WM10 USB door and battery

[wvrick]

Wasn't sure, I did notice how they measured it included the shrink wrap that is excess to the batt length. I found a 850mah under the measurements but that would be a little shorter battery time. Too bad ML will not sell the batteries separate.

 

[Big Boys Hobbies]

Good pic! Brave guy to open that up!

 

[Roland58]

Good pic! Brave guy to open that up!

Not really, Bart. I just wanted to see if the battery was something that could be easily changed......and it can. The only problem is finding the replacement! I have found the battery, available through a wholesaler, but, the minimum order is 500 units! I haven't given up on finding one, yet.

Whoa! I think I have a solution!! First of all, for those of you that need to replace your USB port door, here is a better pic of what you will see inside with the door removed. It simply pulls off of the tab and the new one goes back with the slot over the tab.



Now, for the good part! We can use the batteries that wvrick found that are 6mm x 34mm x 50mm by simply removing one of the length restriction tabs (either end) and it will allow enough room for the longer battery. The printed circuit board simply lifts out of the back cover, nothing holds it in. This will give complete access to the angled posts that hold the battery and restrict the size. Using a Dremel moto-tool with the sanding head or a medium sized burr, or a heated blade on an Xacto knife, this portion of the holding tab could be easily removed, allowing space for the larger battery. There should be no problem with the battery moving around, but, if this concerns you, simply place a small strip of foam at the end of the battery. This will work......

The red arrows show the tabs that restrict the length of the battery in place...........



The long red arrows, again, show the portion of the tabs that restrict the battery length, the short arrows hold the width (pic without the battery in place)..........


A big thank you to all those that helped!

Edit: Bell-Two made a discovery on his WM10 that was giving a continuous flash while charging. He left his unit on to run down the battery and then recharged it. After doing so, one or more times, the charge light would finally come on solid. It was then I remembered that a Li-Po/Li-Ion battery needs to be charged/discharged a number of times before it will reach its' maximum capacity! I am going to run mine down and charge it a few times to see if that makes a difference. Of course, his could have been marginally close to full charge and his little exercise put it over the limit?? We shall see.

 

[wvrick]

Glad it worked out, I'll be picking up a spare when I get my CTX and it will be the do it yourself.