[Karoo 2] Garmin Varia 515 flashing only on car approach
I would like to know if there is any way to make the Garmin Varia 515 light flash only when car is approacing (when the radar detects it)?! It would preserve way more batter as well.
One more thing, there is an option "Auto Control" on radar options screen. What it actually does when when ON?
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Since the flashing isn't governed by the headunit there is nothing Hammerhead could do about it. That said, in flashing mode it has a claimed battery life of 16 hours, that should be enough for 99.9% of rides, and for those .1% of other rides you'll need breaks anyway so you can hook it up to a solar panel/powerbank/USB charger while you're resting.
Regarding "Auto Control": just enable the option with the Varia connected, then you'll see what it does, it's even explained on that very screen. ;-)
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Karoo has to be the master and send signal to the Varia in order to function. I don't see why this wouldn't work. If it can send different types of signals for flashing (slow, fast) and solid lights (low, min) and turn if off completely, I really don't see any reason why it would not send the signal for flashing while the closing obstacle is seen by the radar and turn it off when there is nothing on the radar.
Hammarhead should implement that function very simply, I know I would, and it would preserve some of the battery like if nothing else.
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Are you sure about that? AFAIK the control part of the Karoo via ANT+ or Bluetooth is just to change light modes, display which light mode is active and the battery indicator, not whether the RTL515 will flash quicker on approaching vehicles or not.
The RTL515 will flash quickly on detecting approaching vehicles even without being connected to a headunit: https://www8.garmin.com/manuals/webhelp/GUID-C41F445D-457F-447D-88C8-FE286BF157E9/EN-US/GUID-4587F7D3-DEE0-422D-9450-D125E15C4EA0.html
The default behaviour of the "day flash" mode is it flashes shortly twice, then a bit longer and brighter once, then the pause until the next sequence is a bit longer (in morse code I'd write it ..- ..- ..- ..-). On detecting approaching vehicles it will begin flashing randomly to alert the driver to the presence of a cyclist even more.
You can test that by turning off the Karoo, put the RTL515 into one of the flashing modes and stand next to a street with moving traffic. The RTL515 should behave differently on approaching vehicles.
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Not sure, but it appears to me that it can be done. One of the solutions from HH side:
Lets create another mode (lets call it: Radar flash). When a user selects it, the karoo internally selects OFF mode, which turns off flash completely on the Varia radar device. When the Varia radar detects traffic, it sends the singal to karoo (signal of some sort, to start showing the upcoming traffic on the display), so in that moment karoo turns on (lets say) the Fast Flash mode internally. When the traffic goes by, the singal "no more traffic" comes to the karoo, which triggers the OFF mode again and the flash turns off.
Other solution would be that Garmin programs it that way, which I doubt it will happen, since even if there will be a software update, how would we update it!?
There is some application called Smart Bike Lights, but I guess its just for Garmin computers:
https://forums.garmin.com/developer/connect-iq/f/showcase/248492/smart-bike-lights-data-field-bike-lights-control-widgetDoes anyone know if is it possible to install that app to HH devices?
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Smart bike lights won't help you much in this matter, as my understanding is that it only controls Ant+ lights.
With Garmin devices there is a more complicated way to make it works the way you want it, there is a video from a German YouTuber on this subject (enjoyyourbike).
Wahoo introduced the feature for their second generation Bolt und Roam last April, after taking about 4 years to implement Ant+ light control into their devices. I can confirm that it works with a Bolt 2 and the Varia 515, but I'm still not entirely convinced of its reliability as the Bolt sometimes changes the light pattern by itself and last time even turned off the light completely and didn't let me turn it on or change the pattern on the device. So maybe this feature might be a little too complicated.
in my eyes it*s not something that is overly important to me as I prefer to have a permanent light (be it steady or flashing) as a rear light with my radar when I'm on the road during daylight.
The Bryton Garcia has your asked for feature implemented in the unit itself and it worked for me when I tested it with the Karoo 2.
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