Cowon A3 Battery Replacement / Disassembly Guide

[divinerites]

Thanks for this. I bought the replacement battery (really cheap in HK) and now it works like a charm.
No more overheated A3 while charging or playing, no more trouble, ans it plays longer. Thanks.

[stow]

Great guide - thanks!

[jpnn80]

As I need to change the battery of my A3 but don't have the required screwdrivers, could you tell me if this is the philips one mentioned in the tutorial ? http://www.connevans.co.uk/store/vie....do?id=1690035

Or could someone tell me what is the size of the appropriate screwdrivers, and where could I order them preferably in uk or Europe ?

[wildpig]

Thanks. I really enjoy reading this. I own a q5w. Paid like $500 for it and the gps cradle when it came out back in early 2008.

I stop using it for a while back about 1 yr go. I always leave it on a charger when not in use (figure that most of these devices would shut off the charging current if the battery is full). Anyway, I found that the back of the case, (yep, you guess it..) bulging. Turn out that it was putting so much pressure inside that it compressed down on the hard drive so it won't even spin. I thought the hard drive was dead.

I got a new hard drive and was going to replace it. As soon as I opened the case, I could see how bulgy the battery was. In a hunch, I remove the battery and power it up with AC. The hard drive spins. no bad sector... after using it for a few days continously, still works fine.

So at least my q5w is now working. I have to return the hard drive now. but i need to try to replace the battery or confine my q5w permanently to the AC cord.

The q5w battery dimension is 129mm x 80mm x 6 mm (thickness at the edge, the thickness in the middle of the battery is definitely at least 12 mm, probably due to the bulging problem?). This is smaller than the a2/a3 battery dimension so the a2/3 battery should fit with lotsa room to spare. q5w battery is supposely 4500mAh but probably won't be much different from 4200? the battery plug looks really similar. Also q5w ac output is 5 volt, same as that of a2/3 so i think it should work

anyway, I am really thinking about buying a a2/3 replacement battery just to try it out.

As for preserving battery from heat built up, I am not sure how i will do that. in my q5w, the battery rests on top of some very hot chips while operating. There is no outlet built into the case for ventillation. It's all passive heat transfer to the metal case. Maybe i should put the case on ice while using the player?

Much appreciate any comment.

[otterpopjunkie]

Heat can be a problem, but in my opinion it shouldn't limit your use of a player. Especially since you're handy and can replace the battery yourself. Technology evolves so fast I don't think you should allow it to inconvenience you But having said that, you could set it on an aluminum heatsink or metal plate if you use it in one place often, and remove it from the cover the rest of the time.

Something you can do to improve battery life is charge it more often, don't leave it on the charger longer than necessary, and keep it cool while charging. Heat during use or charging shortens the battery life much more than multiple charges. So without battery memory being a factor, charging more often (resulting in less time spent hot) is better for the battery. It's important to discharge it nearly all the way every so often as well. And do not store full for extended periods (months), keep it at 1/3 to 1/2 capacity and pull it out and use/recharge it every once in a while. From research I've read this is the best way to preserve Lithium-Polymer batteries, which is in almost every high tech device out there today.

[wildpig]

Cool. I ordered the A3 battery. Will post about my experience using it in the q5. hopefully it will work ok and at least help out many of the q5 owners out there to get some more use of their q5

[sancilla]

Hi everyone!
I bought my A3 two years ago, and since then I've been reading this forum.
Thanks to you all for the firmware updates, video encoding tips, and other valuable posts. I'm glad to be a part of this community :-)
I was very happy when I found the disassembly guide written by otterpopjunkie, many thanks for it! My device also had a lot of dust, and at last I decided to clean it inside. (Warranty has been gone now....)
As for the LCD screen:
Don't be afraid of breaking the screen! I didn't need to unplug the LCD connector, after carefully removing the three sticky rubbers from the LCD edges, the screen was quite easily dismountable from the front cover. Carefully means it took about 5 mins to get the screen out, but it worth the time.
Of course, putting it back takes its time, too.
Sorry, no photos - I wanted to take photos, but I didn't have my camera at hand :-( By the way, upon request I might disassemble it again just for photos, for me there's no risk any more ;-)
BTW, I have a question.
On the screen there is a ~5-6mm darker area on the sides, I noticed it several months ago. It seems as if the LCD backlight (is it LED? someone knows about it?) collects dust, too, somewhere inside. Or is it getting "tired"...? For a LED backlight it seems to be odd, BTW I've seen "tired" LEDs in commonly-used graphic LCDs..... Any ideas about this? It is not very bad, only the edges are darker a little bit. NB: I've been using the device quite a lot, approximately 2-3 hours every day, since I have it.
Has anyone the same problem...? And the solution......? ;-)
Well, that's all for now, have a nice day! :-)

[abyss x]

Originally Posted by sancilla

Hi everyone!
I bought my A3 two years ago, and since then I've been reading this forum.
Thanks to you all for the firmware updates, video encoding tips, and other valuable posts. I'm glad to be a part of this community :-)
I was very happy when I found the disassembly guide written by otterpopjunkie, many thanks for it! My device also had a lot of dust, and at last I decided to clean it inside. (Warranty has been gone now....)
As for the LCD screen:
Don't be afraid of breaking the screen! I didn't need to unplug the LCD connector, after carefully removing the three sticky rubbers from the LCD edges, the screen was quite easily dismountable from the front cover. Carefully means it took about 5 mins to get the screen out, but it worth the time.
Of course, putting it back takes its time, too.
Sorry, no photos - I wanted to take photos, but I didn't have my camera at hand :-( By the way, upon request I might disassemble it again just for photos, for me there's no risk any more ;-)
BTW, I have a question.
On the screen there is a ~5-6mm darker area on the sides, I noticed it several months ago. It seems as if the LCD backlight (is it LED? someone knows about it?) collects dust, too, somewhere inside. Or is it getting "tired"...? For a LED backlight it seems to be odd, BTW I've seen "tired" LEDs in commonly-used graphic LCDs..... Any ideas about this? It is not very bad, only the edges are darker a little bit. NB: I've been using the device quite a lot, approximately 2-3 hours every day, since I have it.
Has anyone the same problem...? And the solution......? ;-)
Well, that's all for now, have a nice day! :-)

I guess thats what causing it:

http://www.iaudiophile.net/forums/sh...3&postcount=15

Taken from this thread:

http://www.iaudiophile.net/forums/sh...highlight=edge

[Sunshine]

I got a new battery for $13 (us) on ebay (it's the same as the one in the photo). I ran into trouble from the start when the smallest screwdriver I had handy was too big for the screws and the first one got stripped, I really wish Cowon had used torx screws instead.

I dug around for awhile and was able to find an insanely small screwdriver to take the rest out. I used a super tiny dremel engraving bit to cut a slot in the stripped screw head and take it out with a flat head screwdriver. the plastic around it got marred a little bit, but the damage was mostly covered by the rubber things. I could have just swiveled the back cover around the one screw to replace the battery, but I needed to clean the lcd too.

When I changed the battery I noticed that the original was wrapped in that same mesh heat shielding stuff (at least I assume that's what it's for?) that covers most of the pcb and hd. I decided to peel it off and put it on the new battery, it was still good and sticky so that wasn't a problem. I wasn't entirely sure if I should do it that way, seeing as how the new battery may not have been designed with that in mind and heat can damage them. But I guessed it was there in the first place to keep heat away from the other components, and I would rather replace the battery again than the hd or pcb. I'll let everyone know if my battery explodes.

Also, since the new battery was much thinner than the old one, there is now a lot more space inside. Where as the unit seemed very solid before, I can now squeeze it in the middle from the front and back and there is a lot of movement. I hadn't taped the new battery because the remaining residue from the old one was sticky enough to keep it in place until I closed the unit. I also didn't want to put anything that might heat up and melt or add to the thickness. If I were doing it again I would use double sided foam tape to hold the new battery in place and to act as a spacer.

Cleaning the lcd was actually the easiest part for me. After removing the screw and a long period of gentle wiggling, the front cover pops right off and the screen is only held on by those three strips of foam tape someone previously mentioned. Mine weren't very sticky at all, and the lcd is plenty sturdy enough to be taken out and brushed off. Definitely mind the ribbon cable, though. I think it would break if you looked at it funny.

Putting it back together was as much a hassle as opening it for me. The smallest screw I could find to replace the one I wrecked was just ever so slightly too big for the hole. I had to drill it out a little bigger and I was probably extremely lucky not to have drilled all the way through the front or otherwise damage the player.

Once I got everything all put back together and charged it wouldn't start up the first few times I tried. After that it worked just fine, though. I think it was just the battery priming. I haven't had any trouble since.

So far it seems to have worked out fairly well, feels good as new. I'm not sure what the battery life will be like in the long term, but for now it seems to last as long or longer than the original when new. But my perspective could be skewed from using the old battery that would barely hold a charge for so long. It's also a huge relief to get rid of the dust in the screen, that was driving me insane.

[MoridinEU]

In case anyone is interested in upgrading the disk in their A3:

http://iaudiophile.net/forums/showpo...2&postcount=46

[dan_uk]

Thanks SO much, my A2 lives again!

Battery died permanently after my charger got lost during our house move. Had done previous searches to no avail but then found this guide.

She breathes again just in time for the travels to start with work again.

What an easy swap too! Thanks so much for taking the time to write this guide.

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