ipod battery replacement
This afternooon I didn't have that much to do at work. I also received my ipod replacement battery kit today. I thought I'd replace the battery, and document how it went. As usual, pics available at flickr
In the kit I received a set of instructions, 2 nylon "screwdriver" tools, and a new 850mAh battery suitable for a 3G ipod.
With the tools you have to wedge them between the white and shiny metal casings, in the centre of one of the longer sides. This is more difficult than it sounds. It's very important you use nylon tools, as metal tools will scratch and possibly dent your ipod. This took a couple of go's, and I ruined one of the tools ends while I was at it. The kit suggested you resharpen the ends of the nylon if you did this. Luckily, I didn't ruin the 2nd tool, and got the cover prised off.
Next step was to pull the hard drive out. The ipod hard drive is connected by a little socket connector mounted on a piece of copper. It just pulls straight off.
This is just a shot of the ipod open - hard drive not yet removed.
Hard drive removed - the black box is the old battery
To remove the battery, you just pull out the little connector. It comes off easily. The wire for my battery was pushed under the mainboard, so required a bit of movement to be removed. The battery then comes out.
To fit the new battery, it was quite important that I thought about the orientation. My new battery has longer and thicker wires than the original, so placement was important. I had to get the wires back under the mainboard, then fold the cable over so the connector could get back into the socket.
Hard drive goes back in - no dramas whatsoever. Well, getting the connector back on was a bit fiddly, but it only took about 15 seconds for me to sort it out.
It's quite important how the cover goes back on as well. You have to be careful not to catch the new battery wires in the cover or you could break the wires.
Complete!