Boerd

I have a Sram Red Etap on my better bike - about 6 months old. Today, when I took out the batteries to recharge them I see that one of them is chipped / cracked.
Makes me think it was a mistake to go with electronic shifting since I'm not racing anyway...
Sent Sram an email -let's see how good their customer support is. Now - I'm taking my older bike (Sram Red 22 mechanical) for a ride Nothing like a mechanical groupset.


Chipped battery


A different view

sputniky

My experience is much different - 2+ years with most miles off road, no issues.

GlennR

22,000 miles and finally decided to replace the batteries since they needed to be charged after a month.

Boerd

Thank you guys - reassuring to hear this must have been some accident. I love the Etap otherwise. Let's see what Sram says. I sent them a picture.
After a bit more searching it looks like this is a somewhat common problem - due to the design or the battery's plastic quality. And if I am not mistaking I have to go through the LBS who sold me the battery - which is not quite local....

Koyote

Stuff breaks. Even mechanical stuff.

Boerd

Which is why I should have bought from LBS not some another town shop. Lesson learned.

Koyote

I don't know what the battery costs, but it might then be easier to just buy a new one in order to keep the bike running...While pursuing your warranty claim. Then if they replace it, you'll have a spare battery.

Just a thought!

Boerd

You must be psychic. I ordered one but couldn't find 1 or 2 days delivery on Amazon... It arrives Thursday. 1st world drama! And it's 42$ - kind of pricey if you ask me.

Trsnrtr

Same.

Trsnrtr

Derailing the thread here, but how many hours in a month. I charge at 30 hours.

Oh, and I do carry a spare battery.

GlennR

I was getting about 800 miles per charge and it went down to about half.

I do not carry a spare. The LEDs indicate battery level. Green is good, red is below 25% and flashing red is below15%. Then since they are the same you can always swap them since the front is used a lot less than the rear.

Marcus_Ti

I've seen lots of reports of this on the 'net FWIW.

Boerd

I know - it's either a design problem or a battery QA problem... Which is a shame given one battery is 42$ and the Etap isn't cheap either. These days it is all about "good enough".
The problem is I bike 3-4 times a week on Mt Diablo which has less than ideal roads hence the battery will be tested.

Trsnrtr

That's a good number of hours assuming 15 mph which would be around 50 hours. I've never been able to get that, even when new. I remove my batteries when the bike is in the car and reinstall them when ready to ride. Since I don't really pay attention, my front and rear batteries usually have the same hours on them. I've only had a battery go dead once but when I switched from front to rear, it went dead three miles later.

Trsnrtr

Broken battery case? This is the first that I've seen. Didn't know it was common unless they are getting dropped.

Marcus_Ti

Elsewhere, it has been a thing over the years. eTap is rare on BF almost as much so as IRL.

https://forums.roadbikereview.com/sr...ur-361263.html

https://weightweenies.starbike.com/f...c.php?t=145432

Trsnrtr

I did a quick search and did see that his is or was a thing, especially in the early years.

Boerd

It's got nothing to do with dropping. Just a poor design - probably the clamping was implemented to be "good enough / for most cases". I am curious if it is the riding I do or it was just a faulty battery.
Anyway - the batteries looks cheap - I'd expect a bit of metal at the pressure points and the joint - especially for 42$. A bit too much greed maybe?

GlennR

First you should remove the batteries when transporting the bike. There is an accelerometer that activates the batteries so they will be active. The real draw when when they are being used so the FD is used a lot less than the RD. This means the RD battery will run down quicker. When the RD battery goes solid red, the FD battery will still be green. I swap them and when both are solid red I recharge both.

sputniky

That's just speculation on your part. Speculation that doesn't explain how the "poor design" has worked just fine for so many other folks.

What is special about the riding that you do? Why do you imagine that your riding would be responsible for breaking the battery casing?

Boerd

When batteries crack / break during normal use there is a problem - there is no wild speculation there. Otherwise my bike or my riding must be at fault - though I find that harder to believe.
Why is it so hard to imagine that it works for many / most but there is still a problem? Poor design doesn't mean a design that never works. It can be just "Good enough for many / most" yet problematic.

Trsnrtr

I don't think I was being clear; I said that I remove them when transporting the bike. But, what I also said is that I don't pay any attention when I put them back on so they get swapped back and forth, thus getting the same number of shifts on them regardless of whether on the front or back.

Also, mine are on a recumbent so I can't see the lights while riding. Can riders on regular bikes see the lights when shifting?

Anyway, I haven't run a full discharge test in a long time to see how many hours I'm getting. I'll do that soon just for fun.

Boerd

When batteries break during normal use it isn't a speculation to say it is a poor design. Even if it works for many / most - it is failing for some. Nobody said it's unusable or catastrophic - just poor (fails for some). Nuances. The quality of a design isn't a binary thing. If Sram replaces the battery, it only costed me 42$ to have a spare; no big deal.

aclinjury

it's not his riding, it's the crappy made battery.

Trsnrtr

I was just looking at a SRAM eTap overview video and it makes a point of holding the sides of the battery while flipping the retaining lever. They warn of breaking the battery else wise. I guess I'll have to start doing that because I just flip the lever and let the battery fall into my hand generally.