Raced Augusta 70.3 this past weekend and my eTap went completely rogue. At roughly mile 10 it started doing all kinds of strange stuff - dumping the entire cassette with a single blip click, blips on my aero extensions quit completely, shifting the front up/down with a single blip click, shifting the front and multiple gears in back at the same time, sometimes not responding at all for 20-30sec. This all persisted for the remainder of the ride and I spent most of the time in a gear combo I didn’t like just because I was afraid to get permanently stuck in something worse. It definitely made for an inefficient ride and cost me some time. Anyone had something similar happen? Both batteries were fully charged earlier in the week and it all worked fine the day before as well as the first ~10 miles. The only thing that occurred to me after the fact is that I can’t remember when I last changed the battery in the blip box so maybe poor wireless communication? Shitty timing if that’s the case.
I’d speculate it’s the wired portion, e.g. a short or periodic disconnection in the blip wiring. Not wireless.
I don’t know about that. Each of the 4 blips is wired individually and EVERYTHING was working wrong. You don’t even actually need all 4 connected and the rest still function correctly.
I’d speculate it’s the wired portion, e.g. a short or periodic disconnection in the blip wiring. Not wireless.
I don’t know about that. Each of the 4 blips is wired individually and EVERYTHING was working wrong. You don’t even actually need all 4 connected and the rest still function correctly.
I’d speculate it’s the wired portion, e.g. a short or periodic disconnection in the blip wiring. Not wireless.
Yes, but I think one can mess up all the others. E.g. if you have have one that’s sending out random, sporadic “click signals” it can interfere with the other buttons when you use them as intended. Plus you mentioned some don’t work at all, which is another clue.
If the problem is still happening, you could try disconnecting them one-by-one to see if the problem goes away when one of the is disconnected. If the problem is not still happening…then it’d be very hard to debug.
Just a guess. Could be wrong. Another possibility is a bad blip box (some sort of short circuit inside the box confusing the blip signals).
Are you running the 11 speed or 12 speed version? The 11 speed version blip box was renowned to have issues especially when in contact with a little H2O aka Kienle Kona 2018…
Raced Augusta 70.3 this past weekend and my eTap went completely rogue. At roughly mile 10 it started doing all kinds of strange stuff - dumping the entire cassette with a single blip click, blips on my aero extensions quit completely, shifting the front up/down with a single blip click, shifting the front and multiple gears in back at the same time, sometimes not responding at all for 20-30sec. This all persisted for the remainder of the ride and I spent most of the time in a gear combo I didn’t like just because I was afraid to get permanently stuck in something worse. It definitely made for an inefficient ride and cost me some time. Anyone had something similar happen? Both batteries were fully charged earlier in the week and it all worked fine the day before as well as the first ~10 miles. The only thing that occurred to me after the fact is that I can’t remember when I last changed the battery in the blip box so maybe poor wireless communication? Shitty timing if that’s the case.
I’ve had this twice (both during races). Once on 11speed, and once on AXS. On the 11speed I ended up having one blip that failed, but I’m pretty certain that was from me trying to figure out what was going on. What it turns out is it was moisture in the connections at the blip box. Any moisture in there at all will cause this. The dumping of the cassette is the blip box reading that the blip / clic is being held down constantly due to moisture.
So the first time on the 11 speed (during Santa Rosa 70.3 while riding) I systematically removed one wire at a time from the blip box and finally found that one of my clics was causing the issue. What it turned out to be is a wet morning with the bike sitting outside overnight in transition and moisture got into the blipbox. I was missing a few of those little red o-rings on the blips and that was enough to let moisture in and cause the failure. After adding the o-rings, never another problem. Ditto on my new bike. Bike store didn’t make sure the o-rings were in there. I had two blips start acting up. Turns out I was missing all but one of the o-rings. Added them and no issues since.
Really? I used to run my blipbox mounted on the fork cap, exposed to sweat and spills and what not and never an issue…
I am running it inside an aero storage box now though 
11spd from when it first came out - 3-4 years now with no issues to this point. The blip box is tucked inside my Darkspeed top tube bento and definitely wasn’t wet. Although the bike sat outside in transition all night and there was heavy dew in the AM. Still, it was protected inside the bento box.
Happened to me at IMLP in 18. About 75 miles in (and out of the hail and rain) things went crazy. Dropped my chain three times and eventually realized that when I shifted from the aero bars, it would drop into my small ring. If I shifted up on the horns, all went fine.
Took it to the bike shop after my race and they couldn’t figure it out either. They ended up getting sram to replace it for me. Never had that issue again.
I had same issue. Turned out to be one of the bar end buttons (clicks) was making contact with out pressing the button. So the result is what you explained - shifting front derailleur as it is like pressing both buttons even though you were trying to shift the non frozen button.
The button can still be pressed but the electronically connection doesn’t open when the putting returns to unpressed position.
Try to unplug one button wire at a time from the blip box and test the other 3 for proper operation. This will allow you to identify which button is stuck in the closed position.
Don’t discount where dew forms and what it can do. I had damaged the integrity of my DI2 EW67 junction controller and due to how hard it was at the time to change out with cabled through the bars, I was international in Europe and it not faulting for a month storing the bike inside I went to the World 70.3 titles 2015 at home in Australia. There was a layer of dew on everything in the transition in the morning and my gears weren’t working. My junction is was inside my stem and everything was fine after replacing it having to do the race in one gear…
I had similar problems this summer after one of my blips went bad on a ride where I got stuck in the rain. I replaced the bad blip and still had trouble with random shifting and dumping either all the way up or down the cassette. Out of ideas and with nothing to lose I changed the battery I the blip box and never had another problem. It’s worth a try.
Shimano Di2. Done.
Shimano Di2. Done.
You might be right. I am thinking of going 12 speed electronic 1x from mechanical 1x and now am thinking about shimano or staying with what I have.