I just got etap and believe I'm having the same issues.

Didn't really measure, but felt like I only got 10-15 shorter rides before the rear went dead.

Turned on the battery indicator on my 520, and after less than a half dozen rides I'm at 66%.

I have had mine about 6 months, charge batteries the first day of each month, usually ~40-50 hours and never a problem?

are you guys sure its the charging - when my battery died - it turned out it was because the little tab (the one that holds the battery) on the back broke off and thus battery was losing contact with the derailleur

I do believe it is making contact - otherwise wouldn't it not work at all?

I wonder why SRAM didn't just use wheel rotation to wake up the system.

well in my case: the locking mechanism on the top version of the battery provided contact - actually enough of contact that i did not have any problems on the trainer; however once i hit the rough road thats when the contact got lost

Which bits need to wake up? At the minimum both derailleurs (assuming the blip box wakes up on button press). I'm not sure how the front derailleur would sense the wheel moving. They probably want a common, easy to engineer, way to wake both derailleurs.

 
After one year of Etap, I've had 4 battery tab failures and have heard of at least 5 others. The system works fine when it's in one piece and seems to hold a charge as advertised. Now that the novelty's worn off, it's time for me to go back to a DS cable system though.

Really? I've had mine for about a year and I haven't experienced any tab failures. Which part is failing - that little lip at the bottom of the battery? I didn't know this was an issue. Taking the battery in and out doesn't seem to put any stress on the battery that I can see - don't you just place the tab in the slot and then pull the retaining clip over the battery?

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Concerning waking up the system, the first thing I do when I get the bike off the rack is shift rings and a cassette or two. Mainly do this to sync with the Garmin Edge 820 and with WKO electronic shifting chart later because it doesn't recognize the gearing until the first shift has been recorded. (not that any of that is crucial).

No problems other than user error for not charging soon enough. No problems so far with my user error since it is so easy to swap the weak batteries around and continue the ride.
Love etap so far and plan on upgrading the new tri bike later with it. I was kind of hoping that SRAM would come out with aero shifters that do not need a blip box.

Are you getting lube or degreaser on your batteries? Plastic under stress plus certain chemicals can lead to a brittle failure.

 
No lube, degreaser, or any other products on the battery tabs. I always remove and reinstall them very carefully while maintaining the bike to a very high standard.

As stated above, now that the novelty of e-shifting has worn off and I've realized that it doesn't make me faster, returning to a full mechanical Dura Ace system is in the future for me. If you want the latest tech and keep spare batteries around, the Etap is rather nifty and elegant. It's hard to beat the material quality, and simple functionality of DA or Campy cables though.

I have had two battery tab failures which were promptly replaced by SRAM. I ride on some bumpy tarmac. I tend to put a piece of electrical tape around the battery to secure it. I think that SRAM should use a better material or have some additional retention system. Due to this, I won’t consider etap for gravel/off-road use.

~3000 miles on my etap build and I could probably count how many battery charges I've done on my fingers. I'm continually impressed by the battery life and see no reason to ever return to mechanical.

Hi guys,

Also got a problem with my Etap system.. My front derailleur will drain the live out of the battery within 2 days of standing still. It's standing somewhere, where there is no movement possible so the system should be asleep.. Back derailleur is fine. Tried shifting the battery's (front to back) because I thought that it's the battery's fault, but it's not..

Any ideas or similarities?

Sometimes electronic systems can get in an unusual state, requiring a "hard reset". Just removing the battery is not enough, as there can be capacitance on the PCBA that keeps enough voltage to problematic parts that they do not fully reset.

So try removing the battery, and using a pair of tweezers to short the FD battery terminals together. You just need to do this momentarily. Also, be careful to apply as little pressure to the terminals as possible; they are fragile on eTap.

Just to be clear, you are shorting the terminals on the FD, with the battery removed. (Don't short the battery itself.)

But, I'll guess you've got a bad FD and need to get a replacement.

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2015 USAT Long Course National Champion (M50-54)