Bicycle Power Meter

About Bicycle Power Meter Android App

1. The Bicycle Power Meter provides the most accurate power, energy, and % grade measurements in addition to typical cycle computer functions (elevation, speed, cadence (see below notes), mapping, logging, and charting with no external sensors, hardware or calibration required). The Bicycle Power Meter provides these features at a tiny fraction of the cost of conventional power meters and with no monthly subscription fee. The app is also compatible with the Zephyr Bluetooth HxM BT Heart Rate Monitor (no BLE/BT4.0 support yet) and ANT+^TM compatible heart rate, speed and cadence sensors¹. Try the app with no risk: we will provide support to help get the app to run to your satisfaction or a refund will be issued.

2. The best available smartphone resources (GPS, barometer pressure sensor for elevation, accelerometers, and weather wind reports) are used to achieve the best accuracy.

3. % braking energy can be viewed (user option) to give insight into how hard you brake into a turn.

4. Routes are plotted and graphed in the app, in real time with option for audio speech.

5. Route paths are color scaled in real time based on the users preference. One click changes the scale: power, speed, elevation, % grade, cadence or heart rate (with Bluetooth HRM) to map where on the ride significant events occurred.

6. A screenshot of the statistical data with the color coded map along with the raw data files (.csv .gpx and .tcx formats) can be easily emailed. .tcx format includes key parameters (speed, power, elevation, cadence, heart rate, etc.) to allow uploading to other analysis programs such as Garmin Connect, Training Peaks, Strava, Golden Cheetah, Google Earth, etc.

7. The accuracy of the power meter has been tested against state of the art, major brand named power meters.

8. Without calibration (only entering rider's weight and choosing bicycle type), average power for a given ride typically correlates to within 15% (with no drafting) of a conventional power meter.

9. Wind speed and direction effects are included! (with internet connection using local weather information, drafting effects not included).

10. Several default bicycle types are available to choose from, or bicycle weights and coefficients can be customized.

11. The app will run in the background.

12. English and Metric Units available. Set in user preference menu. English, German, Spanish, French language support.

13. Reload ride data to show progress and compare rides.

¹For a list of ANT+ compatible sensors, visit www.thisisant.com/directory. Note that an ANT+ enabled mobile phone is required. See www.thisisant.com/consumer/ant-101/ant-in-phones/ for details.

See F.A.Q. at http://www.innovative-app-designs.com/ for more detail.

CADENCE TIPS:
***NOTE*** For some phones when the screen is turned off, the phone's accelerometers are disabled and the cadence data may be unavailable. This limitation has been documented in a number of other apps including pedometers. Using the screen lock feature can bypass this.
* For best results, prior to riding, under menu>preferences, select the phone's handlebar mounting orientation (portrait or landscape). If carrying in a jersey back pocket, set relative to the phone's orientation compared to looking forward at the handlebars.
* The cadence RPM and averages are tuned to power strokes detected from the phone's low power accelerometers while moving (i.e. not back-pedaling, downhill/coasting, etc.) and is more accurate as the power output increases above 1W/kg.
* The cadence sensitivity can be adjusted under menu>preferences. The default 'nominal' setting has so far produced the best sensitivity while minimizing spurious high readings.
* Noise may be observed in instantaneous readings depending on riding conditions (such as rough or off-road), riding styles, rider's power to weight ratio, and phone hardware.