Cellphone Battery on Music Player

My cellphone got wrecked some days ago: Now, is just a pile of plastic and toxic metals.

Recycling it will make a greener planet, but I don’t wanna do it. Not yet.

1) We don’t have a serious electronic-waste-recycling program in this country.

2) The battery don’t deserve to be scrapped yet, the phone was almost new.

3) I wish to recover some of the cost or the utility of my original device

Honoring my good friend’s memory, I converted it into a battery donor. The best receiver is my chinese music player: The big screen consumes a lot of power, and a more capable battery (in terms of Amperes) would be great.

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Volts and amperes for the layman

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Volts and amperes are usually described using a water pipe analogy: Voltage means the pressure of the water flowing through a pipe, and Amperage means water volume. But that explanation doesn’t mean very much on everyday life, that’s why I’ll put a a quick example for the layman:

(Click on the picture to enlarge)

Look at these three batteries, each one is labeled according to their capacity in Amperes / hour. What does that mean?

First battery provides 1 ampere / hour. The bulb next to it consumes 1 ampere, so it will remain lit for 1 hour.

Second battery provides 7 amperes / hour. The bulb next to it consumes 1 ampere, so it will remain lit for 7 hours.

Third battery provides 60 amperes / hour. The bulbs consume 2 amperes (1+1), so they will remain lit for 30  hours.

Now, what happens if the battery doesn’t provide enough amperage (i.e. 0.1 aH)? Our bulb may not even glow, battery runs out first. That’s why a washing machine will never run using AA cells!!

Finally, about the voltage:

On our example, with less than 12 volts our bulb will shine weakly.

13 volts, the shine will be a bit brighter (reducing the bulb’s life)

14 volts, the shine will be extraordinarily bright (bulb will last seconds)

15 volts and the bulb will turn into a candle inmediately.

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DANGER – PLEASE READ

1) Check your original music player battery. Use THE SAME voltage, or you may BURN the music player.

2) Do not try to connect the old battery in parallel with the new one. One will discharge into the other. Other dangerous consecuences may ocurr.

3) I’ve made this procedure using a Lithium-Ion Battery. I never tested any other type of battery.

4) DO NOT TRY TO USE Lithium-Ion Polymer (LiPo) Batteries! Explosion or damage may ocurr

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PS: The Volt and Ampere concepts are more technically explained on Wikipedia.

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Dismantling the player

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Get the adecuate screwdrivers / tools to open your pecific music player

Doesn’t matter if your player is an iPod or a chinese brand. Check Youtube first, there are  very good “how to disassemble” tutorials. Why? because on some devices the wires are wisely placed near the borders, the best place to break or tear apart them while opening the unit (very honest design!)

I’m not soldering anything here, I’m just pointing the battery connections. Before going any further, check the battery voltage (if the battery doesn’t have a label, check it using a multimeter)

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Read the battery labels, and go!

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Both batteries are rated at 3.7V.

Cut the old battery’s wires

Remember where the wires were connected. Also keep in mind the polarity: + side must be connected on+, and – side on -. Do it otherwise, and the player will burn.

Remove the old battery. If the new battery fits on the available space it would be great.

If not, find or make a pass-through hole to install the battery externally.

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Mounting the new battery

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I say again

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1) Check your original music player battery. Use THE SAME voltage, or you may BURN the music player.

2) Do not try to connect the old battery in parallel with the new one. One will discharge into the other. Other dangerous consecuences may ocurr.

3) I’ve made this procedure using a Lithium-Ion Battery. I never tested any other type of battery.

4) DO NOT TRY TO USE Lithium-Ion Polymer (LiPo) Batteries! Explosion or damage may ocurr

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Cut the wire excess and solder the wires on the new battery. I’ve used the terminals marked with + and -, but I recommend you to google for your specific battery pinout.

Apply some flux and solder on the electrodes first (as shown), to make it easier.

Do it quickly! Overheating the battery is dangerous

Last step: Fasten the battery using hot glue

(I know, that hot-glue gun is awful. Not mine.)

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Battery mounting

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Finished Work

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Recharge the player if necessary. Charging will take longer, but endurance will be increased too.

Hell yeah!

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