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I've been using a pair of wireless headphones for some years now and the batteries are pretty much near the end of their life span, so what's the problem?
The problem are the batteries. Philips wants you to use their recharcheable batteries. What happens if you use other batteries? You get a perfomance drop; shorter battery life and an extremely reduced charge rate when placed in the base.
What makes their batteries special? Nothing much really, the only difference is that the batteries have an area near the negative terminal that is not insulated like the rest of the battery.
This terminal simply bypasses the reversed diode (zener? I didn't check) reducing the voltage drop on one of the batteries and I'm pretty sure that on the PCB there is another diode/zener for the other battery (why not just hot glue it like the other one? I didn't bother checking).
Here you can see the "special" terminal that conects to the battery case (anode) to bypass the diode.
This is how the battery interfaces with the contact terminal. Oh, look! A warning label!
And here you can see the complicated solucion to this problem, a pair of wires to permanently bypass the extra circuitry. Of course, this could also be a protection measument if you decide to use non-rechargeable batteries, but as I never place the headphones in the base when I'm using normal batteries because... well they're not rechargeable!
Hope someone finds this usefull! Happy hacking!
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Philips SBC HC8545 headphones
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19 comments:
Just use Sony Headphone...
(Promoting Sony)
It's a Sony...
Do please visit my blog...
I love your blog...
I really dont see why they have their own batteries. I would assume that they are just 1.2v. A google search shows that no one knows anything about them. The shortened sleeve could be for recharging them. Kinda like the 3rd terminal on most batteries (whatever that terminal is for).
I would think that you could use normal batteries in them. slight voltage change shouldnt damage them. its only .6v more
Really? it is true? i could never understand why companies like that uses the 'apple technique', it is to create own stardards and just annoy the buyers...
I have a Sony Earphones with exactly same system. You only need no peel a few of plastic cover on normal recargeable battery.
You could just skin your battery at the bottom. Remove the plastic sleeve a bit.
Also Sony Sucks. They sue hackers and hide DRM and rootkits in their music discs. AVOID SONY AT ALL COST!
I dont think that.
This has been a fairly common trick for years -- Sony used it in most of their Discmans, numerous FRS radio manufacturers have used it. They do it to keep their devices from trying to charge discharged Alkaline batteries if they're placed into the unit and the unit is plugged into its charger.
The simplest solution is to take a utility knife and simply slice the lower part of the label off of a generic NiCD/NiMH battery, pop it in there and you're good to go!
First I want to apologize for my english.
You don't have to do all that tedious work to replace the old batteries.
If you look carefully you should spot the difference between the original philips batteries and an ordinary batteries, this is, part of the lower plastic covering of the phillips batteries is missing.
You just need to remove part of the lower plasctic covering from the new batteries.
I've got a philips headphones with this system for almost 5 years and I changed the batteries 2 o 3 times using the method described before.
Interesting. I've got a few sets of Varta 15 minute charge batteries, and that uninsulated band is how the charger knows that the batteries are Varta fast charges, not normal batteries.
When you say that the charge time is significantly decreased with third party batteries, is is possible that it is a safety feature to prevent overloading standard batteries?
The diode could be a temperature sense used to terminate charge e.g. see wikipedia NiMH page, search for temperature charging method
I love Philips headphone because it is durable and it really have a great quality. My headphone is almost five years now and still it rocks.
Cool promotion. I use to have a set of them.
Thanks a lot! I lost the original batteries and have been trying for a while before looking for a manual and reading about "shortened sleeve batteries" Almost threw it in the garbage bin. Thanks again.
Thanks for the advice. Had same problem with recharging my headphones with replacement Ni-MH batteries. Cut the bottom of the sleeve off the new batteries and now works like a charm.
I have this type of proprietary battery in AA size. How do i use it on other devices? I cant charge the batteries with regular charger. It is from goFrontRow microphone. Google image has it. Take a look.
How do i use it on other devices?
The label trick worked wonders on my new batteries. I appreciate the tips here, almost put my headset through the fucking wall in frustration when it wouldn't charge properly.
Dear all, there is a charging port and I don't have the cable. Anyone has the cable, could you please put its photos ? Thank you.
Hi there, Thanks a lot. You can always peel of the plastic at the end of your new battery so that it touches the correct spot.
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