Stages Power Meter - battery draining?

des49

I would like to share my experiences with everyone too.

Ultegra unit purchased Sept 2014. All went extremely well for the first few months.

Then changed the battery and since then the battery goes flat within a couple of days. No sign of water getting in, battery door was a pig to open and one tab did break off in the process.

Can install a new battery, check voltage across terminals and 3.28V, 24 hrs later battery voltage down to 2.2V.

About to send crank back, but in light of similar reported experiences by others I have little confidence that a replacement will behave any differently once the first battery is replaced.

Has anyone been using Stages for a longer term and replaced batteries with no problems? Not sure whether to ask for money back or try another Stages. Such a shame as they really are neat units that do everythign I need.

Brynd

105 unit. Currently on third battery which has been in for a month and is still showing full charge. First battery lasted four months. Second one only two months but it was an old battery to begin with. It regularly gets wet and average 70 miles a week. I use Duracell batteries.

des49

Thanks, your experience gives me some confidence to carry on with Stages.

dcamnc

I have a one month old 105 meter. After about two weeks, it would drop power and regain it constantly. Changed battery and worked fine. I had to work long hours all this week, so the bike sat 6 days unused with the new battery in it. As I attempted to ride today, the unit would not pair. Had a spare battery in my flat kit, and replaced it; works fine for now. Stages def has a problem. I will say that they are prompt with the service ticket response, which is good. I hope they get things straight!

meanredspider

Is there any theme to the batteries being used? I'm not saying that this is the cause to all of these but I used to work for a medical device company with 10 million customers and over 4 billion tests being carried out each year. These devices used the 2032 cells. We'd send out free replacement batteries to customers to avoid all of the problems related to cheap nasty coin cells that there are out there. More often than not, a problem with the device was traced back to a bad battery.

des49

My replacement crank is here, just need to get around to install it and test. Then wait and see how long it lasts before problems appear.

Came across another local cyclist recently, his crank of a few months old goes through a battery every few days. Can't believe he has tolerated this and I strongly recommended he get this dealt with asap.

meanredspider - interesting point about the batteries. Initially I was using Panasonic, then quickly got a batch of cheap no name cells purely to save costs as I was going through so many. No difference except that the first battery (a Panasonic) lasted 5 months, then the next Panasonic was dead in days as have all subsequent batteries.

I clearly believe Stages have a huge problem, I would love to know how many happy people there are against the ones with bad units. How long before this affects their company financially in a big way? All this negative experience has got to be losing many potential sales, I know plenty who were tempted but are either holding off or buying something else, like Garmin Vector.

nigeldoyle

I clearly believe Stages have a huge problem, I would love to know how many happy people there are against the ones with bad units. How long before this affects their company financially in a big way? All this negative experience has got to be losing many potential sales, I know plenty who were tempted but are either holding off or buying something else, like Garmin Vector.

Yup, that's me. I'm in the market for a power meter but holding off buying Stages until I start seeing more satisfied customers.

jgsi

nigeldoyle wrote:

I clearly believe Stages have a huge problem, I would love to know how many happy people there are against the ones with bad units. How long before this affects their company financially in a big way? All this negative experience has got to be losing many potential sales, I know plenty who were tempted but are either holding off or buying something else, like Garmin Vector.

Yup, that's me. I'm in the market for a power meter but holding buying Stages until I start seeing more satisfied customers.

Well, I waited.. no more.
Didnt want to be tied into a crank system at the cost of xxx, so went Vector instead.
No battery issue... just a fair few quid extra on a torque wrench that has a certificate of accuracy :-(
It has taken a fair few weeks of bedding in and getting used to its angle setting and calibration etc etc but it has been delivering consistent data of late.

Sussed out

I thought I would post my very positive experience with stages. I have an ultegra model, bought in May 2015, first battery lasted well in all weathers, and a period racing in Belgium, until Mid August, second battery lasted until November, I then tried to replace the battery with the crank arm still on the bike.

This resulted in me breaking off one of the small tabs on the battery door, I rang Stages in Colorado and they arranged for 3 new battery doors and a new seal to be sent out to me. I got these from Saddleback within a week.

All through winter, averaging 320 miles/16hrs a week in ALL weathers, it hasn't missed a beat. I've wrapped electrical tape around the unit to stop the worst of the water getting on it.

So in all, with around 10,000miles on it so far, 4 new batteries and one new battery door, no issues. I've been worried that the batteries would start to go but touch wood they are still fine.

meanredspider

I'd certainly be interested to know what percentage of Stages meters have an issue. From what I can gather, Stages have outsold everybody by a country mile so you can expect there to be far more reports of issues for the same %age of failures as other meters. Trouble is, on forums like this, you only see the headline reports which are, frankly, meaningless (I'm Head of Quality for a major consumer electronics business). For me, the important thing is that Stages respond to complaints in a fast and effective way. Like others, I had an issue with a tab breaking off the door. They sent me two improved doors by post that I had in a couple of days. That gave me a lot of confidence.

StillGoing

meanredspider wrote:

I'd certainly be interested to know what percentage of Stages meters have an issue. From what I can gather, Stages have outsold everybody by a country mile so you can expect there to be far more reports of issues for the same %age of failures as other meters. Trouble is, on forums like this, you only see the headline reports which are, frankly, meaningless (I'm Head of Quality for a major consumer electronics business). For me, the important thing is that Stages respond to complaints in a fast and effective way. Like others, I had an issue with a tab breaking off the door. They sent me two improved doors by post that I had in a couple of days. That gave me a lot of confidence.

Spooky how you change you're attitude to issues like this with Stages yet Garmin are a bunch of ***** for not having things sorted before putting their goods out there to the end user.

Mr Salubrious

I've purchased 2 Stages PMs, for my road bike (Ultegra) and MTB (XT).

Both have had door, lug and o-ring issues and both have been replaced. The road bike now seems ok.

The MTB is still having battery life issues, a battery lasting one ride. Strangely my Cyclo505 could connect with the new PM but the Stages app. on my iPhone couldn't. This occured the day after my phone connected with the PM.

So I'm using one more battery to ensure firmware is up to date - if i can connect to the PM that is. I'll then see if the thing lasts at all. If not it goes back, again.

I'm in Australia btw, the dodgy batch is spread far and wide it seems. I'll let you know what happens.

moscowflyer

My Ultegra crank purchased in May last year was flawless up until the door came off but took a bit of the actual housing unit with it meaning even a new door couldn't be fitted so had to be wrapped with tape. Then in November I'd have to change the battery every few days, even if I hadn't even ridden in that time.

Merlin replaced without any issues whatsoever and the replacement has been fine since.

Mr Salubrious

Righto:
New battery - check.
Updated firmware - check.
Battery ok for the first ride - check.
Battery flat the next day - CHECK.

It's going back I'll let you know what happens.

xslbmlqo

For those that have had a replacement, how long does it take and what is the process? I'm in the UK.

supermurph09

xslbmlqo wrote:

For those that have had a replacement, how long does it take and what is the process? I'm in the UK.

Returned to LBS that I purchased it from, 16 days later it arrived back. Now works perfectly (last 6 weeks anyway!).

kayakerchris

I have the ultegra version. Ran fine for a year, then I left it over the winter and battery was flat. Changed battery and damaged the door. new door and O-ring in the post within 36 hours of contacting Stages.

Absolutely superb service

rickwiggans

Probably my last post about this. No final solution forthcoming from Stages, although they seem to be trying, but failing. My second failed unit has now gone back for refund. No quibble from Leisure Lakes, my retailer.

FransJacques

I got one a 9000 model in May 2014 (no idea which firmware, not the latest) and the first battery was good for >40 hours of riding until August. Then I had 3-4 batteries burn out fast on me. One impacted a major grand fondo in Switzerland which was a drag, b/c I wanted to see what I could do on a 1.5 hr climb.

I had open the battery compartment so often the 3 tabs broke off 1 by 1. I circumvented Saddleback (typical indifferent British service) and went straight to the Coloradans who promptly mailed me 3x doors and 2x orange O rings.

Then I got some cheap-a$$ batteries from Lidl, the first of which has been in since November without issue. And that's with 2 cross races plus power washing. So for me it's all fixed and working and I'm leery about messing with a firm ware upgrade and introducing any regression into the system.

BTW, for interest sake, I always get Calibrations readings of 872 when outdoors. It seems to be my units fave number. Is anyone else's vastly off this?

andy777

I think the problems (outside of a faulty unit from the off) are from water /moisture entering the case.

My unit was fine until I replaced a battery, and I didn't realise that a tab had come off the door.

It then started calibrating with odd numbers, as low as 842 then started creeping up eventually to 925.

when It first calibrated low I checked the unit and found a tiny drop of moisture on the battery. I left the unit in the airing cupboard for a week to "dry out" even though there was no evidence of any water damage/corrosion. It was never right again. Incidentally it took ages to calibrate.

I got a replacement from Evans and its been fine so far. I've been very careful with it during washing etc.

So I think, get some spare doors and be very careful when changing the battery and protect it while washing your bike.

Andy

rickwiggans

It isn't always water. I've had two faulty units, neither of which had ever been outside. Neither had ever been wet.

andy777

As my first line

DIY_geoff

I have owned a Stages Power Meter for about 7 months and had batteries last from 1min to 3 months. It turned out there was nothing wrong with the batteries and I did not ride in the rain so no water inside the unit. Eventually I solved the problem.
It turned out that my problem was the battery was losing contact with the centre terminal inside the battery housing. The battery housing of my unit is sufficiently deep that the battery can move inside the housing and lose contact with the centre terminal! This is a somewhat random event that depends on how I positioned the battery at installation and how the bike gets bumped/vibrated during riding. If you have the same problem you should have these symptoms..
1. Battery seems to suddenly go flat after a very short period of time.
2. No low battery warning.
3. Reinserting the SAME battery makes it work again.
My best fix to the problem is to make a small leaf spring attached to the inside of the battery cover using a thin strip of Aluminium from a soft drink can, held in place on the cover with a piece of electrical tape. You could also glue it to the battery cover. This spring makes sure that battery is always pushed against the centre terminal. If implementing this fix be careful that your housing has sufficient space for the spring/tape. You should still be able to easily close the battery cover with the spring tape in place. If you need to apply any extra force to close the cover you may break the retaining tabs on the cover. Also note that Stages have improved the cover strength with the latest ones made in 2015 (see date stamp on inside of cover).

charlie_potatoes

One of my power meters has this issue but I have just been squeezing the door with my fingers when, on the odd occasion, I get a power drop out. That fix looks worth a try though Geoff

eddiefiola

eddiefiola wrote:

eddiefiola wrote:

Havent read the whole thread but what phones are you using, could it be related to the phone always pinging the power meter and keeping it running permanently? or something else connecting to the PMs bluetooth?

I have a Stages PM and so far touch wood no issues, I broke the battery door when replacing the 1st battery (lasted about 7K kms or so, they sent me two spare battery doors FoC, 2nd battery is going fine.)

Using an iPhone 4s.

Yeah so I kinda put a curse on myself with that update.

2nd Battery went dead one day so changed it (1st lasted 5 months no issues) , 24 hours later 3rd battery dead, this is using a new oring and battery door that theyd sent me as I broke the 1st. New battery is in and will see tomorrow if its still alive.

Stages asked me to check PM Firmware and Garmin software were upto date but was all on the latest versions already.

Never came back to update but I changed the battery and put some electrical tape around it as I figured its the door that doesn't connect properly (as does a previous poster), worked fine after that and I've even changed the battery once since, retaped and still good.

andy_from_embsay

New firmware this week is supposed to fix the issue that hardly any people were getting, and of course it was entirely down to water ingress, even when the crank had never been outdoors:

“While we cannot personally verify the quality of a rider installed replacement battery, this latest firmware revision directly addresses the issue of random premature battery failure or draining that a small percentage of our customers have experienced and are vocal about,” said Pat Warner, Stages Cycling’s senior vice president.

Going to give my Ultegra one a last go - the Dura Ace has already gone back.

jimwalsh

just as a counterpoint. mine has been fine. 8 months of use powerwashes etc etc.

redvision

andy_from_embsay wrote:

New firmware this week is supposed to fix the issue that hardly any people were getting, and of course it was entirely down to water ingress, even when the crank had never been outdoors:

“While we cannot personally verify the quality of a rider installed replacement battery, this latest firmware revision directly addresses the issue of random premature battery failure or draining that a small percentage of our customers have experienced and are vocal about,” said Pat Warner, Stages Cycling’s senior vice president.

Going to give my Ultegra one a last go - the Dura Ace has already gone back.

So has the new firmware made a difference?

I am considering buying one but have been holding back to see if they do manage to resolve the battery draining issue.

rickwiggans

I have been fairly vociferous about the problems I have experienced. To counter my early experiences, I have a unit currently on test which has been faultless for two months with both the new firmware, and the previous version. The battery has been removed and replaced after each ride, for voltage checks. I still have concerns that I have mates whose units have been faultless for ages, and then showed the symptoms, and also mates whose units were faulty, and then (without the firmware upgrade) mysteriously started to be OK.

sloppyschleckonds

rickwiggans wrote:

I have been fairly vociferous about the problems I have experienced. To counter my early experiences, I have a unit currently on test which has been faultless for two months with both the new firmware, and the previous version.

So you didn't pay for it?