Steve B.

Newly acquired Edge 1040. Also new SRAM GX AXS system on a mt. bike

Trying to configure the 1040 to display both the shifter battery as well as the derailer battery. I saw a screen shot on the 1xxx FB page of a guys 1040 that shows a road system both shifter batteries as well as the rear derailer. Cannot seem to get this setup on the 1040, its only showing the derailer battery. Any help appreciated.

Seattle Forrest

Possible the screenshot you saw was a Connect IQ data field?

​​​​​​You updated to the latest software? Could it be a feature in the beta program that hasn't made it to production yet?

(I ride Di2 so that's the best trouble shooting I've got.)

Steve B.

Attached photo from the FB post. Its was off the device. The owner cannot recall the process he found to get this functioning.

Iride01 

You followed what SRAM says here?

https://www.sram.com/en/sram/road/ca...axs-components

You aren't trying to add fields to some other screen are you?

If you are looking at the screen that was automatically added when you paired the two, then perhaps you just need to hold your finger on that field to select another field or change the number of fields shown for that screen.

Seattle Forrest

It must be a pain having to deal with so many batteries, this is one reason I prefer Di2.

All the advice I gave above is still relevant to the best of my knowledge.

Steve B.

You followed what SRAM says here?

Yes, I have gear readout functioning

If you are looking at the screen that was automatically added when you paired the two, then perhaps you just need to hold your finger on that field to select another field or change the number of fields shown for that screen.

Well nothing gets "automatically" added,. You pair the 2 systems using the Garmin Add Sensor method, but then get prompted to add data fields, where you then select what data you are going to want to display (gear battery, front gear, rear gear, combo, etc...) You then go to the activity profiles to actually change the data screen to have that information display, thus you make a data screen from say 6 data fields to 7 or 8 or 9, so as to add Gear Battery, gear position, combo (if a 2X system) etc.....

Currently the 1040 does have you select what gear data you want to display. It gives no option to say add front shifter battery, or front derailer battery. There's only one Gear Battery option as if it were dealing with Di2. Thus I've no idea how that screen in my post is told to display rear derailer plus the 2 front shifters on one data field. It's possible Garmin can partly understand it's dealing with a SRAM road shifting system and then displays the front shifters. Note though that this is likely a 2X system and there is no display for the front derailer battery. Not sure what's going on, I may call Garmin later and discover they have not yet figured out how to deal with multiple batteries.

Iride01 

I would have done that first and ask here second if still needed.

Garmin support has always been very helpful to me. Even for things many years out of warranty. And though their phone queue is sometimes backed up with calls, they let you give them a call back number and they call you back when your turn comes up.

Steve B.

Garmin's very helpful tech support (I mean that sincerely) basically told me the 1040 cannot display multiple battery levels on an AXS system other than the rear derailer. The tech. support guy had no idea how a fellow 1040 user has as shown in the photo - right shifter, left shifter and rear derailer, but no front derailer, basically admitting that might be something knew about the road systems he was not aware of. he gave me a link to their tech engineers to submit a feature request. I have done this previously and got no response, but what the heck.

Iride01 

Are you certain the photo is of a Edge 1040 and not some other companies similar looking device?

But I have with other things found hacks to make stuff show that the software developer didn't want seen by the masses because it was either something that wasn't ready for prime time and they had the code in there but didn't have calls to that part of the code. Or it was stuff they put in for troubleshooting and debug.

So maybe since the battery indicators for left and right are showing full charge and the battery indicator for the DR is about half capacity one might wonder if they are actually showing the battery levels. Has the FB user said if the shifter battery indicators actually function to show a draining battery? Though I do realize that the shifter's probably don't drain their batteries as fast.

Iride01 

I was curious what was being said on Garmin's forum about this issue. I found this in the 1030 Plus sub-forum...

https://forums.garmin.com/sports-fit...battery-status

Make sure to pay attention to what aweatherall says. He's been on the Garmin forums since forever. I don't think he is connected with Garmin employment wise.

If you haven't been there you might want to do some looking or even post a question over there. I think your Garmin Connect memberID and PW will get you on.

https://forums.garmin.com/sports-fitness/

Steve B.

Its actually a 1030 Plus. Which makes this an oddity as I don't see Garmin removing features.

Steve B.

Yes, good info there. I might try an update to the SRAM system. I purchased maybe a month ago, updated when installed. Will do it again just for giggles

Iride01 

Well the things that stood out for me in the post were that they removed the pairing and then pair the AXS again. And that the field on the screen needs to be a full width screen field or else it only shows the DR battery indicator.

I'd shut down and restart the device after removing the pairing before pairing again. But that's just me.

Steve B.

Yup good thoughts, especially the full width screen as thats how that 1030 Plus on FB was setup. In truth its just stuff to have fun with on a rainy day. You really only need to know which battery is lower. If the shifter battery has less power left, in theory the system shows that. As well, on the AXS system, its the derailer battery that has a lower lifespan between charges of around 20 hrs, where as the shifter with a 2032 button battery is a lot longer.

Steve B.

Thx Iride01, I followed the procedure to re-pair the SRAM shifter and derailer, it did not require an OS update. I then deleted the existing 1040 pairing to the gear system re-paired, re-did the selections, changed the activity profile to a single data field for gears and lo and behold I got the shifter and derailer as shown in the photo. I wonder if I should call back Garmin tech support and tell them that it does indeed work and how to do it ?.

Iride01 

Interesting. Thanks for the update. Since you are trying to "learn" Garmin something, then it'd probably be better to send off an email to them. That way it won't be the CSR's interpretation of what you told him being written down in his understanding or misunderstanding of what you are attempting to relate to him or her.

I guess you are obviously a 1X bike. Took me a second or two along with having to re-read your last post to figure out why you weren't complaining about no battery indicator for the left shifter. <grin>

Steve B.

Yes, its a 1X GX AXS system on a mt. bike. Great system, well worth and they've been on sale. It was maybe 20-25 minutes of installation. As much as I also like the XT Di2 system on another mt. bike, it was a bit of a PITA to modify the frame and then run the e-tube cables. AXS is just bolt into place and pair, The equivalent XT Di2 system is also maybe -$150-$200 more than the GX AXS system.

PeteHski

The shifter batteries last about 2 years, so about as much hassle as calculator or watch batteries. As much as I like Shimano, the SRAM wireless solution is way better. Battery maintenance is minimal and gives you redundancy. For me the single Di2 battery and additional wiring/junction boxes etc is a poor solution that is probably just a legacy of various patent battles.

Steve B.

Pretty much agree. I have 2 Di2 systems. Both involved taking out the crank and b-bracket in order to get cables from shifters to the battery and derailer. As well, on my hard tail I had to drill out the opening on the downtube in order to feed in the e-tube connectors and wires. That likely voided the bike warranty. AXS would have been a much better solution for this case and was on my newer FS that came with a SRAM drivetrain. That system was a simple as removing the rear shift cable, breaking the chain, removing and installing the front shifter and rear derailer, replacing chain and pairing. Took maybe 20-25 minutes. With my older Di2 road system I have had zero battery issues in 4 years, it still takes a charge and lasts a long time. And in truth, Di2 works every bit as well as AXS, but I can see why Shimano moved to wireless shifters for the newer Di2 road systems. You still need to deal with the bottom bracket and cranks in order to get the seat tube mounted battery power to the derailers.

Seattle Forrest

Why does this thread exist at all? Because of the anxiety SRAM's battery setup created in one of the posters here. To each his own; I'm very glad I don't have to deal with that.

PeteHski

So every SRAM owner is suddenly freaking out about their shifter batteries just because one poster is attempting to recreate a display screen they saw? Has it even occurred to you that this is not even a commonly requested feature? Even the SRAM tech guys hadn't seen it before. While you do need to monitor your mech batteries in real time, monitoring shift batteries that last for several years is not really very important. I just change them every season, like I do with my power meter battery.

I get it that you prefer Di2, but actually I would be more worried about a battery failure on that system as there is no backup. I can easily carry a spare coin cell battery and swap the mech batteries over if one dies. You have to hope that your Di2 battery is super reliable because if it does crap out (and they certainly can) then you have no gears for the rest of your ride.

Steve B.

Because there are sometimes unknown features in bikes and accessories that as users discover are sometimes helpful to pass along that knowledge to others. The original post was a query for information from anybody as to where they able to get certain functions to work.

You seem to be bothered by that. Its pretty much in keeping with about any other question that gets posed here.

And general experience from Di2 users seems to be the battery is super reliable.

Seattle Forrest

Where in god's name did you get a crazy idea like that? Not from what I said!

Seattle Forrest

​​​​​​Not at all. I'm happy with what I have, and I hope everyone else is too. I enjoy talking about bikes, and gave my opinion, I also gave you good advice earlier about the data field not working the way you expect because I hoped you'd be able to resolve it.

PeteHski

You appeared to be suggesting that it was hard work to deal with a few simple batteries. Then you even suggested that it was causing the OP anxiety!