Assembly of Di2

On Wednesday, January 29, 2020 at 2:27:29 PM UTC-8, wrote:

You can get the wires in or out by hand just don't push or pull on the wire itself. Make sure you feel it snap in place. Only at places were several wires are close together the tool comes in handy. Everyone who can read a diagram and can put a plug in a socket can put a test setup together in a couple of minutes; just lay all components on the table and connect the wires. I agree with you that the battery has to be really dead not to be able to make the read LED flashing. Is it even possible to order the wrong cables?
These are what you need :
https://www.bike-components.de/en/Sh...or-Di2-p29531/

Lou

It is nearly impossible to use the wire installation tool on the SH-785 levers. The groove for the entrance of the wire is nearly the same size as the wire. There isn't even room to get the connector through that part. Then it opens up but even that doesn't allow you to use the installation tool.
I assumed that they wanted you to use it at a slight angle but it wouldn't insert all the way using that method. I used the extraction end and with a great deal of trouble managed to get them "snapped" in.

But it shouldn't require any other connection to the stem junction other than power to allow it to work enough to get a light. The seller told me that it was operating fine when he sold it to me. I'll take him at his word even though he sort of misrepresented it saying that it was an Ultegra set when in fact the front and rear derailleurs were Ultegra and the rest 785.

I got the EW-7870S external wiring kit which turned out to be DuraAce and some of the connectors have four wires plus shield (which is used as the return line I suppose.) So, yes it IS possible to get the wiring incorrect. I haven't a clue what the four wires would be for. This old set is about as simple as possible. A 5 hole junction block would be fore adding TT bar-end shifters. My friend's Di2 uses a sort of "in-line" junction box" that zip ties to the rear brake cable as it passes into the guard on his titanium frame. The two wires going to the shifters are intrinsic to the junction box. That's about all I could tell from the pictures he sent me and he hasn't gone on any of the rides I've been on to check the last month. Well, it has been either raining or cold.

The one advantage I can see to the Di2 is that nothing charges. I get the Campy stuff working absolutely perfect and then two weeks later the damn thing is jumping gears. Yesterday I had my Lemond shifting perfectly and it shredded the front shift cable for reasons unknown. It looked like a wire in the center of the cable broke, the entire cable collapsed inward because of that, the end cap came off and the inner cable simply slipped out of the lock-screw. That's a new one on me.

Since I have an 11-28 I did the ride in the small ring. It turned to rain and so I was being careful But over 3,400 feet of climbing and 38 miles I got home at the normal time and with a 10.9 mph avg when my normal avg is 9.5 mph. So it appears that those power rides are making a large difference. I had been wondering if I was simply learning where to turn it on the hardest.