FireAngel BatteryLife Repair

FireAngel ST-630

FireAngel ST-620

Has a battery CR17335 supposed to last 10 years, but in practice is empty after a couple of years.

After this period, you will start to be waked up at night by some random bip, telling you the battery is empty, even is the device is written good for another 8 years.

For sure it is foreseen as a disposable, supposed to be bought again, with a battery which is not replaceable, and device is made hard to open.

Perfect example of waste of energy, material and money.

Supplies

What you will need:
_ One CR123(A) of 3V (not 3.7V) per faulty detector. About 3€. (Mandatory)
_ One CR123(A) Holder per faulty detector. About 2€ for 5 pieces on Ebay. (recommended)
_ A cutting tool like a Dremel. (recommended)

_ Glue (Hot glue gun recommended)
_ A soldering Iron. (recommended)
_ Some wire, soldering, basic hand tools
_ ~ 1hour.

Step 1: Opening

Open the smoke detector by prying the 4 tabs with flat screw drivers.

Stay cool. It is annoying but not that bad.

But you will need 4 screwdrivers, and possibly some others hands.

Step 2: Dismantling

Remove battery cover, and motherboard from the housing.

Step 3: Cut the Housing With a Dremel

Cut an opening into the bottom housing.

Adjust the cutting with the help of the Battery Holder.

Step 4: Assembly

In the Priority that you prefer:
_ Glue (hot glue gun recommended for ease) the battery housing. Watch the orientation! Watch the height with the battery!

_ Cut the old battery, and wire the new housing with the motherboard. Watch polarity!
_ Reassemble everything

Step 5: Finalise

Insert battery, connect the tone.

Verify with contact and test button everything works

Verify the height of the battery

Congratulation you saved 20 Euros and you are done for another couple of years.

Comments

[BartG3]

Why should you replace the battery?
10 year warranty includes also the battery. And after 10 years one should replace the detector because the optical part is end of detection life and the detector can't be used any more.

[careox]

Any particular reason not to re-use the original battery holder? I found it easier just to replace CR17335 without dremelling, which saves location for my radio module also.

[bionicbenjy]

There is an even easier trick for this... Call their tech support team with the serial number and they will send a free replacement unit! (Fixing the old one gives you an extra unit!)

They say the battery can be reduced if located near heat/steam/humidity sources such as close to a cooker/kettle or bathroom.

[troun2000]

I invite you to have a look on buyers reviews (amazon...), and you can see that; customer service is bad and that units die after 1, 2 or 3 years on large basis, which means there is really a flaw in construction, independently from environment of use.