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Di2 Bluetooth conversion

by Technomagus
Fri, Jun 09, 2017 13:20
13

I’m in the process of upgrading my 2017 Cannondale Synapse Di2 to Bluetooth - apart from the monitoring capability I want to be able to set up Synchronised Shift. 

So I’ve bought the BT-DN110 battery.

My bike has the standard Di2 SM-EW90-A 3-port Junction-A, so I need to add not just the battery but a BT/D-Fly/Ant+ transmitter to the bike. Questions then are:

1. do the EW-WU101 and the SC-MT800 have identical functionality, other than the latter having the display screen and the three E-Tube ports?
2. if so, could I then just replace the SM-EW90-A with the SC-MT800 and not need the EW-WU101?

I’m just trying to have as few boxes as possible stuck to the bike.Shimano’s compatibility charts aren’t much help here…

If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.

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13 comments

Avatar
CXR94Di2 | 6 years ago
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I added the MT800 display to my XT Di2 setup, after a little faff getting the app to talk to the MT800 it upgraded firmware and all is working beautifully 1

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FleetOfFoot | 6 years ago
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Has the EW-WU101 now been superseded by the EW-WU111?

I’ve  just taken delivery of a new bike with R8070 on it, and was disappointed to find no Bluetooth connectivity. Is this standard?

I presume I can just do a straight swap of my existing non-Bluetooth Junction A box with a EW-WU111? I definitely have the right battery. Is it as simple as that?

Like so many others, I’m completely reliant on iOS devices, and want to be able to use my Garmin, set up the hood buttons etc. 

Avatar
Westy replied to FleetOfFoot | 6 years ago
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FleetOfFoot wrote:

Has the EW-WU101 now been superseded by the EW-WU111?

I’ve  just taken delivery of a new bike with R8070 on it, and was disappointed to find no Bluetooth connectivity. Is this standard?

I presume I can just do a straight swap of my existing non-Bluetooth Junction A box with a EW-WU111? I definitely have the right battery. Is it as simple as that?

Like so many others, I’m completely reliant on iOS devices, and want to be able to use my Garmin, set up the hood buttons etc. 

 

It's standard not to have BT with Di2 groupsets, its generally regarded as an optional extra. If you definitely have the correct battery (BT-DN110) then yes, you just have to add the EW-WU111. Even though I've used the original D-Fly for ages (to give me gear position and battery level in many devices/apps over ANT+) I've just done exactly what you intend to do by replacing both my battery (because the old one was shot anyway) and D-Fly, because my very old PC has had it and I'm now Mac/iOS only. You need to keep the junction box and add the EW-WU111, which is not a junction box replacement. I've added my EW-WU111 inside the frame and it works fine.

I've found the Shimano iPad app pretty good, no real problems with it at all once I worked through all the features of the manual/semi/synchronised settings and knew what I was doing.

One last thing though - disconnect the battery before fitting the EW-WU111, then reconnect the battery last thing. If you don't there's a chance something won't work properly, though its usually sorted easily enough by a battery disconnect for 30sec or so then reconnect, or removal of the EW-WU111 reconnection in the previous setup without it, check all is well, then reconnect after the proper battery disconnection.

Hope that helps.

 

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FleetOfFoot replied to Westy | 6 years ago
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Westy wrote:

 

It's standard not to have BT with Di2 groupsets, its generally regarded as an optional extra. If you definitely have the correct battery (BT-DN110) then yes, you just have to add the EW-WU111. Even though I've used the original D-Fly for ages (to give me gear position and battery level in many devices/apps over ANT+) I've just done exactly what you intend to do by replacing both my battery (because the old one was shot anyway) and D-Fly, because my very old PC has had it and I'm now Mac/iOS only. You need to keep the junction box and add the EW-WU111, which is not a junction box replacement. I've added my EW-WU111 inside the frame and it works fine.

I've found the Shimano iPad app pretty good, no real problems with it at all once I worked through all the features of the manual/semi/synchronised settings and knew what I was doing.

One last thing though - disconnect the battery before fitting the EW-WU111, then reconnect the battery last thing. If you don't there's a chance something won't work properly, though its usually sorted easily enough by a battery disconnect for 30sec or so then reconnect, or removal of the EW-WU111 reconnection in the previous setup without it, check all is well, then reconnect after the proper battery disconnection.

Hope that helps.

 

 

thanks very much Westy. That’s very helpful. 

Do I need a new cable too, or does that come with the EW-WU111?

Also, does it just need to be anywhere in the circuit? Could I attach it to the battery in the seat tube? Where in your frame have you hidden yours?

Thanks again for your time. 

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watlina | 6 years ago
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Yes should work fine.

This is the sheet you should get in the box
http://si.shimano.com/pdfs/um/UM-7GC0B-005-00-ENG.pdf

And the dealer installation manual
http://si.shimano.com/pdfs/dm/DM-M8050-05-ENG.pdf

It makes clear you use it with the BT-DN110 and that it's BT and ANT+ built in and there are 3-E-tube ports as well as a charging port and mode button. So it will replace your EW-90 and no need for the WU-101.

I went with BT-DN110 then a EW-RS910 Bar end plug and WU-101 tucked in the frame to keep it all out of sight. I have Specialized Aerofly bars with R785 levers so used a EW-JC130 Y-Cable inside the bars. I use my Garmin Edge 1000 to see the gear/Di2 battery info.

Your solution should work out cheaper.

 

 

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pwake | 6 years ago
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I think you'll find that you are okay with that approach. I recently converted an MTB to XT-Di2 and you only need a 'dumb' junction box (can't remember the number) and with the BT battery and the MT800 display you have full BT functionality.

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Technomagus replied to pwake | 6 years ago
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pwake wrote:

I think you'll find that you are okay with that approach. I recently converted an MTB to XT-Di2 and you only need a 'dumb' junction box (can't remember the number) and with the BT battery and the MT800 display you have full BT functionality.

Thanks - that's helpful - Shimano's own documentation isn't hugely clearly on the relative features of each 'box'. Just waiting for the couriers to turn up before I can find out for sure 1

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VeloUSA | 6 years ago
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1.  do the EW-WU101 and the SC-MT800 have identical functionality, other than the latter having the display screen and the three E-Tube ports?

No, The SM-EWWU101 is the transmitter unit whie the SC-MT800 is the display unit only. You will need a wire between the SM-EWW01 and your RD.

2. if so, could I then just replace the SM-EW90-A with the SC-MT800 and not need the EW-WU101?

Again no. The SM-EW90-A is your wired shift  junction box, it does not transmit wireless as the EW-WU101 does.

Lastly, if your cyclecomputer supports ANT/ANT + (such as Garmin Edge) you can eliminate the SC-MT800 as the cyclecomputer will become your display unit for gear selection, battery life etc.

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mike the bike | 6 years ago
2 likes

 

Is there anyone out there who could translate the original post into English?

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hawkinspeter | 6 years ago
1 like

As long as you've got the new battery, you don't need to add bluetooth to upgrade the firmware. Just download the E-Tube software (from Shimano's website) onto a laptop and then plug the Shimano charger (BCR2) into the junction box and connect it to the laptop's USB port.

If you add bluetooth, then you'd be able to do a wireless firmware upgrade from a phone/tablet but for the limited times you'll be upgrading the firmware, it's easier to just grab a laptop instead.

Just realised that you want the monitoring ability - you'd need the bluetooth for that. (Personally, I just have a look at where the chain is).

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Technomagus replied to hawkinspeter | 6 years ago
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hawkinspeter wrote:

As long as you've got the new battery, you don't need to add bluetooth to upgrade the firmware. Just download the E-Tube software (from Shimano's website) onto a laptop and then plug the Shimano charger (BCR2) into the junction box and connect it to the laptop's USB port.

If you add bluetooth, then you'd be able to do a wireless firmware upgrade from a phone/tablet but for the limited times you'll be upgrading the firmware, it's easier to just grab a laptop instead.

Just realised that you want the monitoring ability - you'd need the bluetooth for that. (Personally, I just have a look at where the chain is).

its definitely the Bluetooth I want as I need to do everything from iOS - I don't own a PC of any kind, nor a copy of Windows to virtualise.

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hawkinspeter replied to Technomagus | 6 years ago
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Technomagus wrote:

its definitely the Bluetooth I want as I need to do everything from iOS - I don't own a PC of any kind, nor a copy of Windows to virtualise.

Fair enough. I originally thought that you could only do the firmware update with bluetooth, but was happy to discover that you could do it from a usb connection. Luckily, I've got a dual-boot Windows/Android tablet that did the job (I'm usually a Linux guy though I do have a work iPhone and iPad).

Avatar
Technomagus replied to hawkinspeter | 6 years ago
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hawkinspeter wrote:

Technomagus wrote:

its definitely the Bluetooth I want as I need to do everything from iOS - I don't own a PC of any kind, nor a copy of Windows to virtualise.

Fair enough. I originally thought that you could only do the firmware update with bluetooth, but was happy to discover that you could do it from a usb connection. Luckily, I've got a dual-boot Windows/Android tablet that did the job (I'm usually a Linux guy though I do have a work iPhone and iPad).

I'm on OS X/iOS/*nux, hence the wish to do everything via Bluetooth. Since my original post, I've been trawling through Shimano's dealer documentation and, as long as you can mix'n'match XT/Ultegra (which seems to be the case), it does appear that the SC-MT800 subsumes the Junction A and the D-Fly transmitter functionality. So, in theory, the SC-MT800+Junction B+BT-DN110 should do it all. I've ordered everything up, so will see next week if it all goes together and does the job. Screenshot is for the internal hub gears, but shows the general layout.

 

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