[HowTo] Replace x10 mini battery

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Gx3

Senior Member
Jul 19, 2010
172
38
Naples
The battery used for test is a BST-38 li-ion and should be 1200mah 2€ so I don't expect to be a great battery but this is only for reference.

tear down instructions

Please read all before starting this will help you choose the most convenient acting way.

Removal of original battery from its placing is a pain in the ass, cause it is very well attached to the aluminium cover whith a very sticky double-face tape ...so proceed with caution, after that I preferred to remove that tape: this permits to connect the battery "the rough way (img 10)" and then place the cover whithout sticking.

1
CIMG7439.jpg

2
CIMG7440.jpg

3
CIMG7443.jpg

4
CIMG7445.jpg

5
CIMG7447.jpg


This battery was easy to disassemble by removing printed tape and making a small cut on the bottom
...but be aware this may be not so easy with others!!

6
CIMG7448.jpg

7
CIMG7449.jpg

8
CIMG7450.jpg

soldered wires, this is a very complicated step for those who do not know how to use a solder very well, short circuit is round the corner, so first solder positive wire, then cover it with a good thermal tape then proceed with green (again cover it) and finally go for black. (however remember to solder wires in a sequence that avoids overlapping of wires while soldering: if the sequence was black>green>red it would have been easy to melt black wire while soldering green wire... and melt both green and black wire's cover while soldering red)
Note that wires are soldered to run on the opposite direction in comparison wiht the original battery wiring, the reason is to obtain a perfect fit into battery compartment and to obtain a better resistance to wire dragging.

9
CIMG7451.jpg

Paper tape has been used to insulate battery's body.
Please note that this picture does not show the final battery placing, you should imagine the batteryrotated by 180° (with wires on the right of the current image and then running on the side of the battery up to the hole which exposes the connector).
So make sure the wires are long enough if you are wishing to use this setup
(otherwise simply solder wires to run the opposite way compared to img 8).

(warning: the whole body is the Negative pole of the battery)

10
CIMG7452.jpg


Wires need to be cut perfectly to make sure they don't move,
green wire should be a little bit shorter than red and black shorter than green.
Wire's edges are stained, flattened with plain edge pliers to fit into connector (a hammer and a flat surface will do the job too) and cut to result fully inserted (this avoids unwanted wire scattering while plugging into connector). All this paying much attention to not short circuit wires (I suggest to ready wires one by one insulating with tape each edge, when done proceed by deinsulating and plugging one by one).

warning : positive (red wire) and middle battery contact (green wire) are both positive so prevent any hazard, notice that the whole battery's body is NEGATIVE so handle all wires paying much attention!!

yeah I know i did'nt use the original connector but this is not meant to be a permanent solution
and still have the original battery usable

Before closing the hole with its rubber cover I placed some folded paper on the wires shown in image 10 (just to make sure the cables don't move).

Thanks
to TheCuteCriminal for making public that Bst-38 batteries can be modded to fit
 
Last edited:

Gx3

Senior Member
Jul 19, 2010
172
38
Naples
for who's interested this battery seems not so bad,
yesterday I had poor performance while calibrating but today is behaving much better, however I will give you more accurate details after few more power cycles cause the battery seems to have been stocked for a long time (traces of rust inside inner contacts :eek: )
 
Last edited:

Gx3

Senior Member
Jul 19, 2010
172
38
Naples
regarding the 1200mah 3gpower battery:
now seems to have reached its ful capacity (in 5 cycles)
when I made the substitution the original battery used to last 8-9h with 3g data on and without sync (running miniCM 2.3.1), til now it endured about 800-900 charging cycles

It is well known that minicm (cyanogenmod) has a high battery drain under 3g with data on and
this battery lasts 12h with data on and sync enabled (more power drain), + 20 call minutes.
now I completed the definitive calibration, and will test in normal conditions

I can tell it behaves a little better than original when was new and it seems that dischargnig is more linear

takes about 100 min for charge vs first charge's 60 minutes

It took a while to obtain an almost full battery waking, but now it is all ok :)

more details in the next few days
 
Last edited:

Gx3

Senior Member
Jul 19, 2010
172
38
Naples
I've just ordered the gold bst 38 2430mah battery... this is meant to be a more serious attempt with a much nicer battery... and eager to unveil results :)
 
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Odysseus348

Senior Member
Aug 20, 2011
58
0
assembly

well it looks ok to tear it down, but how do we assemble it again? ;)

i tried once to change the front cover but couldnt dare to pull the connection of the screen. coz i dont dont how to connect them again
 

Gx3

Senior Member
Jul 19, 2010
172
38
Naples
well it looks ok to tear it down, but how do we assemble it again? ;)

i tried once to change the front cover but couldnt dare to pull the connection of the screen. coz i dont dont how to connect them again

all of them are pressure autolocking type connectors or lever locking flat cables, the only hassle may be operating in a narrow environment... but a pair of cheap precision pliers can do the job
 
Last edited:
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emmanuelcassar

Senior Member
Jan 21, 2010
322
53
i would greatly appreciate that you upload some photos or a small tutorial on how you made it fit in the mini..

and was it the x10 mini or x10 mini pro? and did you notice any improvements in battery life?
 

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  • 15
    The battery used for test is a BST-38 li-ion and should be 1200mah 2€ so I don't expect to be a great battery but this is only for reference.

    tear down instructions

    Please read all before starting this will help you choose the most convenient acting way.

    Removal of original battery from its placing is a pain in the ass, cause it is very well attached to the aluminium cover whith a very sticky double-face tape ...so proceed with caution, after that I preferred to remove that tape: this permits to connect the battery "the rough way (img 10)" and then place the cover whithout sticking.

    1
    CIMG7439.jpg

    2
    CIMG7440.jpg

    3
    CIMG7443.jpg

    4
    CIMG7445.jpg

    5
    CIMG7447.jpg


    This battery was easy to disassemble by removing printed tape and making a small cut on the bottom
    ...but be aware this may be not so easy with others!!

    6
    CIMG7448.jpg

    7
    CIMG7449.jpg

    8
    CIMG7450.jpg

    soldered wires, this is a very complicated step for those who do not know how to use a solder very well, short circuit is round the corner, so first solder positive wire, then cover it with a good thermal tape then proceed with green (again cover it) and finally go for black. (however remember to solder wires in a sequence that avoids overlapping of wires while soldering: if the sequence was black>green>red it would have been easy to melt black wire while soldering green wire... and melt both green and black wire's cover while soldering red)
    Note that wires are soldered to run on the opposite direction in comparison wiht the original battery wiring, the reason is to obtain a perfect fit into battery compartment and to obtain a better resistance to wire dragging.

    9
    CIMG7451.jpg

    Paper tape has been used to insulate battery's body.
    Please note that this picture does not show the final battery placing, you should imagine the batteryrotated by 180° (with wires on the right of the current image and then running on the side of the battery up to the hole which exposes the connector).
    So make sure the wires are long enough if you are wishing to use this setup
    (otherwise simply solder wires to run the opposite way compared to img 8).

    (warning: the whole body is the Negative pole of the battery)

    10
    CIMG7452.jpg


    Wires need to be cut perfectly to make sure they don't move,
    green wire should be a little bit shorter than red and black shorter than green.
    Wire's edges are stained, flattened with plain edge pliers to fit into connector (a hammer and a flat surface will do the job too) and cut to result fully inserted (this avoids unwanted wire scattering while plugging into connector). All this paying much attention to not short circuit wires (I suggest to ready wires one by one insulating with tape each edge, when done proceed by deinsulating and plugging one by one).

    warning : positive (red wire) and middle battery contact (green wire) are both positive so prevent any hazard, notice that the whole battery's body is NEGATIVE so handle all wires paying much attention!!

    yeah I know i did'nt use the original connector but this is not meant to be a permanent solution
    and still have the original battery usable

    Before closing the hole with its rubber cover I placed some folded paper on the wires shown in image 10 (just to make sure the cables don't move).

    Thanks
    to TheCuteCriminal for making public that Bst-38 batteries can be modded to fit
    4
    regarding the 1200mah 3gpower battery:
    now seems to have reached its ful capacity (in 5 cycles)
    when I made the substitution the original battery used to last 8-9h with 3g data on and without sync (running miniCM 2.3.1), til now it endured about 800-900 charging cycles

    It is well known that minicm (cyanogenmod) has a high battery drain under 3g with data on and
    this battery lasts 12h with data on and sync enabled (more power drain), + 20 call minutes.
    now I completed the definitive calibration, and will test in normal conditions

    I can tell it behaves a little better than original when was new and it seems that dischargnig is more linear

    takes about 100 min for charge vs first charge's 60 minutes

    It took a while to obtain an almost full battery waking, but now it is all ok :)

    more details in the next few days
    4
    Pictures and explanations

    Warning : this mod is hazardous as there is no more space and in case of battery failure it may lead to the destruction of the phone.

    A. Disassemble the EP500 battery (same way as Gx3)
    499201DSC00138.jpg


    B. Remove the original mini battery from its metallic frame and cut the 3 wires from their solder
    736136DSC00140.jpg


    C. Preparation of the EP500 battery

    1. Remove the coating on those tracks
    2. Cut the thermal protection and bent it so that it's become flat
    3. Resolder the thermal protection
    4. Tin the prepared tracks and positive pole of the battery
    5. Solder the 3 wires of the battery connector
    6 & 7. Insulate the whole BMS board (both sides) using tape
    8. Cut a window in the tape to let the thermal protection be in contact with the body of the battery
    9. Press the BMS against the battery
    153829Prsentation1.jpg


    D. Insert the EP500 inside the metallic frame
    220558DSC00141.jpg


    E. Finished !
    291950DSC00142.jpg
    3
    Good work !!!

    Good tutorial & good Job Gx3.......
    This will be helpful for many people....
    And thanks for mentioning my name.....:)

    ps: now im modding our data-cable. Hope after modding,the USB-OTG feauture will be available on our mini's.
    2
    You're right, more details may help.
    After disassembled the EP500, you'll see that the BMS board is separated from the battery, there is a gap between both, and the thermal protection fill this gap.

    Is this enough ?