ACR ResQLink PLB Dissassembly- AKA the $10 battery replacement.

I've had a Spot GPS for the last year, but sold it once the re-subscribe bill came around. I never used it to send OK messages, and only carried it for emergencies. A PLB made much more sense for me. So I bought this little guy, and it came in the mail today.

The first thing I did after taking it out of the box was to place it in a protective pouch and store it safely for my next trip. WRONG! Since the moment I ordered it I was intrigued by the $150 battery replacement cost. It reminded me of some of the Apple products I've owned, where the battery replacement cost is easily 10X the price of the battery itself. Well, this turned out to be the same case.

Two simple philips-head screws later, the battery was revealed. It's an extremely basic 9v LiMnO2 battery pack. You can either buy the pack pre-built or buy the individual cells (they're made by Panasonic) and solder one up yourself for even cheaper.

I look forward to replacing my battery pack for cheap when the time comes!

That sure looks a lot like the battery pack in a cordless phone. Google whatever numbers are on that pack and see what you find.

Has anyone found the right battery to replace this? I'm suprised how difficult they are to find. How many Mah are these batteries?

I believe that is a 'Multi-Purpose' unit. Marine EPIRB units (which ACR and a few others build) are required gear on several classes of vessel, I will not say that having them is a bad idea, only that it creates 'guaranteed income' from that sales area. Of course, many would only need to buy one so the $150 battery expiration/replacement helps in maintaining a revenue stream. Upon inspection, an 'expired' unit 'does not exist', even if it will pass the built-in self test consequently, you fail and are perhaps escorted back to your dock, not to leave until you have corrected the 'problem'. To avoid this, many mariners routinely send back their units with a check, on schedule, and insure that the mfg. remains profitable.
Expiration dates may have helped consumers over the years but probably not nearly so much as they have helped manufacturers in some fields. I had a battery pack built to replace the one in my EPIRB. According to the builder, it was equivalent to the original (I have no way to verify that) and he said that it was good for about twice the length of life that the original was 'allowed' before expiration. Perhaps the original mfg. was being 'conservative' for safety's sake but half the life and (more than) twice the price seems a bit like gouging to me.

Bruce

I would like to ask the same question that Iskess asked on 12/13/12 - What type of batteries are these (no one has responded to his question)? Has ANYONE determined this? Are they "button batteries packaged together? CR1/2 packaged together, etc.? Someone mentioned "Panasonic" batteries, but gave no 'details'. I assume that there is NOT much information or research into the battery type because nobody's batteries have "EXPIRED" yet on this particular unit - only released for sale to the public (after FCC approval) in July, 2011.

Also, a question I have is; "If you send the unit to an "Authorized Repair/Replacement" Vendor, and pay the $100 plus replacement charge, does that get you another 5 year warranty? I have not contacted ACR yet to ask this question, but I'll bet that it does NOT! So, why would I want to spend the $100 plus, and shipping, just to get the battery replaced if I can purchase the same 'pack' after market, or build one myself????

Polar8, did you figure out what exactly is in that 'battery pack'? Can you give us some more details to help in 'Our' search?

Planejac

I opened my PLB today (ACR ResQFix). There are 2 stacks of batteries (3 per side). Stamped on the batteries is CR123A equivalent at 3V.

I had a box of these laying around and decided to give it a shot.

Tools required: philips head screwdriver #1, electrical tape, 6 * CR123A, 15 minutes of time or less.

The unit self tested perfectly fine after the DIY battery change.

I called ACR and the tech kept telling me that I HAD to ship this off for professional service. When pushed he did not have any reason why other than having the seals tested.

$150 + shipping both ways

or

$10 + 15 minutes

I hope this helps.

12 GPS full tests per "battery life" seems easy enough to re-set...logically, I think it is possible to re-set the 12-count GPS self tests if you replace the battery pack or just unplug it & plug it in again.

Has anyone tried it yet to see if your GPS self tests are re-set back to 12 times?

I just replaced the six cells in an ACR ResQFix. Although it can be done cheaply, it's not a great solution.

The factory pack has the cells hooked together with thin metal strips tack welded to the cells. Since most people won't have the fixturing to do this, you're left with soldering, or just hoping pressure is good enough.

The negative terminal is hard to solder to, you can get it hot enough with a gun, but the metal finish is marginal for making a good joint. Then you worry if you damaged the cell from all the heat. Had to file the solder bumps down to make the pack short enough to fit in the case. Used 3/4" heat-shrink tubing for a neater job.

So yes $120-150 is a ripoff, but it would be easy to make an unreliable pack. Ideally someone would sell nice packs already made up for a reasonable price, but I wasn't able to find them.

Anybody try conductive epoxy for making battery packs?

http://www.amazon.com/MG-Chemicals-Two-Part-Conductive-Adhesive/dp/B008UH4DB2

I am deciding which way to go for a PLB, and a user-replaceable battery is near the top of my list.

Just for your information, it is possible to build your own battery packs even if you don't have an old one!

Example: it's possible to buy MicrOfix 300 plb on Ebay, U.S. forces surplus, at less than 30USD each. ( http://www.ebay.com/itm/ACR-MicroFi...Locator-Beacon-NO-BATTERY-As-Is-/131874929936 )
The problem is that they miss the seal between the two case halves, possibly miss some case screws (they are 7/64" screws) and the battery packs.
So you can go crazy looking for the batteries (as usual they're CR123A, in the MicrOfix 300 you need 3 batteries per pack instead of 2, total 9V per pack, 2 packs) biut it's even harder to get the right connectors because you don't have the old ones to cut and use.

I did it, I mean I went crazy! But at the end I was able to find the right ones!!!
You need a Molex 51065-0200 connector housing and 50212-8100 connectors (both of them in the Molex Micro-Latch serie).
In Italy we can buy the already welded and wrapped 3x CR123A packs with cables for 14,5 Euros (2x CR123A are cheaper: http://www.ebay.it/itm/PACCO-BATTER...653809?hash=item25bcf048b1:g:SkUAAOSwn8FXRwtu) and the connectors for less than 1 euro each.

Hope this will be useful!

KarmaGianni, I signed up just to say a big THANK YOU to you sir. Your legwork is extremely helpful. I just bought one of the same microfix plb-300 units off ebay. I will be ordering the molex connectors soon. I'm thinking about using (2x) 9V "energizer ultimate" lithium batteries for a total of 13.5Wh vs. 25.2Wh with a soldered (2x) 3xCR123a w/tabs pack. Have you registered your unit yet? I guess you may have had to get your unit re-programmed from USA region to another (Italy)?? I've seen this "re-progamming" service for ~$20 on ebay. I'm waiting to see if I can even register the unit, as NOAA doesn't want to register it, as it's military surplus - and therefore has been in a different mil based reg. system. I will try to update w/ results.

Has any battery DIYer taken their PLB/EPIRB and then submerged it to its IPX rating? Maybe some still work but I can never grasp why people feel compelled to go cheap and save $150 on a device that will only get used in the absolute worst case scenario. My wife and my lives are worth more than a couple hundred dollars. As far as the cost, guessing that's not outrageous for a bench rate. These days a tech might charge that much to remove a philips head screw.

As far as a steady source of income, ACR has a new EPIRB with a ten year, consumer replaceable battery. Also, the other models only need to be done by a certified shop, not necessarily by ACR so I don't think changing batteries is some kind of scam they are perpetuating.

I can't comment on the IPX rating, as I haven't replaced the battery one mine yet. I tend to agree with your sentiments about the reliability aspect of an ACR authorized battery replacement service. I don't think it's a bad deal for $150/5 yrs = $30/yr (far less than delorme inreach or SPOT subscriptions). At the same time, these PLB's are "SOS" one-button kind of devices (not two-way communication) so I think a double-bagging it in thick (5-6mil) ziptop bags ought to do the trick to waterproof these for anything but prolonged submersion - as they only need to be taken out to press the one button, then pop it right back in the zip bags to transmit for 24hrs.

Actually, the antenna has to be extended and upright to function so I don't think putting it back in a bag is going to work.

Pressing that button is literally the very last act of desperation and possibly the the very last thing one does alive, when one briefly comes to the realization they may never see their loved ones again. I'd hate to be in that situation wishing I hadn't been so cheap trying to save $100 by going to Radio Shack and Home Depot. Personally, the cost/benefit doesn't work for me.

As I said, I tend to agree with your position, but I can also see why choosing between not having one at all and purchasing a surplus one or replacing the batteries on an existing one might be done by someone. It depends on an individual's risk tolerance, I suppose.

I have the exact same unit with the exact same Expiration Date, so I'm getting started on figuring out a non-$150 replacement option. Did you come up with something you could share, maybe even a pictorial?

I cracked open the wrapped three-batt pack and the Panasonic CR123A 3V Lithium batts are stamped with their own expiration dates, in this case 08-2021.

It seems like ACR is hedging their bets by posting the 11/2017 expiration sticker.

Does anyone see any harm with bypassing the ACR expiration date and working off the Panasonic expiration date? The unit stills "tests" as expected.

While it is an individual's right to "hedge their bet" when it is their own life on the line, in my case, I will go with what ACR is betting on and have them replace the batteries whey they say to. At a cost of $120 for 5 years (that is $24/yr., $2/month, about $.07/day), with my life on the line I will take the bet with the best odds. YMMV

As long as it tests, I'd keep using it ...

Well, here's the $20 fix I ended up with:


original batts exposed


solder prep new batt ends


solder copper tabs to link new batts together and reuse original plug end/wires


shrink wrap the completed new unit

The new batts cost $16 and thanks to my friend Larry who performed the work here for the whopping price of a cup of coffee.

Unit tests fine and should get me to a new expiration date of 11/23.