Garmin watches with firmware supporting open/secure blue connection not able to pair

[Abasz]

Due to the firmware changes made to newer Garmin watches to comply with European Union's "RED" regulation (that introduced the requirement or checking of secure Bluetooth connection) ORM does not seem to be able to pair with my watch (FR255 running SW version 23) if being added as a new sensor.

Everything was working with connections that were paired before the software update, but if removed no longer pairs.

In ESPRM I was able to solve this with enabling the security authorization layer of the Bluetooth stack as do you stack supported it.

I will need to investigate whether our currently use stack in ORM has such feature and if not what can be done to resolve the pairing issue.

[JaapvanEkris]

Do you want to include a fix in 0.9.6?

[Abasz]

I don't know if I can... In ESPRM it took me a week to find the issue. Solution was one line of code :):):)

In ORM I tried what the docs says but did not work so I will need to investigate more. Test my wife's watches etc.

I wanted this bug report so if others experience similar they know it's a known issue.

[Abasz]

Issue is even bigger. I have tried 2 additonal watch (so FR255, FR645, Lilly2 Active) and non of them work...

Extremely strange.

Connection gets established, MAC is read from the watch, ORM log shows device is connected, but on the watch this is not registered. Also it does not subscribe to notification. Its almost looks like the watch is waiting for some response that it never gets. Jaap, you have a Garmin as I recall, would you mind checking if it connects for you?

[JaapvanEkris]

Connection gets established, MAC is read from the watch, ORM log shows device is connected, but on the watch this is not registered. Also it does not subscribe to notification. Its almost looks like the watch is waiting for some response that it never gets.

What kind op profile are you using? CSC and CPS?

Jaap, you have a Garmin as I recall, would you mind checking if it connects for you?

Absolutely no issue. I have an Epix Gen 2

I know there was a big issue with ANT+ in a similar scenario: ORM and my heartrate belt were not connected automatically as they weren't encrypted. Beta testers already reported it in Beta, but Garmin just pushed it into production anyways (that is quality control for you) and suddenly everybody was pissed off. Perhaps looking at the Garmin (Beta) Forums might provide some insight if it is just us or the entire Garmin universe....

[JaapvanEkris]

I connected my Epix to the "Speed + Cadance" sensor, reset ORM to activate the recorded RAW, and switched manually from PM5 to the "Speed and Cadance" sensor again and got the following log:

Jun 14 20:44:31 roeimachine npm[735]: CSC Connection established, address: xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
Jun 14 20:44:34 roeimachine npm[735]: Static read characteristic has been called: Cycling Speed and Cadence Feature
Jun 14 20:44:39 roeimachine npm[735]: Static read characteristic has been called: Model Number
Jun 14 20:44:42 roeimachine npm[735]: Cycling Speed and Cadence Measurement subscription change: xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx, notification: true
Jun 14 20:44:43 roeimachine npm[735]: Static read characteristic has been called: Software Revision
Jun 14 20:44:43 roeimachine npm[735]: Static read characteristic has been called: Serial Number
Jun 14 20:44:43 roeimachine npm[735]: Cycling Speed and Cadence Measurement subscription change: xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx, notification: false
Jun 14 20:44:43 roeimachine npm[735]: CSC client disconnected (address: xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx), restarting advertising
Jun 14 20:44:44 roeimachine npm[735]: Cycling Speed and Cadence Measurement subscription change: xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx, notification: true
Jun 14 20:44:44 roeimachine npm[735]: CSC Connection established, address: xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
Jun 14 20:44:47 roeimachine npm[735]: Static read characteristic has been called: Cycling Speed and Cadence Feature
Jun 14 20:44:52 roeimachine npm[735]: Static read characteristic has been called: Model Number
Jun 14 20:44:54 roeimachine npm[735]: Cycling Speed and Cadence Measurement subscription change: xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx, notification: true
Jun 14 20:44:56 roeimachine npm[735]: Static read characteristic has been called: Software Revision
Jun 14 20:44:58 roeimachine npm[735]: Static read characteristic has been called: Serial Number
Jun 14 20:45:02 roeimachine npm[735]: Static read characteristic has been called: Manufacturer Name
Jun 14 20:45:41 roeimachine npm[735]: Cycling Speed and Cadence Measurement subscription change: xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx, notification: false
Jun 14 20:45:41 roeimachine npm[735]: CSC client disconnected (address: xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx), restarting advertising
Jun 14 20:46:47 roeimachine systemd[1]: Stopping openrowingmonitor.service - Open Rowing Monitor...
Jun 14 20:46:47 roeimachine npm[735]: OpenRowingMonitor shutdown at 20:46, at 0.00000 seconds,distance 0.0m
Jun 14 20:46:47 roeimachine npm[735]: shutting down all peripherals
Jun 14 20:46:47 roeimachine npm[735]: Shutting down CSC peripheral
Jun 14 20:46:47 roeimachine npm[735]: Ble socket is closed
Jun 14 20:48:04 roeimachine systemd[1]: openrowingmonitor.service: Deactivated successfully.
Jun 14 20:48:04 roeimachine systemd[1]: Stopped openrowingmonitor.service - Open Rowing Monitor.
Jun 14 20:48:31 roeimachine systemd[1]: Started openrowingmonitor.service - Open Rowing Monitor.
Jun 14 20:48:32 roeimachine npm[1495]: > openrowingmonitor@0.9.6 start
Jun 14 20:48:32 roeimachine npm[1495]: > node app/server.js
Jun 14 20:48:34 roeimachine npm[1507]: ==== Open Rowing Monitor 0.9.6 ====
Jun 14 20:48:34 roeimachine npm[1507]: ant plus profile: Off
Jun 14 20:48:34 roeimachine npm[1507]: heart rate profile: Off
Jun 14 20:48:34 roeimachine npm[1507]: Server: peripheral requested refreshPeripheralConfig
Jun 14 20:48:34 roeimachine npm[1507]: bluetooth profile: Concept2 PM5
Jun 14 20:48:34 roeimachine npm[1507]: Opening BLE manager
Jun 14 20:48:34 roeimachine npm[1507]: Server: peripheral requested refreshPeripheralConfig
Jun 14 20:48:34 roeimachine npm[1507]: webserver running on port 80
Jun 14 20:48:34 roeimachine npm[1520]: Gpio-service: pin number 17, polling interval 5 us, triggered on Up flank, minimal pulse time 50 us
Jun 14 20:48:35 roeimachine npm[1507]: websocket client connected
Jun 14 20:48:39 roeimachine npm[1507]: server: webclient requested switchBlePeripheralMode
Jun 14 20:48:39 roeimachine npm[1507]: Shutting down PM5 peripheral
Jun 14 20:48:39 roeimachine npm[1507]: bluetooth profile: Cycling Speed and Cadence
Jun 14 20:48:39 roeimachine npm[1507]: Server: peripheral requested refreshPeripheralConfig
Jun 14 20:48:39 roeimachine npm[1507]: Cycling Speed and Cadence Measurement subscription change: xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx, notification: true
Jun 14 20:48:39 roeimachine npm[1507]: CSC Connection established, address: xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
Jun 14 20:48:43 roeimachine npm[1507]: Static read characteristic has been called: Cycling Speed and Cadence Feature
Jun 14 20:48:46 roeimachine npm[1507]: Static read characteristic has been called: Model Number
Jun 14 20:48:48 roeimachine npm[1507]: Cycling Speed and Cadence Measurement subscription change: xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx, notification: true
Jun 14 20:48:50 roeimachine npm[1507]: Static read characteristic has been called: Software Revision
Jun 14 20:48:53 roeimachine npm[1507]: Static read characteristic has been called: Serial Number
Jun 14 20:48:55 roeimachine npm[1507]: Static read characteristic has been called: Manufacturer Name
Jun 14 20:49:35 roeimachine npm[1507]: *** Rowing (re)started with a DRIVE phase at time: 0.0000 sec

In essence, it just worked fine. Let it run for a couple of minutes without issues, showed progress in a bike excercise.

Oddly, the sensor is marked as "Secured", which is unexpected to me (the ANT+ sensors are all considered "Open").

[Abasz]

What kind op profile are you using? CSC and CPS?

Test both. neither of them worked on any of the watches

Logs

Thanks for this. This is very important.

Oddly, the sensor is marked as "Secured",

This is strange. Our BLE connection should be open as we do not trigger pairing and bonding with pin code and all that.

I will do a full fresh ORM/Pi install. Also I will factory reset one of the watches and see if that helps.

[Abasz]

I did a fresh PI install, also factory reset the watches. non of them work :)

I dont understand this. We will need to collect more data and feedback. Lets leave this open for now and see if anyone else experiences this. Its may be the watch. I can live without these BLE services as I use ANT+ stick any way :)

[JaapvanEkris]

Could be an issue on Garmin's side as well. RED allows for unencrypted sensors, as long as the user is aware of it. With the Epix the whole debacle was triggered when they expected unencrypted sensors to encrypt anyway. Perhaps drop a question in their forum and see what happens?

[Abasz]

This is the thing, actually it should work with un-encrypted sensor. My watches work with other sensors. But from the broadcasted data I do not see any obvious difference. I tried to see what actual low level communication is being done but did not yield results.

I can drop a comment on the forum but I dont expect any response here. Garmin will put their hands up saying its the sensor (this has happend to me before unfortunately) :D