SW-EN600-L controller with EP6 not working

[ole]

I have a bike with Shimano EP6 motor with a SC-5003 all-in-one display and a separate power button unit on the frame.
Tested a SW-EN600-L unit on my bike to be able to get bluetooth and use the E-Tube app, but I couldn't get it to work.

• SW-EN600-L won't turn on the bike with EP6
• Shimano lists SW-EN600-L as compatible with EP6 on their webpage
• My SW-EN600-L unit works fine on another bike (with EP801)
• If SW-EN600-L is plugged in while bike is on, then I get connection with E-tube app, but it stops me with an error and says remove incompatible unit SW-EN600-L
• I initially tested without the separate power button connected as I have read that the system can't have two units with power buttons, but as for testing, I tested both with and without.

Not sure if I'm missing something here. Any ideas?

 

[ole]

I figured it out eventually...

I wrongly believed all EP6/EP801 used Gen2 systems, so I just searched up the SW-EN600-L and didn't take notice of the Gen1 vs Gen2 in the compability list. It turns out Gen2 is reserved for Shimano-batteries only, and all partner battery systems are on Gen1. I have a non-Shimano battery, and looking at the Gen1 compability list the SW-EN600-L is indeed not compatible.

This search to get bluetooth on my ebike has really made me hate Shimano ebike systems. I love their engines, but they are terrible at the compability and the lack of bluetooth. The only supported upgrade path from SC-5003 is the SC-EM800 (with SW-EM800-L) which cost around 400 euros only to get me bluetooth.
There are no sensible reasons why the SC-5003 doesn't have bluetooth support, or why the SW-EN600-L should not be compatible unless using Shimano only Gen2 system. These systems cost hundreds and hundreds of euros, and then they cheap out on bluetooth connection. I didn't even think to check it properly when I bought the bike as I took it for granted.

 

[Gster1954]

Why can't you use the ew-en100 to get Bluetooth and ANT+ on your Shimano Gen1 bikes?

 

[ole]

It's not on the compability list, so I'm not sure if it would work. It also uses SD50 connection while EP6 and SC-5003 uses SD300 connections. There are lot of compability issues when mixing things, as this post also shows. Would be interesting if you have any examples of people who have made it work with the next gen EP6/EP801 with SD300.

I ended up with spending around 400 euros on SC-EM800 + SW-EM800-L + extra SD300 cable (between switch and controller). It now works fine, but I'm a bit furious to why they didn't just make a SC-5003 version with bluetooth instead.