Bikes/pedals with integrated batteries - how do you treat them when the bike is not being used?

daniel_b

Morning all,

I am now in possession of a Di2 bike that I will be keeping (Had one a while back but sold it) and a pair of Assioma duo pedals on another bike.

These are both best bikes to me, and as a result get precious little, or possibly no use when the weather is censored, so probably from now, until April 🙁

*I do have a winter bike and a turbo bike.

Bike and pedals have integrated batteries, and I'm wondering how often I should be looking to charge them up, so they don't become knackered, as I am aware of some friends who have had more than one Di2 battery refuse to take charge, and iirc they are in excess of £100 to replace, so would like to avoid that eventuality.

Both will be charged as and when they need it during the more pleasant months, so I'm thinking to recharge the Di2 September/December/March, and probably the same for the Assiomas.

Be interested to see what others do, or what issues they have experienced.

Oh and an extra unrelated question - I bought a long Di2 cable to enable the firmware update for the wireless shifters, which worked fine - the cable came with a ton of what I initially thought were cable ties on it, but turned out to be a thin long piece around 5cm in length, with a C shaped bit at the other end which clipped tightly onto the cable - would I be right in assuming these are to stop the cable rattling about when fitted inside a frame?

I recall I did similar when fitting one of the old bluetooth units to the last bike inline within the top tube, so presume that is what it is. I'll be binning these as they are of no use to me.

Thanks

Dan

gethinceri

I only charge my Assiomas when my head unit tells me the battery is low. I am unaware if this has had any detrimental effect on their overall capacity.

Put your Assiomas on the turbo bike during the winter.

Webboo2

I’ve no idea about the pedals but I suspect that given Di2 group sets will left in warehouses, shops and the like with flat batteries. I can’t see this being a problem. I know my recently purchased Di2 bike when I first was trying it for size in the shop had no charge in the battery.

Dorset_Boy

Use the pedals through the winter, either on the turbo bike or the winter bike 9or both).

The di2 shouldn't need anything doing, but don't forget to charge it up before first use when the weather improves! That said, no harm in just charging the di2 up every couple of months through the winter.

sungod

for lithium ion batteries it's generally recommended to not let them drop below around 20% charge

no idea what the idle discharge time is for di2, but if you check every so often you could estimate it, then schedule a top up every x months

shifting isn't an application where there's a high rate of charge/discharge, there's probably not much scope to do more

fwiw with sram etap i have four batteries, used in rotation: when one needs charging, the spare in the jersey goes in, the spare at home becomes the spare in the jersey, the flat one becomes the spare at home, since 2015 i've had a couple lose capacity, once that happens it gets replaced

MidlandsGrimpeur2

I have di2 on the summer bike. LBS told me to charge it a couple of times over the winter. They reckon it stops the battery degrading. No idea if this is true but I stick to it as it can't really do any harm.

trevor.hall12

The older Di2 batteries were best kept at least 30% /50%as cold was a big problem .

The sleep function on the new 12 speed means the battery will hold its charge for longer .Shimano say if you're not using it for 2 months ,remove it if temps will be below 10° and keep it at 70% charged

daniel_b

Thanks for all the replies - much appreciated.

I already have a crank pm on my winter bike, and my turbo is an aging, but recently serviced Neo og, however if I popped them on one or the other it would give me an interesting comparison on accuracy I guess, at least as a one off. I wouldn't really want to leave the pedals on either for an extended amount of time, as both live in the garage, and in the winter it can get a bit cold and damp in there.

If I were to ride outside with both the crank pm and pedals, I'd need two headunits presumably, or see if there was a way I could connect the pedals to my phone via bluetooth and then use strava from my phone?

I like the SRAM rotation method, very smart, but alas not an option for me.

I was surprised Assioma make no mention in their FAQ's of what to do with the pedals when they are not being used (Or nothing that I could find) I might drop them a message to see what they say.

Thankyou :-)