Is it a good idea to replace a zune 30gb battery on your own?

[yoda313]

Is it a good idea to replace a zune 30gb battery on your own?

I have an original zune 30gb and the battery doesn't seem to be holding up as well as it used to. I bought it new about three years ago or so give or take. The battery doesn't seem to last a day at work like it used to (listening to fm radio and music playback).

I've seen battery replacements kits on ebay for around 10.00 usd. One of them says to use a trained technician to do the replacement.

Is this doable on your own? Would you brick it if your doing it on your own?

I don't need to buy a new one because it can still charge and still play while charging so I don't need a replacement but its more inconvenient with the draining battery.

Edit - I don't want to send it to Microsoft either as that would be pricey and would take a while even if they would do it for an older model.

[ps2daddy]

The largest problem with replacing batteries or screens in small things like is you need to be careful in applying too much pressure that you might break or tear a cable connection. Never done this for a zune but it looks easy and very straight forward and should not take more that 30mins. I have changed batteries in a few ipods and replaced screens in a few cell phones and PSPs though.

If you read a guide thast has pictures and watch a youtube video and take your time it should be a peice of cake with the right tools. Remember not to force or rip anything

[yoda313]

@ps2daddy - thanks.

I'll try to dig around for a vid tutorial and see how complex it gets. If it looks too intense I won't even bother. I don't want to ruin it since it does still work just fine just low battery retention strength.

edit - I checked out youtube and looked like it only takes a few minutes.

http://www.batteriesplus.com/product/38582-RAYSA009B-Battery/579-0/4727-iPod-and-MP3-B...une-30-GB.aspx

Would this work?

I think I'd rather pay more to buy from a reputable dealer than risk international dealers from questionable sites.

What confuses me is it says ipod and zune. I guess whenever I head to one of these stores I could ask a clerk point blank if it really works for a zune 30gb and not just a ipod.

[yoda313]

Bump!

Well I had the afternoon off and went to a batteries plus and bought the battery. They do have installation service but their tech guy wasn't in this afternoon. I took it home and tried it on my own.

Toughest part to start was finding screwdrivers small enough. Fortunately I had some in an eyeglass repair kit. Once I got it open the battery is immediately accessible. So I popped it out and got the new one.

Unfortunately the copper wire has a kink in it whereas the zune battery is a straight shot. I twisted it a little bit to coax more length out of it to reach the connection point. I did get it to fit. I reconnected the case and nothing happened at first.

To make sure it worked at all I went to plug it into my charging base. It fired up! So I'm letting it charge overnight. It does show a full green charge but at the moment it won't turn on unless its in the charge base. So hopefully after a little charging it will start up like normal.

So assuming this works and the battery takes well I have breathed new life into my zune. For 30.00 thats not bad instead of spending 200.00 on a new mp3 player - it would be that high because I can't live with anything less than a 30gb mp3 player anymore.

I'll report back on how the charge takes. Hopefully this will be a permanent fix and I will have new life on the Zune.

Edit - plus this might inspire me to mod the zune. Larger harddrive? hacked firmware? Divx support without converting? Maybe......

edit 2 - well I just blew 30.00.......

I was trying to see if maybe the battery was dislodged somehow because it still wasn't turning on outside of being plugged in. Well i got fooling around and noticed the copper wire was in contact with a copper strip on the harddrive unit. I thought maybe that was shorting out while it was under its own power.

So I went to bending the wire some more to straighten it out even more.

Wrong move.

It tore clean off.

So I'll be going back to the store tomorrow. NO I won't be trying to weasel a refund. It wasn't the part it was me. But I will ask them if they have a battery with a straight lead instead of one with a kink. I'm sure thats part of the reason why it wasn't working right away.

Also as soon as I reconnected my original battery (which still works but just doesn't stay charged as long anymore) it immediately came to life while the case was off. The replacement battery didn't do that.

So we'll see what happens. But this was a learning curve and fortunately I didn't nuke my zune just the battery.

[ps2daddy]

Well glad you only hurt the battery but you will be a pro at it next time. Harddrives are not hard to replace either just take your time and dont force it.

Here is a repair video
http://www.repairsuniverse.com/zunebatin.html

Next time get the kit with the screwdriver too if you dont have one

[yoda313]

@ps2daddy - thanks.

As far as the harddrives go can they be flashed too? I don't know what any advantage it would really be to have a modded zune other than to have more space.

Really nothing wrong with wmv it just would be nice to have h264 mp4 or mkv support. Is that doable on the old 30gb zune? If I could just drag and drop a bunch of vids I have in those formats that would be pretty slick.

Is there a reliable mod forum for the zune? Will it still work with the zune marketplace or do you go awol and off the grid so to speak if its modded? Will purchased music from zune still work if they are the wma purchased rather than the open mp3 purchased?

Thanks.

[ps2daddy]

The flashing would actually have to be done to the firmware but I do not see any hacks for this.

The only thing i have seen for the 30 gb zune are just upgrades such as a installing an extended life battery and larger harddrive

No cool things for allowing other types of media are anything
The zune 2 has something about allowing other types of media but Ididnt read the article though.

[yoda313]

@ps2daddy - thanks.

I'm still looking for a reliable battery. Most that I have seen for the zune 30gb so far have been the ones with the kink in them. They need to be straight and flush to the far left side.

When I find one I'll buy it. At least now I know how to do it.