I just got off the phone with Sony tech support, and was told that if the battery dies on a PRS-505, and it is out of warranty, the cost to replace it is $251.12 plus tax, shipping, etc. This appears to be a deal breaker, as the Kindle battery is user replaceable.

Has anyone come up with a way of replacing the PRS-505 battery?

Thanks in advance....Bruce

Batteries tend to die quickly if they are faulty. In normal use, the type of Lithium Ion battery that the Sony uses should still retain perhaps 70% of its initial capacity even after 4 years. I honestly can't recall any reports of battery problems on this site that weren't covered by the warranty.

I really wouldn't worry about it.

I just got off the phone with Sony tech support, and was told that if the battery dies on a PRS-505, and it is out of warranty, the cost to replace it is $251.12 plus tax, shipping, etc. This appears to be a deal breaker, as the Kindle battery is user replaceable.

Has anyone come up with a way of replacing the PRS-505 battery?

Thanks in advance....Bruce

Anybody got any idea
what the actual battery costs ?

I just got off the phone with Sony tech support, and was told that if the battery dies on a PRS-505, and it is out of warranty, the cost to replace it is $251.12 plus tax, shipping, etc. This appears to be a deal breaker, as the Kindle battery is user replaceable.

Has anyone come up with a way of replacing the PRS-505 battery?

Thanks in advance....Bruce

$250 to replace the battery? I can get a brand new reader on on Amazon for $255 today. They must be high.

I was able to get a replacement battery for my iPod for $20 or so. But, then again, iPods are ubiquitios so there is some money to be made here.

BOb

Anybody got any idea
what the actual battery costs ?
Guessing from the pictures of PRS-500 insides the battery for 500 (and very likely 505) is just generic Lithium-ion battery used in mobile phones. I find it highly unlikely that Sony uses some special, unique, custom-built battery. They are much more likely using some generic type.
I estimate the price of such generic battery to be somewhere around $5.

When the time comes and your battery dies, you will definitely not be the first person to have to replace it. By the time YOUR battery needs replacement this forum will contain many tips, tricks, recommendations and Do-It-Yourself step-by step instructions posted by resident serious hackers.
On PRS 500 (and very likely also on PRS 505) the battery is not soldered in but connected by a small connector. So all you will need to do is to take the Reader apart using Philips scredriwer size PH0 and perhaps a knife.

But such time is very likely some 5 years away.

I was able to get a replacement battery for my iPod for $20 or so. But, then again, iPods are ubiquitios so there is some money to be made here.More likely, they just don't want to replace the things.

That would be less annoying if there was an unidentifiable part number on the battery to make ordering a new one from somewhere else and installing it yourself an easier possibility. :rolleyes:

Sony Direct Accessories & Parts Center has it (http://servicesales.sel.sony.com/ecom/accessories/web/productSearch.do?searchOperation=modelSearch&modelNum=PRS505SC&searchText=PRS505) for $69.78.

Well butter my backside and call me a biscuit! Well spotted, igorsk.

Let's see ... that makes ~$70 for parts, and ... ~$180 for labor on a ~15 minute job -- nice work if you can get it. :rolleyes:

Sony Direct Accessories & Parts Center has it (http://servicesales.sel.sony.com/ecom/accessories/web/productSearch.do?searchOperation=modelSearch&modelNum=PRS505SC&searchText=PRS505) for $69.78.

:eek::eek::eek:
that's still daylight robbery
maybe in 5 years
it'll be cheaper

:eek::eek::eek:
that's still daylight robbery
maybe in 5 years
it'll be cheaper

That doesn't seem desperately unreasonable to me. It's on a par with what video camera batteries cost, and a fraction of what a replacement battery for a laptop costs.

While searching for a battery for the 505 I did find the following...

Emergency AA Battery Extender for the Sony Reader PRS-505 (http://www.gomadic.com/sony-reader-prs-505-emergency-aa-battery-extender.html)

Will the AA batt charger work on the 500?

Sure will. The 500 and the 505 use the same exact AC charger.

nice finds. subscribed

I would guess that you can find a battery having the same size or slightly smaller for much less. Then it's just a matter of removing the case from the 505 (I've done it myself) and replacing the battery.

has anyone measured the size of the 505 battery, and checked the voltage (and capacity)? I'm betting there's a cell phone battery or similar that would fit. Maybe even with higher capacity.

That is a really good idea to measure the battery to try to find a replacement that's cheaper.

Thanks for the reply. The Kindle replacement battery is around $19.00, so I tend to disagree that $70 for a Sony battery is "reasonable".

On the other hand, a CyBook Gen3 battery is about $62. "Reasonableness" is all in the eye of the beholder. A Kindle battery only costs $19? Wow - that is cheap!

well, my extra batteries for my Nokia N800 were $30ish each for OEM genuine Nokia batteries (not knock-off's) and these are the very common BP-5L LI-ON Poly batteries.

So, the $70ish for the Sony battery is close to reasonable. Perhaps some place somewhere sells them for less but until Sony drops the cost to replace the battery the $70 will remain a bargain by comparison.

The cost is simply how Sony does business. Supposedly the battery on my nx73v was not user replaceable and Sony wanted about $200 to replace it...found a new genuine Sony OEM for something like $15.

Remember Sony does almost no repair work themselves. They contract with "authorized" service centers and setup fixed fee schedules. So, basically people pay Sony a cut as well as the repair center a cut...and since everyone works on a percentage these days we get to pay a mark up on a mark up...

So, do we have a legitimate replacement battery for the Sony PRS-500 here? Is this something that will actually work or speculation?

So, do we have a legitimate replacement battery for the Sony PRS-500 here? Is this something that will actually work or speculation?Well, going on the fact that Sony is selling this one as a replacement, I'm going to go waaaay out on a limb here and say "yes." :wink2:

So, to recap...What battery will work as a replacement for the PRS-500?

Sony is listing another part number (http://servicesales.sel.sony.com/ecom/accessories/web/productSearch.do?searchOperation=modelSearch&modelNum=PRS500U2&searchText=PRS500) as a PRS500 battery replacement. It's $82. (we do know that there's no functional difference between the PRS500 and the PRS500U2 -- the U2 was a marketing package change, not a "real" one)

I thought we'd established that both the 500 and 505 used the same battery, but it's apparently possible that they're different. :shrug: