ARCHIVED FORUM -- March 2012 to February 2022READ ONLY FORUM
This is the second Archived Forum which was active between 1st March 2012 and 23rd February 2022
Hello all, almost a year ago I bought a cheap beolit12 which had a battery pack that would not hold charge anymore. This didnt bother me as the unit stayed mostly in the kitchen plugged into the wall.
But now I feel the need to give this beaut little speaker some freedom.
I've opened up the battery pack (quite messily I must admit, as i wasnt sure where the internal components were situated inside) And may have permamntly damaged the circuitry (using the knife I used to cut open the plastic housing)
My first question is
Can you even buy a new Beolit12 battery pack? and if so where?
Second one is , have I damaged mine ? please see photo attached
And third, if I havent damaged mine can I replace the original battery cells with something with a much higher capacity, but with the same physical size, voltage etc.
Something like these -
Panasonic NCR18650B 3400mAh 3.7v Li-ion MH12210 ...
I look forward to you replies.
Beolab 8000 x 2
Beolab 1
Beolab 2
Beovision 7-40
Beosound 9000
Beosound Ouverture
Beolit 12
No one has ever found a replacement battery pack online? or even rebuilt one themselves?
Hi,
I'm not an expert here but as nobody answered yet, here is my experience…
If the whole form factor of the battery is still intact or close to (i.e the battery still fit into is compartment), then yes you may rebuilt the battery with individual spare cells. You must be able to find the original cells reference on your original battery, just google any marking you'll find on it. Keep any other component such as thermal sensors or anything and and keep a good reference of any internal wiring.
Soldering that king of batteries may be difficult but not impossible. And of course once done, I'll would keep an eye on the device and never let it plug alone without surveillance for a certain period. Just in case…
I've done that several times with Beo6 battery (it's quite common) and have heard about various battery reconstruction without any problem.
Hope it helps.
Hello, maybe you have more photos where they are visible as soldered wires?
"You think we can slap some oak on this thing?"
Full Specs
https://www.birikimpilleri.net/Resim/900095503010_1.pdf
https
did I understand correctly?
https://photos.app.goo.gl/fAYKLadHtyYpgw7u8
https://photos.app.goo.gl/nuA44b2nwFuMyhbe6
Amonra009:did I understand correctly?
No, I beleive:
The blue and maybe black wires seems to go to the thermal sensor stuck with the white paste. I've seen this in Beosound 3 battery as well.
It worth waiting for the detailed pics of Leo to have the correct wiring.
Matador..you are right about the thermal sensor and wire colors.
I have replaced these on multiple beolit 12's. The only recommendation will be to get batteries with tabs if possible until and unless you have a spot welder handy.
Also, be careful when putting the battery cover back. Couple of years when I did this for the time, when closing the battery cover, I saw smoke. The battery was not yet connected to the beolit. When closing the cover, one of the wires got pinched between the cover and one of the battery tabs and that created a short. The wire became hot and the wire shielding melted and there was smoke. Luckily nothing was damaged. So learnt the reason why the wires were below the white glue in the middle. .
This is what I have used in the past -
https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/sparkfun-electronics/PRT-13189/5271299?s=N4IgjCBcoEwKwA4qgMZQGYEMA2BnApgDQgD2UA2iACwAMcdAzCALrEAOALlCAMocBOASwB2AcxABfYlTAxkINJCx4ipCiAYA2OAzBwW7LpF4CR4iVJBzIlMAm00WEoA
Thermal sensor these are 2 black cables, I have no idea where the blue and green cables will connect.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/rRkrLdwMargv7upT8
This is the only one I could find from the past.
Are the batteries connected to each other in the middle?
https://photos.app.goo.gl/hD6cTvjxirKtNwn76
No - they are not.
I have some battery issues with my Beolit 12. Any tips on how to disassembly the beolit’s battery module?
cheers,
...and also. I can’t find any cells at Amazon that seem to fit.
Any suggestions?
You should to upgrade this thing
Hello everyone,
I have upgraded my battery (Beolit 12) with 3.5Ah cells and it works just fine. It requires certain skill and knowledge, but I am willing to advise anyone interested.
- Flere
smile and enjoy the moment
Flere:Would it be possible to build the Beolit 15/17 battery module into the Beolit 12?This module can be bought.
Hi all, I thought I'd add my experience here if it helps at all.
Small print:- I'm not an electronics engineer, and have no affiliation with the suppliers mentioned.
My Beolit 12 battery died after a few years, so I carefully cut open the pack, and replaced the cells with some nice Panasonic 18650's I got from 'Batteries plus' (in the UK). They cost £30.75 for the 4 inc. shipping & tax.
Plugged it in, and nothing. no output from the board. I tried charging the pack directly, in case the undercharge function* was stopping it working, and still got nothing.
Concluding the board must be faulty, I decided to replace it.
*Lithium cells have to be charged individually, and strict current limits exist on charging and discharging, and not being a fully trained electrical engineer I wasn't sure how many of these functions were being performed by the board in the battery pack, and how many by the unit itself.
I did hunt for a wiring diagram online, but naturally had no luck there.
I note that the individual charge voltages are present on the yellow, green and blue wires from the connector, but still not sure about the current protection levels, so decided to add a new BMS (Battery management system) board.
I bought this board from ebay, from a seller with the confidence filling name of CrazyTom:-'4S 30A 14.8V 16V8 Li-ion Lithium battery BMS BALANCE CHARGE'. Cost £4.99. Very quick shipping.
Wiring is very simple; Large red & black charge wires from the Beolit12 connector to the board (charge/discharge tabs), then add similar size cables from the battery +/- to the board. It comes with a harness which includes the small wires to connect to each cell for charging/balancing. This is all shown in a diagram on the sellers ebay site. The mini connector from the BL12 is now redundant.
Thought is required as to the direction the wires are soldered, as there's not much room for the board.
Make sure all the tabs are insulated properly, I used heat shrink sleeving (got a nice kit of sleeves from Lidl), but ebay will provide, or at least insulating tape will suffice. And when soldering, do your best not to short out the cells (probably the trickiest part!). Tape can be used to hold the cells in their pack formation too.
I didn't officially time it, but the pack worked fine, and lasted a good day at medium volume.
With my new set-up there is no thermal protection, so I monitored the voltages and temperature of the cells during charge and discharge, and noted the cell voltage pulsing, which showed the charge current was being limited, and there was no nasty temperature rise.
So all in all a success, converting a paperweight into a useful object!
I've never had any success with the wifi, and use a Bluetooth dongle instead.
I also managed to find a replacement door catch from Ali express here:-https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32868859217.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.7e304c4dbd25EX £2.09 for 20!
I tried to add photo's to this post, but I'm afraid the scope of my technical knowledge ended at that point.
I've uploaded 2 images:- Beolit 12 DIY battery replacement Image 1 & 2 in the 'Lets see your B&O configuration' page, so hopefully you can find them there.
Good luck with your paperweight conversion!
On the fence: Plugged it in, and nothing. no output from the board. I tried charging the pack directly, in case the undercharge function* was stopping it working, and still got nothing. Concluding the board must be faulty, I decided to replace it.
Thank you for your experience. Are you saying that replacing the cells only would not be sufficient and would always require to change the board, or was that a specific fault on your unit?
No, that was just my experience.
I would expect that you may have to 'reset' the logic on the board if it has tripped, but I assume this would be a simple matter of applying the full charge voltage to the battery terminals, so once charged this should happen automatically.
It would be nice to get some technical advise from B&O on these matters, especially since I've always thought their ethos was all about quality, style, and longevity, but from my original requests for a replacement battery, this no longer appears to be the case, which is a great shame.