New 10th Doctor Sonic Screwdriver Universal Remote

[NakedMoleRat]

I must have gotten my replacement battery right before the lock. I just got it about a week ago in the mail. I'm glad that I contacted them when I did. I haven't tried to open that beast up yet, still too scared to do so. I need autopsy pictures.......

 

[phez]

Just throwing this out there, there is really no need to pry the top handle assembly apart to change that battery. I just unscrewed the bottom spread the plastic piece apart with a fingernail and worked the battery out carefully. Un-solder, replace, push plastic housing back together and screw the bottom on,done. About 10min

 

[RayR]

Just throwing this out there, there is really no need to pry the top handle assembly apart to change that battery. I just unscrewed the bottom spread the plastic piece apart with a fingernail and worked the battery out carefully. Un-solder, replace, push plastic housing back together and screw the bottom on,done. About 10min

View attachment 840684
View attachment 840685

nicely done. I have a soldering iron but I've never sodded anything and that looks far too delicate for me. I'd be afraid to ruin the circuit board.

I've got another one that may need attention soon, I wonder if I can find someone who can do the solder for me. Perhaps a mom-and-pop computer repair store. BTW, what battery did you use and where did you find it?

 

[phez]

unsolder the wires on the battery end, no chance of wrecking the board.

I got the battery from wand company but any of the ones in this thread should work.

 

[Almizilero]

Just throwing this out there, there is really no need to pry the top handle assembly apart to change that battery. I just unscrewed the bottom spread the plastic piece apart with a fingernail and worked the battery out carefully. Un-solder, replace, push plastic housing back together and screw the bottom on,done. About 10min

View attachment 840684
View attachment 840685

Damn, I can't believe how easy this is. I went the other way and it left some marks. Well, that scratched Sonic has a lot of character now. And I got a brand new one where I can change the battery like this, should it become necessary. So many thanks for posting this!

 

[RayR]

The battery is a 3.7 volt lithium polymer battery. 140 mah if I recall correctly. They're pretty easy to come by on ebay and fairly cheap too. Taking the sonic apart is the biggest pain. After that though it's just 2 solder joints to undo the old battery.

Thanks for the info. You can see by the picture I posted earlier it is only 35 mAh. It is impossible to find here in the states. Now with Wand Co No longer changing out the batteries I have no option. In fact they told me last week that the last batch they switched out all failed on testing. They are out of batteries and will get no more so they’re sending my sonic back eventually and refunded me immediately… Which was great.
No longer changing out the batteries I have no option. In fact they told me last week that the last batch they switched out all failed on testing. They are out of batteries and will get no more so they’re sending my sonic back eventually and refunded me immediately… Which was great.

I have now purchased a basic soldering kit and purchased a basic soldering learning kit. I have the tools I will learn. And after an extensive search I have found what I think will work for a battery. That’s what I really want to share now. They’re on Ally express. I found a 90 mAh 3.7v that measures 26 mm x 9 mm x 3.5 mm. Fairly cheap and free shipping so I ordered five of them. I’ll update when I have more information or six success. This is the picture from their advertisement.

 

[dcarty]

I gave this a shot as well and managed to stumble my way through. I got the same battery as Voo45doo. As usual "your mileage may vary" and I encountered some things that I wasn't prepared for so I thought I'd throw these into the mix: The bottom can be unscrewed but mine was threadlocked with superglue so I had to break it free which was a little nerve wracking but I wrapped it with enough duct tape to prevent any damage. Also the factory battery was stuck to the board with industrial foam tape and was kind of difficult to pry off and wrangle out of the cramped space simultaneously.

It's always difficult to gauge how much force you need to apply so that you don't tear the thing apart -- I turned the battery to mush getting it out. I had to remove the top of the new battery where the contact leads are located so I could solder it and in doing so I think one of the leads broke in half leaving just enough material to solder to. Additionally, as was noted, this battery is wider than the factory battery -- only by about 1.5 mm but it's enough to where now it won't slide up or down when you put it back together.

Trying to decide if I should look for another battery or try and adapt the housing :-/

 

[RayR]

Thanks for all that information! Very good to know.

 

[Ericjones296]

What’s the TWC?

 

[NakedMoleRat]

What’s the TWC?

The Wand Company. Makers of the remote, and a few other items of awesome!

 

[Zoba]

Hi there. My sonic has the usual problem of where it doesn't hold charge anymore and only works when plugged in. But I have noticed that the activation button does not click anymore and is very sensitive to touch. I was wondering if there was anyone that could fix these issues for me.. I'm up for paying for tge service too thanks

 

[Angelus Lupus]

Hi there. My sonic has the usual problem of where it doesn't hold charge anymore and only works when plugged in. But I have noticed that the activation button does not click anymore and is very sensitive to touch. I was wondering if there was anyone that could fix these issues for me.. I'm up for paying for tge service too thanks

I have the exact same problem.

 

[Almizilero]

Hej guys, since one of my sonics was quickly dying and the replacement battery I got from TWC was dead as well, I looked around and found this one:
https://www.conrad.de/de/renata-icp...ismatisch-kabel-lipo-37-v-35-mah-1214022.html
I just ordered it and will let you know if it's any good when it arrives.

Regarding the button: I had the same problem with one of mine from the start, TWC told me that this couldn't be repaired and sent me a new replacement.

 

[RayR]

Hej guys, since one of my sonics was quickly dying and the replacement battery I got from TWC was dead as well, I looked around and found this one:
https://www.conrad.de/de/renata-icp...ismatisch-kabel-lipo-37-v-35-mah-1214022.html
I just ordered it and will let you know if it's any good when it arrives.

Regarding the button: I had the same problem with one of mine from the start, TWC told me that this couldn't be repaired and sent me a new replacement.

That looks exactly like the ones I ordered from Ally express. I got five for what you’re paying for one. But that was about six weeks ago I put in the order. It takes for ever to get these from China. I am looking forward To hearing how you do with yours. Hopefully you can give me some pointers on replacing it.

 

[Almizilero]

That looks exactly like the ones I ordered from Ally express. I got five for what you’re paying for one. But that was about six weeks ago I put in the order. It takes for ever to get these from China. I am looking forward To hearing how you do with yours. Hopefully you can give me some pointers on replacing it.

Yeah, I thought it was crazy expensive, but as a test shot I wnted to get it quick. Well, I got it now and it kinda works, if not perfect. It's much shorter than the original, and broader.



So I first tried if it would fit at all, which it did, even though the plastic would bulge a little. (I went the easy way, unscrewing the metal end piece and prying the little plastic tube open.)



So I soldered it in and only then noticed that the little bulging would be a problem after all. I only tried if it would slide with with the plastic tube, but when I screwed the metal end piece back in, sliding became a bit hard. It works, but it's not to great to operate with the thumb.



So, I'll leave it like this for now, since it's my backup sonic that already suffered one battery replacement (the hard way, prying off the top, which left quite some marks).
If my other one dies, I'll look for a different battery.

 

[RayR]

I got my battery today. The top one is the original the bottom one is just a bit shorter and a bit wider but I've already put one in and it fits just fine. I'm in the process of reassembling.
I cannot imagine how you or anybody manages to do that solder inside open split tail end of the Sonic how do you even reach that point? I have to do it the old-fashioned way and take it all apart.

 

[NakedMoleRat]

Would you mind posting some pictures of how are you taking it apart? I need to change my battery, but don’t want to damage my sonic.

 

[RayR]

That request is quite a bit too late. There are complete instructions on safe disassembly in this thread.

The short version is unscrew the bottom silver cat, which if you're lucky is not glued on. Next use a n exacto knife and inserted between the aluminum and plastic body on the emitter side to gently pry it open. If you're lucky you'll be able to simply work the plastic body off it's only snapped in place. But some of them are very tight and difficult to get off. Just take your time and be careful and don't start digging at the plastic with a screwdriver or something.

At that point you'll have a plastic tube with the emitter on one end and the charging port on the other. There are two snap in place tabs that you can pop open gently using the tip of your exacto knife to press down. When you'll see it you know what I mean. There are a lot of pictures in this thread. In a previous teardown I posted a lot of pictures that should help.

You may want to take pictures yourself of the disassemble so you know how to put it back together again.

 

[RayR]

Yeah, I thought it was crazy expensive, but as a test shot I wnted to get it quick. Well, I got it now and it kinda works, if not perfect. It's much shorter than the original, and broader.

View attachment 966576

So I first tried if it would fit at all, which it did, even though the plastic would bulge a little. (I went the easy way, unscrewing the metal end piece and prying the little plastic tube open.)

View attachment 966578

So I soldered it in and only then noticed that the little bulging would be a problem after all. I only tried if it would slide with with the plastic tube, but when I screwed the metal end piece back in, sliding became a bit hard. It works, but it's not to great to operate with the thumb.

View attachment 966577

So, I'll leave it like this for now, since it's my backup sonic that already suffered one battery replacement (the hard way, prying off the top, which left quite some marks).
If my other one dies, I'll look for a different battery.

This might help you out. I just finished replacing my battery reassemble parkway and charged it and found out everything's working great, and then when I put it all back together I had the same problem as you. It was almost impossible to slide.
here's the thing. The battery fit would seem to be perfectly even though it was a little bit wider. The inside plastic case closed and even snapshot and look perfectly normal. Everything seemed to go back together like it should but when I tried to put on the bottom aluminum cap ithere's the sliding problem is. so I took off the end cap got a piece of fine grade sandpaper and wrapped it around the in peace and hand sanded down until the end cap moves freely dot-dot. or I should say the two moves freely in the end cap, you know what I mean.
I put the end cap back on and it works great. It just needed the tiniest bit of sanding to make it ride smoothly and there's plenty of thickness on the inner tube so there was never any threat of sanding through.

 

[RayR]

1

Would you mind posting some pictures of how are you taking it apart? I need to change my battery, but don’t want to damage my sonic.

read my other reply and the detailed directions other people give on this thread. These are the only two tools I used to disassemble and reassemble.
The bottom piece screwed off nicely with no glue and the top piece pried off with very little problem and no damage using the wide blade on the red-handled exacto knife.