How to replace a iAudio X5 battery

In this video we replace the standard battery of my iAudio X5 mp3 player (which was nearly dead) with another battery bought on the internet.
The new battery is not original but it's really cheap and almost the same capacity than the previous. Most important, it's nearly the same size (just a little bit thicker).
I did this because iAudio Italia has disappeared and I didn't find anyone willing to fix my X5. I didn't want to send my player to Korea or Switzerland to fix it and I didn't want to buy another one, I always thought this one is amazingly good and way better than iPods and such! (If it wasn't for the tech support, of course!)
The player now works fine, the playtime is about 7 hours. Before this replacement I had to warm the player up to make it start and the battery lasted 2 hours if you were careful (no song skipping, no shuffle...).
Now... it's a new player! Well, at least until the mechanics give up!
Besides the risk of breaking stuff (some thin wires, connectors, pins, dropping the hard disk in a meat grinder by accident etc) it's not a hard soldering!

edit: Some useful links
This is the battery I bought:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.3840
This is where I found most of the informations about battery replacing:
http://www.iaudiophile.net/forums/showthread.php?t=10538
(That's a long thread - there are some summaries near the end!)
The battery looks silver because I removed the black plastic case. I wrapped it in tape at the end to avoid short circuits. I kept the protection circuit, anyway. I cannot guarantee you this is a safe move, but my player is alive, I use it often (walking, driving...) and the new battery lasts a lot!
I also put RockBox in it!

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• iaudio
• x5
• battery
• replacement
• how
• to

[DonConstantinos]

is the link for the battery right until today...?just to be sure...

[barattolo]

Yes, it still points to the battery I bought

[zzappy]

la batteria del nontendo ds è da 3.7v, mentre sulla docking station dell'x5 c'è scritto dc input 5.0v. non dovrebbero esserci dei problemi di incompatibilità?

[barattolo]

Sono mesi che ho quella batteria e nessun problema!

Comunque mi ricordo che avevo misurato il voltaggio della vecchia batteria e mi pare fosse intorno ai 3.7V. Tieni presente comunque che il voltaggio della batteria cambia a seconda della carica, e a 3.7V e' praticamente morta, quando e' completamente carica e' a circa 4.15V

[larrylml]

my attempt to play this video yields a fast forward playback in which the audio is garbled.

is there a way to correct?

thnx,

larry

[barattolo]

It is meant to be like that. The audio was just me and my friend gossiping, you aren't missing anything. Also, it is in italian :-)

The (few) important things are written either in the description or in the video itself.

The original video was also very long (20 mins or such) so I cutted it and made it faster. I know this isn't the best video ever and the fixed camera sucks, but it is the only of his kind (that i know of) and there is really nothing more to see if you slow it down!

[kenbquik]

any ideas how to obtain and change a battery for the iAudio 7? Please let me know. Desprate! Thanks!

[thevalidators]

Folks, today I replaced my X5 battery with a sonny ericsson mobile's battery, I don't remember the battery model but it's size was exactly like the X5 original battery. (let me know if anyone needs it's model as I have to open it again)

The battery specification is 3.7 V / 900 mah.

There is no need to test the poles to find the positive one as it already has the signs, second it is covered with kinda plastic frame to prevent any sort of short circuit.

It is working perfectly.

[DonConstantinos]

THX MAN very helpfull video!

[cactusduo]

How is the battery lifetime now? Has it decreased a lot, or is it still about 7 hours?

[revjimign]

Excellent instructions guys! Thank you!

The extra ~1.3V are needed to "pump" the charge.

I soldered the red wire to the (+) terminal and black wire to (-) terminal on the circuit of the DS battery. (Check polarity of the original connection if in doubt!) The terminals are the metal squares visible on the unopened DS package. The circuit becomes visible once the DS battery package is open (unwrap the sticky label and gently push the battery out of the plastic frame). Insulate the package.

[abmiddlebury]

You can get a battery made for the IAudio X5 on EBay, just do a search.