I used to have that problem quite a lot. I resigned myself to buying a load of CR2032's off amazon and i'd burn through them every few days. Or i'd remove the battery after every ride.

I sort of worked it out as dampness being the cause of the problem. The mix of either garage trainer sweat-a-thons or UK outside riding in the rain was not good, so on occasion i'd leave the bike outside in the sun after a ride, with the battery removed and the compartment facing upwards to dry out and that seemed to work....

I've not used it for a while now as it's been winter, but i'll put it back on the bike and have a go with the new firmware.

I also removed the battery after every ride. after the firmware upgrade I let it sit in there and next day was still good where normally it would be empty.
now need to find solution for a head unit that can sit on the BTA bottle without drops in connection

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http://www.tri-to-improve.com

Didn't even know this was an issue...


I've had a stages for years (5?) and replace the battery once every 4-5 months. I actually cant remember, that is how infrequent, ballparking at that frequency. That said, I always keep my firmware up to date and ride exclusively indoors so maybe that helps? However, I do ride 3x a week (or so) to the tune of 3200-3400 miles/year) so the unit gets a fair amount of use.... replacing every couple of rides would be insanity.

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Taylor Rogers

2024: IM Hamburg

Stages fail again.

I put my Stages back on my bike with a fresh battery. I enjoyed an outdoor ride in the dry and then left the bike in the garage for a few days before traveling away with it. I get to the destination and find that my battery is dead again.

Cue lots of swearing and disappointment at being let down again. Shame as it's a good PM when it works, but i've lost count of the number of battery related problems i've had with this thing, i've even RMA'd it twice so this is unit #2. same problems.

So i've given up with it and just bought some Vector 3 pedals instead.

+1 here.

I have had the same experience with my Stages PM. Only having to replace twice a year max after 3+ years of use.

Had a similar problem almost 3 years ago. Stages replaced under warranty. But, it was the 3rd different warranty replacement. They always stood by their product, but I sold it and moved on.

Wasn't there a problem with people travelling in a car with their bike on the rear rack? I seem to recall that the vibrations from the road caused the unit to constantly wake itself up and drain the battery.

I've never had the problem myself: I change the battery maybe 3 or 4 times a year, often just as a precaution before a race, riding 4 or 5 time a week on average.

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http://www.howesgreg.com

reviving this thread as I've run into this issue on a refurb stages pm. I have just contacted them. But I've changed the battery 3 times in the past few days. Yesterday I changed it, didn't even go for a ride, and today the battery is dead again. My other stages pm I've never had a problem with it. so it doesn't seem they've actually fully addressed the issue.

it's back with mine to :-(

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http://www.tri-to-improve.com

it's odd that it would drain overnight as stages their estimated battery life is 200 hours. So I wonder what is causing it to drain so quickly as, in theory, I could ride for 24 hours straight and should have plenty of battery life left. But it my case it sat unused for less than 24 hours.

yep same here

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http://www.tri-to-improve.com

I had the same experience. In 2 1/2 years my Stages hardly ever worked properly. My LBS kept telling me it was the battery in need of replacing but then the new battery would only last one ride and then the unit would stop working again. My LBS finally agreed to swap it out with a Pioneer, at no cost to me due to the fact that the Stages never worked properly. I've had the Pioneer for almost a year and it's worked flawlessly and hasn't yet needed a new battery.

I have another bike with a stages pm and that works fine. then another bike with a 4iii pm which works fine as well. this one just seems to be a dud.

[I have another bike with a stages pm and that works fine. then another bike with a 4iii pm which works fine as well. this one just seems to be a dud.[/quote]
If that's the case, then I had the unfortunate luck of getting three duds, as Stages replaced the unit twice and I had the same horrible problems with all three. It was so bad that 2 1/2 years after the initial purchase of the Stages my LBS gave me a brand-new Pioneer at no charge to me. The Pioneer works great and so does my Quarq and the 6 powertap units I've had over the years. None of the 3 Stages units I had ever worked properly for more then a few weeks at a time.

Stages support had me go through a few tests and send some pics to make sure no damage to battery compartment. Now they’re having me send it in to rebuild to gen 3 specs.

I bought mine 2nd hand. not sure if they would give me the same service

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http://www.tri-to-improve.com

It’s worth a try. I know CycleOps doesn’t usually care where you buy their products. Maybe stages will do the same.

Same deal here-new a month ago, 1st battery lasted 2 weeks, 2nd a week, 3rd overnight...not pleased, have a race in a month...I assume they will replace it and I will keep my fingers crossed...have one on my road bike with no issues for about a year, and had one on my old Tri bike that had no issues for 3 years...so I guess I am batting .667

Potter

Curious to hear if the upgrade to Gen 3 specs solved the issue. Battery drain is an issue for me after ~1.5 years of no issues. Its out of warranty so they are charging $200 and I'm a bit leery only a 90 day warranty. Did it solve the issue for you?

It did for me. I have two stages pm's, one on mtb one on road. The mtb has been replaced twice by stages since 2013, and the road refurbished this spring (purchased Feb '14). The first three ate batteries. Like 20 hours was more likely than 200, and I doubt I ever hit 50. Stages of course has always claimed this was not the norm and a very unique occurance. The road one they refurbed up to G3 this spring, and I talked them down to $100 instead of the $200 they originally wanted. While that one has been reliable since the refurb, overall they were selling beta products for a long time IMO. They've been the single least reliable cycling product I've ever owned.

Yep. It fixed it for me fortunately