Lithium battery failing after 8 years of daily use.

[Mattb4]

No not a LiFePO4 but the lithium battery in my Kindle began to need more frequent charging and was showing signs of being not long for this world. Out of curiosity I did some internet searching and found that after market kits for replacing the battery exist as well as online videos going through how you do it.

Between a new Kindle and the battery kit is quite the difference in price and I like the simplicity of my old Kindle. Thus I ordered in the battery kit, which I received the day before Thanksgiving, and this morning I had at disassembly and battery swap. I will say this, Amazon really does not want people to replace the battery with how they put the Kindle together. You have to carefully pry all the snapped together parts apart and they are held with 2 sided tape to complicate the process. Than there is 7 little itsy bitty screws that I can only see with a magnifying glass to remove with my less than nimble arthritic fingers. After all that I found the battery almost permanently glued to the board so that prying it loose was a worry I would snap the circuit board.

Success! New battery plugged in, carefully reassembled (putting them itsy bitty screws back in was a real feat) and the Kindle turns On and Off. Should be interesting to see if the new battery lasts as long as the old one did.

 

[sunshine_eggo]

Most if not all tablet/phone manufacturers are like that now. They're designed to be compact and easy to assemble - not easy to work on.

 

[kommando]

Sounds very normal and like the efforts I have taken to replace a fixed battery.

 

[Quattrohead]

Same with the Bose Bluetooth speakers, the OEM one was knackered and swollen like a mother, it was one hell of a job to get out and replace. The replacement has been fine for over a year and working well.

 

[featherlite]

The battery failed on my previous MacBook laptop. The Best Buy geeks guys said to buy a new computer. Our IT support company said that they would not do the work.

So, I bought a new battery and found a very detailed installation manual.

Took me 8 hours to completely gut the computer in order to replace the battery. Thankfully, I did not lose any of the teeny screws or break anything. It was touch and go, but I finally got it put back together.

My new MacBook cost about $3,300. I dread the day when the battery fails.