Pax Vaporizer Battery Replacement

Intro: Pax Vaporizer Battery Replacement

Replacing old battery with a high capacity Panasonic NCR18650B in Pax Vaporizer.

Tools needed:

• T4 Torx driver
• Knife
• Soldering iron

Materials needed:

• Solder
• Shrink tubing
• Electrical tape
• Replacement 18650 Lithium Ion battery with pre-welded tabs

Pre-tabbed NCR18650B are available here (xpresstekstore.com)

STEP 1: Disassembly

Remove a single T4 Torx screw from the back of the unit.

STEP 2: Disassembly, Cont.

Slide the cover toward the mouthpiece. The cover is very tight and may require some force to slip off the unit. Be careful not to loose 2 little bowl magnets as shown in the image.

STEP 3: Disassembly, Cont.

Once the cover is off, you will see the internal circuitry and a single battery cell taped to the unit.

STEP 4: Battery Removal

Carefully cut the tape, remove it from the battery and slide the battery out of its compartment.

STEP 5: Disconnecting Battery

Simply rip the weld tabs off the battery.

STEP 6: Insulation Removal

Using a knife, cut and remove the shrink tube insulation from the weld tabs and wires. After shrink tubing is off, the solder joints will be visible. Use a soldering iron to desolder tabs from the wires.

STEP 7: Prepare the Wires

Slip new shrink tubing over the wires. You can also use electrical tape in the later steps if you don't have shrink tubing.

STEP 8: Connect New Battery

For a replacement, I used Panasonic NCR18650B 3400 mAh battery. This cell had the solder tabs spot welded on in our shop. The tabs are thinner and narrower than standard weld tabs in order to match the original.

Solder the wires to the terminal tabs only.

Do not solder directly to the battery!!!

STEP 9: Complete the Insulation

Slide the shrink tubing over the terminal tabs and solder joints leaving as little of the tabs exposed, as possible. Heat them up with a hair dryer or a heat gun to shrink in place.

STEP 10: Re-assembly

Insert the battery back into its compartment and replace the tape that was cut during the disassembly, any electrical tape will do. Slide the cover back over the unit, replace the torx screw.

Your Pax will not turn on. Don't worry, you just need to "unlock" the internal protection circuit. Simple place your Pax on its charging base and make sure that it is plugged in. Watch that light come to life!

Comments

[marcelo250591]

Hi dude, many thanks for share it!
i have a question, when i dissasembled my pax, some orings(2 translucid ones) jump off de body of pax, near to chamber. in my case, this little ones are very dry and not fit perfect anymore, did u notice something like that? its ok just dont use it or better find some replacement?
cheers!

[rclayton6219]

When I took my pax 1 apart to change the battery I lost one of the pins that slide into the top by the oven. Is there a replacement for those pins?

[maxslomoff]

without a shop or spot welder, how can else we achieve this step of fixing tabs onto the new battery?

[poctob]

you can buy cells with tabs pre-welded, there is no other safe way of attaching tabs

[maxslomoff]

soldering wire directly too the terminal is bad?

[poctob]

very bad, you can permanently damage the cell

[mofuzz]

This was perfect! Great step by step tutorial. I didn't even have to do the power reset step at the end - my pax worked perfectly when I turned it on.

I learned that when purchasing batteries it's important to make sure you are getting cells that are "tool grade" (can pull high amperage). There are very similar batteries out there that are "laptop grade" and won't work for vaporizers. I got this one:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Panasonic-NCR18650PF-10A-...

Thanks again for an awesome instructable.

[hernanreba]

Hi. Can any PAX 1st gen owner tell me what is the value of the C19 smd capacitor? Thanks in advance!

[RoscoZ1]

Is this applicable to a PAX 3?

[DannyR77]

Thanks! Two successes with this guide. Make sure to orient the battery right! Haha

[ReubenA8]

I've done the replacement but the pax doesn't turn on even after charging.

[Diescum88]

is there a way to bypass having to use the charger? have a pax 2 clone that won't charge and was gonna try replacing battery making it interchangeable

[drem reeds]

was there any improvement to quality or battery life?

[poctob]

Yes, about 30%.

[PjD12]

Any Idea as to where to get the pretabbed battery you used here? The link you gave is out of stock and my pax lasts for one maybee two heat ups:(

[poctob]

Search ebay for NCR18650B with tabs. Last I checked, couple sellers in the US have them.