citroen]

I also spoke with Dom [@c2 UK] and they did a straight swap under warranty when I said that my PM5 was crashing/turning off and not powering up without batteries.

That's a combination of Concept2's excellent customer service and the new "Consumer Rights Act" that the UK introduced last October.

[thecrashton]

Hi together!
I have a Polar H7 belt. You have to use a usb stick if you want the PM5 to remember your heart rate belt. Without a usb stick you have to pair them every time you want to row.

Source: http://www.concept2.com/service/heart-r ... pm4-or-pm5

Ha! Look at that. You sir, are the man of the hour. Is there a benefit to keeping my workouts on a USB stick versus the monitor? If I open the folder on my PC what are the file formats? Excel-readable?
It sucks the PMs don't just all use a logcard, or a usb stick. I wish I could log my own home rows from my PM5 and my occasional, with friends, rows on a gym PM3 on the same device.

[lcantey]

It sucks the PMs don't just all use a logcard, or a usb stick. I wish I could log my own home rows from my PM5 and my occasional, with friends, rows on a gym PM3 on the same device.

Progress. Glad I don't have to fiddle with the card often anymore.

[Bob S.]

It sucks the PMs don't just all use a logcard, or a usb stick. I wish I could log my own home rows from my PM5 and my occasional, with friends, rows on a gym PM3 on the same device.

Facts of life. The older PMs were never designed to use a usb stick and it would not have been practical to have included a log card slot in the new PM5 when only a few would be using it. I was in the opposite situation - a PM4 at home and PM5s on the machines that were available for practice and warmup at a competition. My only real complaint about that is that I had brought a usb stick in anticipation of having to use PM5s, but they could not read the stick that I brought. Since then I have read so many messages on this thread complaining about that same problem that I have given up any thought of ever upgrading to the PM5. The advantages do not seem to be worth the risk and hassle.

[Carl Watts]

Most people don't even use a LogCard anyway.

The other problem is that most people don't even set-up a distance or times row and must use the "Just Row" function all the time. The problem with the just row is that it doesn't store your row in memory at all. The majority of monitors I see for service have nothing even in the internal memory of the monitor and 95% of users don't have a LogCard.

The PM4 remembers the Garmin ANT+ cheststrap. I have found this combination better than the Polar with the plug in receiver for the PM3/PM4. Range is fantastic and the connection is solid during the whole row.

I guess the idea of storing the strap information in the USB for the PM5 is that when you just plug the USB into a different machine say at the gym, you don't have to pair it up again.

I'm with you Bob, will stick to the PM4 for as long as it lasts, there are no advantages for me to move to a PM5. If they had sorted out some of the long time flaws in the data and really utilised the USB then I probably would have "Upgraded" as it is I don't need all the problems I'm reading here about it

[thecrashton]

Tried a USB stick last night that I wiped and ensured was FAT32, didn't work. Error'd on the PM lol.
There's no way I'm going to spend time and money trying to figure out what stick is going to work.

Guess I'm just gonna be the guy who brings my laptop and USB cable to the gym to use RowPro haha