I have had my Kindle Fire HDX for over 4 years now and I like it a lot. It is my go-to device for social media, email and web browsing while at home. Recently the battery has been lasting only a few hours - previously it would last over a week of normal usage. So I decided to replace it. I found a deal on ebay for about $25.00 which is a LOT cheaper than replacing or upgrading to a new tablet! I found a instructions on ifixit that shows how to open up the Kindle and replace the battery and it did seem a bit daunting, but I'm an engineer dammit! It turned out to be quite challenging, but I got it done without ruining the tablet. At one point I did puncture the batteries (there are 2) and smelled a strong solvent odor, but nothing exploded or got hot so I proceeded. Those batteries are glued in there quite firmly, and it took about 15 minutes to pry them free. Replacing them and re-assembling the case was relatively easy.
From a sustainability standpoint I'm pleased with the outcome. I can responsibly recycle the old batteries at Lowe's. Also I'm not contributing the the consumer culture that drives people to upgrade their devices every year or so. Plus I have delayed the day that I will have to recycle this great tablet, and I saved a bunch of money. I do wonder how these things are taken apart and recycled given how much trouble I had.
Here's a brief photo summary of what I did:
Here is the replacement battery and the relatively useless tools that came with it.
The blue spudgers broke and I ended up using a flat blade screw driver and my trusty Swiss Army knife to pry the case open. There was a tiny specialty screw driver tool that was needed to remove 4 small internal screws, but it was for a smaller screw. I was able to grind down the tip to make it fit.
Here's the case opened up and the display disconnected and off to the left.
You can see that I had to do horrible things to remove the batteries!
Here's the back of the device after I got them out.
I don't recommend this for the faint of heart or those not "tool enabled".
Replacing the battery was very hard, my battery ripped open, and had little sparks. Nevertheless, I took a channellock to rip them out, and threw them into a plastic bucket of water. All works great. Amazon does not want you to fix these devices.
ReplyDeleteIs the battery still just as dangerous even if it has been discharged for months?
ReplyDeleteprobably not, but I would be reasonably cautious regardless and be prepared for the worst. I would have a frying pan with a well fitting lid on standby if it starts to smoke.
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