Disassemble a Braun Syncro, 360 Complete, or Activator electric shaver by following this tutorial. Visit our website at: ShaverOutlet.com: The Ultimate Shaver Source Authorized Retailer of Remington, Norelco, Philips, Panasonic, & Wahl Brands.Please note that the general concepts shown and described in this video apply to many models but yours may be different. When disassembling your electric shaver there is always some risk that it could become damaged in the process. Shaver Outlet, Inc. Is not responsible for any damages you may cause to your electric shaver by following this tutorial.
The first problem is how to open the case of the shaver. This graphic from the shaver's manual gives some description.
But, these instructions assume you will no longer use the shaver after opening to remove the old batteries for recycling. The seal is green as shown. Use a larger coin to push and break the seal. Then rotate the round fitting where the cord attaches counterclockwise about 45 degrees. Rotating this cord jack fitting required considerable force. I had to grasp a US quarter dollar with a pair of pliers to apply enough force. Step 2: More on Opening the Case.
In MS Paint I added some colored lines to illustrate the steps in opening the case. As described in the previous step, rotate the fitting around the charging cord jack counterclockwise (red arrow).
There is an end cap on the case as shown by the yellow lines. When the fitting around the cord jack has been rotated, the end cap slides off (yellow arrows). Then the major portion of the case slides away from the innner workings of the shaver (green arrows). The inner carcase of the shaver is not shown here, but it is a clamshell. Pry it open only as far as needed at the end of the shaver shown in the photo.
Slide the inner case for the circuit board and motor out of the shaver. Step 3: Inner Case Catches. The photo shows one of the original cells. Metal tabs spot welded to the ends of the cells protrude through slots in the circuit board and are soldered in place.
I marked the circuit board with '+' and '-' so I would not forget the polarity. It is easy to become confused. My new cells did not have metal tabs spot welded to them. I decided to use some bare stranded wire.
I pushed it through the slots in the circuit board and soldered an end to the circuit board. Then I cut it to length to reach the point of contact on the cell ends.
I roughed up the ends of the cells with sandpaper and tinned them with solder. I soldered the cells to the wire pieces. Put the circuit board back into its case and slide its case into the shaver. Step 5: Assembly. Braun uses two metal pins like the one shown below to fall into place and lock the cord jack fitting so it cannot be rotated clockwise back to its original position after the seal has been broken and the shaver has been opened.
This pin is shown vastly enlarged. The actual pins are only about one quarter inch in length in all.
As long as the cord jack fitting cannot be rotated back to its orginal position, the charging cord cannot be used with the shaver. These pins need to be removed, but they are hidden from view.
Step 7: Removing the Locking Pins. In the graphic you will recognize the cord jack fitting (black face with grey contrasting color to highlight the three dimensional aspect of the graphic). The two pins are inside the cord jack fitting where you see the red dots. When the shaver case is open you will see a plastic piece shown here as tan.
It is actually grey, but I wanted its color to contrast with the rest of the graphic. The pointed ends are inside pockets made of translucent plastic. With a drill bit or a jeweler's screwdriver push the pointed ends toward each other to release the piece. Then slide it away from the assembly (arrows with feathered back ends). The cord jack fitting can now be lifted out very easily. The locking pins will likely fall out while you are removing the cord jack fitting. Discard them.
Reinstall the cord jack fitting and its retainer. You can now rotate the cord jack fitting in either direction as needed. Step 8: Assemble the Shaver and Charge.
I could not get the cord jack fitting to engage so that it also locked the parts of the case to keep the case from sliding and opening when I applied pressure to the shaver's sliding switch. It should work, but it did not for me. So, I drilled a hole in the side of the shaver and inserted a short screw to keep the parts from sliding away from each other. My screwhole came to be larger than I wanted it to be, so I filled the hole with hot glue and pushed the screw into the hot glue.
It looks ugly, but it works. Step 9: Attaching the End Cap Again. I had a couple of new NiCad AA cells in my possession and used them. I think the 2200 mAh cells you mentioned would work.
Braun 7493 Manual
I did not see any chipsets inside my shaver (1990 vintage), which would be necessary for any firmware. It was immediately after doing this project that I went to replace the NiCad cells and learned they were no longer in stores available to me (Radio Shack, Batteries Plus). The folks at Batteries Plus suggested simply using NiMH cells as substitutes for NiCad cells.
That surprised me, based on what I had read up to the present. I have not tried it yet, though. Thanks for your comment. The easier was of dismantling the 5510 is to un-clip the two little covers either side of the cord socket and unscrew the screws under them, this involves no problems with the poison pills. These covers can be accessed using a knife either side of the bottom cover, just press the knife in and pop them off. Now all I need are the new batteries and the value of that blown resister on the circuit board. PS: you can use NiCad's to replace NiMH cells but it's not a good idea the other way as the pique voltage on the NiMH cell is different and the charge circuit may not cut off.
I hadn't heard of any 'poison pills' before seeing your posting. Braun must have done away with those on later models, as I opened up my 7526 and 8595 shavers, disassembled, cleaned whisker debris out of the casing, then reassembled with success-both shavers still work. I've got a spare shaver (model 7526) that has well worn batteries, which will be the tester for this battery replacement.
If it works well, I'm going to replace the cells in my other Braun shavers. Higher mAh rating means longer life. The new cells I'll be putting in are rated at 2300mAh (still 1.2V) and can take up to 1000 cycles (versus the usual 500 on the generic NiMH AA cells). I neglected to follow up with results here.
Just thought I should make a note, for posterity. My attempt to use 2200mAh and higher batteries failed miserably. The additional storage capability of the batteries seems to confuse the shaver firmware. As I had suspected might be the case, it is tuned to deal with a specific battery capacity. So, it's important to use batteries that are as close to the originals as possible. I believe the originals were more like 1400mAh or 1500mAh.
1650mAh is probably on the edge of tolerance for the shaver, and it probably doesn't give much more shaving time than a 1500mAh battery. I'd say it's best to stick as close to the original specs as possible. Pmiller10 - just thought I'd share - I just replaced the batteries on my 7526 (almost bought a new one before deciding to try the battery replacement) - am I glad I did - I bought new 1650mAh from www.batteriesamerica.com for about $13 including shipping, soldered them in and voila, a like new shaver - LOVE IT! Before the batteries did not hold a charge anymore and I had ot use it plugged in, but now it is like a speed racer. I read elsewhere the original batteries were 1100 mAh on the 7526, but the max. People have had success with was 1650mAh, so that is what I went with.
Be sure to get the batteries with Soldertabs attached - much easier. Hello pmiller, Yes, the 7526 is a different model; this instructable is based on a 6000 series shaver. The bottom socket surround is rectangular, with a protrusion in the center where you insert the cord. To remove the surround, or 'plug', you insert a small screwdriver just within the lip of it (so you are getting leverage on the plastic). You then apply pressure to pry the surround off. There are 4 little hooks that hold the surround on, pointing to the front and back panels of the shaver. So you want to pry in that direction for easier removal.
Well, my attempt failed. I detached the old cells from their tabs, installed the new ones, soldered the tabs to the cells, did a circuit check to be sure the contact is good, reassembled the shaver, then tested it out. The shaver actually worked, but the battery level was low-clearly they needed to be charged. So, I plugged in the shaver and let it go through a charging cycle (60 minutes). When the flashing light went off, I disengaged the shaver from the cord, then tried to operate it. I plugged it back in and tried to run the shaver, and it did work. It just won't run off the cells.
I double checked the circuit again and it showed OK-the batteries are fully charged. I suspect that something must have gone wrong on the circuit board. The only thing I can think of is that it isn't designed to handle a 1.2v battery that has a 2300mAh rating. I quite sure I didn't introduce any issues directly (e.g. Short or broken circuit).
I determined that my soldered connections were faulty. I didn't have proper solder for the job (too small a wire and too quickly curing flux) and my extreme caution against heating up the batteries caused poor soldered connections. So, I used adhesive backed aluminum tape to secure the leads this time. The higher mAh rating seems to be confusing the firmware, as the low battery light is flashing on the shaver, but it's running very strong.
It'll be interesting to see how much run time I get on a full charge. Thanks for creating this instructable, Phil.
I had found how to remove the case over a year ago, but got side-tracked and eventually on to bigger and (better?) thing. Today I tried to back-step myself to see where I had gotten to back then (I'm 63, give me a break!), and came up with the locking pins that you have shown us here. I'm just glad I found your post instead of going to my reserve method of 'using a bigger hammer'.;) I understand that this (feature?) is more a safety precaution, but I can't help but think Braun placed those pins in there so we would have to buy a NEW razor. (The little pins and springs are precision made!) Although Braun is a well respected company, I'm sure that this product, like most others on the market are designed to be replaced. (Planned Obsolescence).
Ron-Ray, I love your self-description on you profile. I am glad this Instructable helps at least somewhat with your shaver. I am sure there are differences with an NiMH shaver than with a NiCad shaver. Our church's electronic organ has a memory circuit powered by two AA NiCad batteries. We know the day is coming when we may not be able to get NiCad batteries. Some have advised simply substituting NiMH batteries.
I guess that works if the charging is slow and gentle enough. I am sure Braun would eventually discover the joys of planned obsolescence.
Where in Alabama are you? I lived in Chattanooga for a dozen years. The north end of Alabama was quite close. We did also go to Gulf Shores once, too.
This is an old thread but I hope Phil B is still watching - I have just replaced the batteries in my Braun 6550. I used Sanyo Eneloop which are Nimh low self discharge of about 2000mAh. They ran the shaver but did not charge properly the first time. I removed them and recharged, replaced again and similar. When fitting them I did notice some lazer cuts on the pcb and wondered if this was some trimming for the batteries but rather hoped that the firmware would calibrate itself to the batteries after the first full charge/discharge/charge cycle. The shaver info says the originals are Nimh but not the capacity. I bought my batteries already tagged and there is a limited choice.
I got these as I used some for a torch at the same time where the low self discharge is useful. Looks Iike I have fallen foul of the firmware.
It has been such a good shaver I thought it was worth having a go at replacing the batteries. The dilemma now is whether to try some others when I have no idea of what capacity to use and I don't have a selection to experiment with. I have not been able to find the capacity of the batteries, they are not labelled and I've not found the info on the web; it is not in the service manual which I have. Any advice would be welcome! I really don't think Braun are likely to tell me and I couldn't find a circuit diagram online which might have had the value. Anyway, nothing ventured nothing gained.
I raised a question against Braun UK service and was not prepared for the answer. They decided it had some synergy with a question asking about replacement brush heads for a toothbrush! Well it does; they are both made by Braun! Then there was this reply 'All you need to do is contact our service centre. They should be able to fit a battery for you. However, if the toothbrush is over 2 years old, they will charge you for this.' Along with details to contact.
I guess the only word they latched onto in my post was 'batteries' and didn't read the rest. I've noticed xevious seems to know quite a lot. If you are monitoring and could let me know where you located information on the capacity of the original batteries I'd be grateful. It might help me track down the capacity for mine.
I successfully replaced my battery with a 1200 mAh NI-MH battery with tags, that I ordered online. I left the old tags protruding from the circuit board, and cut the new tags to length. The razor now holds charge as new. Elsewhere I found instructions for a better way of opening the razor: undo the screws at the top, then pull it apart until you can use a long screwdriver to move the plastic lug (held by a spring) visible at the bottom sideways. The lug has a catch on it that holds it in position for reassembly.