I picked up a second hand gem 2 Stages NDS power meter about 6 months ago. I’ve done various low volume plans since so I’ve ridden it between 2 and 4 times a week (depending how well I hit the plan and if I go out for a play). In that 6 months I’ve changed the battery three times. Once when I got it and twice since. The last time was about 3 or 4 weeks ago and TR’s now telling me it’s on 17% remaining. I’m using decent batteries, everready or Duracell. is this normal, is it a known issue, or is there something not right with power meter?
There appears to be a problem with the reported battery level via Bluetooth:
Mike
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I’ve had exactly the same issue. It seems the unit doesn’t shut down completely when not in use and continues to drain the battery. I had stages replace my first crank because of this problem but now the replacement does it as well! It’s a pain but removing the battery after each ride seems to be the only way around this issue.
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Thanks both. I’ve just been out to the garage and checked with the stages app and it shows 100% batter via Bluetooth. I use TR via ant+ at the moment. Maybe I’ll try BT since the recent update and see if that gives any different. Failing that I’m just gonna make sure I’ve got a spare and run it until it stops working.
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I have experienced that Stages drains the battery if it is exposed to water (rain, moist weather). It seems the cover/lid is the weak point. I have tried both gen 1 and 2 with the Shimano Ultegra version (but not gen 3), and the problems occurred again and again.
Stages’ customer service is top notch, but their products are not quite there in my experience - and so I have changed to other power meters that seem to handle water better.
Maybe a bit off topic, but I also bought a used Gen 2 stages. I wasn’t in love with the performance or battery life. Half my rides would be missing data.
So I called stages and they’ll upgrade to a gen 3 for $200.
I just sent it in and should have it back in a little over a week.
One thing I’ve seen is if you get water or condensation inside the meter, it can lead to short battery life while otherwise working fine. I have Gen3 and it can still happen after riding in bad conditions, maybe because my o-ring is getting old and worn. Solution is to just leave it open for a couple days someplace warm. I’ve also used light hairdryer once. Airing it out well worked twice for me and a friend once - after that, new battery lasts for thousands of miles again.
Also, I see same issue where TR says battery is low for months before it actually needs to be replaced. If it’s yellow in TR, don’t need to worry. If it’s red, maybe then check in the stages app.
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I’ve found that I get power drop outs when the battery is close to empty on my gen1 stages. I use that now as a sign that I need to change it. Might be easier to see if you’re using it indoors, doubt I’d notice a short drop out outside.
As others have said above, the battery can go very quickly (few weeks) if its wet.
So they just swap the strain gauge and give you your original crank back? Interesting
Yep. Total cost was 213. 200 for the upgrade which they called a out of warranty replacement and 13 for tax.
I don’t have crazy battery drain issues with my Stages G2, but I did notice that when I initially pair it to TR it shows the percentage at like 16-18%, and then after a few minutes it shows it around 30-40%, so not sure what to trust. I haven’t checked with the Stages app, but I will tonight for curiosity. I see the first reply here explains there is some kind of issue with battery level reporting though so curious how the Stages app will compare
The current battery was installed August 25, so far has logged just shy of 100 hours.
for what it is worth… I got two gen 2 meters, the one I purchased first was draining batteries even when not in use. One weekend was fine and the next weekend, race day, the battery was dead. The other had no such issue. I contacted stages and after doing some initial tests such as confirming the power meter was shutting off when idle, I ended up sending it back to them for evaluation. They reported back that they found nothing wrong with it but, did a “courtesy service”, whatever that entails. The power meter has been fine ever since. Just replaced the battery after 1300+ miles.
As for the dropouts… When I was using a garmin 800 I would occasionally get them. About a year or so ago I picked up a bolt and have not had a problem since.
How would you check if its shutting off when not in use? I’m assuming if this works correctly then the meter won’t show as paired to a headunit unless the crank is rotated and “woken up” but if the shutoff doesn’t work, then it would pair immediately without being woken?
correct it will not show on the head unit unless the meter is woken up. What they had me do is connect via the app, disconnect and then after 5-10 minutes or so try and reconnect with the app. If you can still connect, the meter never went to sleep.
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Yea mine works fine then, I have to spin the cranks before it will pair to my Wahoo, otherwise it just shows the searching logo next to it.
I have had a Gen2 from new and over the last year or so been getting about 3 months battery out of it. Tried all of the sleep wake and its not been outside in a year. Will definitely investigate a service. Thanks.
So I connected to the Stages app and it showed my battery what looked to be fully charged? Definitely not right, am I looking at it wrong? TR still has it in the 30% range. I imagine I will get somewhere around 130hrs out of it before it starts to have connection issues at which point I will change it out.
Yes, this is exactly what I see - full in the stages app can indeed show 30% on the TR app. I’ve learned I can ride for months with it showing 15-30% in the TR app before it finally dies.
I only react once I see either red in the TR app - and then check the stages app - if it’s showing it’s low in the stages app, then I replace it.