Replacing shaver battery

Merlin5 · 9 Jul 2016 at 17:23

My trusty 2 head travel shaver that I keep in my car doesn't hold it's charge for long anymore. But I'd like to keep the shaver as it's only a 1 hour charge compared to others which are 8 hour charges. It also has a pop out trimmer. It's also a nice size for keeping in the car. It's discontinued and Phillips don't have anything else similar apart from 3 head shavers. I've got a couple of their smaller 2 headed travel shavers but they're non rechargeable and have no trimmer. So I've taken it apart and looked at a youtube video and I just need to pull the contacts away, leaving them intact on the circuit board and solder the contacts on the new battery. Typing 'Philishave HQ481 battery' into fleabay brings up a selection of 2000mAh for around £9. Does anyone know if buying a battery from there will be ok?

Soupy · 9 Jul 2016 at 21:16

should be fine mate, as long as you buy Ni-Cd the mAH can be higher but might take a bit longer to charge to full capacity.

Go for it.

Merlin5 · 9 Jul 2016 at 22:13

Great, thanks Soupy.

Werewolf · 9 Jul 2016 at 22:28

That looks like it's possibly a standard solder tag nicad battery, depending on voltage and size you can probably source them a lot cheaper than £9, especially if it's a standard size/voltage (it looks to be in an AA size package)

kPATm · 10 Jul 2016 at 01:34

That looks like it could be an 18650 battery used in vaping. What are the measurements of the battery?

Merlin5 · 10 Jul 2016 at 02:16

Hi guys. Yep kPATm, I've got an 18650 from my own vaping, but that's way longer and wider than the shaver battery. The shaver battery is basically AA size from comparing next to an AA, though it seems to be about a millimeter shorter and very similar girth, but to all intents and purposes, I'm guessing it's classified as AA size.

I'm seeing a lot of Ni-MH 2000 mAh compatible batteries for the shaver but not much in the way of Ni-Cd. Werewolf, I found one listing based in UK at a cheaper price of £5.90 +£1 P&P which does Ni-Cd. Perhaps I should get the 49mm x 14mm, which is classed as AA? So the nicad ones are 700mAh and the Ni-MH are over 2000mAh. But I should only be buying Ni-Cd, is that correct?

ANDARIAL · 10 Jul 2016 at 08:42

1.2v seems a little low to be running a shaver I think?(AA)
but 3.7v (18650)would I think be more likely.Can you charge it up and check the battery voltage with a meter?
EDIT:Closer inspection of your pics certainly look like a single nicad cell,just seems a little low volts to me

Rroff · 10 Jul 2016 at 10:47

Might be an 18630, etc. but keep in mind that if the shaver is designed for charging ni cads you can't just shove a li-ion battery (which most 18650s, etc. are) in there as they need a specific charging pattern.

EDIT: Looks like it is just a solder tabbed AA from what a shaver specialist site says though no idea if they are right - keep in mind that your average "2000mah" ebay battery is probably more like 500-600mah anyhow unless it is a proper brandname battery from a reliable source.

Tealc · 10 Jul 2016 at 12:12

Ni-Cad batteries will be used as they offer higher discharge rates than Ni-MH.

You should look to replace with a Ni-Cad if possible. If you can't then you could try a Ni-MH but you may find it doesn't last very long.

If you go for a standard battery then soldering those existing tags onto batteries isn't all that difficult but you have to be careful that you don't damage the battery by holding too much heat on there for too long. Once the solder connection is made cool the joint quickly with a damp sponge or something.

Do not use a lithium cell.

Merlin5 · 10 Jul 2016 at 14:25

Thanks, I'll only go for Ni-Cad then. I'll take a photo later of an AA battery and the shaver battery side by side so you can confirm I need to order the 49mm x 14mm 'AA' sized battery.