Bluetooth USB adapters: choosing and positioning

Which USB Bluetooth adapter to buy for Velogic Studio sensors, and where to mount it so they connect reliably.

Pre-release Feature: Bluetooth sensor support is currently in pre-release. The information on this page applies to pre-release versions of Velogic Studio and may not yet be available in the shipping version. Features and functionality may change before the final release.

If your PC has no Bluetooth, has unreliable Bluetooth, or lives in a cabinet away from the fit bike, a USB Bluetooth adapter will fix it, provided you put it in the right place.

This applies to everything Velogic Studio connects to over Bluetooth: heart rate, power and cadence sensors via the Bluetooth plugin, and the gebioMized saddle pressure mat. They share one radio, so one well-placed adapter serves them all.

Which adapter to buy

TP-Link UB500. Around US$15, sold everywhere, and Windows installs the driver for it automatically. Handles up to 7 sensors at once.

If your PC only has USB-C ports

Use a small USB-C to USB-A adapter, then an extension cable. Avoid running the Bluetooth adapter off a USB hub: hubs, particularly USB 3 ones, are a source of 2.4 GHz noise, and you would be parking the radio right next to it.

Where to put the adapter

Mount the adapter about 1 m above the floor, in line of sight of your sensors, and away from the PC.

• About 1 m above the floor.

• Line of sight to the bike. Keep cabinet doors, metal shelving and monitors out of the path.

• Away from the PC. The computer, its power supply, monitors, Wi-Fi access points and USB 3 devices are all sources of 2.4 GHz interference. Two metres of extension cable gets the adapter clear of them, and does more good than any upgrade you can buy.

• Fix it in place with tape, a cable clip or a strip of velcro.

If your PC is in a cupboard or cabinet, an extension cable is not optional.

USB extension cables

Any USB 2.0 A-male to A-female extension works.

Length	Cable
1 m / 3.3 ft	Amazon Basics
2 m / 6.5 ft	Amazon Basics
3 m / 9.8 ft	Amazon Basics
10 m / 32 ft	Amazon Basics active or Plugable active

2 m suits most rooms. Past 5 m you need an active (powered) cable; do not chain two passive ones together. Any equivalent will do if these are unavailable: browse USB 2.0 extension cables.

Setting it up

1. Plug the adapter in with the PC connected to the internet. Windows downloads the driver automatically. If the PC is offline the first time, the adapter shows up as an unrecognised device. This is the most common reason for "the adapter did not work".

2. Mount the adapter as described in Where to put the adapter.

3. Switch your sensors on. Velogic Studio scans for them automatically. See Bluetooth Overview, or gebioMized saddle pressure mat integration for the mat.

Any spare USB port will do. If you have a USB 2.0 port (usually black rather than blue), use it, but getting the adapter away from the computer matters far more than which port you pick.

Windows uses one Bluetooth radio at a time, and will usually select a plug-in USB adapter automatically. If you need to force it, disable the built-in adapter in Device Manager: expand Bluetooth, right-click the built-in adapter, choose Disable device.

Getting help

If sensors still will not connect, contact us at [e-mail] with the make and model of your adapter, where you have mounted it, and a description of the problem.

For sensor-specific troubleshooting, see Bluetooth Overview for heart rate, power and cadence, or gebioMized saddle pressure mat integration for the mat.