Post by starkindler on May 12, 2003 20:51:07 GMT -5
This info is thanks to Goofather over at ppx.net. He posted Aletheuo's guide.
Note: it has been advised that those unskilled with soldering get a local electronics repair shop to do that bit for them. It should be short work for pocket change.
SK*-MOD
How to turn a Minolta Dimage Xi (np-200) battery into a BE battery
1) Obtain a 750mah np-200 battery. Note: there is word that there's a 600mah one, too. Be sure to obtain the 750. Try ebay. (I bought mine from onlybatteries.com on ebay)
2) Cut the case off the np-200 by using a jack knife. There is a "cutting guide" already. Just follow the line around it. Cut all the way through the outer edge through to the metal jacket of the cell. Be careful around the contacts as you could potentially short out the cell. Just use caution.
3) The case is still stuck to the cell using double-sided sticky goop on both top and bottom flats. Start on the side opposite contacts and pry the two pieces apart by inserting your knife blade in along the cut and twisting gently. Do this same process on both long sides, too. Being careful not to damage the PCM (the contacts are part of the pcm) totally remove the outer plastic case. Remove the sticky goo with paint thinner. Isopropyl won't work. If you don't remove the sticky goo your battery will be too thick to fit in the BE.
4) Back-up your BE (definitely do this because you're going to have the 1899 problem occur)
5) Remove back cover of BE. Remove Casio battery and connector. The connector needs to be pried gently on both sides. I used the pair of scissors on my leatherman micra. Be careful not to scratch the circuit board and not to break the connector! (as an option here you could skip to step 6 and never unplug the connector. I don't recommend this but a broken connector is hard to replace as they don't seem to exist yet - your choice)
6) Warm up your soldering iron.
7) Expose the PCM on the original BE battery (hereafter called the OEM) by pulling back the blue shrink wrap and carefully cutting the black plastic wrap on one side of the PCM. I say carefully here because there are contacts that you don't want to cut. (although your battery is probably dead and therefore you don't have to be too careful because you don't care if it becomes unusable)
8) Remove leads from OEM using your hot soldering iron. Just touch the tip to the tip of the lead and voila!
9) Put flux on the large NP-200 PCM contacts and hold soldering iron on for 5-10 secs to prepare for good solder joints.
10) Put a drop of solder on each large contact and then put your wires on and melt on using the soldering iron. Note: contacts are labelled V+ for red and V- for black. For the seniors among us you may have to put on your glasses to see these labels.
11) Cover one side of the new battery with ONE LAYER of black electrical tape (see photo for the way I did it). Don't tape around the PCM because you need all the length to get the battery back in.
12) Plug in the new battery into your BE and turn it on. If all goes well you'll notice that your date is at 1899. (we'll fix this later) Plug in the BE and see if charging is working correctly. Perhaps you might want to charge/drain a couple times with battery outside in case there's a problem - it won't destroy your BE that way.
13) Insert new BE battery with black tape up (towards screen so it doesn't short on the circuit board). You will probably have to put your red wire on the other side of the headphone jack because it's too short otherwise. This is no problem.
14) Replace the back cover.
15) Use PC Connect to restore factory defaults (this is to fix the 1899 date problem) Set the date to proper one when you do this.
16) Restore your backup you made in step 4. Double-check that has fixed the 1899 problem.
17) Rejoice. You just saved a wack of money.
Aletheuo
SK*-MOD:
there are threads on this issue both at ppx.net and be-central with members reporting success with the replacement process.
I offer many thanks to those who searched and those who experimented.
Note: it has been advised that those unskilled with soldering get a local electronics repair shop to do that bit for them. It should be short work for pocket change.
SK*-MOD
How to turn a Minolta Dimage Xi (np-200) battery into a BE battery
1) Obtain a 750mah np-200 battery. Note: there is word that there's a 600mah one, too. Be sure to obtain the 750. Try ebay. (I bought mine from onlybatteries.com on ebay)
2) Cut the case off the np-200 by using a jack knife. There is a "cutting guide" already. Just follow the line around it. Cut all the way through the outer edge through to the metal jacket of the cell. Be careful around the contacts as you could potentially short out the cell. Just use caution.
3) The case is still stuck to the cell using double-sided sticky goop on both top and bottom flats. Start on the side opposite contacts and pry the two pieces apart by inserting your knife blade in along the cut and twisting gently. Do this same process on both long sides, too. Being careful not to damage the PCM (the contacts are part of the pcm) totally remove the outer plastic case. Remove the sticky goo with paint thinner. Isopropyl won't work. If you don't remove the sticky goo your battery will be too thick to fit in the BE.
4) Back-up your BE (definitely do this because you're going to have the 1899 problem occur)
5) Remove back cover of BE. Remove Casio battery and connector. The connector needs to be pried gently on both sides. I used the pair of scissors on my leatherman micra. Be careful not to scratch the circuit board and not to break the connector! (as an option here you could skip to step 6 and never unplug the connector. I don't recommend this but a broken connector is hard to replace as they don't seem to exist yet - your choice)
6) Warm up your soldering iron.
7) Expose the PCM on the original BE battery (hereafter called the OEM) by pulling back the blue shrink wrap and carefully cutting the black plastic wrap on one side of the PCM. I say carefully here because there are contacts that you don't want to cut. (although your battery is probably dead and therefore you don't have to be too careful because you don't care if it becomes unusable)
8) Remove leads from OEM using your hot soldering iron. Just touch the tip to the tip of the lead and voila!
9) Put flux on the large NP-200 PCM contacts and hold soldering iron on for 5-10 secs to prepare for good solder joints.
10) Put a drop of solder on each large contact and then put your wires on and melt on using the soldering iron. Note: contacts are labelled V+ for red and V- for black. For the seniors among us you may have to put on your glasses to see these labels.
11) Cover one side of the new battery with ONE LAYER of black electrical tape (see photo for the way I did it). Don't tape around the PCM because you need all the length to get the battery back in.
12) Plug in the new battery into your BE and turn it on. If all goes well you'll notice that your date is at 1899. (we'll fix this later) Plug in the BE and see if charging is working correctly. Perhaps you might want to charge/drain a couple times with battery outside in case there's a problem - it won't destroy your BE that way.
13) Insert new BE battery with black tape up (towards screen so it doesn't short on the circuit board). You will probably have to put your red wire on the other side of the headphone jack because it's too short otherwise. This is no problem.
14) Replace the back cover.
15) Use PC Connect to restore factory defaults (this is to fix the 1899 date problem) Set the date to proper one when you do this.
16) Restore your backup you made in step 4. Double-check that has fixed the 1899 problem.
17) Rejoice. You just saved a wack of money.
Aletheuo
SK*-MOD:
there are threads on this issue both at ppx.net and be-central with members reporting success with the replacement process.
I offer many thanks to those who searched and those who experimented.