Battery replacement

I find it hard to throw something away when it needs repairing, I understand the cost of man hours vs price of new equipment, all this to ask is it possible to split the case on a CLIP & replace the battery? I am very adept at soildering & miniture work. Thanks for your time.

Here’s a thought:  buy a 1GB and harvest it for spare parts.  :wink:

http://forums.sandisk.com/sansa/board/message?board.id=clip&message.id=12167&query.id=122096#M12167

-Matt

And the answer is, yes.

But you likely won’t need to do so for 3-5 years plus.

@sansamatt wrote:

Here’s a thought:  buy a 1GB and harvest it for spare parts.  :wink: 

This sounds like a good idea at first, but the Wikipedia article about Li-ion bettery shelf-life doesn’t look too reassuring:

A unique drawback of the Li-ion battery is that its service life is dependent upon aging (shelf life). From time of manufacturing, regardless of whether it was charged or the number of charge/discharge cycles, the battery will decline slowly and predictably in “capacity”. This means an older battery will not last as long as a new battery due solely to its age, unlike other batteries. […]

Yes,  but we are not using a Li Ion battery.  It is a Li Polymer battery:

Wikipedia Li Polymer battery

Ah, OK then. I thought I had heard somewhere it was a Li-Ion. My mistake.

Anyway, I no longer worry about the fixed battery. I’m sure by the time it needs replacing, SanDisk will have something 10 times better to offer. :smiley:

@eliasf wrote:

Ah, OK then. I thought I had heard somewhere it was a Li-Ion. My mistake.

 

Anyway, I no longer worry about the fixed battery. I’m sure by the time it needs replacing, SanDisk will have something 10 times better to offer. :smiley:

That was my one concern also, when deciding to purchase the Clip (It would have been so easy to manufacture it with a replaceable battery)- as I like things to last a good long time, and I knew that the battery would be the weak link. But considering the quality of the Clip and the use I’ve gotten out of it for it’s cost of $50.- I am not disappointed, and like you say, by the time mine dies (I only need charge mine once every two weeks or so- so it’ll likely last 5 years) I will probably want something more than a 2GB anyway. (I kind of already do want more capacity!)

Lithium ion polymer batteries aren’t that different from standard lithium ion cells. They can be much thinner and designed in many different shapes and perhaps have slightly higher power density, however they are still basically lithium ion batteries.

http://www.batteryuniversity.com/partone-5.htm

i wish Sandisk would use a standard removable 18650 lithium ion battery to power its future high capacity mp3 players. The 18650 batteries are around 2400 mah at 3.6 volts, retail for only around $5 each, and can be charged one or 2 at a time in a charger that retails for only around $10. The 18650 battery is only slightly larger than a AA battery, yet holds more than twice as much energy as a 2900 mah AA nimh battery. I wonder if pc connectivity, charging circuitry, and internal flash memory is removed from the player design(except perhaps a tiny bit for player settings? so it is a Slotmusic player, but still has a basic display, perhaps a player could still be small(but not so thin) and use an 18650 battery? It would be cool if the player came with an external 18650 charger and two 18650 batteries.

How about using a standard sized inexpensive removable battery and design the player around that, rather than designing a weird shaped proprietary battery to fit around the other player components?

@jk98 wrote:

Lithium ion polymer batteries aren’t that different from standard lithium ion cells. They can be much thinner and designed in many different shapes and perhaps have slightly higher power density, however they are still basically lithium ion batteries.

 

[…]

 

How about using a standard sized inexpensive removable battery and design the player around that, rather than designing a weird shaped proprietary battery to fit around the other player components?

Two points for your consideration:

First, you can extend the “shelf” lifespan of these batteries considerably by storing them in your refrigerator (not freezer).  It would be prudent to seal them to protect from humdity/condensation.

Second, my understanding is that the Clip uses the same battery as the tiny (no-display) model Ipod, for which aftermarket replacement batteries are readily available.

I still think the ten buck 1GB Clip is the best deal going for replacement parts – you get a battery, a clip, two case halves, switches, an OLED display, and, a logic board.  Pretty hard to beat that kind of deal IMO.

$10 one gig Clip? I see them being sold for around $35. Who sells them for $10? Do you mean broken ones being sold on Ebay?

$14 shipped at buy.com, for recertifieds …  http://www.buy.com/prod/sandisk-sansa-clip-mp3-player-1gb-recertified/q/loc/111/210490112.html

(Amazing–that’s the cost of some silicon cases for the player, and less than some USB AC adapters!)

@miikerman wrote:

$14 shipped at buy.com, for recertifieds …  http://www.buy.com/prod/sandisk-sansa-clip-mp3-player-1gb-recertified/q/loc/111/210490112.html

 

(Amazing–that’s the cost of some silicon cases for the player, and less than some USB AC adapters!)

I’d have to move to the States to qualify for that. That should entail some additional cost… :smileyvery-happy:

Could someone state the specifics (part number, power ratings, etc.) for the battery in a Clip?  The closest thing to that said so far is speculation that the battery in a Clip is the same one in an iPod Shuffle.  Also, to tap on something said earlier – it might be cool if future Sansa models had the model of lithium (slightly larger than a AA) mentioned, however considering that the Clip series and some other future generations are smaller than a AA cell…  :angry:

 The problem is that lithium polymer batteries are typically proprietary. They are designed to be in an unusual shape to fit the empty space in the case. So even if you find  batteries with the same voltage and amp hours, good luck trying one that will fit in the space. Often a lithium polymer battery is also soldered directly to the circuit board, and trying to solder another one is extremely difficult without damaging the circuit board.

The only problem with that caveat is that people ARE using the batteries sold for the little Ipods in their Clips.

Although I would agree that if someone is incapable of soldering a few pigtail leads they should probably delegate the task to someone else.

Since my gf’s roomate’s dog chewed my Rev.2  4GB clip up I decided to finish the job she started and open it up. The battery has the following information on it:

BAK 363830P 3.7V

8JHZ8H27 330mAh

Hope that helps.  

Hello,  People speak of replacing the batteries, but I’m baffled as to how to open the device?  Can someone please advise?

David

http://anythingbutipod.com/2007/11/sandisk-sansa-clip-disassembled/

and

http://www.anythingbutipod.com/forum/showthread.php?t=55110&highlight=disassembly

David10101 wrote:

Hello,  People speak of replacing the batteries, but I’m baffled as to how to open the device?  Can someone please advise?

 

http://anythingbutipod.com/2007/11/sandisk-sansa-c​lip-disassembled/

and

http://www.anythingbutipod.com/forum/showthread.ph​p?t=55110&highlight=disassembly

as for me, you can use portable USB charger to replace the battery…

just plug the USB, and let the power flowing from external battery, but i don’t know, how long the battery will last.

here is the link from duracell : http://www.duracell.com/en-US/product/instant-usb-charger.jspx