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Re-charging wahoo whilst riding

by Achtervolger
Tue, Aug 04, 2020 16:30
11

Hi all. I have a wahoo elemnt bolt. It's great for navigation using pre- planned routes. However this does run the battery down quicker than just using it to log ride data, such that it would run out before completion of a long ride. I'm guessing there must be separate re-chargeable batteries I could take out with me, that I could then use to re-charge the wahoo mid-ride. Does anybody use anything like this? What sort of price would I be looking at and could anyone recommend any particular ones that they've had good experiences with? Thanks.

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11 comments

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Achtervolger | 4 years ago
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Thanks for all contributions to my question - it seems that there are a fair few things I can try, that I hadn't even considered, to get more battery life from my wahoo. If these are all unsuccesful, I'll try the recommended battery pack.

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mtb_roadtripper | 4 years ago
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+1 for the Anker, got a wee one that does the trick for Wahoo and phone. 

As others have said the Wahoo lasts a loooong time, naturally that battery life will subside with time. I think ive gone 10 hours use with navigation and it got down to around 20% but mine is pretty much brand new. 

Yet to try that set up on the move but if I have a wee stop for a drink or snack or whatever i plug it in, just in case.  

 

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EddyBerckx | 4 years ago
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As with the others I was a bit surprised with your problem, my wahoo lasts for ages, far longer than the (older) Garmin it replaced. Could be a battery problem else your specific settings are draining it more than usual? Is it permanently connected to the phone and set up to alert on texts and so on? (Or similar, not sure if this specifically drains the battery but I'm sure you know what I mean)

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wycombewheeler | 4 years ago
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I use an anker 500mAh power pack (to recharge my garmin 520/530), sits in a top tube bag with my sweets. I try to recharge when I am stopped at cafes though, as I am convinced the constant jiggling of the cable in the charging port damages one or other leading to the cable no longer charging the unit.

Also depending on the port location and mounting bracket it might be difficult to insert a power lead while using the device.

 

 

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Achtervolger replied to wycombewheeler | 4 years ago
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Thanks for the recommendation, I'll take a look at the anker power pack.

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wycombewheeler replied to Achtervolger | 4 years ago
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I reckon I can charge a garmin at least 3 times on that power bank, and each charge is good for up to 20 hours, so a lot of riding. note 5000, not 500

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SimonAY | 4 years ago
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The battery in my ELEMNT last for ages. Last week I did 5 hours worth of rides (with routes) from full charge and it was only down to 72%. Are you sure you don't have a faulty battery?

I guess you could get a portable power bank and tape it to the top tube? They're only a tenner on Amazon

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mdavidford replied to SimonAY | 4 years ago
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Yeah - I've done 7h20 plus 20 mins paused time and the bolt battery was still only 2/3 used. How long are your long rides?

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Achtervolger replied to mdavidford | 4 years ago
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That's interesting from you both, it definitely seems like you're both getting more juice from your bolts than I am - I have to cast my mind back a bit as I haven't used the navigation function for a few months now, but I'm pretty sure that I'd get in the region of 6 hours if I was using it to guide me on a route. So the idea that 5 hours with routes would only take it down to 72% charge is pretty mind-blowing! I think I just scaled it from something like, say, doing a 4.5 hour route would leave the bolt showing one block out of the potential four when I got home and plugged it in to charge. So unless that last block actually represents more charge than he first three combined, then perhaps my bolt does have a dodgy battery. It's not really something I'd considered, not having anything to really compare its function to.

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mdavidford replied to Achtervolger | 4 years ago
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I've never run it completely flat, but for the first three quarters at least I'd say the reported charge pretty much goes down in line with usage - I have mine configured to show percentage charge when in use, and it seems to go down pretty steadily.

If yours appears to be draining faster it might be worth trying running it completely flat and then doing a full charge - often 'battery problems' with today's devices seem to be more to do with the reporting function than with the battery charge itself, and forcing it to reset its measurements can resolve them.

Edit: if you configure yours to show the battery charge, you could also check that after you've done a full charge it is showing 100% when you turn it on - if it's not, that would confirm that you have an issue with either the battery or the charge reporting.

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SimonAY replied to Achtervolger | 4 years ago
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Another thought on this - do you have the display light on permanently? That can drain it far quicker than using Navigation

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