(Vibe 500) - Replacing Battery?

[Kernle 32DLL]

Hi ho guys,

First things straight, I have to thank you (precisely, the one who made the vibe 500 port) VERY MUCH! Rockbox finally made my Vibe 500 a useful MP3 Player again. It solved so many issues the original firmware had, adding a lot of features along the way I always longing for (e.g. proper track sorting, labeled "database" in rockbox).

So, while it is now so much more enjoyable listening to my music, it's still only for short time (ruffly 2 hours). That's to the sad fact that I own that player for almost 5 years now, and by that time, its battery is as good as dead (altough I'm impressed it still isn't yet).

As the official site from Packard Bell has been purged of every evidence the Vibe 500 ever existed, and I don't happen to have the original manuals anymore (if they would have even helped me on that part), I need a little advise how to open my Vibe 500, and how to replace the battery. Equally important, where to get a new one.

I'm also interested in replacing the given HDD disk with a new one, as suggested in the Rockbox Vibe 500 Manual, but first priority for now is to replace the battery.

It's time to get that old rock roll-in again 

So long,
Kernle

PS: Oh, should i mention how i came to know about Rockbox? I was looking a particularly video on YouTube, when i decided to look up "doom" in wikipedia. In the section about its port there was a port for the so called "rockbox" firmware mentioned. As i didn't knew what rockbock was supposed to be, i looked it up. Hell, how glad i was i did. Now, that's an interesting story ain't?

[b0hoon]

Hi ho guys,

First things straight, I have to thank you (precisely, the one who made the vibe 500 port) VERY MUCH! Rockbox finally made my Vibe 500 a useful MP3 Player again. It solved so many issues the original firmware had, adding a lot of features along the way I always longing for (e.g. proper track sorting, labeled "database" in rockbox).

Hello!

Thanks! It's really motivating for me to hear such words. Glad to hear that i'm not the only happy person who uses this port. I'm very satisfied from it, especially because i don't have to use the OF (for example it has a bug which spoils the FAT32 structure every time you start playback).

As the official site from Packard Bell has been purged of every evidence the Vibe 500 ever existed, and I don't happen to have the original manuals anymore (if they would have even helped me on that part), I need a little advise how to open my Vibe 500, and how to replace the battery. Equally important, where to get a new one.

I'm also interested in replacing the given HDD disk with a new one, as suggested in the Rockbox Vibe 500 Manual, but first priority for now is to replace the battery.

It looks like they have removed everything about their every player. It's really sad and frustrating. At least they have left their ftp server, so we have the most important thing in this situation (disassembly manual):
ftp://ftp.packardbell.com/pub/itemnr/7400920000/vibe500_disassembly_manual.pdf

Be careful while dissasembling the DAP (two ribbons from the touchpad can be easily damaged). To remove the battery you only need to open the case and remove the top cover. The battery is glued to the motherboard with a strong glue, so be careful with detaching it too. You don't have to do anything with the LCD while disasembling the player (the manual may suggest it).

I don't  know if i can help with the battery cause this problem does not concern me yet, but i can guide you a little in a style "what i would do if i were you". It will be impossible to get the original battery i think, so i would try to get another battery. You can try the battery from the Philips Gogear HDD6330, however it has a different connector, so you must cut of the connectors (with some reserve of wires) from both batteries and solder the old connector to the new battery (colors of the wires should matches). I can tell you right away that it works, cause i've done it once.

If you will leave some reserve of wires and you are good with soldering, you can always back to the old configuration, however remember that you do it on your own risk.

The second battery which should fit i think is the battery for the Ipod Photo 4G. Maybe it even has the same connector, but i've never had a chance to have it in my hands. If it has a different connector you must do the same thing like in case of hdd6330's battery (wires: black<->black, red<->red, white<->yellow i suppose). I would try this battery cause it is cheap on ebay.

If it goes about the drive, you can put every Toshiba 1,8" ZIF drive  in it (tested to 60GB, although every size should work). Please take a look at this thread:
http://forums.rockbox.org/index.php?topic=23896.0
Different player but the same breakfast i think .

Thanks again and good luck with modding!

[Kernle 32DLL]

Thank you a lot b0hoon! That really made some things a lot more clearer. With the guide i was successfully able to open the player for the first time (i would have NEVER guessed it's actually screwed), and able to clean the display along  the way (there was some dust inside the case on the display).

Next thing is replacing the battery. I think I'll stick with the Ipod Photo 4G Battery and tell you the results. Thinking more about how the player behaves, i just hope it's really the battery, and not something else, like the charger logic. Well, lets just hope for the best.

The only thing that is not yet so clear to be is what kind of harddisk i could use. Doing a little search i dug up this site, which i use as a reference for the harddisks actual size. Keeping the sizefactor in mind, and adding the information i got from you, i should be able to use and ZIF 40 Harddriver that fits in the case, right?

If so, i wonder if it would fit any of the 100GB+ plates from Samsung (just curious). If not, I would stay with the HTC426060G8CE00 (60GB) I guess. Not sure on that yet. As i know now how easy it is to access the inner parts of the player, I can take my time thinking about my next steps.

Again, i have to thank you a lot for helping me out. Gonna keep you updated if the iPod battery works 

So long,
Kernle

[b0hoon]

The only thing that is not yet so clear to be is what kind of harddisk i could use. Doing a little search i dug up this site, which i use as a reference for the harddisks actual size. Keeping the sizefactor in mind, and adding the information i got from you, i should be able to use and ZIF 40 Harddriver that fits in the case, right?

If so, i wonder if it would fit any of the 100GB+ plates from Samsung (just curious). If not, I would stay with the HTC426060G8CE00 (60GB) I guess. Not sure on that yet. As i know now how easy it is to access the inner parts of the player, I can take my time thinking about my next steps.

It should work with any hdd of any brand. Although i would like to recommend you Toshiba drives on the first place. From my experience i think these drives are the most durable. I had a few players which had a broken Toshiba drives, but always from the guilty of the user. I do not recommend Hitachi drives, these are the most unreliable IMO. I even had a new player with a broken hdd on the beginning and i had to return it to the store. I've red about a lot of Irivers H10 broken after some time with these one. I don't have a opinion about Samsung, but i have a hunch that these are ok. IIRC Samsung hdds are mounted in the Ipod Classic (6G or 7G - something like that).

If it goes about capacity, i'm almost sure every size should work, cause the bridge of this Portal Player SOC is able to handle sizes even over the 137GB barrier. So maybe you should try something over 60GB, for example 120GB drive.

The case for the hdd in the PB Vibe is designed for the Hitachi drives. But with a little modification you can fit in it any drive, no matter if it is 5mm, 7mm (Hitachi), or 8mm tall. Lastly you can always remove the case and put the drive alone, secured by some rubber or/and two-sided adhesive tape. Maybe this Toshiba: MK1214GAH from the post i gave you is worth trying? Anyway i have in it the Toshiba MK2008GAL now (20GB, 5mm high) and i had Toshiba MK6028GAL previously, like i wrote on the Wiki.

Gonna keep you updated if the iPod battery works

I'm waiting with impatience, cause i feel i will have to do the same thing sooner or later.

[Kernle 32DLL]

I finally got my new battery today. I've chosen a 4th generation iPod battery (1200mAh). What can I say, it works! The plug was the same, I only had to adjust the cable configuration (easy, as the plug has "noses" to allow pulling out the whole cable).

I'm currently "deloading" the battery via my Vibe, to give it a proper load overnight. I gonna shoot some pictures this weekend, and write a detailed tutorial to replace the Vibe 500 battery (as you said, there may be still some people out there who might have use of for that knowledge).

If it solved my particularly problem, time will tell. If it really was just the battery, I should be fine now. Worst case would be that the loading chip is broken, in which case i could trash my Vibe, as this chip is irreplaceable.

As for the harddisk, I found some candidates for my Vibe, but first I want to be sure that the battery solved my issues, before I throw quite an amount of money out of the window for a new harddisk.

So long,
Kernle

[sis71]

Hallo,
i'm from Germany and sorry about my English, hopefully you will understand is.
I think my akku is also damaged, because of the heat in the car.
can you tell me how I can open the vibe 500. I find on way to do this, of course there us a little slot downside bot no effect

bay be you have some pictures, an new HDD will be also fine ;-)

I hope you can help me.

ups i find the manual, but i have no screws in the side, they are covered ?
OK i have find it out, i have found the screws, and this evening i will open the player :-)

[Kernle 32DLL]

Well, the new battery solved my problem! It really seems the old one was that worn off... Well, who cares, the new iPod battery is just fine. Only one minor thing: You you move the vibe to fast, you can hear (and feel) the battery moving inside the case, as it's not glued to the board as the original was.

The battery now holds around 1 1/2 days without recharging. That's fine by me

As sons as I get a hold of my girlfriends cam, I finally gonna take some pictures of the new battery. As I ran out of many cause I had to fix some of my computer's parts, I delayed the HDD replacement till Christmas

So long,
Kernle

[Chronon]

You could put some folded pieces of paper inside to act as shims.  Another possibility: Hot glue has nice adhesion yet can be easily removed when necessary.

[mcvmcv]

hello to all,
im trying to solve my battery problems as well and i already bought an ipod battery. theres just one question left: whats to be changed with the cable configuration?

thx
mcvmcv

[b0hoon]

I suppose it's something like this. But it's only my speculation. Right now only Kernle knows the truth.

[mcvmcv]

you just made a man very happy!

thanks for the fast answer, it surely did the job.

mcvmcv

PS: rockbox truly rocks the box!

[Yostarone]

i got the vibe500 some days now. i packed an ipod 4g 900mah battery inside the vibe. i had to adjust the cable configuration like the original battery and it worked like a charm.
now the player play for 9hours straight.
so thx forum (specially bohoon) for the great help!