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 MIO M400 Battery Replacement

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T O P I C    R E V I E W
Allan Broadribb Posted - 29/09/2010 : 15:47:18
The Mio M400 I bought on eBay had a battery life of about 25 minutes so I replaced the battery (3.7v 750mah) as follows:

1. Move the M400 switch to the "reset" position.
2. Remove the 4 screws from the back of the case.
3. Remove the serial number bar code label from the bottom of the case and remove the 2 screws from under the label.
4. Separate the two halves of the case using a credit card or something similar. Do not use a screwdriver or you will damage the case. The case has clips around the edge which will come apart with a little pressure - start at one corner.
5. Unplug the old battery which is held in place with sticky tape and replace with the new battery.
6. Make sure the switch is in the "reset" position before you put the case back together.

I will post a picture if someone will explain how to do so!

Allan
15   L A T E S T    R E P L I E S    (Newest First)
Bill Posted - 16/02/2012 : 20:42:43
I felt the Mio really needed something like 12 hours battery life at full brightness so as long as I charged it the night before I could just use it without worrying about the charge level.

As luck would have it I had an old lithium-ion Dell laptop battery lying around so I took 3 cells from that to drive the Mio.
The original battery pack has a small controller/sensor circuit board in it under the heatshrink- if you remove this you can just substitute the new cells for the original lithium-ion cells and use the same board and connector.
I made up a small glass-fibre box to hold the cells but gaffer tape would work...
I cut the back of the Mio case to make room for the new cells and made a new back cover but again gaffer tape is your friend if you don't need to mount it on a hang glider!
The cells claim about 4.5 AH, they may not have full capacity as it was an old laptop, but I've used it for about a year and they do seem to give around 12 hours use and charge quite happily from the usb socket- the battery monitor on LK8000 seems to be pretty accurate with them too.

The point is pretty well any Lithium-ion cells can be used. You can try your luck with an old battery pack - even a failing one will likely have several good cells if you test them individually- or buy some new ones.
It is possible to make room for quite a large capacity battery pack- even with 4.5AH cells the thickness of the case is increased by just under 10mm, alternatively you could adapt my original intention and mount the cells in a box on the rear.

The pictures should give the general idea - The usual disclaimer about not looking too hard at the handiwork, when you bodge something together and it works there is no incentive to tidy it up, but it does seem to work...


Bill












LP49 Posted - 16/02/2012 : 15:00:34
Thanks for the battery post. For those of you wanting a compact power solution check out the Goal Zero Guide 10 battery pack.

http://www.amazon.com/Goal0-11401-Guide-Goal-Batteries/dp/B004NCY1G0

It is small and will fit in your pocket and should provide about an extra 6 hours to a 750 mah battery. (3 charges) Its charging output is 5v and .5 amp. It will also charge cell phones, kindles, etc.

The best Nimh batteries i have found are these. They hold their charge and truely are reusable:

http://www.hobbypartz.com/77p-recharge-aa-2200-8pcs.html

Dont buy the energizer! Its all crap. Doesnt hold charge or voltage. Mine eneded up in the garbage.
mwm Posted - 14/02/2011 : 16:19:34
quote:
Originally posted by nosbig


I have a low-cost portable USB charger that uses 4 1.5 AA batteries but I have not used it yet as I am concerned that the output voltage is too great for the 3.7 volt battery in the Mio 400m (for example).



The USB socket expects 5v, so it is compatible with your USB charger. Ignore the difference between the internal battery voltage and the USB socket voltage.
Michal_PG Posted - 13/02/2011 : 20:23:50
I measured power consumption of MIO400:
0,47A / 5V (USB connector has 5V)
0,47A / 4,8V = (4x AA NIMH accumulator)
0,34A / 4,5V
13mA / 4V
0,5mA / 3,5V

The acupack with 4x AA NIMH accumulator will be fine.
I would like to buy something like this: http://www.energizerpowerpacks.com/us/products/xp4000/
But I didnt find any test of it.
Allan Broadribb Posted - 10/02/2011 : 21:53:14
I've been using a back up USB charger with 4 AA bateries for a couple of years and have no problem. If you'd like to reduce the charge then use rechargeable nimh batteries - they should put out a total of 4.8 volts.
nosbig Posted - 10/02/2011 : 18:59:45
May I ask what delta and para pilots are doing as a portable power supplement for the relatively short run time of most PNA devices?
I have a low-cost portable USB charger that uses 4 1.5 AA batteries but I have not used it yet as I am concerned that the output voltage is too great for the 3.7 volt battery in the Mio 400m (for example).
Allan Broadribb Posted - 29/12/2010 : 18:10:59
My LP1230 battery arrived (1230mah). It is the same size as the original 750mah battery but the wire connector is too short. So I cut the wire connector off a dead 750mah battery and connected it to the new one. It is now in the M400 and the results are as follows following two test runs - starting with a full charge, after 2 hours there is 20% battery life remaining! Basically it performs exactly the same as the original battery!

My thoughts are as follows:
1. It is the same battery with a shorter cable the only difference being the label.
2. As it was the cheapest battery from China ($6.72 shipping included) it may be an inferior product.
3. The $18 battery from Radio Shack might be better but I'm too cheap to test it and they probably buy them from the same source in China and repackage them.
4. Can you really get 64% more life out of a 1230mah battery than a 750mah battery when they are both exactly the same size. In l-ion batteries is capacity related to size?
5. Could have spent that $6.72 on a cheap bottle of wine!
Allan Broadribb Posted - 13/12/2010 : 23:18:37
My Mio M400 is running for nearly 2.5 hours on the new 750mah battery. If anyone is able to install a more powerful battery please let us know about it and the running time.

Andy, I'm sorry I missed your previous post about the more powerful battery - I think the battery you asked about will fit in the case. In fact I just bought one on eBay for $6.72 with free shipping - I'll let you know how it fits and the performance. It might take a few weeks as it is coming from Hong Kong.

Allan.
bdserv Posted - 13/12/2010 : 22:16:08
Alan,

Thanks for the write up on this. I have to change the batteries on several used units and this was a great help.

Bruce
smielek00 Posted - 07/10/2010 : 19:07:06
Alan,
I found a bigger capacity batt
http://www.easy-battery.com/pda-battery/mitac-bp-lp1230.php
just 0.5mm thicker, do you think it might fit or too tight?
Andy
Allan Broadribb Posted - 29/09/2010 : 21:20:48
I bought this one because it is available in the US where I live.
http://stores.ebay.com/Lion-Battery-Inc/_i.html?_nkw=mio+400&_sid=15509142
I did a search on eBay for "Mio 400 battery".

I'm guessing you can find a higher capacity battery the same size for a different application. You may have to change the connector to plug it into the Mio 400 - not a problem really as you can reuse the plug off the old battery. Probably a good idea but I didn't think of it!

The original battery is an Li-ion battery 3.7v 720mah. Size is: 50mm x 38mm x 6.5mm.
Erik Posted - 29/09/2010 : 21:07:06
Where did you buy the new battery?
Are there high capacity batteries available?
michele Posted - 29/09/2010 : 17:09:44

Thank you for the thread!
Allan Broadribb Posted - 29/09/2010 : 16:36:09


Thankyou Michele
michele Posted - 29/09/2010 : 16:14:57

To load pictures in the forum use the textual link in the upper right page corner "carica immagine"
For every picture submitted you'll have its link back. This is the text you must paste in your message in order to have the picture displayed in the thread.
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Use only regular character and number in the filename, no blank character or special character.

Hope this helps!


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