TruTrainer SmartLoad User manual

December 2020 Page 1 of 9

TruTrainer

Premium Cycling Rollers

SmartLoad Manual

CAUTION:

Read all precautions and instructions

before using this product.

December 2020 Page 2 of 9

Overview

The SmartLoad option will allow you to control the amount of load the rollers absorb via

your smartphone by pairing with our Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) radio. It also will

allow connection via an ANT+ channel or Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) radio through an

internet connection to a 3rd party bicycle training simulation software. The ANT+ radio

uses the Fitness Equipment Control (FEC) protocol and the BLE radio uses the Fitness

Machine Service for 3rd party connectivity. Third party providers typically charge a

monthly fee to use their system.

Please visit the Apple Store or Google Store to download the TruTrainer SmartLoad app

for your IPhone or Android device. Our app can be downloaded free of charge and

there is no monthly service fee.

ALERT: Using Dark Mode on later versions of iPhone causes loss of functionality on

our app. We are working to eliminate this. Please use a do not use Dark Mode with our

SmartLoad app.

ALERT: Our app allows you to simultaneously establish a BLE and ANT+ connection;

we have programmed the SmartLoad device to not respond to ANT+ commands from

the 3rd party provider if you are connected to the SmartLoad device via a BLE

connection.

The ANT+ connection is established through an ANT+ dongle attached to a USB cable

attached to your personal computer. You will require an ANT+ dongle and compatible

cable to connect to a computer with internet connection. These can be purchased

separately from our online store and are available from many electronics dealers.

When using a 3rd party provider, you can use your bike’s power meter as the power

source and the SmartLoad roller as the control device.

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Cautions:

•Do not poke anything through the slots in the endcaps. Tempting we know, but

don’t do it.

•Do not drop the rollers, they will last a long time if you obey this command. If you

drop the roller, you will likely damage the bearings which support the internal

flywheel.

•Do not get the roller wet, there are electronics inside and they work best when

dry and will likely be damaged if they get wet.

•Do not obstruct the slots in either endcap. We need all the cooling flow we can

get to maximize the amount of power we can absorb. If you restrict the cooling

flow, the device will not perform up to its potential. It is thermally protected so no

damage will be done, but clean inlets will allow the device to operate properly.

•Do not allow foreign objects to enter the slots on the endcaps. There is high

speed rotating equipment inside and foreign objects will cause damage.

•Do not continue to ride the rollers if you hear loud noises (scraping, clanking) or

experience excessive vibration. These are signs of foreign object damage.

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Set-Up

The SmartLoad roller is ready to use out of the box and is a drop in replacement for our

Classic rear roller assembly. Follow the instructions in our User Manual or refer to our

roller assembly instructions to build up or switch out the rear roller assembly. Both of

these documents are available on our website www.trutrainer.com.

For best BLE signal strength, please install the SmartLoad roller so that the transceiver

chip (highlighted by dashed circle) is visible above the roller frame as shown below in

the right hand figure. To help you with this, the flat on the shafts are timed with the

chip. Rotate the shaft so that the transceiver chip is at the 12:00 o’clock position; and

use a sharpie or marker to put on mark on the flat to identify the top side. If the black

mark fades with time, use a sharpie to re-establish the top position.

If you plan to ride with a 3rd party provider via the ANT+ radio, place the ANT+ dongle

adjacent to the rear roller as shown in the following picture. This will provide the most

reliable communication link between the dongle and your personal computer. We find

that taping the dongle to the top of the rail near the rear roller provides the best

connectivity.

December 2020 Page 5 of 9

SmartLoad Operation

The electronics of the SmartLoad roller is self-powered by an internal generator that will allow

the unit to function properly for approximately 15 minutes after you stop riding. This allows

you a period of non-riding time before you will lose your workout session connection to your

smartphone, ANT+ or BLE 3rd party provider. The generator starts charging the internal

power supply shortly after you begin pedaling and the unit will reach full charge in

approximately 3 minutes. We enable wireless control after the rollers have reached 8 mph

and disable wireless control when bike speed goes below 6 MPH.

Our SmartLoad app provides basic setup and user control schemes. A video explaining

use and operation of our app is available at https://youtu.be/aCWYMNWFVrE

•Settings

Used to change rider weight, bike type and course composition. These

parameters are required to do wind and grade load calculations. We make

them available to 3rd party providers, but not all providers use this data. This

screen also allows you to put our device into bootloader mode for a software

update.

•Manual mode

Used to control the amount of load above the parasitic loads present in the

rollers at a given speed. Allows the user to select between 0 and 100% of the

allowable auxiliary load at a speed.

•Constant power mode

Will automatically adjust load to maintain a requested power independent of

bike speed or rider pedaling cadence.

•Wind and Grade mode

Adjusts load based on bike speed to simulate riding into a head wind or on a

grade. User selects head wind and grade.

•Spin Down Calibration

Procedure that allows the SmartLoad device to calculate the parasitic load

present in the rollers. Parasitic load is the load that exists with the

SmartLoad device in the no load position.

The SmartLoad roller is shipped with a default spin down coefficient that will not likely match

your setup. You should perform a spin down calibration to achieve the best accuracy. During

the first 50 hours of use, you should regularly conduct a spin down calibration as the parasitic

load will change as the system settles. The rollers will stabilize after this period, but tire

pressure and ambient temperature influence parasitic load and you may need to regularly

perform a spin down calibration to realize maximum system accuracy. The spin down calibration

December 2020 Page 6 of 9

can be performed via your Smartphone. 3rd party providers may also allow you to perform a

spin down calibration if they comply with all the capability of the ANT+ FEC protocol.

Displayed Power

The power displayed on the SmartLoad application is an instantaneous power. It is

broadcast approximately once per second and the display updates at this rate. If you

experience oscillations it is likely that your pedaling stroke is not uniform.

Each of our SmartLoad devices is individually calibrated to provide maximum accuracy.

However, our indicated power may not be as accurate as your power meter because we

do not directly measure power. We calculate it based on the spin down calibration data

and a multi-dimensional map of load versus system parameters. If you have a power

meter, we recommend that you use it during training with 3rd party providers.

The power displayed accounts for: the parasitic load in the rollers, the load added by the

SmartLoad device and the inertial load from changing the speed. The latter will be

positive during an acceleration, negative when you are slowing down or zero when you

are holding a steady speed.

December 2020 Page 7 of 9

Troubleshooting

To aid in troubleshooting communication issues, there are four LED lights on the

computer board that are visible during operation. These are located at approximately

the 2:00 o’clock position on the non-drive side endcap when the transceiver chip is

positioned at 12:00 o’clock.

During normal operation will routinely see flashing green, blue and amber lights. The

details of their meaning are shown below:

Green LED

•Slow flashing: system is charging the power supply

•On and not flashing: system is fully charged

•Fast flashing: system is discharging

Red LED

•Not flashing: system operating okay

•On and flashing: system abnormality detected

Blue LED

•Flashing: Advertising for BLE connection

•On and not flashing: Connected to BLE device

Amber LED

•Flashing: Advertising for ANT+ connection

•On and not flashing: ANT+ channel connected

The red LED is physically located between the green and blue LEDs. If you discover

that the red led is flashing during use, please contact us for assistance.

December 2020 Page 8 of 9

Device Firmware Update

Should a new version of firmware (software) for the SmartLoad device become

available, the following instructions are a guide for performing a device firmware upload

(DFU). The SmartLoad device coupled with our smartphone app contains all of the

software you will need to accomplish this. The upload occurs over a Bluetooth Low

Energy (BLE) wireless connection once the SmartLoad device is put into bootloader

mode.

When in bootloader mode, prior to starting the software upload, the red and amber

LEDs will be on continuously. If you put the system into bootloader mode, you will not

be able to ride in normal mode until the system resets. The reset will happen

automatically after the software is uploaded. If you accidently put the system into

bootloader mode, the power supply must completely discharge; and the system will

reset into normal mode when you start riding again.

The process works the same whether you use an Android or IPhone. We made a video

for the Apple folks to show how our app works. Here is the link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCWYMNWFVrE the last few minutes of the video

explains the DFU process.

Here are the steps to perform a DFU:

1. Connect to the device via the SmartLoad app and ride for a few minutes to put a

full charge on the device.

2. Dismount the bike if you are not using a fork stand. This is the safest way to

upload software. Alternatively, have a friend perform the following steps while

you ride the rollers.

3. Open our smartphone app, select the SmartLoad functionality button and

connect to the TruTrainer device.

4. Once connected, press the Settings button to bring up the Rider Settings screen.

5. Put the SmartLoad device into bootloader mode by pressing the “Enable DFU”

button on the Rider Settings screen. A separate screen will appear asking

whether you want to proceed with this. Press the OK button at the bottom of this

screen.

6. Locate the ZIP file on your phone and share it with the TruTrainer app this will

open the DFU functionality of our smartphone app and load the file into our

Firmware upload page. Alternatively, you can open our SmartLoad app and

press the DFU button on the home screen and press the select file text to load

December 2020 Page 9 of 9

the zip file containing the device firmware update. This requires that the zip

package be stored in your phone’s file system.

7. After the ZIP file is loaded in the DFU app, Press the connect button at the

bottom of the app and select the “TT_DFU” device from the list of BLE devices

that will appear.

8. Once connected, the last step is to tap the Upload text and the software transfer

will start. This takes about 3 minutes to push the new firmware to the device.

9. When the firmware upload is complete, the system will reset and start up in

normal mode.

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