LTWOO ER9 & ERX - Electronic groepsets

[Udeson]

Hi Serge_K, the pistons are the ones inside the calipers. The levers don’t have pistons; they have membranes that hold the mineral oil and allow it to be pushed into the hoses to close the calipers. Are these the parts the mechanic told you were faulty?
It also happens with Shimano that these membranes can fail, especially if you try to push the caliper pistons back in without opening the bleed screw on the lever to let the air escape.
The same thing happened to me when I was younger: I damaged the diaphragm of a brake lever on my scooter while retracting the piston to change the pads.

EDIT: I said something wrong at the beginning — there is a piston in the lever as well.

The cylinder on the shifter also have a (one) piston. When you press the lever the lever moves the piston of the cylinder to build-up pressure pushing the oil to the pistons of the caliper. Maybe it is just a wording thing here and some would call it rod but piston... Just want to clarify that there is a moving mechanical part in the cylinder which could be a possible cause for problems.

[Pupilorutero]

I've been looking at the new ERX V3 brake calipers. I currently have the previous ones that came with the V3, which require those weird adapters.
I asked 80 Designer Store what the weight difference is between the new ones and the old ones, and they said it's around 70 g.
Has anyone bought the new version of the calipers and been able to compare them?

Also, one question I've been wanting to ask is whether you can use other brake pads, like Galfer pads, with these calipers.

[jonathanf2]

That's what I said :-) It only makes sense for this case. If you setup your bike build for the first time you do not need to change wheels as you can adapt chain length right from the start fitting your setup. I only want to avoid misunderstanding that someone thinks swaping of pulley wheels in general is performance boost :-)

I'd still swap out the pulley wheels at least with the stock cage (haven't tested the new OSPW). My reason being, I felt shifting was tighter using Shimano's pulley wheels and there's less chance of chain drop from over shifting. I've tested both configuration on really bad downhill road conditions and the Shimano wheels were superior in that regards.

[clubber]

I'm running 50/34 and 11-34 with v3 ER9 - no issues from that setup though it took a good bit of fine tuning (though I don't think that related to the ratios).

[jonathanf2]

I've been looking at the new ERX V3 brake calipers. I currently have the previous ones that came with the V3, which require those weird adapters.
I asked 80 Designer Store what the weight difference is between the new ones and the old ones, and they said it's around 70 g.
Has anyone bought the new version of the calipers and been able to compare them?

Also, one question I've been wanting to ask is whether you can use other brake pads, like Galfer pads, with these calipers.

I'm using both Wheeltop and ZTTO/ZRace XG flat mount calipers on my two eR9 equipped bikes. The difference is about 70g. The old style LTwoo calipers are heavy, though I've never had an issue with braking. On my eGR bike, weight isn't a big issue and I do find the older style calipers are easier to align with less than perfect brake surface mounts.

[jonathanf2]

Anyone bite the bullet on the ERX deal with upgraded flat mount brake calipers?

The ERX is maturing nicely and there seems to be less issues with the groupset.

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256805518052674.html

[Lotnik]

Anyone bite the bullet on the ERX deal with upgraded flat mount brake calipers?

The ERX is maturing nicely and there seems to be less issues with the groupset.

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256805518052674.html

I did but it still waits for installation. New brakes and a good deal on Ali convinced me. 

[jonathanf2]

I've been following the ERX threads lately and it definitely seems like they fixed the biggest initial headaches. Those new calipers were a necessary move, the early ones had some mixed reviews about power and modulation.

Are you planning to run it with the stock rotors or swap them for something like Shimano/SRAM ones? I'm tempted by the deal too, but I'm still on the fence about the long-term reliability of the shifters.

I was tempted, but I didn't buy it. Both my ER9 groupsets are still working fine. I actually had no issues with the older brake calipers, but I swapped them out. On one bike I'm using ZTTO/XG calipers (early bird AliEx special for $30 usd) and on the other Wheeltop calipers (got them for free). It's more than a 60g weight reduction per caliper.

I'll see if the next LTwoo update will make me upgrade. 

[pavlo.k]

I recently swapped ER9 v1 that was pretty much flawless for over 12k km with ER9 v3 and on my third ride a weird thing happened. The drivetrain just bricked about 15km into the ride and become completely unresponsive: clicking buttons, reconnecting cables had no effect. I though that it somehow drained the battery even though it was fully charged 2 days prior.  The only thing that brought it back to life is connecting a charger. The battery level was 97% and I was able to complete the ride without any issues afterwards. What could have caused it? I kept my old battery and cables from v1 since they didnt cause any troubles. If it was a cable issue, reconnecting the cable should have solved it but it looks like the drivetrain went into the "deep sleep" like how it comes from the factory and you need to "activate" it with a charger

[Rajmundx]

I recently swapped ER9 v1 that was pretty much flawless for over 12k km with ER9 v3 and on my third ride a weird thing happened. The drivetrain just bricked about 15km into the ride and become completely unresponsive: clicking buttons, reconnecting cables had no effect. I though that it somehow drained the battery even though it was fully charged 2 days prior.  The only thing that brought it back to life is connecting a charger. The battery level was 97% and I was able to complete the ride without any issues afterwards. What could have caused it? I kept my old battery and cables from v1 since they didnt cause any troubles. If it was a cable issue, reconnecting the cable should have solved it but it looks like the drivetrain went into the "deep sleep" like how it comes from the factory and you need to "activate" it with a charger

Have you figured out what caused that situation?

[pavlo.k]

Have you figured out what caused that situation?

No. However there was a discussion a few pages back with exactly the same problem and this seem to solve it:

Batteries probably still need a proper charge. I'd just get an external charger and try charging them that way. I notice with ER9/X if the battery power is below a certain point after being idle for awhile, they need external charging.

I took mine out and used an external charger. It was showing that they are fully charged and I just left them in the charger for a few hours. No idea if it's going to help though. My battery was in use constantly, was never idle for more than a week and worked without any issues with ER9 v1 for over a year.

[jonathanf2]

No. However there was a discussion a few pages back with exactly the same problem and this seem to solve it:

I took mine out and used an external charger. It was showing that they are fully charged and I just left them in the charger for a few hours. No idea if it's going to help though. My battery was in use constantly, was never idle for more than a week and worked without any issues with ER9 v1 for over a year.

I would just double check to make sure all your connectors were attached securely. That's the only thing I could think of that would put it into deep sleep requiring the charging cable to activate the groupset. Perhaps there was also a silent revision to the battery holder? Maybe use the ERX battery holder instead of the one from the ER9.

I've been waiting for my ER9 v1 to brick, but so far it's still running strong. I've been tempted to go with the new ERX w/flat mount brakes, but can't justify it with a perfectly running groupset.

[pavlo.k]

I would just double check to make sure all your connectors were attached securely. That's the only thing I could think of that would put it into deep sleep requiring the charging cable to activate the groupset. Perhaps there was also a silent revision to the battery holder? Maybe use the ERX battery holder instead of the one from the ER9.

I've been waiting for my ER9 v1 to brick, but so far it's still running strong. I've been tempted to go with the new ERX w/flat mount brakes, but can't justify it with a perfectly running groupset.

Cables were definitely correctly plugged and if they weren't, reconnecting would have waken the drivetrain up. If you disconnect any of the cables and then connect them back the drivetrain immidiately wakes up. So I'm pretty sure the problem is somewhere else. If it happens again, i will try different batteries and maybe a different battery holder but my current battery worked prefectly for more than a year and it would be quite a coincidence if it suddenly died after i swapped the drivetrain.

V3 has some nice features but I'm now beginning to regret the change after it almost ruined a ride on what was a single warm day in weeks.
I will also ride with a front light that doubles as a powerbank in case i need to wake the drivetrain up again

[UnicycleSkid]

Have been having similar issues with my v3 eRX. Currently waiting on some response from Panda Podium. For me seems to be related to either pot holes or wet connectors despite the potential deeper seating on v3 cables.
Frustratingly also has some trouble once it's bricked with accepting charge with a USB C to C cable, would maybe double check your front light can actually wake it up.

[pavlo.k]

Have been having similar issues with my v3 eRX. Currently waiting on some response from Panda Podium. For me seems to be related to either pot holes or wet connectors despite the potential deeper seating on v3 cables.
Frustratingly also has some trouble once it's bricked with accepting charge with a USB C to C cable, would maybe double check your front light can actually wake it up.

For me it was 3 dry rides and no washing. How can I check if my powerbank can wake it up? It does charge it