Introduction: Cracking Open the Motorola HS820 Bluetooth Headset

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Many people have been repurposing bluetooth headsets for use in their projects.
http://www.grooveking.com/blog/2006/03/grooveking-geekout-make-your-old-brick.html
http://kamalot.blogspot.com/2005/09/nes-bluetooth-handset.html

Both radioshack and Amazon had the Motorola HS820 on sale for 30 dollars this week. I bought one, popped it open. I wrote this up to show how easy it is and why you shouldn't be afraid.

Step 1: Remove the Ear Hook and Screw

First off, we need to remove a couple of things so we can get inide to the guts.

1) I'm not sure of the technical name, but I'm going to call it the ear hook as it hooks around your ear. It just pops right off if you give it a slight tug. It's supposed to pop off so you can change the orientation of the set. It turns out that I'm left earred.

2) After you remove the hook, then take out the screw. It's a hex screw but, I found a mini-flathead screwdriver that was able to fit perfectly.

Step 2: Pry the Top Off

With a mini-flathead screwdeiver, you can pop off the lit with minmal effort. Be careful becasue there is an exposed circut board under there. If you use too much pressure, or insert the screwdriver too far in, you could scratch it.I pried from the front to the back beacuse there is a rubber/plastic protector with some give located over the microphone and could easily pop the scredriver in there.

Step 3: Free the Board

The board is tacked on each side with some cheapo glue. I was able to use a small flathead screwdriver to scrape away the glue on each side.

Step 4: Free Board and Remove Mic

Remove the board, but take care because the mic and speaker are glued on to the plastic base. After you have freed the board, you can pry away the rubber shield around the mic and then pry the mic.

Step 5: Free the Speaker

The speaker is held on with a lot more glue than the Mic. However, the speaker has a nice ridge that you can pry underneath to get a fair amount of leverage.

Step 6: Test to Make Sure Headset Still Functions

I atttemped to make a call with the disassembled unit and it still functions. Woo hoo it does. Notice the placement of the led. this could come in handy when you re-appropriate the headset for one of your projects.