Di2 Push Button Switches?

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I am looking to add sprint and climbing switches to my Di2 set-up. What switches are recommended or have been used?

TIA

Tim

[jever98]

Thinking about the same things - my favorite right now are the Cateye remote buttons - thin, not too big, can be glued on.

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They look great. Just ordered two sets. I'll post how I like them.

[pritchet74]

Yup. Those are awesome. I have a them on my road setup. My TT setup will have 4 pairs of 'em.

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OK, I have the switches on the tops mounted and they work like a charm. Where is the best place for the sprint switches? I know right near the bottom of the hood covers, but not sure to put them below, cut into the covers, etc. Any suggestions from experience?

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Here are a couple snaps of my buttons. I don't have the sprint buttons permanently mounted as I'm still optimizing placement.

Climbing - tops




Sprint - drops

[pritchet74]

Where is the other button for the top? Or did you just split the pair and put one on top and one for the sprint button?

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The left button shifts the rear derailleur to a larger cog, the right button to a smaller cog. The buttons on the top and the sprint buttons are wired the same way. I ran the wires through my bars as they have internal channels.

[Ypsylon]

Will SRAM make the leap?

[pritchet74]

Will SRAM make the leap?

Too funny. I was thinking the same thing!

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I know, makes me laugh too. I am running a SRAM cassette at least.

[BMANX]

I think Sram is sitting back and seeing what everyone is doing with the Di2. Looking at all of the modifications being done and what is possible. They will integrate all of these modification into one hell of a slick set up. If you look at the Di2 modifications being done there is a ton of improvement that can be done and if someone other than Shimano is paying attention and was smart enough to have a few systems in their position, they could do such a better job.

[BikeTech]

The left button shifts the rear derailleur to a larger cog, the right button to a smaller cog. The buttons on the top and the sprint buttons are wired the same way. I ran the wires through my bars as they have internal channels.

Very nice. I'm waiting for my Cateye buttons to arrive, because I'm going to replicate your setup, at least for the buttons on the drops (I've already got the Shimano dedicated climbing shifter). I'm assuming you spliced the buttons directly to the front wiring harness. If so, can you give any pointers for the Cateye buttons? i.e. which colored wires on the Cateye buttons should be spliced to which colored wires on the front wiring harness, etc. Thanks in advance!

[colorchange]

I cant remember but I pulled up the thread with the wiring diagram and used that. By memory, green and red, think black for common. Don't remember which was up and down.

[goodboyr]

I just did the wiring connecting the Cateye buttons to the STI shifters extra plug using the Shimano extension cables. The Cateye buttons come as pairs. You cut off the little junction connector and you've got a pair of cables, one for each button. Inside the cable is an uninsulated wire, and an insulated one (either red or white depending on the button). The Shimano extension cable has 4 wires : blue, red, black and green. Connect the two Cateye uninsulated wires together and to the green shimano wire, connect the red Cateye wire to either the red or black shimano wire, connect the white Cateye wire to either the red or black shimano wire that was not connected to the red Cateye wire. Blue wire is not connected to anything. So, in summary:
Cateye wires Shimano Wires
Bare Green
Red Red
White Black

Since the cateye buttons are separate, once you connect things up, push the buttons and you will see which is up and which is down. The nice thing about the Cateye buttons is that they have the number 1 or 2 on the button, making them easy to identify.

A couple of tips.
I soldered and heatshrinked all connections. The wires are so small that twisting is not a great connection. Each of the wires appears to have a small plastic fibre type wire running intermingled with it. So the trick i used was a cheap battery powered soldering iron. I used that to melt the insulation, melt the plastic fibre, and tin the leads all in one shot. Made doing the connections very easy.

Be very careful removing the outer sheath from these cables. The wires inside are small and easily nicked and damaged. As well, use the tip above to melt off the inner insulation covering individual wires, don't try to mechanically strip and pull the insulation, you'll just break off the wire too.