SRAM ETap Battery Flaw?

[mpoppe]

First, sorry for my poor English

I'm from Brazil and I have two bikes with Etap group almost one year ago
I had the same problems with the broken battery tabs
The same problem happened in different tap groups ( 3 times !! )
Our roads here are not very good, but they are not so bad.
My problem happened both times, on the same stretch of road.
It is a piece with many imperfections on the road. But with no holes, only imperfections.
After these three experiences I think I can say that the problem is unique to the resistance of the plastic part.
In my case, the problem was in the rear shift
I think the contact of a small plastic tab with a metal slot is not a good combination.
I already bought 3 new spare batteries.
I do not have quality SRAM support in Brazil and I need to have a stock of parts so I can not interrupt my training.
I'm sorry for everyone, I think SRAM urgently needs to voice this problem.
good rides!

[mpoppe]

Same happened to me yesterday on the rear battery. I did a downhill cobble session and it may have been from there. Only lost the connection at the end of the ride though, so no impact. Will go to bike shop today to see if I can get a replacement.

Be sure to give us a feedback on replacement

Thanks

[commendatore]

Aren't people (Wout?) using etap on cross bikes? I'm surprised this isn't showing up there.

[mattr]

I'd guess that most of the CXers using etap have an entire rack of batteries........ which get swapped in and out rapidly.

[sungod]

since fitting it march 2016, aside from the potholed and rutted london roads, i've done umpteen stretches of lanzarote pebbledash at >50kph that were close to knocking my hands off the bars with no issues

if it were simply usage i'm pretty sure i'd have had a problem by now, seems more likely it's a bad batch

but i think i'll be having a good look at the tabs with a loupe every so often!

[donal]

Yes! It happened to me today. Rear derailleur battery tab snapped off. Had the new bike 4 months with no issues and no accidents. Thought it was a dead battery at first. Have an important race in 2 days and my local stores don't stock replacements.
Definitely a design flaw

[Tomdaws]

Same happened to me today too ! I'm pretty careful with handling/installing them as I'd heard they might be a bit delicate. I hadn't realised until now, that there could be an issue with cleaning products though. I have been using a PTFE spray to clean the grime out. From now on I'll remove the batteries before any type of cleaning & see how we go ?

[kjldc]

Has anyone else had an issue with the small nub on the bottom of battery breaking off? It just happened to me for the 2nd time. It results in the annoying result of occasional shifting outages on whichever derailleur you use it on. Without the nub, the metal posts that create the circuit between battery and derailleur can lose contact and result in the aforementioned non-shifting
moments. I'm either really unlucky or its a design flaw. (And yes, I've double checked: all batteries have been fully charged at the time of these occurances). LOVE the system otherwise.

totalbser
2017 Dogma F8 - SRAM Etap Red

I've experienced the exact same thing and the person I worked with at my LBS tells me this has been happening a lot. SRAM needs to fix this design flaw.

[sungod]

Same happened to me today too ! I'm pretty careful with handling/installing them as I'd heard they might be a bit delicate. I hadn't realised until now, that there could be an issue with cleaning products though. I have been using a PTFE spray to clean the grime out. From now on I'll remove the batteries before any type of cleaning & see how we go ?

it would be interesting to know how many of the batteries with a broken tab have been exposed to solvents/cleaning agents other than water...

many years ago i recall cleaning a tough plastic part with solvent, nothing to do with bikes

the solvent was a cfc (see, this was waaay back), i think the plastic was abs which is quite tough, a test with a swab showed no hint that the solvent marred the surface, seemed safe so the part got dunked and scrubbed clean, when dry it looked unchanged

after cleaning, the part was refitted but failed immediately, it developed several cracks and fell apart

since that lesson i became wary of letting solvents near any plastic unless it was certain they'd be ok

[CanadianBiker]

I've had the same issue happen to me on one of our rides yesterday and I've just contacted our store and they don't think this falls under the 2 year warranty of the battery. I will try and push when I go to the store today. That said I really hope the new batteries fix this issue as nothing more frustrating when riding then losing access to your gears.

[charlieboy52000]

Has anyone else had an issue with the small nub on the bottom of battery breaking off? It just happened to me for the 2nd time. It results in the annoying result of occasional shifting outages on whichever derailleur you use it on. Without the nub, the metal posts that create the circuit between battery and derailleur can lose contact and result in the aforementioned non-shifting
moments. I'm either really unlucky or its a design flaw. (And yes, I've double checked: all batteries have been fully charged at the time of these occurances). LOVE the system otherwise.

totalbser
2017 Dogma F8 - SRAM Etap Red

Yep 3 batteries down. It only happens on the rear deraileur. I believe the issue is because the contract point of the battery is metal. The rear deraileur it's like this but the front is plastic. I haven't got any batteries fall off the front. It is always the rear. There is definitely a design flaw that needs to be addressed by sram. There are reviews on Amazon on the battery with pictures and the issue.
Here
https://www.amazon.com/SRAM-eTap-Batter ... ap+battery


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[charlieboy52000]

I bought a spare but the lbs warrantied both batteries after i was firm about it. I love system but dang. Today while cleaning the bike i caught the Battery right before the tab broke off completely. I had to crazy glue it. I don't know but i might have to put a piece of shofter material on that crevace where the battery sits to decrease this.

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[TobinHatesYou]

I had this happen once in March 2016, got the battery replaced and decided to never use degreaser around the battery again. I also stopped using the battery as a handle to move the derailleur out of the way when dropping my wheels out. Hasn't happened since.

I agree the battery needs to be beefed up, but I also think a little bit of care goes a long way.

[charlieboy52000]

I had this happen once in March 2016, got the battery replaced and decided to never use degreaser around the battery again. I also stopped using the battery as a handle to move the derailleur out of the way when dropping my wheels out. Hasn't happened since.

I agree the battery needs to be beefed up, but I also think a little bit of care goes a long way.

This last battery lasted less than a month before the tab broke off!!!
I remove the battery before removing the wheel.
I have been applying the lubricant to the derailleur without the battery on. Then I have been cleaning where it sits.
I used to think that what you said might have been a contributing factor. At this point I believe all to be a design flaw.



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[nathanong87]

hasn't happened to me

had a friend who it happened to like 3 times..... but i wasn't sure if MFR defect or user error....