Shimano Battery Life Poll

[lightning]

That's good, mine is at almost exactly the same mileage, 1760, and Stunlocker claims the battery health is at 82%
l am using the slow charger, as supplied with the bike.
lt takes around six hours to fully charge the battery from a completely discharged state.

 

[WogsRus]

So this is the interesting thing I have the latest Etube professional PC software and use the PC02 interface, and the ETube app tells me that i have 100% battery capacity available.

ST unlocker and other, show 87%.

This is also after the new 4.1.6 updated software with ETube V5

SOOOOOOO now, the question is, id battery degradation real or is is all part of software glitches ????????????????//

 

[Spiff]

So this is the interesting thing I have the latest Etube professional PC software and use the PC02 interface, and the ETube app tells me that i have 100% battery capacity available.

ST unlocker and other, show 87%.

View attachment 72251

This is also after the new 4.1.6 updated software with ETube V5

SOOOOOOO now, the question is, id battery degradation real or is is all part of software glitches ????????????????//

Or....there is a third option: Shimano may have patched Etube to show always 100% of remaining capacity, independently of the real battery degradation.

If this is true, this would a serious issue that would bring legal charges against Shimano, may be Class Action Suits.

VW thought that they may get away with Dieselgate but...not.

 

[Zimmerframe]

Or....there is a third option: Shimano may have patched Etube to show always 100% of remaining capacity, independently of the real battery degradation.

This is what Spesh did at the start when all the dentists panicked and demanded new batteries as soon as they weren't 100% in Mission Control. The App was just changed to show 100%. They did rectify it last year.

 

[Spiff]

I tested my battery with Windows Etube versions 4.0.3 and 5.0.1, and:
** Etube V4.0.3 shows an image with FULL CHARGE CAPACITY = 90%
** Etube V5.0.1 DOES not show the FULL CHARGE CAPACITY

This is the "Mickey Mouse" fix from Shimano for their battery degradation issue: Instead of replacing in warranty the defective batteries that do not meet Shimano Specifications, they just remove the degradation test in the diagnostic. This is childish, I hope they do not get away with it.

 

[WogsRus]

Well what software is on your motor. My ep8 has the 4.1.6 and running v4 of the etube app I still can't see the battery degradation.

 

[Spiff]

Well what software is on your motor. My ep8 has the 4.1.6 and running v4 of the etube app I still can't see the battery degradation.

My motor is an E8000 at 4.8.0 (you can see it in the image), and the etube Windows is V4.0.3. I am using SM-PCE02

BUT your etube is V4.0.4, may be Shimano removed the degradation diagnosting starting your Version. Try to look for V4.0.3. Your etube V4.0.4 shows the message: "The function that displays the full charge capacity is under maintenance" , so for Shimano "Maintenance" means to remove it, ha ha

 

[WogsRus]

My motor is an E8000 at 4.8.0 (you can see it in the image), and the etube Windows is V4.0.3. I am using SM-PCE02

BUT your etube is V4.0.4, may be Shimano removed the degradation diagnosting starting your Version. Try to look for V4.0.3. Your etube V4.0.4 shows the message: "The function that displays the full charge capacity is under maintenance" , so for Shimano "Maintenance" means to remove it, ha ha

You got V4.0.3 i can download?

 

[WogsRus]

I AM APPPOLLLEEEDDDD MR Shimano. ETube 4.0.3 and hay presto 90% capacity

 

[gtaadicto]

My new BT-E8010 battery dropped from 100% to 90% health after 10 cycles
The old battery has 170 cycles, 86% health.

 

[WogsRus]

Yeah, seams it is all thesame and they all follow the exact same discharge cycle. 90% at 10, 87 at 20 and 83 at 30

 

[Spiff]

My new BT-E8010 battery dropped from 100% to 90% health after 10 cycles
The old battery has 170 cycles, 86% health.

When did you buy it?

 

[gtaadicto]

When did you buy it?

February 2021

 

[lightning]

They all do that, mine did it.

It doesn't seem to translate to a 10% reduction in range though.

 

[Spiff]

February 2021

Same as me, I bought my BT-E8010 on February 2021 and the capacity dropped to 90% at 10 Cycles. My old battery is 96% at 55 Cycles.

 

[lightning]

Well, after a 32 mile ride and 3,200ft of climbing my Shimano 504Wh battery is down to reserve power (eco only) which gives a remaining range of maybe one mile

ls that good? l mainly used "trail" set to medium, and rode as fast as l could most of the time, using the full assistance on hills, which only happens if you put a decent amount of effort in yourself.

 

[Pivot]

Well, after a 32 mile ride and 3,200ft of climbing my Shimano 504Wh battery is down to reserve power (eco only) which gives a remaining range of maybe one mile

ls that good? l mainly used "trail" set to medium, and rode as fast as l could most of the time, using the full assistance on hills, which only happens if you put a decent amount of effort in yourself.

I think that is normal. Med-Trail is 90% assistance. Putting good effort and climbing hills will use the battery quicker. Looks like a battery well spent
If you go to Lo-Eco setting 20% you would more than double, possible triple the distance, depending on input and hills

 

[Coolcmsc]

Shimano warrants these batteries to have 60% of the original charge after 1000 cycles. The battery life you're suggesting is absolutely terrible. So much so, that you might be in a warranty situation after 1000 charges. So keep that in mind! You've got me curious enough to check my own battery. How are you guys measuring it? The Etube app, or some other way? I can't use Etube as I'm using an old firmware and don't want it to update. Well, I suppose I can put the battery in a bike with an up to date firmware and check it.

Concerning the firmware update, when I use the ETube App I’m always given the choice as to whether or not to update. One update had bad press for a while which turned out to be a false alarm on the forums , so I didn’t activate the firmware update until I was convinced it was safe.
Of course, I know and understand that there are other reasons some avoid updating. So, in my experience anyway, Shimano hasn’t made it automatic so as to ‘attend to’ some of those other reasons.
You could also try the STUnlocker app which may also be able to interrogate the battery data…. It definitely doesn’t do any firmware updating.

 

[lightning]

My last firmware update was 4.9 which was showing as available on the E-tube app when l bought the bike in March 2021, and after downloading it prevented Stunlocker from being able to change wheel circumference and country of origin

 

[Spiff]

They all do that, mine did it.

It doesn't seem to translate to a 10% reduction in range though.

Then you are lucky, because everybody, including myself, is having a range reduction.

I record all my rides in a Garmin GPS, and I include manually the % of battery left, and if I compare the tracks of the same route when the battery was at 100% and now when the battery is at 90%, the remaining battery is now reduced.

 

[lightning]

l do have a reduction in range (after 45 charge cycles my battery is at 82%)

But the reduction is not 18%. lt's probably around half that amount or less.

When the battery health went to 90% after 10 charge cycles the range definitely didn't drop by 10%

 

[Spiff]

Yeah, seams it is all thesame and they all follow the exact same discharge cycle. 90% at 10, 87 at 20 and 83 at 30

Then my battery is following the script:

• At 0 Cycles it was 100%
• At 10 cycles it went to 90%
• Today it it 20 cycles and it went down to 87%

So my plan is to use it as primary battery (usage is about 4 cycles per month) so at 18 months it will have 60 cycles (And at 24 months 84 cycles) and probably the capacity will be below 80%.

Has anybody had his battery replaced in warranty by Shimano when capacity is below 80% before 500 cycles, as stated in Shimano specs?

 

[joxelitor]

l do have a reduction in range (after 45 charge cycles my battery is at 82%)

But the reduction is not 18%. lt's probably around half that amount or less.

When the battery health went to 90% after 10 charge cycles the range definitely didn't drop by 10%

When my battery life went down to 81% life I bought a new one and made again the test on my range test circuit: a climb of 5.4Km (3.4mi), concrete al 7% rate , same bike, tyres, speed, gear, cadence, tyre pressure, same everything but the battery.

Range was increased only by 8% (total loss of range was 35% aprox) That was a BIG dissapointment for me, as i was convinced of the great degradation of the old battery.

The old battery at 81% life as stated by the Shimano App, only was giving me 8% less in range in comparison with a new battery.

After much researching, the 2 main reasons for the loss in range were: motor degradation (16%), and activation of the light in firmware wich reserves energy for the light (12%) an detracts from the motor assit. In total 12+16+8 = 36%

The I focused on maitenance of the motor and disabled the light, ad yeahhh! the range was almost recovered, except for the 10% of the battery drop

Attached i have a test in range before and after motor maintenance with the same OLD battery at 83% life (¡yes the life has increased form 81% to 83%, who knows! that Shimano software for the life estimation is a piece of crap)
The ligh remains ON in this test, so expect another 12% in range increase with light disabled.
Mode ECO 60% assist, bike + biker = 105Kg

 

[WogsRus]

When my battery life went down to 81% life I bought a new one and made again the test on my range test circuit: a climb of 5.4Km (3.4mi), concrete al 7% rate , same bike, tyres, speed, gear, cadence, tyre pressure, same everything but the battery.

Range was increased only by 8% (total loss of range was 35% aprox) That was a BIG dissapointment for me, as i was convinced of the great degradation of the old battery.

The old battery at 81% life as stated by the Shimano App, only was giving me 8% less in range in comparison with a new battery.

After much researching, the 2 main reasons for the loss in range were: motor degradation (16%), and activation of the light in firmware wich reserves energy for the light (12%) an detracts from the motor assit. In total 12+16+8 = 36%

The I focused on maitenance of the motor and disabled the light, ad yeahhh! the range was almost recovered, except for the 10% of the battery drop

Attached i have a test in range before and after motor maintenance with the same OLD battery at 83% life (¡yes the life has increased form 81% to 83%, who knows! that Shimano software for the life estimation is a piece of crap)
The ligh remains ON in this test, so expect another 12% in range increase with light disabled.
Mode ECO 60% assist, bike + biker = 105Kg
View attachment 73247

View attachment 73249

What is the motor maintenance you are talking about please?

 

[Strindberg]

With my three BT-E8010 à 504 Wh and each >>> 88% with 66 cycles
and without the both Light Functions I have a big drop of 45 kilometers ,
this being measured a lot of times in the heat of summer this year and last year
and exactly by the same komoot tracks !

Last year I had the light ON and with 40 minutes

If these 88% by 66 cycles were only a software artifact, Shimano would have easy fixed it for YEARS.

 

[WogsRus]

And just like clockwork. 20 charge cycles and bag, 87% health FFS. Shimaaanooo what are you doing.

 

[joxelitor]

With my three BT-E8010 à 504 Wh and each >>> 88% with 66 cycles
and without the both Light Functions I have a big drop of 45 kilometers ,

Range loss is real of course and is THE big problem of Shimano in my opinion
I realized this when I got 35% loss in range in only 1 year of use and 3500 Km. After much much debugging, and time lost in visits to the workshop, my conclusion was: do not consider the battery as the unique reason for range loss.

-Motor degrades too, and degrades much!
-Connectors degrades too, and affect greatly to the system performance

I have about 8% of life drop in 70 cycles , to put this in clear: for me It´s a disaster, considering that the battery is specced at 20% drop in 500 cycles.

A drop of 8% in usable capacity for assist, over 70 cycles, means maybe 57% in 500 cycles.
And this means that at 500 cycles, battery could retain only 43% of it´s life.
A LiIon Cell in considered dead at 60% of it´s initial capacity, and before that, it´s internal impedance would have increased reducing range even more.

Add motor degradation and no service from Shimano and we get to the point of buying new motor + battery each 2 years if you want to keep the range.

 

[WogsRus]

SO, if we had our time again, what motor battery combo/manufacturer would you go with?

 

[Spiff]

SO, if we had our time again, what motor battery combo/manufacturer would you go with?

In September 2018 before buying my ebike I did a motor comparison and the winner was Shimano: More powerful, lighter, smaller. But then Bosch Gen4 was released. If I were to buy a new bike now I'd chose Bosch. And that's what I am telling to my friends that are planning to buy an ebike.

I am fed up of the Shimano battery issues and the lack of spare parts and maintenance kit for the Shimano motor and also that the Shimano fix for any minor issue is to replace the whole motor and spend 1150€

 

[WogsRus]

In September 2018 before buying my ebike I did a motor comparison and the winner was Shimano: More powerful, lighter, smaller. But then Bosch Gen4 was released. If I were to buy a new bike now I'd chose Bosch. And that's what I am telling to my friends that are planning to buy an ebike.

I am fed up of the Shimano battery issues and the lack of spare parts and maintenance kit for the Shimano motor and also that the Shimano fix for any minor issue is to replace the whole motor and spend 1150€

Wish I knew this when I bright my and the wife's bike. Both full Shimano and ep8. Except the wife has the bigger battery