Other than introducing the new 12 speed components for the Focus Paralane, there are other parts that are essential for the whole system to work.
Being a semi-wireless electronic shifting system, there are still Di2 wires running inside the frame. The shifters themselves are wireless, but the rear derailleur and front derailleur are connected to and powered by the central battery inside the frame.
Basically, the battery will power the rear derailleur and front derailleur via two Di2 wires. The rear derailleur communicates wirelessly with the shifters. Front derailleur is activated indirectly, via the rear derailleur to battery to front derailleur. Di2 wiring layout is shown at the end of the post.
EW-EC300 is basically a charging cable that connects a USB-A port to the rear derailleur charging port.
This connector will be attached to the rear derailleur during charging. The rear derailleur will charge the Di2 battery via the connected Di2 wire.
Internal Di2 battery, with updated firmware to support the latest Di2 protocols. Size and shape is exactly the same as the previous BT-DN110, just with a different colour for differentiation.
New battery has 3x smaller SD300 ports, instead of 1x SD50 port.
Weight is the same as previous, at 52 grams.
For my setup, I considered the length of the Di2 wires needed, to ensure that there is enough length for me to remove the seat post (with internal Di2 battery) from the frame seat tube.
In other words, the Di2 wire from the rear derailleur to the battery needs to be at least the distance from the rear dropout, to the bottom bracket, and up to the top of the seat post. As for the other Di2 wire from the front derailleur, it needs to go into the frame and up till the top of the seat post.
If these two lengths are sufficient, the Di2 wires will be long enough for me to remove the seat post, while the Di2 wires are still connected to the rear and front derailleurs.
Based on my measurements and some additional buffer, I chose a length of 1200 mm and 600 mm, for the rear and front derailleurs respectively.
Di2 wires come with many cable ties clipped on. Purpose is to prevent the wires from rattling inside the frame. However, these cable ties make it impossible to insert the Di2 wires, so I removed all of them.
1200 mm Di2 wire
Instead of having a separate tag on the wire, the length is printed/laser marked onto the insulation.
I took this opportunity to compare the size of the old SD50 wire and the new SD300 wire. The new wire is slimmer and has a smaller connector to make it easier to thread through internal routing holes.
Side by side comparison of the connectors. New connector is much smaller, being only slightly larger than the wire diameter.
Connector has been redesigned to become even smaller.
SD50 connector diameter is about 5.1 mm...
New SD300 connector is more than 30% smaller, at just 3.4 mm diameter.
SD50 wire diameter is 2.7 mm.
SD300 wire diameter is slightly smaller at 2.3 mm.
Dummy plug for SD300 port shown on the right. Comes with the battery and also shifters.
Weight of 1200 mm + 600 mm SD300 Di2 wires is just 15 grams, very lightweight.
Di2 wiring layout for 12 speed Focus Paralane. Wireless connection between shifters and rear derailleur.
The slimmer SD300 Di2 wires are nice, but also means that the older Di2 wires cannot be used, unless you get an adapter to join the old and new wires.
Make sure to use the dummy plugs to seal up any unused ports to prevent water ingress. For a wireless setup like mine, you need to plug 1x port on the battery, and 2x ports on EACH side of the shifter.
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