Monday, January 07, 2008

Fluid Trainer Power App

I created an application today using a formula provided by Saris (makers of the CycleOps trainers) which allows you to enter your speed (in kph or mph) and calculates your power in watts.

This is only valid for CycleOps Fluid 2 trainers, and cannot be considered 100% accurate due to variances in tire resistance, tire pressure, fluid temperature, etc. That being said, it's about as close as you're going to get without a power meter.

The app can be downloaded here. Just unzip it and run it.

If there's interest, I could add functionality for other types of trainers, but it would take some investigating.

If anyone has a powermeter and could do some testing for accuracy, I'd love to see the result.

5 comments:

SickBoy said...

Last year Skibbitch and I calibrated his Kurt power computer to his wack ass trainer with my powertap. It's not hard to get the curve right - and when the trainer is warm, it's close enough to use as an approximation for training. the issue with most trainers is that they have a wack ass curve. Like, with mine, you can cruise at 30-32kph like it's nothing, but the second you hit 33.5 kph or so, the necessary wattage to maintain that speed essentially doubles. Not like it's a big deal but it's helpful to know where that ramping point is.

(dis)pencer said...

make one for macs.

Skibby said...

I have the formula...

Tenacious T said...

So does anyone else who has moderate Google skills (or can send an e-mail to Saris).

Did YOU make a wee little app that encapsulates the forumla? Didn't think so!

(dis) - I'm working on it.

Anonymous said...

thanks. this will help me a ton.