"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - PowerTap Corrosion?

So my PT died on me a few weeks ago, and I finally got around to replacing the batteries in the hub. When I opened up the casing, there was some greenish/chalky stuff on the chipset, not good!

Also there was some rust-colored crap & moisture on the batteries themselves & the contacts.. After trying to clean it off with a q-tip and putting in the new batteries, still nothing from the PT.

I've only had the damn thing since January, and while I've done quite a few rain rides with it, I didn't think that could kill the unit like this. I hadn't opened it up yet, so the cap should have been on as tight as possible.

Should I be opening up the hub unit and making sure it's dry from time to time, or some kind of maintenance on it?

Anyone else run into this issue?

scrape the battery contacts with something a bit more abrasive... like some sandpaper or something rough..

That sucks! I have done a few rides in the rain with mine, although none were torrential, and I haven't had that problem. Email Saris, they may get you a replacement since they didn't assemble it correctly.

On another note, which battery brand are you using? I've had to replace mine three times since December. =/

So my PT died on me a few weeks ago, and I finally got around to replacing the batteries in the hub. When I opened up the casing, there was some greenish/chalky stuff on the chipset, not good!

Also there was some rust-colored crap & moisture on the batteries themselves & the contacts.. After trying to clean it off with a q-tip and putting in the new batteries, still nothing from the PT.


I've found that once that happens, the battery unit is done for. I have one sitting in my parts box that looks like that right now. I actually had a crimp in the o-ring during a rainy ride that allowed water to get in, so it was really my fault. Fortunately, I had an extra battery unit from a previous issue.

If you call Saris and tell them you'd never opened it and only had it 6 months, they'll probably drop one in the mail immediately (which is probably Tuesday at this point) in the long weekend. They sent me one just cause that little blue wire broke off on one end - even though that wire doesn't actually "do" anything except give you something to pull the batteries out by.

Which model do you have?

Thanks for the answers - I'll be contacting Saris soon, and hopefully they will take care of it.

The LBS gave me some "photo/electronic" batteries, but they're alkaline and one of hte Saris manuals said that (I think) you should'nt use alkaline batteries if you want long battery life. Does Saris sell replacement batteries? What kind/brand do they use anyway?

I've got the Pro+ model, wireless.

Sorry to hear about the problems. You should probably leave the cap off it and set it by an AC vent in your house overnight.

I've submerged mine and ridden in a lot of crazy rain storms with no problems. My three main training partners ride in the same conditions, and they've had no problems.

That's what you get for living in Seattle :p

Toothbrush and a little cola? (like car batteries) :p

So the PT is working again as of a few days ago - LBS said they just slapped in new batteries and it worked. wtf?

They didn't clean it off any more than I did so it still has a tiny bit of corrosion on it, but I can live with that as long as the PT lives.

At this point I don't even care why it wasn't working before (user error?), I'm just happy to see power data again..

That's good to hear - I have been wondering about the rain issue for when I rehab mine back into existence.

I don't recall what the official word on it is- but I know that I was using dielectric grease for keeping the water out of the hub on my PTPro.

Alkaline batteries will die quickly. Like under a month.

Alkaline batteries will die quickly. Like under a month.

So what kind/brand of batteries does Saris use? Or what do people buy to replace with?

The LBS put in alkalines, so I should probably start shopping for some new batteries.

what kind of batteries do they take?

try some lithium maybe.

From the manual:

Battery Type (Hub) Type 357 or EPX 76 (2 ea)

So what kind/brand of batteries does Saris use? Or what do people buy to replace with?

The LBS put in alkalines, so I should probably start shopping for some new batteries.

Energizer EXP76 is what mine had in it from Saris.

I'm having random drop isssues and they sent me 2 new battery holders for the hub. As I'm still having the issues though fewer of them, I'll probably throw the new carrier in tonight and hope the hub can't sense the presence of actual racing and crap out on me again.

Use #357 Silver Oxide for the hub batteries.

http://www.saris.com/pdfManuals/308.pdf

Energizer EXP76 is what mine had in it from Saris.

I'm having random drop isssues and they sent me 2 new battery holders for the hub. As I'm still having the issues though fewer of them, I'll probably throw the new carrier in tonight and hope the hub can't sense the presence of actual racing and crap out on me again.

Apparently there is a sensor in my hub that detects racing and shuts it down.:twitchy::crash:
Dead when I pulled it off the rack, swapped battery carriers and it pops to life only to die the second I put all my available power to the cranks. Batteries still at 1.57 volts each.

Pull it apart when I got home and it works again. Spin it up this morning still works. :notamused:

Back to Saris it goes today. If all goes well they'll turn it quickly and I'll have it back by next Thursday for the of my stage race. Fingers crossed

Guess I'll be working on glueing my tubulars this weekend in case it doesn't.