Coin Battery

D

davidceder

Member
Region
USA
City
Payson, Arizona
I have a 2021 Turbo Creo SL Expert EVO. I was wondering if anyone can inform me as to the purpose of the 1620 coin battery in the TCU. I am having some trouble with the bike and I noticed that when I removed the battery the bike still turned on and the the different modes operated normally. Is it for bluetooth?

Thanks
 
TCD battery is to keep the info inside the control unit up and running as it does not get power from the main battery.
the main battery turns the bike on and off.
hope I understand your question and answering it correctly.
 
Nxkharra said:
TCD battery is to keep the info inside the control unit up and running as it does not get power from the main battery.
the main battery turns the bike on and off.
hope I understand your question and answering it correctly.
Click to expand...
He meant the TCU (Turbo Control Unit), the controller on the top tube. I wonder what the answer is!
 
davidceder said:
Just for clarification the "TCD" is a small add on computer the "TCU" or "Display Interface" is the integral part of the bike. Correct?
Click to expand...
The proper names are:
TCD = Turbo Control Display (wireless)
TCD-w = Turbo Control Display (wired)
TCU = Turbo Control Unit.

TCU is the integral part of all SL e-bikes as well as all Specialized e-MTBs.
TCD is an optional display that connects to the TCU, and can easily be replaced with a Garmin Edge or Wahoo ELMNT (GPS bike computers)
TCD-w is the integral part of full power Vado or Como. The TCU functionality is implemented in these e-bikes in a way obscure to the user (that is, there is no visible TCU).

@Nxkharra is experienced in the full power Vado and tried to be helpful, which we all appreciate!
 
Here is what Specialized said. Not much help. Not looking to fix my problem, I think I took care of that just wanted to know about the battery. I am curious if it dies on me while on a ride what that means. Might just be a good idea to change it once a year.

"Hey,

Thank you for reaching out.

The 1620 battery is actually used to power the TCU itself, not bluetooth.

If the TCU still displays anything when turned on and without the coin battery that is interesting..

I would recommend taking it into a specialized dealer if your troubles continue. They are able to run diagnostics with our turbo studio app which helps pinpoint any problem and relay the data back to our turbo team

Best,

Ezra | Specialized USA Rider Care"
 
davidceder said:
Here is what Specialized said. Not much help. Not looking to fix my problem, I think I took care of that just wanted to know about the battery. I am curious if it dies on me while on a ride what that means. Might just be a good idea to change it once a year.

"Hey,

Thank you for reaching out.

The 1620 battery is actually used to power the TCU itself, not bluetooth.

If the TCU still displays anything when turned on and without the coin battery that is interesting..

I would recommend taking it into a specialized dealer if your troubles continue. They are able to run diagnostics with our turbo studio app which helps pinpoint any problem and relay the data back to our turbo team

Best,

Ezra | Specialized USA Rider Care"
Click to expand...
I think that is an excellent question. And actually, I don't know if my Creo also has a coin battery or not. And if a small, tiny, mini coin battery failure can bring the entire bike down, I would not be happy.
 
They are not clear about its need or function. I guess one could remove the battery and see what happens? Can the bike be started and the modes changed? But, yes, the Creo has the battery, too. And, of course, it is an odd size or, at least, not the rather than the more standard 3022.


Clipboard01.jpg
 
So, the common battery is a 2032 and the Creo uses a 1620 battery of which I have some about to be delivered. Cheap enough on Amazon or Ebay. By the way it is almost impossible to remove the battery. The manual states to use tweezers but it is impossible to retrieve it. As soon as the tweezers enter the battery slot which is recessed they close making it impossible to grasp as the slot is SO narrow. I messed with it for an hour and finally used a toothpick to lower the small silver retaining clip which stays out of the way and than I tapped the TCU on a piece of 2 X 4 until the battery dislodged a bit and I could grab it. Specialized must have a VERY special tweezer.

The problem I was troubleshooting was that on two rides the bike would power up in sport mode as normal but than I could not change gears with the buttons or mode switch either up or down and the only way to power the bike off was to hold the power button for 30 seconds. I tried it several times with the same results and procedure to get it to power off. I thought the battery might be low and I was not getting the low battery indicator. My bike guy checked for TCU updates but I was up to date. (the entire bike was). He could not work on it and he knows I like to tinker so he gave me a spare TCU to try to fix my problem.

I replaced the TCU and at least on the stand the bike powered up and down as normal and I could change assist modes. I removed the battery from the new TCU and all was still well. Good power up/down and able to change assist modes and I did get the low battery indicator on the TCU. I put my TCU back in and the bug was still there. I disconnected the original TCU, took the battery out and let the TCU sit for 5 minutes unconnected on my work bench. The battery measured 2.92V, so I think it is ok. I put the original TCU back on the bike without the battery and it looked as though it was ok and working as normal. (I sort of felt I was dealing with the Windows operating system and had to reboot the system) I powered off, put the original battery back in and it still seems ok, at least at a bench test level. So that is where I am today. It is too nasty to go for a ride but I need to do that and I will also remove the battery again and pay more attention to how the display looks. My problem might not be gone but I need to do a good ride to find out.

So, none of this answers what I really want to know "what does the battery do?" At a minimum I want to be sure I have a functional bike if the battery completely fails. Even if you carry a spare battery it would be difficult to change on the road.

Sorry this was so long and I bit confusing.
 
Sounds as if even if I wanted to see if the bike works without the coin battery, getting it out might be a real hassle. I just had to replace the coin cell in my car's key fob - another royal pain as once separated, the guts scrambled all over the floor under my desk. I guess it is like my microwave when the light bulb died "No user serviceable parts inside - Here be dragons!"

I also did not realize that at least 500 companies make coin cells most of which get terrible ratings on Amazon!
 
Don't you think guys you worry too much? :) While everybody here is interested how it works without the coin battery, shouldn't we just be happy, ride, and only solve issues as they come? I'm sure the coin battery would last at least for two years, and low battery would be reported long before it is totally flat!
 
Hey Stefan;

Don't take away all our fun. That's not fair. Too cold and rainy to ride here so we need other things to do.........Not worried about stuff just curious.....😎 Good to know how things work so when they don't we understand them. But you know that!
 
davidceder said:
Hey Stefan;

Don't take away all our fun. That's not fair. Too cold and rainy to ride here so we need other things to do.........Not worried about stuff just curious.....😎 Good to know how things work so when they don't we understand them. But you know that!
Click to expand...
Massive snowfall here! I need to ride to the shopping mall for coffee capsules. I'm rather worried how my Vado SL (with winter tyres) would behave in deep snow :D One thing is for sure: the coin battery won't leave me down this time! :)
 
One good thing David is now we know that battery-less TCU will allow starting the SL e-bike in the default assistance mode. Meaning, I need to change the default assistance from Eco to Sport. Just in case!
 
I plan on doing a bit more testing with the battery out and will do a better job of documenting the results. Anyway just like my smoke alarms I will change the coin battery on some annual schedule just to avoid any issues.
 
davidceder said:
I plan on doing a bit more testing with the battery out and will do a better job of documenting the results. Anyway just like my smoke alarms I will change the coin battery on some annual schedule just to avoid any issues.
Click to expand...
Just purchased two 1620's from the local store. Not going to gamble on the hundreds of Amazon knockoffs!
 
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