Kenevo Gen1 Nobody will care because it's GEN1, but Specialized still selling faulty batteries

[Derek carter]

I've spent 600 pounds on a battery, and I believe it was SOLD FAULTY but it's out of warranty, so do I risk buying another faulty battery from Specialized for 850 pounds or should I cut my losses and be done with it, because it's GEN1 I'm guessing nobody cares?

It's about 3:30am UK as I write this post, I've been down to see my brother in Warminster, and went out to Wind Hill bike park on a soggy Sunday afternoon ride, e-bike style. Lent my brother my Hiabike Allmnt circa 2015 and I rode my 2018 Kenvo, Gen-1. So we spent most of the afternoon waiting for the showers to stop and then I'd just took my brother down the blue a few times, it gets to 6pm and we ride back to his place circa three maybe four miles, roads, across a field and country lanes.

We rock up at my brothers and the bikes are filthy, soo I do the sensible thing turn off the electrics take off the batteries and give the bikes a hose down with the old Mobi. I wipe down the batteries for both bikes, first with a damp cloth to get the mud off, and then with a dry cloth, in-fact I've very careful with cleaning the batteries (this is foreshadowing) for good reason.

I shake the bikes and leave them to dry off while I get changed and have some food. When I get back before installing the batteries in the bikes, I give them both a test ... THE SPECIALIZED BATTERY ... IS DEAD!! Press the power button and nothing happens.

Now I've had this battery for (ooh let me check my emails) since about the 13 - 14th January 2024 ... yeeeeahh this BATTERY LASTED 4 MAYBE 5 MONTHS AND NOW IT'S FAULTY. So a battery from Birmingham Specialized Concept Store has lasted 4 months, and if I'm honest I've not used it much till the spring came, and now it's DEAD ... KAPUT ... ENDED.
Now all you lot rolling your eyes going ... "hey what are you whining about the battery is warranted for two years!!!" ... I know, I know ... I REALLY KNOW!!! this is because I originally bought a spare battery for my Kenevo back in 2022, and then after a wet and soggy December ride at the end of 2023 I washed down my bike ... put it on the back of the car got home and discovered ... YUUUP ... the battery had died after about 16 months of usage.

When I took it back to the Specialized Store I bought it from, I asked them about me using the Mobi bike washer if that was an issue. Kind of shrugged and said "no that's not an issue." And so when I got the replacement battery January this year I asked ... "was there a fault report on what went wrong with the battery I had bought?" ... and was told that Specialised didn't say they just sent out a replacement. (Hmm, that feels a bit, I dunno crap if I'm honest ... still got a new battery what do I care eh!)

Now this bit is important, rightly or wrongly I was told that the replacement came with no warranty, hence if it goes wrong that's it ... GAME OVER! So me thinks I need to take care of this battery ... better make sure I don't wash it with the Mobi, if the battery gets really muddy, I'll need to be really sure I should remove the battery and wipe it down with a cloth, best to be safe when you're battery has gone out of warranty.

Right so back to the NOW! I've just sped home and seeing is how the battery is not in warranty I need to work out what the hell is going on, I've had two GEN-1 batteries and both have died on wet days. You know it's water ingress, I know it's water ingress, I just need to find where the water is getting in before the battery dries out, and I'll not be able to work out where the water ingress is occurring.

Right so here is my battery tear down I've just done tonight

27 May 2024

27 May 2024

Right so yeah ... it's not very clear in the video unless you slow it down as it was a couple of hours for the tear down, BUT THERE IT IS WATER INGRESS AROUND THE ON OFF BUTTON AND LEDS. So what's going on this is years after the recall of this issue and yet my warranty replacement I got not 5 months ago has exactly the issue identified by the recall ... Maybe not clear in the video but my battery is P/N B9JE2105F ... Made Date is G.1

ITS THE SAME ISSUE WATER INGRESS AROUND THE ON OFF BUTTON

It's now 5:01am and I'm going to bed ... if I get another battery 850 pounds what's to say on a damp soggy ride it's not going to die yet again ... or should I just not buy a second battery and live with my original battery from 2018 and only go out in the SUN??? Urrrrrgh bedtime.

 

[GeordieKenevo]

Sorry to hear of your issues with the Gen 1 battery. I had one replaced under the recall and had assumed they had sorted out the water ingress via the control buttons by now

If you hadn't opened this one up I would have thought Specialized would have given you 50% off a new one under their riser assistance program as they did me a really good deal on a replacement motor outside of warranty.

Going forward, @ebikemotorrepair might be able to repair yours if it's just the control panel bit rather than dead cells? If not then I'd look out for a decent one second hand.

 

[Money Pit]

You say you remove the battery before washing the bike?

I don't know much about gen 1 bikes but I know that I wash my gen 3 levo with battery connected and charging port closed.

Id have thought removing batteries exposes parts of the bike that otherwise wouldn't be getting wet.

If you are getting water inside the downtube then some cables are subjected to water.

Do you have the bike upside down at any point in this process?


Edit.

Sorry if I may have misunderstood the workings of the kenevo. I'm maybe talking from a newer levo perspective and things maybe differ a lot.

 

[Polar]

soo I do the sensible thing turn off the electrics take off the batteries and give the bikes a hose down with the old Mobi.

As far as I know it's absolutely not recommended to remove the battery before washing.

Cleaning & Maintenance

support.specialized.com

 

[Money Pit]

I can't help think this is a rider issue.

Taking battery out.. Washing bike with a portable washer... Bouncing it about a bit to shake off some water then leaving it for ten minutes while you eat before refitting the battery (trapping in any moisture into frame) then chucking bike on back and heading home seems pretty bad practice to me.

The more often you remove and refit things the more opportunity for ingress.

 

[irie]

...
We rock up at my brothers and the bikes are filthy, soo I do the sensible thing turn off the electrics take off the batteries and give the bikes a hose down with the old Mobi.
...

So after taking the batteries out you wash the bikes with a Mobi, which is a pressure washer.

What could possibly go wrong?

 

[Derek carter]

I’m sorry but I should have renamed this thread "I’m Gen 1 so I want to hear how ignorant none Gen-1 owner are"?!?

So after taking the batteries out you wash the bikes with a Mobi, which is a pressure washer.

What could possibly go wrong?

Look, I've had about 4 hours sleep ... So apologies I've just chosen your reply, but I'm going to be maximum salty. Maybe in replying to my post none GEN1 users maybe feel like there doing something useful, but from my point of view I've posted a long waffling account in order to absolutely prove it's a Specialized issue, I've possibly thrown away 600 pounds of battery, just to prove to myself there is still an issue with GEN1, and yet you post it's a user issue.
This kind of behaviour of blaming the users when there's absolutely something wrong with the technology isn't lost on me as I've worked for the last 20 years at Fujitsu, (anyone seen the UK news for the last 10 years) soo DON'T be two hasty to point the finger at the end user. Maybe ask questions understand the issues ... before assigning guilt? (Clearly I'm not expecting a Channel 4 drama ... but maybe if you're going to reply take some time to read and understand the issue YES?)

RIGHT TIME TO EDUCATE THE NONE GEN1 RIDERS

On the GEN-1 the battery is it's own self contained unit, this means the battery can be removed from the bike and turned on and connected to Mission control without being in the bike or connected to the motor just take it indoors and you can clean it up properly and turn it on sitting on your kitchen table. However having the on off button on the battery on the side of the battery has it's own dangers ... or shall we call them ERRRM design issues.

Therefore removing the battery before cleaning absolutely removes my cleaning actions from the issue, read that bit about "foreshadowing" in the original post, I'd already been bitten once I wasn't going to take any chances a second time. The other thing to remember is I have a two batteries so I absolutely checked the rest of the system was sound with my original battery.

So I have all the information to know it's water ingress into the battery, from normal riding on a wet day, before I begin the destructive testing. I've absolutely told you where I found the ingress of water, physically around the ON/OFF button ON THE GEN-1 BATTERY. A location that I describe in detail of performing a damp rag wipe down followed by a dry cloth. MAYBE I NEED TO BAG ON ABOUT THIS TO NONE GEN1 owners THE POWER BUTTON IS ON THE BATTERY!

Now my undergraduate days I studied Electronics and Electrical Engineering at UMIST University, and MSc in Electronics and IT at Birmingham University, and you know did some teaching and Labs at the Electrical Engineering Department while studding a PhD ... but that was all 25 years ago ... anyways ... so basically the concept of water's conductive properties isn't a bloody cosmic mystery. The fact that you've got voltages of up to 48V in the battery pack mixing with logic boards of probably 3.3v (5v was a long time ago) isn't lost on me. Hence for such a design it's absolutely critical to ensure that water cannot enter the battery unit. The fact that the ingress of water is in the exact location where the previous recall for the GEN-1 batteries identifies the issue is still affecting batteries sold after the recall, and I effectively spent 600 pounds to inform other GEN-1 users of this fact, and you're posts are affectively trying to shut this issue down where it could be affecting other GEN-1 owners in the future.

BUT AS I SAY ... IT'S GEN-1 SO WHO REALLY CARES

What I need to do is simply sell on the bike with the original battery and it becomes someone else's problem and I can be all smart arsed when it fails for them and go ... "Oh it was fine when I had it, must be the way you washed it!" ... is that the answer to the issue here?

 

[Derek carter]

Sorry to hear of your issues with the Gen 1 battery. I had one replaced under the recall and had assumed they had sorted out the water ingress via the control buttons by now

If you hadn't opened this one up I would have thought Specialized would have given you 50% off a new one under their riser assistance program as they did me a really good deal on a replacement motor outside of warranty.

Going forward, @ebikemotorrepair might be able to repair yours if it's just the control panel bit rather than dead cells? If not then I'd look out for a decent one second hand.

Yes, so water ingress at the ON/OFF button has put me between a rock and a hard place. Either specialized has faulty batteries in their inventory and their getting out when owners buy replacement components. Which means I'm taking a gamble on buying a replacement battery. Alternatively, the issue is simply affecting more units than Specialized has identified, again meaning buying a battery is once more a 850 pound gamble.

I don't really know what I'm going to do to be honest, throw good money after bad? Maybe some kind of trade the bike in with the original battery and let it be someone else's problem? I dunno, I can only urge current GEN-1 owners to be careful and maybe not use your bike in wet weather.

 

[Derek carter]

Right setting up to perform immersion testing on that ON/OFF LED cluster on the battery, will see if I can get some videos of it. If you not an engineer you might want to tune out ... it's going to get technical from here on out.

The construction of the LED and ON OFF button on the battery, consists of the battery case (seeming ABS or something similar) having a number of hole in the moulding of the part, these being 3 big holes for Assist-up, Assist-down and On button. these "button holes" are then surrounded by a further 10 holes in the case, this is for the LED light to pass through.

The three larger "button holes" seem to be covered by a rubber button cover, I've not attempted to investigate the design of the retention of this rubber cover but it seems completely waterproof in my initial prolonged immersion testing.

It's the 10 smaller holes that the LEDs are located behind which in my opinion are the weak points where the water ingress is occurring. On the outside of the battery is a translucent plastic cover over these 10 LED holes. My initial immersion testing has identified this cover is not water proof and water is able to pass through the interface between this cover and the rest of the battery.

However, each LED hole is filled with a translucent rubberised material, which in my case has PROBABLY become damaged on removal of the battery. Some of the rubber has been left on the battery case, other bits of rubber has remained attached to the LED's of the batteries internal parts.

I'm not sure about the construction of these translucent plugs that fit in each of the 10 LED holes, but the way the rubber has come apart some sticking to the case other's sticking to the LED seems to imply their no individual rubber elements but rather a silicon sealant that's been applied at time of assembly.

I'm performing the immersion tests and yes water does start to penetrate where this rubber/silicon has been damaged. It does take a surprising long time for the battery case submerged in water to penetrate through the LED holes, it's a very slow process ... but it does show the mechanism by which water is entering at this specific location where I found the water on inspection.

Having tested it I can now understand why Specialized believe they've fixed the issue, but whatever is that material they've used to fill each of the 10 LED holes (my guess being it's silicon silicone sealant) if vibration and/or expansion contraction heat cycles over time causes this sealant and the plastic case to debond there is a chance of water ingress. The fix of filling each individual hole with sealant means the failure rate increases by a factor of 10 for each battery, as it only requires a single hole to become defective to incur the possibility of water ingress failure at the ON/OFF LED panel. I just think the capillary action of all this close fitting plastic is going to expose this issue if any of the 10 LED holes becomes defective.

 

[Binhill1]

Battery could be alright tomorrow though if it is the battery ?

 

[Derek carter]

Battery could be alright tomorrow though if it is the battery ?

Yup this is my hope that, after drying (the old iPhone in a bag of rice) but on a slightly larger scale ... my original battery I returned to Specalized never came back ... but now I've taken this battery apart and dried it up internally ... fingers crossed. There is a small flashing red internal diagnostic LED blinking at me so ... maybe that's a good sign.

 

[Derek carter]

Yup battery back from the dead!

 

[Money Pit]

In future maybe just avoid touching the battery too much until it's dried naturally then just brush off any mud.

As for cleaning the bike. If its possible on a GEN1 KENEVO, leave it in the same state it was when riding (all connected). Turn it off and just gently hose/brush off the worst debris.

Then if you are putting it on the back of the car, then make sure to bag up any areas where water could be pushed in through seals by the air pressure created by the car in motion.

 

[Binhill1]

Yup this is my hope that, after drying (the old iPhone in a bag of rice) but on a slightly larger scale ... my original battery I returned to Specalized never came back ... but now I've taken this battery apart and dried it up internally ... fingers crossed. There is a small flashing red internal diagnostic LED blinking at me so ... maybe that's a good sign.

I just got a new one from Fazua on Saturday. Got new bike 3 weeks ago and it wasn't playing ball. Anyway they sent remote and battery to a dealer near me. He fitted battery but not remote as it seemed OK. Tested it on Friday 26 miles. 12 yesterday and 25 today all seems OK so here's hoping. On the other bike my Levo a 19 model has still original battery 9000 miles 5 years old 6th June . Had 4 motors and a new frame though all warranty , lucky white Heather sometimes. Good luck

 

[Derek carter]

In future maybe just avoid touching the battery too much until it's dried naturally then just brush off any mud.

As for cleaning the bike. If its possible on a GEN1 KENEVO, leave it in the same state it was when riding (all connected). Turn it off and just gently hose/brush off the worst debris.

Then if you are putting it on the back of the car, then make sure to bag up any areas where water could be pushed in through seals by the air pressure created by the car in motion.

Right, as explained I've been hit by the same issue twice now, riding on a wet day and battery dies, and look cool I don't mind all this hey try this and try that ... you know disposables break pads, tires ... try this ... do that ... fine, but when your talking about a component that costs 850 pounds and your expecting to ride it over trails for hours on end ... but when it come to cleaning it with a wet rag you might be destroying it? BUT THAT'S MY ISSUE AND NOT A DESIGN/MANUFATURING FAULT.

The first time the battery went then yes fine it's maybe something I did, but the second time when I know the component that is vulnerable so I took specific precautions to avoid the issue, which is exactly what your suggesting I do again ... it's simply not practical.

I also had to do a teardown of the battery in order to identify where such issues in seals is located, to actually understand what the issue is rather than try random "bag up any areas where water could be pushed in through seals"? Look at this point I'm no longer salty, I'm just laughing at the very idea of trying to put bags around my bike and expecting anything other than total carnage as I drive on roads at 60 miles per hour. Just the very idea has me in stitches! (ah well kind of cheers me up a bit).

 

[Derek carter]

Here is a time-laps of one hour with the LED/ONOFF button half of the battery case submerged. Look I could have made the issue worse on removal of the battery internals, this is true, this film is of the battery case totally submerged ... but it's going to be the capillary action that's going to pull the moisture through.


I could try and re-apply silicon, but all the vibration and heat cycles makes me think that I need to epoxy the holes shut. You can't see the LEDs when your riding so no point in having that weakness in robustness.

 

[Derek carter]

Did you buy it directly from Specialized?

That's an interesting question ... here in the UK ... dunno what the score is in the US ... the Specialized Concept Store in Birmingham is run by a company called Certini which I'm guessing is operating the Specialized Concept Store as a kind of franchise? I bought the battery from Certini's web-site ... so is that directly from Specialized?

 

[Money Pit]

Right, as explained I've been hit by the same issue twice now, riding on a wet day and battery dies, and look cool I don't mind all this hey try this and try that ... you know disposables break pads, tires ... try this ... do that ... fine, but when your talking about a component that costs 850 pounds and your expecting to ride it over trails for hours on end ... but when it come to cleaning it with a wet rag you might be destroying it? BUT THAT'S MY ISSUE AND NOT A DESIGN/MANUFATURING FAULT.

The first time the battery went then yes fine it's maybe something I did, but the second time when I know the component that is vulnerable so I took specific precautions to avoid the issue, which is exactly what your suggesting I do again ... it's simply not practical.

I also had to do a teardown of the battery in order to identify where such issues in seals is located, to actually understand what the issue is rather than try random "bag up any areas where water could be pushed in through seals"? Look at this point I'm no longer salty, I'm just laughing at the very idea of trying to put bags around my bike and expecting anything other than total carnage as I drive on roads at 60 miles per hour. Just the very idea has me in stitches! (ah well kind of cheers me up a bit).

So what is it your looking for here? Just to vent?

If you have your ebike on the back of a car doing 60mph in wind and rain then don't come moaning on here when water gets into components.

You said you took precautions yet laugh off the idea of protecting your bike on the back of the car when hoofing it down the motorway.

I'll just assume you tanked a bottle of Pinot Noir for bank Holiday and felt emotional.

Sorry for the offense in suggesting something

 

[Derek carter]

So what is it your looking for here? Just to vent?

If you have your ebike on the back of a car doing 60mph in wind and rain then don't come moaning on here when water gets into components.

You said you took precautions yet laugh off the idea of protecting your bike on the back of the car when hoofing it down the motorway.

I'll just assume you tanked a bottle of Pinot Noir for bank Holiday and felt emotional.

Sorry for the offense in suggesting something

A little bit of a Vent yes ... but other people are still owners of Gen-1 bikes ... and for a Gen-1 owner investing in a 850 pound battery it's possibly useful to know their is still issues associated with a product even after ... hmm what is is now a second product recall for this exact issue I'm describing.

I fully understand the audience of EMTB ... it's in the title of the post. I know most of you have splashed out your 5-7 grand on the latest bike and 850 pounds on a battery is like chump change ... look down your nose and go "eeww still on GEN-1 no a real e-biker are you?"

The fact is that I'm probably a bit autistic ... on the spectrum anyway ... I'm T-total ... and I spent all night tearing down the bike battery to identify where water was getting into it before the water dried up and I could no-longer identify what the issue is with the product.

If you don't understand the issue involved in bagging up specific 'areas' of a bike and what would be required in order to keep any such 'bagging' in place for a considerable journey. Not to mention the possibility that in attempting to bag such areas I'd just create pockets for water to collect and possibly do more harm than good.

I think it's just as valid to suggest I shouldn't use the bike in the wet, to stay out of puddles ... and maybe not use it outdoors at all, maybe just use it for trips between the kitchen and living room? but you know at some point you've gotta point out when something isn't practical or just plain stupid. I'm sorry as I say, slightly autistic ... maybe I should thank you for you valuable suggestions and take on board the valuable input.

 

[Money Pit]

The thing is, the bike sounds like it survives it's rides out in the rain, yet dies after you mess around cleaning it.

So I'd advise you just clean it less liberally. Especially anywhere near the areas you're having issue with.

Bagging exposed areas while the bike is on the rack doesn't need to be particularly involved. Just a bit of tape and some old tesco might help stop it.

I'd just recommend anyone with a gen 1 kenevo avoids doing much with the battery outside of the bike. A gentle hose and brush down and avoiding bike racks in the rain / wet roads.

Good advice for any generation owner really.

 

[irie]

I suggest you get a good night's sleep then in the morning decide what you want to achieve and how to do so.

 

[Derek carter]

The thing is, the bike sounds like it survives it's rides out in the rain, yet dies after you mess around cleaning it.

So I'd advise you just clean it less liberally. Especially anywhere near the areas you're having issue with.

Bagging exposed areas while the bike is on the rack doesn't need to be particularly involved. Just a bit of tape and some old tesco might help stop it.

I'd just recommend anyone with a gen 1 kenevo avoids doing much with the battery outside of the bike. A gentle hose and brush down and avoiding bike racks in the rain / wet roads.

Good advice for any generation owner really.

Cool cool cool ... but again it comes back to Specialized not giving me any report on the initial failure, so I don't know what exactly it is when "I mess around cleaning it". So I spend all this time actually doing engineering to understand the problem, and communicate what I'm finding ... rather than vague suggestions of have your tried this or have you tried that ... if every two failures has a potential to cost between 600-850 pounds it's simply not sustainable to 'try this or try that'

The fact that you recommend that with the Gen-1 Kenevo you "avoid doing much with the battery outside of the bike" the battery is effectively bolted to the outside of the bike frame. The fact is on the second failure I did exactly what you suggest ... I avoided bike racks ... no car ... I rode the bike home and it died.

Look I know I write a-lot of boring words and cool just skim them and give me you opinion, without actually taking the time to read what I've wrote because hey that won't be annoying ... in any way in the slightest! I really really was trying to avoid being soo salty ... honest ... I might not read that way ... but I'm really trying just stay light and not get salty! HONEST HONEST HONEST.

 

[Derek carter]

The thing is, the bike sounds like it survives it's rides out in the rain, yet dies after

Your 100% right on this that's correct but the two incidents have been completely different on the care given to the components, after the ride, hence the need to stop "trying stuff" and actually investigate the issue to identify root causes, do some basic engineering.

 

[Money Pit]

I think you've been salty since 3am in the morning. That ship has sailed.

OK. So to conclude.. Your batteries get wet and fail. They don't die when riding in the rain but they die when you try to turn them back on after a wash.

I'll back out because talking to engineers is always pretty exhausting .

Good luck on your next steps.

 

[irie]

Your 100% right on this that's correct but the two incidents have been completely different on the care given to the components, after the ride, hence the need to stop "trying stuff" and actually investigate the issue to identify root causes, do some basic engineering.

How do you want to resolve this issue and how do you propose this objective can be achieved?

BTW I'm a postgrad Operations Research engineer so objective orientated.

 

[Mikerb]

from what you have described the answer to making your battery waterproof is..as you say...just epoxy over those LED holes. You lose the ability to determine battery state of charge but there are other ways to be a ble to see that with different controllers/screens.
The issue you are left with is whether the battery will come back to life once it is dried out. Fresh water usually causes no harm to electrical components themselves but the short circuit caused whilst still wet likely trips some form of fuse/set/reset component which is why the battery goes dead. Your story could have a happy ending if you could use your knowledge and expertise to get the battery working......and sealed....and then prove it remains reliable. That might be a good story to take to Specialized. You are not going to be defeated by a battery are you??

 

[Derek carter]

How do you want to resolve this issue and how do you propose this objective can be achieved?

BTW I'm a postgrad Operations Research engineer so objective orientated.

OK so first it's useful if I raise issues with existing products, this means both existing owners and people looking to potentially own the bikes and system components from say the second hand market know about issues associated with particular models and versions of bikes. Hence being soo annoyed at the warrantee replacements not identifying what was the issue associated with the failure which may have helped identify what I need to be weary off in future. I guess that's why I get annoyed at some of the pointless suggestions which steer the reader away form identifying the weakness in design and manufacture towards being associated with the user.

Next to highlight the steps taken by the manufacturer in this case Specialized to resolve the issues identified in a product. In this case they seem to have identified the problem, improved the manufacture but not changed the design which means there's still a weakness with this component. Cool I understand that it's not cost effective to re-design and retool the moulds for the battery case, re-design the button configuration to be hardened against water. However, poor design and manufacture should be highlighted so manufactures are encouraged to make better products, that perform better and last longer, as well as thinking about support beyond how to encourage everyone to buy next years model.

Also knowing about the specifics of the fault means I could take steps to avoid it reoccurring, basically from my investigation it's a risk using the bike in wet weather period. It maybe the LEDs is my other battery have much better seals but it's better if I can take actions to avoid using in the wet weather where possible. Not a great outcome it has to be said.

Finally now I understand what the issue is, and like Mikerb says, I can take additional steps to modify the component in order to harden it against water ingress beyond what was seen as economically viable by the manufacturer, especially in the locations of the battery buttons, but this is going to take some time and effort and I do have a day job .... .

 

[Derek carter]

Fresh water usually causes no harm to electrical components themselves but the short circuit caused whilst still wet likely trips some form of fuse/set/reset component which is why the battery goes dead.

The other issue often associated with water and circuits is voltage regulation, as you say hopefully I've caught and dried out the battery before any of the higher voltage circuitry has affected the low voltage logic circuits and components. OMMMMM!

 

[irie]

OK so first it's useful if I raise issues with existing products, this means both existing owners and people looking to potentially own the bikes and system components from say the second hand market know about issues associated with particular models and versions of bikes. Hence being soo annoyed at the warrantee replacements not identifying what was the issue associated with the failure which may have helped identify what I need to be weary off in future. I guess that's why I get annoyed at some of the pointless suggestions which steer the reader away form identifying the weakness in design and manufacture towards being associated with the user.

Next to highlight the steps taken by the manufacturer in this case Specialized to resolve the issues identified in a product. In this case they seem to have identified the problem, improved the manufacture but not changed the design which means there's still a weakness with this component. Cool I understand that it's not cost effective to re-design and retool the moulds for the battery case, re-design the button configuration to be hardened against water. However, poor design and manufacture should be highlighted so manufactures are encouraged to make better products, that perform better and last longer, as well as thinking about support beyond how to encourage everyone to buy next years model.

Also knowing about the specifics of the fault means I could take steps to avoid it reoccurring, basically from my investigation it's a risk using the bike in wet weather period. It maybe the LEDs is my other battery have much better seals but it's better if I can take actions to avoid using in the wet weather where possible. Not a great outcome it has to be said.

Finally now I understand what the issue is, and like Mikerb says, I can take additional steps to modify the component in order to harden it against water ingress beyond what was seen as economically viable by the manufacturer, especially in the locations of the battery buttons, but this is going to take some time and effort and I do have a day job .... .

You need to reduce the above 350+ words to a 3 statement action plan not exceeding a total of 60 words.

 

[Derek carter]

You need to reduce the above 350+ words to a 3 statement action plan not exceeding a total of 60 words.

Sorry but when they're dishing out the management cool-aid you can find me at the back of the queue!