In your position, I would take the box apart and install new connectors or hardwire the blips directly to the contacts... but I used to repair stuff like this for a living.

Which is probably the answer; don't talk to bike industry people, go find a local electronics repair place and see what they can do for you.

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Tech writer/support on this here site. FIST school instructor and certified bike fitter. Formerly at Diamondback Bikes, LeMond Fitness, FSA, TiCycles, etc.
Coaching and bike fit - http://source-e.net/ Cyclocross blog - https://crosssports.net/ BJJ instruction - https://ballardbjj.com/

i don’t have any advice to offer but if you are able to fix, let us know! i have a similar problem - but only 1 port is dead. i’ve just decided to continue using the two blips on the extensions and one on left brake.

Thanks for the input @fredly. I'll probably take that path and hope for the best.

@lhmd21 - Mine started as only 1 port going out intermittently. I made the mistake of continuing to ride without investigating the source of the problem as I naively thought it was just a low battery issue. The second port started going bad before I removed the blips to investigate but at that point it was too late and the second port went out after a month or so. My recommendation would be to try and identify the source of your issue before it gets worse and see if you can do anything to prevent degradation (in my case, it would have probably been as simple as replacing an o-ring if I had identified the problem immediately).

 

I "think" this is the part for the port

https://www.digikey.ca/...lL24U32m10dgh-MkUm_0

So I was in this exact scenario about 2 years ago. My ports were slowing going on me. Initially I had one left and 1 right working, so I was able to splice my blip wires to keep from having to use the blip box to shift, but ultimately the "-" side completely went. I spent the better part of a season with the blip box mounted to the end of my extensions (where my blips used to be), and did a majority of my shifting in aero. If I needed to down shift for a hill or turn, I would do that before going down to the base bar. I still had a "+" blip on the base bar for accelerating out of turns and over the top of hills. The races I do are pretty flat, so this wasn't a problem for me.

I did attempt repairing the broken ports by opening the box. It didn't go well. I'm not bad at soldering (I make my own blips, extend Di2 wires when needed, etc.), but the repair was above my skill level. So YMMV depending on skill level.

In the end I was luckyy enough to find a good deal on a used blip box pre COVID.

FWIW, there is an 11 speed blip box on eBay right now for $525. It's expensive, but it's available. You can also try the Facebook Triathlon and Cycling Online Swap Meet group.

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Strava

Hmm...

I've got an old blip with a bad port just sitting in a drawer. It only ships to Canada - if you find a US source, I'd spend $10-$15 for a couple ports and shipping to give it whirl.

https://www.digikey.com/...BQMoCyAKhawEogC6AvkA

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Strava

Perfect. Ordered 4. I’ll report back first if they fit and second if it works.

Sorry about giving you the Canadian site. I thought a) everyone know digikey and b) most here are from Canada :-)


How good are you at soldering ? It's not hard at all but if you're not used to desoldering, especially, maybe give it to a local electronics repair guy. It should take him 15minutes.

Confident enough soldering and desodering

I have repaired several of these.
They usually crack the solder around the socket mounting.
It can be very difficult to see the cracks.
Re-solder all the sockets. Job done.

My first thought too - just look for cracks.

Just to report to anyone who needs to know - the link provided is the correct replacement piece.

You need a very fine solder tip. I thought I had a small tip but needed smaller.

Looking at it, the bad port definitely looks cracked as noted in this thread. I’m awaiting a smaller tipped gun but fully expect it to fix the bad port without the need to use one of the replacement ports I purchased.

No you don't.
A smaller tip will transfer heat much slower and loses temperature easier making soldering the joint slower and making it more likely to melt things that shouldn't melt and get a dry joint from not enough heat.
Any reasonable sized tip will do.
Chisel tips are always better, round ones are useless for heat transfer.
My do all tip is 3.2mm chisel and does this job easy.
A deft hand and confidence is all you need.....and maybe ten years of solder repair every day....
If you are not a experienced solderererer, don't get lead free solder, get the good old fashion tin and lead, much easier to use.

The tip I had was spanning multiple “things” in there. I don’t have as much experience as you but the “typical” tip for the soldering guns I have were too large. The chisel is one that comes on the one i ordered so that should work well.

I understand what you’re saying and I’ve been soldering things for more than half my life (but not frequently) just noting the “typical” tip is too large. I had two different guns and both tips weren’t able to get into the area without spanning to other things in there.

Did you decide what to do or find a solution for your issue?

I thought I had an issue today with my blipbox A1. But in my case it turned out that all my batteries died including the spare. Makes me nervous now that SRAM is no longer making the blipbox.

Does the AXS blipbox not work? On the SRAM page it looks like it is compatible.

AFAIK, AXS isn't cross compatible with eTap Red.

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Strava

We are at the peak of ‘obsolescence of previous generation technology’, unless you’re a programmer or electronics expert.
For those who aren’t, it’s either pay up or back to mechanical Stone Age.

Interesting that nobody complains about their ‘freedom’ being taken away.

.

Thanks for clarification.

I just hope mine holds on longer and if it does hopefully I can have an electronics guru fix it. I really do not want to upgrade my drivetrain. Although I've had it since 2018 it still seems like I just got it recently.

So, did your electronics technician "fix" remedy your issue? I believe I have isolated one port being "non-responsive" and am headed down the same "fix" road you were on. Other than the soldering tip size, any other issues?

No. That’s it. Also did buy some of the ports themselves linked above and can confirm they are the correct size (didn’t use them tho)

I have the same problem . Every website that had an older blipbox for sale - when called - ZERO of them had one in stock, so I have no way to get one either.

Yep. I ended up buying a whole bike that was up on the local CL for cheap, stripping the eTap gruppo and replacing it with an assortment of mech parts I had sitting around. Then I resold the bike - and I ended up paying about $300 out of pocket, plus the cost of random RD/FDs/Shifters which was a sunk cost anyways.

It is that crazy!

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Next races on the schedule: none at the moment

I'll probably just cope with 3 blips instead of 4. SUper sucks that you end up throwing the entire thing out. It would make me switch electronic shifting in the future.