Magene L508 Auto-On And Light Modes
Answered
Hi,
I just got and paired successfully with my Karoo2 a Magene L508 combined radar/tail-light. I paired the radar and the light as two separate sensors, just like with my previous Garmin RTL 510 (since gifted to someone else). It seems to work fine, except for the following, wondering if anyone has done this successfully.
1. With my previous Garmin RTL510, it would sit dormant but with bluetooth on. When I started my ride on the Karoo2, the light would automatically turn on, as well as the radar. With the Magene I have to manually turn it on so far.
2. In the sensor settings it doesn't matter what light mode I choose (the name of the light modes don't seem to correspond 1-1 to the ones the Magene has), the light stays in the mode I choose manually after turning the light on. Once the ride is started, I can go to the control center and see the Magene light, but changing the modes there also seems to have no effect on the mode that was chosen manually).
I wanted to see if these are just limitations of the Magene radar light, or something I haven't figured out how to use properly yet.
Cheers.
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Saad
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Hi Saad,
I also own a Magene L508 so I can help you with the answers.
When I come home from a ride, save the ride on my K2 the light and radar stays "on" and "connected". This is somewhat annoying and didn't happen with the Garmin RTL 510. There when I save my ride the light and radar went into sleep modus.
Now it takes the L508 about 5 minutes before it goes to sleep modus. This means the light and radar are disabled but like you say are just dormant.
A day later, when you start another ride on your K2 , the K2 shows the radar icon but greyed out. This is because the light is still dormant. It's only after the L508 the light has detected movement it will be powered on again. That means that the light will be working again and flashes the way you left it the day before. The radar will also be detected.
So normally you don't need to turn the device back on. When you start riding it should detect the movement and it will be powered on. You can easily test this on your desk. Just start a ride with the light/radar on. Stop recording your ride, the light will keep burning for about 5 minutes before it goes into sleep modus. After that happens start a new ride on your K2, nothing will happen with the lights untill you pick it up and it detects movement.On your second question well the answer is "no, you can't control the lights with the K2". This is strange because they can be controlled by a garmin device. Hammerhead is claiming it's a Magene issue and this was also confirmed by the support of Magene. A bit strange because I thought ANT means that everyone can controll the device but that is apparently not the case.
Magene claims an update will fix this problem but the question is only when?Best regards
Peter
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Thank you so much Peter. Great to know the control of lights thing wasn't just me.
The auto-sleep thing seems like a good workaround, but I'm concerned if it would turn on if I put my bike on a car rack or in the trunk and drive to a ride, robbing battery life. I guess I could test that.
Thanks for all the great information. Hopefully Magene will issue a firmware fix soon to control the lights.
If they could also introduce a "dormant" mode like the Varia does which can wake up when a ride starts as signaled by a head unit, that would be cherry on top.
Cheers.
----Saad
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hi Saad,
I fear indeed that when you leave the L508 dormant, it will wake up when you put it on your car rack or when you start driving your car. This feature is nice when you take a break during a ride but not when you stopped recording a ride.
The light should indeed stay dormant as long as you don't start recording a new ride.
It would be much better if the device goes dormant when it detects a ride is either being saved or when it not longer detects the bike computer (out of range)
Then on the other hand it should only wake up when you your start recording a new ride. This is the case for my 4 year old 510.
Conclusion for me is :
- you can use the dormant function if keep the light on the bike
- power down the device if you plan to move your bike around by car or ... before starting your bikeride itself
- Magene has still some development to do before it can really compete with Garmin
- The magene feels much more less durable then the Garmin variant.
- the lower price of the Magene is not worth the lack of features compared to the more feature packed but €40 more expensive Garmin alternative
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