PRS-505 Replaced the battery!

BookCat · 05-21-2012, 05:47 AM

Finally.
Last friday, I took courage in my little hands and went to see the techie friend who I've had on stand-by to perform the actual task for ages. I took with me the Word printout which I downloaded from this site (can't remember exactly where), and the relevant pages from the pdf of the 505's internals, also downloaded from a link on MR.

It took a short while for him to find the right screwdriver etc amongst his father's tools. His long nails performed the job of the spatula like thing shown on the youtube vid for sliding open the reader. There were a few hitches, namely, sliding the top section (where the on/off button is) off the unit, but he persisted and eventually succeeded.

I couldn't stand it. My baby. My 505. Having an operation which might kill him or make him like new; so I dug my head into a new zentangle book which had arrived from Amazon and tried to ignore the groans of doubt coming from Nigel, the techie. He's a pessimist, and kept saying things like: "I can't get the top off," "I'm not sure that this is going to work" etc. I made encouraging noises and tried to ignore him, occasionally raising my head above the parapet, taking notice and giving advice, then hiding in my book again.

Eventually the battery was in and the reader was reassembled apart from the two end bits. I decided it was wise to leave the reader charging for a while and go for lunch. This would obviate the need to dissasemble the end bits if something was wrong (like the connector). So we left my precious 505 face down on a soft towel with a charger up his bum.

A few hours later we returned. All was well. Nigel switched my 505 on and it came to life! He then reinserted the SD card. Oh dear. The ereader was bricked. So I took a pointy tool and pressed the reset. Life! 505 began to restart. And buffer. And buffer. And buffer.

We chatted for around 30 nervous minutes while the buffering continued. We looked at the reader: it was switched on, but had lost two bars of power. I thought this was either the strain of the reset and SD card, or that the battery indicator wasn't calibrated properly, or even that the battery needed a long overnight charge.

I got home at around 2am and put the reader on charge (I have one of Sony's chargers). Twelve hours later I woke up (it had been a stressful day), took the reader off charge and....touch wood....it's been fine since. I've been reading about 70 pages a day and haven't lost a bar yet.

I've had the battery for around a year but am hoping it hasn't deteriorated in the drawer. It took ages to drum up the courage to have it changed; meanwhile, I've been reading while it's been plugged in, which hasn't been too much of an issue.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

sabredog · 05-21-2012, 06:06 AM

Braver man than me, Gunga Din!

Teknikal · 05-21-2012, 06:22 AM

I hate the fact so many devices have tricky unremoveable batteries now, I figured an ereader would probably be ok though just based on the little power they need.

Completely off topic but I was about to buy a new Sony Xperia and they have started to do the same thing on their phones, between that and the Vita battery also being unremoveable I think I may have to start looking to other companys in the future.

BookCat · 05-21-2012, 07:21 AM

When I eventually need to buy a new ereader, a battery which is easily replaced by the user will be a priority.

Cdesja5 · 05-21-2012, 09:24 AM

I wasn't so lucky, my ribbon tape tore slightly, just enough that the entire unit (plus the $40) battery are now in the dump... Luckily the Sonys are more affordable here than elsewhere,(except the US) and I got a T1 as a replacement. It was on special for Mother's Day... But still cost me $119.99 + the $40 useless battery. So, $10 more than the full price. But it was worth the extra cost to give it a try!
Love my T1 though so it all worked out in the end!

BookCat · 05-22-2012, 06:30 AM

So sorry to hear that you had bad luck, Chantal, to be honest, I was expecting that to happen to mine. Never mind, you've got your nice shiny T1 now. I'm particularly fond of the 505's and would rather not shell out for a new one as I'm on a tight budget and have 6 cats. Also, I haven't really seen any I like as much as the 505. This is why I went through the trauma of the battery change.

I hope you had all your books archived and not on your reader. Most of mine are on the SD card. Would hate to lose them. Perhaps you're more sensible and only keep your TBR books on the reader instead of a whole library.

Anyway, have fun with the T1, sorry about your 505. I hope my post didn't rub salt in your wounds.

Cdesja5 · 05-22-2012, 08:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BookCat

Anyway, have fun with the T1, sorry about your 505. I hope my post didn't rub salt in your wounds.

Not at all! Glad that someone was actually able to do it even if it didn't work out for me!
I use Calibre on my PC (which I back up) for my books so no loss there. It's only my lovely red prs505 (and the $160 and the leather cover with light and the charger that isn't any good any more) that I'm mourning

tvuongpham · 05-22-2012, 05:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cdesja5

Not at all! Glad that someone was actually able to do it even if it didn't work out for me!
I use Calibre on my PC (which I back up) for my books so no loss there. It's only my lovely red prs505 (and the $160 and the leather cover with light and the charger that isn't any good any more) that I'm mourning

Hopefully your posted your dead 505 on ebay.. you never know.. "one man's junk is another man's treasure"..

Glad you like your T1.. still holding on to my 350 for now.. don't know if I will pick up a good deal on a T1 or wait until the replacement comes out in the fall..
:-)

05-21-2012, 05:47 AM	#1
BookCat C L J Posts: 2,912 Karma: 21115458 Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Birmingham UK Device: Sony e-reader 505, Kindle PW2, Kindle PW3, Kobo Libra2	Replaced the battery! Finally. Last friday, I took courage in my little hands and went to see the techie friend who I've had on stand-by to perform the actual task for ages. I took with me the Word printout which I downloaded from this site (can't remember exactly where), and the relevant pages from the pdf of the 505's internals, also downloaded from a link on MR. It took a short while for him to find the right screwdriver etc amongst his father's tools. His long nails performed the job of the spatula like thing shown on the youtube vid for sliding open the reader. There were a few hitches, namely, sliding the top section (where the on/off button is) off the unit, but he persisted and eventually succeeded. I couldn't stand it. My baby. My 505. Having an operation which might kill him or make him like new; so I dug my head into a new zentangle book which had arrived from Amazon and tried to ignore the groans of doubt coming from Nigel, the techie. He's a pessimist, and kept saying things like: "I can't get the top off," "I'm not sure that this is going to work" etc. I made encouraging noises and tried to ignore him, occasionally raising my head above the parapet, taking notice and giving advice, then hiding in my book again. Eventually the battery was in and the reader was reassembled apart from the two end bits. I decided it was wise to leave the reader charging for a while and go for lunch. This would obviate the need to dissasemble the end bits if something was wrong (like the connector). So we left my precious 505 face down on a soft towel with a charger up his bum. A few hours later we returned. All was well. Nigel switched my 505 on and it came to life! He then reinserted the SD card. Oh dear. The ereader was bricked. So I took a pointy tool and pressed the reset. Life! 505 began to restart. And buffer. And buffer. And buffer. We chatted for around 30 nervous minutes while the buffering continued. We looked at the reader: it was switched on, but had lost two bars of power. I thought this was either the strain of the reset and SD card, or that the battery indicator wasn't calibrated properly, or even that the battery needed a long overnight charge. I got home at around 2am and put the reader on charge (I have one of Sony's chargers). Twelve hours later I woke up (it had been a stressful day), took the reader off charge and....touch wood....it's been fine since. I've been reading about 70 pages a day and haven't lost a bar yet. I've had the battery for around a year but am hoping it hasn't deteriorated in the drawer. It took ages to drum up the courage to have it changed; meanwhile, I've been reading while it's been plugged in, which hasn't been too much of an issue. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Last edited by BookCat; 05-21-2012 at 05:52 AM.

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05-21-2012, 06:06 AM	#2
sabredog Geographically Restricted Posts: 2,629 Karma: 14933353 Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Perth, Australia Device: Sony PRS-T3, Kindle Voyage, iPad Air2, Nexus7v2	Braver man than me, Gunga Din!

05-21-2012, 06:22 AM	#3
Teknikal Fanatic Posts: 574 Karma: 5264318 Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Belfast Device: Sony T1, Note Pro 12.2, Honor 10	I hate the fact so many devices have tricky unremoveable batteries now, I figured an ereader would probably be ok though just based on the little power they need. Completely off topic but I was about to buy a new Sony Xperia and they have started to do the same thing on their phones, between that and the Vita battery also being unremoveable I think I may have to start looking to other companys in the future.

05-21-2012, 07:21 AM	#4
BookCat C L J Posts: 2,912 Karma: 21115458 Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Birmingham UK Device: Sony e-reader 505, Kindle PW2, Kindle PW3, Kobo Libra2	When I eventually need to buy a new ereader, a battery which is easily replaced by the user will be a priority.

05-21-2012, 09:24 AM	#5
Cdesja5 Wizard Posts: 1,117 Karma: 2094306 Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Montreal, Canada Device: Lots and lots of electronic gadgets...	I wasn't so lucky, my ribbon tape tore slightly, just enough that the entire unit (plus the $40) battery are now in the dump... Luckily the Sonys are more affordable here than elsewhere,(except the US) and I got a T1 as a replacement. It was on special for Mother's Day... But still cost me $119.99 + the $40 useless battery. So, $10 more than the full price. But it was worth the extra cost to give it a try! Love my T1 though so it all worked out in the end!

05-22-2012, 06:30 AM	#6
BookCat C L J Posts: 2,912 Karma: 21115458 Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Birmingham UK Device: Sony e-reader 505, Kindle PW2, Kindle PW3, Kobo Libra2	So sorry to hear that you had bad luck, Chantal, to be honest, I was expecting that to happen to mine. Never mind, you've got your nice shiny T1 now. I'm particularly fond of the 505's and would rather not shell out for a new one as I'm on a tight budget and have 6 cats. Also, I haven't really seen any I like as much as the 505. This is why I went through the trauma of the battery change. I hope you had all your books archived and not on your reader. Most of mine are on the SD card. Would hate to lose them. Perhaps you're more sensible and only keep your TBR books on the reader instead of a whole library. Anyway, have fun with the T1, sorry about your 505. I hope my post didn't rub salt in your wounds.

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