eTap 11 speed also for me: forced to do Eagleman 70.3 a few weeks ago without shifting at all! I left T2 with an easy gear and up to mile 16 (first aid station) I was forced to go slow - no PR possible, pity, next year. At the aid station I dismounted (first time after 9 full distance and at least 12 70.3), I manually operated the rear derailleur with some effort, because the button had normal mold from the road and completed with a difficult gear: no rest for 40+ miles possible! One should dismount on the side of the road to shift!
The 2 derailleur batteries are good, the blipbox has mysterious damage: no scratch, no hit, no humidity/rust sign from sweat; always kept in perfect conditions, changed CR2032 battery, the 4 jacks-in (ports) are in perfect conditions, just it doesn't work. Can it be changed under warranty? Boh, the bike tech is not responsive/4th July/backup, boh. The last IM before Covid, 2 blips didn't work (both on the left = easier gear) didn't work from mile 10 to end. By chance? Unclear also in that case. Bike tech expense for labor and added material: hundreds, hundreds, possibly more than 1k by now. Obviously this must have an end. With some effort bike techs at race location and at home town confess that eTap is giving a lot of dissatisfaction; very easily, no PR possible because it does not work on race day and nobody knows how to repair.
Thus, please let's have a clear mind on PR-compatible or PR-leading switcher systems, without changing derailleurs on the 11-rear, 2-front system, also manually operated on aerobars only. The system must be known by real successful triathletes with race experience on it, i.e. no risk when shifting at 20-25mph in aero position, no nightmare early in the morning before race start, etc. Only actual satisfaction:
- Sram SL-500 ? 11x2-Compatible/No risk/Fast ?
- There was return-to-center R2C, is it still on commerce? 11x2-Compatible/No risk/Fast ?
- Full Speed Ahead/Vision TriMax ? 11x2-Compatible/No risk/Fast ?
- ...

.
If you’re running electronics on your bike with ports/connectors/batteries and such, you got to be real concerned about protecting all those things from the elements and wear.
By design (small and lightweight) and usual placement in the sweat or weather exposed front of your bike, with cables running unsupported from bending and kinking at the connectors, this setup
just asks for problems.

More recently with stem/frame integration and such, the systems have gotten better protection, but some mechanical problems (dimensions and robustness of connectors) still remain unsolved, IMO.
Mechanical shifting may deteriorate with mis/abuse, but will always give you options to at least select a couple gears to get you home.

Thank you for your reply, nevertoolate.
I've a top carbon frame, multiple time World Champion winner by professional triathletes, top wheels and gear and... I could not shift if not dismounting during the most recent 70.3 and I was left with half-service during the most recent full distance! I spent way more than 15k on my bike overall, keeping clean and functional on my side and I never skipped the official bike tech check or race tune-up the days before each race, because any shipment may damage unexpectedly essential components and it is strongly suggested to have the bike checked. I don't accept any blame for saving, lack of care, etc.
It is unthinkable that shifting remains a big uncertainty. Triathlon organization requires continuous refresh from new entries, who cannot find these nightmares. When planning which fitness activity to commit to during the year, shifting bike gear during the event cannot be uncertain in any way. This must have an end. When trying to activate/manipulate/repair the blipbox during the race, one can become very dangerous for the others and himself/herself. Clear, safe and fast alternatives must be provided at bike stores. "The blipbox doesn't work - nobody knows why" is not acceptable. As far as I remember, the frame seller wanted me to have eTap, otherwise he wouldn't have sold the top frame at all! Please mind training and racing effort first and then sell expensive components only if reliable. I am a true age grouper, meaning that I have a true job during the week, sometimes weekends, usually 50+ hours a week, otherwise I wouldn't have the money to buy top bikes, registering for events, traveling, paying gym and training fees, etc. Why should there be a random draw among bikers? Some can shift gear, the others cannot. It is the same of being hit on the head during swim, sometimes at first buoyant, by another racer completely freaking out. Some percentage is hit and must immediately reduce race effort for safety, while strong improvement can be organized.
Please share the link to other forums addressing shifter systems or share some alternative to eTap. Thank you!

Just completed repair of my now "spare" blip-box. Fortunately my LBS had a new one on the shelf, so I picked that up repairing my original for a back-up.
The printed circuit board is challenging to work with. I have a buddy who was an electronics tech and we tackled it together since he had all the stuff and the experience. We went with the pointy tipped soldering iron and dropped a bit of solder on the back of the circuit board for heat-transfer to remove the old prongs of the failed port. Cleaning the holes in the circuit with solder board "wick" made the installation of the new port simple.
After reassembly the old blip-box paired and worked properly. This is not a task for the uninitiated. Thankfully I had a valuable resource to do most of this for me.

Hi, this came to me from a email from Wattshop Uk with there aero bars. I was asking can they make a compartment to hid the blipbox. read below you can take apart road levers and ditch the blipbox?

There are ways around the issue albeit it means making a few modifications yourself to the shifting system.
1) You can use a set of SRAM road shifters and take them apart to leave the battery housing and transmitter. With a little filing of the transmitter you can get both to fit inside the extension body. This means you no longer need to use the Blipbox as you'll have a LH shifter in your left extension and a RH shifter in your right extension.


Cheers

Chuck

Chuck- Can you see if you can get any pictures of their setup?

I had my 11 speed blip box go haywire at mile 50 on the way to Hawii, at 2019 Kona...a bit frustrating. It was mounted underneath my armrest. It got wet, with all the water being dumped on my head due to heat. It shifted to the 11, and stayed there. I rode for a few miles in my small chainring and 11, nothing worked, I was trying to trouble shoot it as I rode. I knew it had to be the blip box. eventually it started working, but one of the blips never worked, so I just made due and kept it from getting wet. After the race, I spoke with my local expert, and he said this was a known fault with the 11 speed blip box. sram warrantied it for me. and I sold the bike. not worth it to have it go wrong again during a race. get a warranty, and get it out of the way, where water can infiltrate it.

Haven’t seen it elsewhere on ST and there are a few applicable threads, but I’ll go with this one. SRAM released a firmware upgrade for AXS Red and Force shifters and the AXS Blipbox that make them, compatible with eTap 11 speed derailleurs! https://support.sram.com/...nd-rear-derailleurs-[/url]

This should provide support for all those with eTap TT installs and bad blipboxes. This assumes your derailleurs are working though i believe there is an 11s A2 model RD offered when available. 11s FD appears to be the only weak link.

More info on compatibility here: https://support.sram.com/...-speed-with-eTap-AXS[/url]

Might be worth a follow up with SRAM from Slowman.

eta:typo fix

This is awesome news...thanks for posting.

Finally!!! I wonder if you can use an AXS front derailleur and an 11 speed rear...

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Strava

Thanks for posting. Now I don't have to try and repair my busted blip box & risk making things worse. Just get the new version

I'm in the same confusion, having said that I've read somewhere that the force axs FD works with 50 teeths max chainring. Embarrassing for our TTs setup

If anyone tries this in the near future, please post here to let us know how you got on with it.

As I found out that this is a common issue I found myself protecting the blip box with an old MTB innertube. I've mounted the blip box on top of my bottom bracket after making the shift cables longer to get it there. After my first blip box also had two ports go bad while cleaning my bike with a water hose I decided to protect it. Cut up an inner tube so it's longer on the rear an therefore covers the ports to protect it from water splashing in. When cleaning my bike I use a simple plastic bag to put it in and close it with tape. For now it's worked fine.
Happy to see Sram updating compatibility throughout different groups now.

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Jacob

- Owner of Vélofysics; helping athletes beat their version of yesterday -

Irony! Just when I finally found a working 11 speed blipbox after searching for one for close to a year.

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Next races on the schedule: none at the moment

Hi, totally new here but joined just to give an update on this..

Stumbled across this thread months ago, as I too am the not so happy owner of Sram Red eTap 11spd with a failing blipbox.

At first it dropped a port - a nuisance but I could live without the base bar blip on one side.

Then it started shorting out and randomly shifting to the highest gear, on inspection it appears one of the pads was loose on the PCB and moving about just enough to short out ocassionally.

Sob story aside - I bought an AXS D1 blipbox online yesterday for £325 - it arrived this morning. I downloaded the Sram AXS app, connected to the box via bluetooth and downloaded the latest firmware, very easy took no more than 5 minutes. I then followed the normal pairing process - press and hold button on rear mech, then front mech, then blipbox and hey presto - it works!!!

I'm glad to be up and running again but not too happy about the cost - not much I can do about that.

Just wanted to confirm to everyone that you can now definitely use a Sram AXS Blipbox with the old Red eTap groupset - I hope this puts an end to people price gouging second hand units on fleabay which are just as likely to fail eventually. £325 is a lot of money but at least it is warrantied and of a far superior design to the original blipbox!

Great follow up info! Thanks,

I belong to a Tacx trainer group on FB and there is an electronics repair specialist on there that has Neo repairs dialed. He recently has started repairing SRAM eTap Blipboxes. I have to guess the cost must be well below the 325 you had to pay for the new AXS version. The specialist setup a page as The Turbo Trainer Doctor. I think I saw he’s UK-based, but I may be confusing him with someone else in the group.

Awesome update! I had a failing port on my 11spd BlipBox a few months back and ended up pulling it apart and resoldering all of the pins. An AXS box would be a much better option, especially since my bike (Shiv TT disc) was designed around it, and the 11spd box doesn't quite fit. I ended up bodging together a solution to mount it, and while it looks clean, it isn't super solid. Now the challenge is trying to find an AXS box in stock.

I have looked everywhere and I can't find a blip box in stock. June is what my store is telling me.

My Sram red blipbox went out on me. Water got in two of the ports and was dead. The LBS installed an AXS blipbox and haven't had a problem with the older 11 speed f/r derailleur.