Di2 DN110 seatpost battery problem

Thanks for taking the trouble to reply. It's a tricky one when all 3 (shop, bike manufacturer and battery supplier) deny resposibilty. I'm not going to take it lying down but getting to talk to the people in charge can be difficult. I'll get to know more on Tuesday and then will decide on my best course of action once I see the reports. I will want to see proof though as it's just too easy to say 'no'. At least this seems to be an isolated incident which also leads me to suspect that the battery was substandard.

I did write to Evanscycles itemising how it was working perfectly before it failed but they are hiding behind Specialized and Madison. 

mike the bike wrote:

 

Unfortunately there is a grey-ish area in consumer law here.  Your contract is with the retailer, not Specialized and not Shimano, so you did right approaching the shop.  The fact that both huge, profitable organisations refuse to accept responsibility in no way excuses the shop.  Now, they may argue that they have acted properly and they may say they are not experts in battery behaviour, but that is really irrelevant.  If they sold you a dud battery they must fix things.

I would ask the shop again, in writing and outlining the circumstances in which the battery failed.  If they refuse to act you could threaten 'small-claims' action in the County Court but it's a sledgehammer to crack a nut.  In any case I would never deal with any of them again, which might be tricky in the case of Shimano.

Best of luck.  

That's interesting. I suspect the discharch graph would be flat though as it wouldn't take any charge. I should get to see the replies from Specialized and Madison when I pick up the dead battery this Tuesday. It's too easy to say that it was caused by water damage. And in any case carbon frames are not waterproof as the di2 cable holes are not sealed.

SilverMerlin wrote:

I had a very similar problem with my Rose Xeon. After about a month the battery would loose power within a few hours after being charged. Rose suggested that I had the Di2 analysed at a bike shop and it was deemed eventually to be a dodgy battery. I bought a new battery from Rose and sent back the old one (to Germany) which the bike shop fitted. Rose then refunded the cost of the battery and the Di2 analysis as the bike was still under warranty. Really good service. It has been fine since.

If you used the bike normally and it is still under warranty then I really would not be happy about this. You should be getting a new battery and it should be fitted by the shop that you bought your bike from. 

I did try to charge it but it was totally lifeless and Evanscycles couldn't get it to charge either. Thanks for the Madison battery information - that will help when I start the conversation. At the moment all I have is that they won't replace it under the warranty. I should get the dud battery back next Tuesday and also the paperwork which I will be very interested to read. How my battery could work perfectly on a dry ride and then fail whilst in a dry garage is a question I need answering. I had read about an unfortunate cyclist who transported his bike a long way to the start of an audax and he hadn't realised that one of his shifters was in an on position due to how the bike was lying in the back. So I'm very careful when storing the bike.

I really do need to get to the bottom of this because if it wasn't a dud battery then it will happen again!

jiberjaber wrote:

Did you try charging it up before you went back to the LBS?  I had similar on my battery which was because I knocked the gear change when it was on the turbo.  Charged it up and not had a problem since. 

Hard to see how it can be water damage unless the battery case is damaged - I think I'd be taking it up with the LBS you bought the bike from, your contract is with them, it's their problem if Madison / Shimano are claiming something else, I'd argue it's not fit for the purpose you bought it for and ask for a replacement instead of being given the run around you could consider it a consumable but I'd argue it is not unreasonable to expect it to last longer than 3 months!

 

From Madisons page (my bold):

http://www.madison.co.uk/products/cycling/parts/di2/bt-dn110-di2-interna...

"The power house of Shimano Di2 is a long-life 7.4V Li-Ion battery that is both compact and reliable, taking shifting effort away from you
Excellent sealing and reliability have been proven through repeated field tests in various riding conditions, including extreme temperatures, rain, mud, and cobble stone roads
Using a hard wired battery system which is both light weight and accurate compared to current wireless technology (as a wireless system would require 4 batteries: one for the RD, one for the FD, and one for each shift lever)
The use of a single small and discreet internal battery is light weight, efficient and creates a robust and reliable system
One charge can give between 1000 and 2000 kilometre range depending on conditions and front mech operation (as this is the main power drain)
500 times rechargeable life
Internal chip enables system wireless functionality of Bluetooth components
Battery is to be mounted with seatpost or frame/fork manufactures hardware normally inside the seatpost or seat tube/fork steerer
Reliable and secure water resistant E-tube terminals connection"