Oral B Triumph Battery replacement Video
Well finally got round to doing a video on how to replace a battery in an Oral B electric toothbrush.
I have now changed the videos to include the correct way to unscrew and screw the back using the power adaptor . Thanks for your comments.
Straight forward when you know how to do it. I have only posted a video on youtube as a full blog post would be too long.
Using a “4/5 A” battery that I bought from http://www.component-shop.co.uk/ Which I think means it’s 4/5 the size of an “A” battery
UPDATE FOR BATTERY
Another good battery choice is the Panasonic 1.2V NiMH Tagged 4/5A 2040mAh from RS
http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/speciality-size-rechargeable-batteries/0231011/
You can check your battery against the chart in link http://www.powerstream.com/Size.htm This way you will order the correct one.
Some people in the USA have an “A” size battery which is 17mm diameter 50mm long..
Check first to make sure your battery is a 4/5 A , before you order , as not all models are the same. A “4/5 A” battery is 43mm long x 17mm
It can happen that the display will start cycling through the segments . It seems to be a test mode you can get in and out of this mode by pressing the smaller of the two buttons. The one that changes the speed..
Also note that when removing the internals be careful with the coil at the top as this is very fragile as the wires are very thin and can easily break.
Check out the video here.
Part 1
Part 2
UPDATE:
Many thanks to Mr. T (Tony) (see comments) who is a star and has been testing batteries for his Oral B. His conclusion is a good replacement battery is a Vapex 1.2V 2000mAh NiMH 4/5A Single Cell from http://www.componentshop.co.uk .
Another choice for a higher rated battery could also be larger Vapex VP2200 A size but until I try a fit this battery I can’t confirm an A size battery will fit.
A WORD OF WARNING FROM RAY (thanks Ray)
Your comments are welcome…
Hi NobblyNoel !
Thanks for your great video which encouraged me to attempt repairing my wife’s electric toothbrush, which no longer works for more than 2 minutes after about 4 years.
As Sylvain (what a nice first name !) in his June 2015 comment, after playing your video several times, I noticed that your kid speaks both French and English and I found it very cute !
Hi mates,
I have the locked version of the triumph 9000 which has to get a reset directly to one of the electronic components to restart after battery change.
I changed the cell to a good working preloaded one with good connections like Nobblynoel´s aproach, which is the best method for me. I didn´t cut off any stock wiring so it can be used for longer cells, which is an easier job with the ring-type-charger brushes. This is because of the inner frame compared to an earlier pin-type-charged unit which had to be modified patiently.
But that was startable with just an charger impulse. So I went through a lot of tutorials about the triumph series and found this activation issue already described by Steve on June 6, 2011 here.
A clue of salvation I found than in the interesting postings from Tony mentioning Rob Kirke from http://www.fixed4free.com who “‘jump started’ the unit by briefly jumpering positive from the battery to the gate of the mosfet IC (the only lead not paralelled together on the largest IC near the motor end).” So my remaining obstacle is, which ic and which lead are meant in the reset procedure?
Here´s a picture of it. Tell me if some unreadable chip inscriptions would be useful to add? (as I had to overflash it for a quick mobile shot.)
http://www.pic-upload.de/view-28193095/t9000.jpg.html
Many thanks for the blog and all your helpful ideas to fulfill the mission 🙂
Mike
Thank you NobblyNoel for the very helpful videos and guidelines. I usually don’t repair this like this unless I find a guideline giving me confidence like yours. I am very proud of the result.
My Oral B Triumph Pridessional Care 9000 had lasted fir approx 5 years, but I rather use it only once a week. Don’t worry for my teeth, I use a regular toothbrush every day 🙂
As some seem interested on the battery life, I will keep them posted if I observe wear out.
I bought my battery “2800mAh Ersatzakku für Braun OralB 4000 5000 5500 7000 8000 8300 8500 8900 9000 9500 9900” here: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B00VRWMIUU/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_UCaCvb0QCC2NG
On a more personal note: after watching the videos many times and concentrating less on your speech but on the visual details, it occurred to me that your daughter was talking to you in French and English. I find it very nice and it reminds me of my children talking French and German at home. Keep up speaking several languages at home!
Hi nobblynoel,
Just an update for you about the battery you mention from RS Components. We now have these in stock on our website at a lower price (RS prices exclude VAT) with correctly oriented and offset narrow-width solder tags to fit in the narrow channels in Triumph toothbrushes (the RS fitted tags are wider and point in opposite directions). You can take a look at it here:
http://toothbrushbattery.com/buy/panasonic-42mm-x-17mm-braun-triumph-5000-9000-battery/
Hope this is of some interest!
Hello Nobblynoel, I can’t see your video… Can you do something about that? I have a triumph serie 9000 and my battery is going to die very soon… I bought a new handle the last time because they told me it was impossible to change it… but it seem that is possible?
Hi there . Video should work. If not search youtube for nobblynoel
nobbly
Remember, it’s the Vapex “High Discharge” batteries I measured. For location and description see my comments of Jan 24, 2014: cells are marked with “VP” as part of identification. Size 4/5A (with tags) seems difficult to source at present. Larger size “A” (with tags) is available; I have not personally tried to fit one into my toothbrush, but comments elsewhere suggest this should not be too difficult.
Update 17/Jan/2015: I have now had my Oral-B Triumph 5000 battery replaced for just over a year. At https://www.flickr.com/photos/114162475@N05/16298840462/ please find plot of “days of discharge” as a function of time: started at 12 days, now down to 10. Note this plots how long it takes to discharge after a full day charge (at least 24 hours) to when the toothbrush starts to flash: typically there remains 10 mins (2 days brushing) of discharge left if you are desperate. As noted earlier, you need a “High Discharge” battery to be successful. I’ll try to continue to a two-year record if I can remain that sad for that long! Result: for one-person use (5 mins/day) the battery mentioned above has worked well.
heh there. I’ve done the same/used the same battery. However at best i can only get 5 days charge with 2 x 2 minute brushes per day. 😦 I have the Oral B 5000 with wireless smart guide (the one with the LED indicators. I’ve also tried to put it on recharge after each use to see if it does top up to full (After the initial 24 hour charge), but it doesn’t. The LEDs might be on 2 or even 3, but the power output gradually goes down and then it dies all of a sudden. I get this sort of performance on the VP batteries or the polish ones you can by from eBay or Amazon. :-((((
Hi Peleep: I’m surprised at your comments. Were you using the VP Racing (Red) high-discharge rate batteries? I found a _huge_ difference between the VP batteries and some EBay ones. I am also using Oral-B 5000 with smart guide, so you should expect similar results to mine. I charge for at least 24 hours (apart from use!), then allow discharge until flashing, at which point I charge again — with timing results as shown. At one point I noticed discharge time was getting shorter, so on flashing I allowed toothbrush to run until almost dead (approx 10 mins more); this seemed to perk up discharge capacity again. You might try that!
I don’t understand your description of “recharge after each use”. If you are on continuous charge, I don’t understand how your battery “dies all of a sudden”, unless this is during a 2 min actual use. Have you been allowing your batteries always to go completely flat (as opposed to toothbrush flashing)? That could damage the batteries internally.
Perhaps you damaged the induction coil, so you cannot get a proper charge? Worth a careful look, and a little soldering Can you try an alternative charging unit? I had one fail early, which was exchanged. Good luck!
heh Tony.
Yes VP batteries and eBay give me similar results. Around 5 days of 2 x 2 minutes per day. Fully charge to 24 hours. then i use. 2 x 2 minutes per day. 3 leds. down to 2 leds. then it dies all of a sudden. i do not get to the single led then flashing (or if i do, it’s from two leds down to flashing and die wthin a 2 minute brushing). I did 7 full charged cycles with no real difference in performance (roughly 5 days). Then i tried fully charge for 24 hours, brush for 2 minutes, then put back on charger after each brushing. i.e. it is always charging. but no difference in performance. I can send you my toothbrush if you want to look at it and test? i have no tools to test anything… nor the technical skills to understand teh results…
Hi Tony, Have you tried the GP or Varta brands of these size battery? I have some samples I could send you for testing as I’d be interested to see your results.
Hi Peleep: No promises, but could you leave your (disposable?) email address: I’m not keen on publishing my email or address. We can then talk more privately. Have you tried charging your toothbrush (if necessary for several days) on someone else’s known-good charger? The problem might lie with the charger. Did you purchase any spare VP Racing batteries?
Hi Rob: Is Ionic anything to do with Ionic batteries? I’m afraid I don’t have any automated system for measuring batteries: it’s all down to me watching a voltmeter and writing measurements every 30 secs or so. So I’m afraid I’m not too keen on the idea of assessing GP and Varta batteries, as usually all this involves many cycles of measurements — as batteries take several cycles to achieve performance — and lots of my effort. Sorry!
@Tony: Yes I run Ionic Industries if that’s the “Ionic batteries” you’re referring to. I completely understand you not wanting to manually cycle and monitor loads of different batteries! Do take a look at our guides to replacing the battery in various Braun Oral-B toothbrush models at http://toothbrushbattery.com if you find them of any use, including the Vitality, Professional Care, PRO, as well as the Triumph. We’ll also be publishing a guide to repairing the SmartGuide soon as these can stop working.
Hi Rob at Ionic:
I looked up Ionic Industries. It’s not the latest very-high-tech batteries I was talking about; but it is nice to know someone is trying to supply appropriate batteries for toothbrushes.
However, if you are planning to sell batteries, why don’t you run discharge curves at a constant rate of 2.0 Amps as I did, for the batteries you plan to sell, and show the results on your website. All you need is some way of charging the batteries, a constant-current 2.0 Amp discharge circuit, a decent voltmeter, patience, and some way to plot your results. A simple breadboard will do, although you will need some high-wattage resistors to dissipate the power, and I used a small component-cooling fan to get rid of the heat.
If you have any electronic skill (or a mate does) it’s a doddle really, and you would be confirming you were purchasing the correct type of battery, and assuring your customers that they really were suitable for the purpose. My experience was that many types of batteries are sold that are _not_ suitable for this high-discharge application (although they may be great for torches or radios).
Good luck with it.
no worries. peleep at g-mail. have not tried a different charger because it charges to full from dead empty without any problems (roughly 24 hours). i have a spare VP battery but have not used it because the current VP battery gives the same performance as a the 2 other eBay batteries i’ve tried… i.e. i gave up after the third try!
I can’t believe I have over 100,000 views on my Youtube video..
I wish I had £1 for each view.
Maybe I should have sold the batteries and made £1 profit on each one..LOL
nobbly
Final Report: Using a Vapex “1.2V 2000mAh NiMH 4/5A Single Cell (High Discharge)” Ni-MH battery, from http://www.componentshop.co.uk, in my Oral-B Triumph IQ 5000 (see Jan 24, 2014), I seem to have succeeded. The original toothbrush spec was for a 10-day discharge at 4 mins/day use from a full battery charge. This battery has now delivered two 12-day discharges (each after 24-hour charging) for approx 5 mins/day use.
Thus, I would anticipate the larger Vapex “High Discharge” VP 2200 AFPT cells (A-size) should do even better (after initial charge/discharge cycling: see Jan 25, 2014) — although you may have to adjust the internal spring to accommodate the larger A-size battery.
It looks as if my earlier (Jan 5, 2014) dark suspicions about “false full-discharge” being used by Oral-B to engineer artificial obsolescence were misplaced: the problem was evidently the replacement batteries I initially purchased through EBay (battery2power, Poland).
Now I have convinced myself the Oral-B Triumph IQ 5000 battery can be readily renewed, even if this is discouraged for nonsense reasons by Oral-B, I would be prepared to purchase another Oral-B product when this one eventually wears out mechanically.
Thats for the update Mr.T
I will add the vapex battery as a recomended choice to the updates.
I will also be purchasing one, possibly the VP2200 and replacing the battery in my toothbrush as mine is not holding it’s charge for as long as it should.
Many thanks and all the best .
nobbly
heh Tony. great to hear of your success. can you please post a link to the 2200mAh battery? On the componentshop website, i only see a green coloured 2200mah 1.2v with tags. I don’t see anything that looks like the 2000mAh version (red) plastic cover).
thanks!
I seem to have received another copy of an old query “can you please post a link to the 2200mAh battery? On the componentshop website, i only see a green coloured 2200mah 1.2v with tags. I don’t see anything that looks like the 2000mAh version (red) plastic cover”. Link is: http://www.componentshop.co.uk/batteries/radio-control/single-cells. I see
Racing Red VAPEX “1.2V 2000mAh NiMH 4/5A Single Cell (with solder tags)”. I also see VP-type battery (VAPEX) “1.2V 2700mAh NiMH A size Single Cell”. This seems to have a fair discharge current, but is not described as “high discharge”; may be OK. Availability changes!
In my earlier comment I expressed disappointment with a pair of VapexTech “High Discharge” VP 2200 AFPT cells (A-size), presenting a plot showing poor performance at 2 Amp discharge. The above plot shows 2 Amp discharges for the VP 2000 “Racing” cells, and VP 2200 AFPT cells as before; but it also shows the same VP 2200 AFPT cells at 2 Amp discharge after four discharge-charge cycles. This time, the VP 2200 AFPT cells are behaving well, and exceed VP 2000 performance — as would be expected. I guess the lesson is that you should cycle cells a few times before measuring performance, although this did not seem to be necessary for the VP 2000 cells. These larger size-A cells can be fitted into my Triumph IQ 5000 toothbrush, as a replacement for the original 4/5A cell, and are available from the Component Shop. Hope this information is useful.
Thanks again Tony Very interesting graph. Easy to say, I know, but after seeing a big difference in the results of the VP2200 “A” being 13 minutes and “B” being not far of twice as much it would have been wise to continue testing until the results stabilised. You would of seen that at each charge/discharge the time increases and what is the optimum amount of charge/discharges needed before the battery performs at its maximum.
If you are interested there is a good forum “Candle Power”based on Flashlights which has a section on batteries.
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/forumdisplay.php?9-Flashlight-Electronics-Batteries-Included
Thanks again tony.
nobbly
Nobblynoel: “A” and “B” were two physically different batteries. Also, I am not using a logger: each curve means sitting down and physically writing down a value every minute — a lengthy and not very interesting task which I am recording for the public good. In addition, my critical voltages were 1.2V and 1.156V; I’m much less interested below that, especially if the cells do not look promising. A single battery charge-discharge-charge test takes about 15 hours with wires bodged onto across to my smart charger, which is designed to take AA and AAA batteries. Don’t expect too much perfection in these plots!!
I have finally replaced the Ni-MH battery in my Triumph IQ 5000 (see earlier comments). Battery properties are very important — the NiMH battery must be designed for high discharge rates, or the voltage drops rapidly below anything useful. From http://www.componentshop.co.uk, under Batteries => Radio Control => Single Cells, I located the “1.2V 2000mAh NiMH 4/5A Single Cell (High Discharge)” battery: manufactured by VapexTech (or Vapex) http://www.vapextech.co.uk/, this is branded red with “VP Racing Battery 2000”. Unfortunately, the Components Shop website states “out of stock”, although I managed to catch a couple. I also got a third from http://www.smallbattery.company.org.uk. However, this item does not seem to be readily available. My toothbrush seems to be working OK: I’ll report on how it works out over time.
The above plot shows discharge curves for potentially relevant batteries at a constant 2 Amp discharge rate, which seems _roughly_ appropriate; horizontal lines at 1.20V and 1.156V show where my toothbrush seems to cut off electronically, and finally dies after forced restart (see earlier comments). The three “1.2V 2000mAh NiMH 4/5A Single Cell (High Discharge)” batteries are shown as red curves, annotated VP Battery (A/B/C) — and at constant 2A discharge remain above 1.2V for 32–45 Mins. In reality, intermittent use permits the battery voltage to recover somewhat, but the initial drain in starting the motor may well be higher. These curves give only some indication of performance.
The Black curve (0.9V at 44 mins) shows the original failed Sanyo battery — some 6 mins above 1.20V.
I originally purchased an expensive (£7-80) “Battery Replacement 4/5A 1.2V NiMh toothbrush Braun OralB Triumph Philips” from EBay (battery2power, Poland), as he offered advice on battery selection and replacement techniques. The supplied cell was by BYD (Build Your Dreams). I complained to the supplier that it was worse than my original failed battery; he said it must be a bad cell, and promised a higher quality
Sanyo/FDK replacement (uk.reuters.com/article/2009/10/28/sanyo-idUST29375620091028). This battery was later measured, plotted as BYD (A): essentially 0 mins above 1.2V! Its replacement turned out to be
another BYD (plotted as BYD (B)): approx 3 mins above 1.2V. I insisted he supply the promised FDK battery, plotted as a purple curve annotated “FDK”. This curve was interesting: the battery lasted for over an hour above 0.9V (better than 2000mAh capacity), but its internal resistance reduced output voltage, exceeding 1.2V for just 1 min. This battery may be excellent for low discharge rates, but _none_ of battery2power’s cells
could have been useful for my Triumph IQ 5000.
While waiting for the above cells from Poland, I sourced 2 off 4/5A
cells http://www.batteriesplus.co.uk/acatalog/4_5_AF_or_4_5_A_Size_NiMH_Battery.html, plotted as green “UK Sourced (A/B)”. These were better than any of the cells from Poland, but were clearly not high-discharge type, delivering around 5 mins above 1.2V from full charge.
Having decided the VP 2000mAh 4/5A cells were the best, I wanted to test out VP size-A cells, which would fit the toothbrush with some modification of the stabilising spring, and which (I hoped) should improve capacity. The Component Shop offered a “1.2V 2200mAh NiMH A size Single Cell (High Discharge)” annotated VP2200AFPT, available in stock, whose product description suggested no problems with 2 Amp discharge. I was surprised that the cell was green (_not_ red with “racing”), but purchased nevertheless. The result was the disappointing blue curves annotated “VP 2200 AFPT (A/B)”: clearly these were not “high discharge” cells despite the
associated description, although they do perform better than all the non-VP batteries plotted here above 1.2V.
So my Triumph IQ 5000 now contains a VP 2000 4/5A “Racing” cell. I am still concerned that the electronic cut-off seems to be just about the mid-point of a typical Ni-MH discharge plateau (see previous comments), but will try and train that down if possible.
Thanks again Tony. I don’t understand why you seem to have more problems than most in replacing your battery. Maybe you just got unlucky and sourced bad batteries from the beginning. interesting read though..
All the best and keep us informed..
nobbly
I feel very sore that the EBay site that appeared to be most relevant to toothbrush repair, and that offered 3-fold higher cell prices, produced the worst cells for this application. Perhaps the Triumph IQ 5000 just has a higher drain than most. In practice, I have had great difficulty finding true “high discharge” cells in sizes 4/5A or size-A, so I have included source information. I am still concerned that this toothbrush seems to have an electronic cutoff when the battery reaches 1.2V. I will try and find techniques for reducing this cutoff voltage, if possible.
Some tips specific to Triumph IQ 5000, but which may be more generally helpful:
1. No need to strip screw on base or driver. See base:
Note alignment mark (like scratch) on screw and base. On re-assembly, tighten until seal starts to tighten, then until mark re-alignment: no further.
2. On Triumph IQ 5000,
shows internals with LCD removed. Note single, and robust, induction coil. If interested MPU: 
, and Bluetooth: 
.
3. LCD was fixed in place with a small screw. Despite nobblynoel comment, in my case screw has Torx-6 (T6) head (see )
. Suitable screwdrivers readily obtainable off Ebay, eg in mobile phone tool kits, with kits costing £2 or so.
4. Suggest DIYers please announce success after everything works, and charge useful for many days: not merely once toothbrush starts charging! Also, it would be useful to know how long toothbrush lasted, and how many people were using it before batteries “failed”. Oral-B suggest lifetime should be 3–5 years, although I feel this is a very short time for an expensive toothbrush with a single user. If you are successful with new battery, and the charge lasts several days, please let us know where you got the battery from.
Thanks again Tony.Nice photos as well.
Hows your troubleshooting going?
Hi nobblynoel: I’ve been spending unreasonable effort trying to measure battery discharge properties, to decide whether problems lie with battery, or toothbrush (which works properly only with higher voltages). Original battery was, say, 2000mAh; Braun claim battery should last 10 days (say, 5 mins/day including cleaning) or roughly 50 mins per charge for a new battery. This suggests discharge rate is 1.2C, or 2.4 Amps, on a simplistic calculation.
In an earlier message I stated my “failed” battery had retained 1675mAh capacity; but this was actually measured at a very low 350mA discharge rate. I have been trying to measure battery properties at 2 Amps discharge, for periods of 2 mins with rests (5 replacement batteries so far!). I have been using a power supply “current limit” as a “constant current source”, but this is very inaccurate. My impression is that my existing replacement batteries all perform very badly at higher discharge rates (voltage falls rapidly below 1.2–1.1V range: cf http://www.powerstream.com/AA-tests.htm, results for PowerStream 2000mAh Ni-MH cell): indeed my best battery so far is the original Braun-supplied “failed” battery!
Battery quality may be _very_ important. Your suggestion http://www.component-shop.co.uk/ offers a “high discharge” 4/5A battery (red) which is out of stock, but I am trying to source one elsewhere. I also await high-wattage low-value resistors, banana plugs, etc., to run some more accurate tests. I’ll let you know when I have results I have confidence in.
Anne: Your current problems (Jan 13, 2014) sound like mine (Jan 5), and _may_ relate to battery quality. Watch this space!
Hi T
2 points come to mind. Yes the battery is important. So trying a battery from a different source would be a good idea. My last one was from http://www.akkushop.de and has worked fine for a long time now. Other point. Could it be that the internal mechanical parts of the motor are wearing and causing a higher power draw on the battery?
nobbly
Hello there,
I have found unfortunately that in the end this hasn’t worked too well. I changed my battery over in September last year. My comments about the process are listed at that time below. It worked really well for perhaps a week and then the power started to go. Whilst the charge held longer than before the power of the brush began to leech away with the vibration becoming as weak as with the original battery. I’ve stuck with it as it still hasn’t required the type of recharge that I had to do with the original battery. Two days ago I noticed it was extremely lacklustre as if it was about to run out of charge but I noticed that the battery indicated it was 1/2 full on the LCD screen. I went to use it last night and it was dead within 20 seconds – now the battery indicated it was empty… Tried to jump start it with just a few minutes charge but no luck. Have charged it for about 24 hours and it’s full again but still has a sluggish feel to it. Unfortunately I think Braun have won this time!
Thanks,
Anne
AS always avoid cheap batteries from auction sites.
Here is a reputable source.RS online.
RS Stock No. 231-005
Brand Panasonic
Mfr. Part No. HHR-120AA-1Z
http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/speciality-size-rechargeable-batteries/0231005/
I agree Tony – I think my problem may be the same as yours – I’ve been reading your contributions with interest despite not really understanding some of the more technical bits…. 🙂
Hello David,
I didn’t use a ‘cheap battery from auction sites’ I source the battery from the website that Nobbly suggested in the video.
With thanks,
Anne
My expensive Triumph IQ 5000 with Smartguide showed signs of “dying battery” (but see below) after 3 years use by _one_ person: after 24 hours of charging, the battery would last for 1 day before cutting out. Replaced 4/5A battery, and found performance largely unchanged. Indeed, after a few more charging cycles (of 24 hours), it got worse: the battery would cut out after 30 seconds.
At http://fixit1stop.com/contactus.sc#5 there is a warning about “false full-discharge” indicator: most rechargeable products will give a low-battery warning when a “full-discharge” point has been reached. In this case, the “full-discharge” point seems to have crept up to almost “full battery”. The cited advice is to keep using the brush past the low-battery warning, in the hope of training the “false full-discharge” to a lower voltage. Unfortunately, the Triumph 5000 does not merely warn: it cuts out electronically.
It can help to re-charge for 20 seconds or so, after which the toothbrush may run for many minutes!
This got me suspicious. After 24 hours charge, and death after 30 seconds, I opened the T5000. Battery voltage was 1.42 volts (very fully charged: charger works fine); and a monitored discharge confirmed the nominal 2100mAh capacity of this new battery.
I ran a charge, monitored-discharge, charge cycle on the original (“dead”) battery — and found it had a capacity of 1675mAh. It looks as if it had lost only 20% or so of its original capacity! It was also capable of pushing 7 amps through my multi-meter, so its internal resistance seems OK. My impression is that the battery did not die: rather the “full-discharge” point has been allowed to creep up until the toothbrush appeared to be incapable of holding charge. I feel as if I have been deliberately cheated.
Unfortunately, I am still finding the toothbrush, with its new battery “incapable of holding charge”. Has anyone else seen this sort of behaviour; any suggestions? I purchased the toothbrush on 6 Dec 2010. Is it possible that Braun has deliberately introduced a design change that prevents a toothbrush being repaired simply by battery exchange? I get the impression from this blog that repairs have generally been successful.
I have now opened my T5000 several times. There was (and remains) no sign of corrosion from battery leakage, no sign of moisture (spit, toothpaste etc) through the oscillator-rod seal; and the PCB looks pristine with no discolouration or sign of physical damage. There is no question of dry or intermittent soldered joints (I removed the LCD display, and soldered directly onto the PCB) — I used a very high-quality soldering iron with a new tip well-suited to the size of the task, and have plenty of experience in soldering. The above is a simplified story: I have exchanged with _two_ new batteries from different manufacturers, with no obvious improvement.
Can anyone help, or add further evidence?
Whooo.Thanks for your input. What An interesting and long comment. I will have a think about this one but first thoughts would be to run the brush from a bench power supply and work out at what voltage it will run and what is the low voltage cut off point.
I’ll get back to you soon..
Many thanks
nobbly
I have a power supply, but as it is a 0–30V range I’ll not use it here! However, I opened the T5000, removed the LED display, dabbed a couple of wires on the Ni-MH battery, replaced the display, and connected the wires to a multi-meter. The toothbrush had been on charge for around 6 hours after use.
Initially voltage was 1.433V (very full). Put toothbrush head on brush, otherwise no loading, and started: immediate drop to 1.279V. Adding extra load by squeezing brush head drops voltage by approx 0.05V, depending on squeeze. After every 30s we have short pauses, with accompanying voltage increase; immediately after I remove squeeze and monitor voltage. Several given below to indicate rates of change, and also effects of current. At (time, V): (1:00 (min:secs), 1.227V), (2, 1.215V), (3:00, 1.201V), (3:30, 1.202V ??), (4:00, died). After death, immediate voltage rise to 1.344V.
Put naked charger ring into charger for 20 secs or so. Remove.
Toothbrush can now start again! (0:30, 1.207V), (1, 1.204), (2, 1.195), (4, 1.184), (6, 1.172), (8, 1.160), (8:30, 1.159V), (9:00, 1.156), (9:30, died); immediate volt increase to 1.286V.
Put naked charger ring with its base into charger, and charged to (7:00, 1.344), (8:00, 1.346V), (9:00, 1.349V), (10:00, 1.352V). Voltage drops when removed from charger.
Start toothbrush: (1:00, 1.169), (1:30, 1.164V), (2:00, died); immediate volt rise to 1.289V.
Charge as above: (1:00, 1.331V), (2:00, 1.336V), (3.00: 1.341), (6:00, 1.349); stop charge: 1.322V.
Start toothbrush: (0:30, 1.174V), (1:00, 1.161V), (1:30, 1.157), (2:00, died); immediate rise to 1.285V.
This is all a bit difficult to interpret, but it looks as if the battery dies naturally, on load, when it falls to around 1.156V. The initial death seems to be artificial at around 1.201V on load (but may vary!), although the system was resurrected by a few seconds of charging — which would have made negligible difference to the battery charge — but which seemed to permit the battery to get past a critical point.
Earlier on I had charged for well over 16 hours; died; but after 20 secs or so charge was then immediately able to run toothbrush for around 12 mins, after which I got bored and switched off — after which I could not restart via short charge.
As explained earlier, battery and charging seems OK; problem seems to lie with an artificial cutoff.
Any thoughts?
Not sure if relevant, but at http://www.fixed4free.com/answers.php?id=89186 Rob Kirke notes (Jun 2008):
“I just sucessfully replaced the battery in a Braun electric toothbrush … One strange thing I found was that after replacing the cell, there was no sign of life at all, until I ‘jump started’ the unit by briefly jumpering positive from the battery to the gate of the mosfet IC (the only lead not paralelled together on the largest IC near the motor end). After this the unit and timer worked properly. I wonder if this is a new attempt to make a `limited lifetime’ appliance? I know the contollers in some laptop batteries will not fire up again once cell voltage has reached zero (i.e by replacing the cells)”.
This is the only other hint I’ve seen of potential Braun built-in obsolescence. Any further evidence, anyone?
Hi Tony,
Have a look at these 2 videos.
NiMH and NiCd Battery Charging Tutorial http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ROhH9EkhtU
Braun Toothbrush Teardown http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJgKfTW53uo
nobbly
EEV Blog (2nd YouTube) looks like earlier Braun toothbrush model. MCU measures battery voltage and controls motor, so in principle could shut down system as required. However, I guess you would need EPROM or similar to record knowledge that a battery had been removed, and thus maliciously shut down early after installation of new battery. My recorded voltages were, of course, DC — no proper account of current pulsing (I would guess to reduce gassing while charging).
Does anyone know if the “mAh” of the replacement makes any difference? I just installed a 2000mAh battery and it only stayed charged for about a week which is how long the replaced battery lasted. Do I need a 2700mAh version?
Both the mAh and the quality of the battery will make a considerable difference. Also a lesor quality battery will not last as long(in years). The 2700 mAh Sanyo Ni-MH is an OEM replacement for the Oral B Professional and Triumph.
Hi There,
Thanks for that although I find it rather expensive.
nobbly
Can anyone [lease tell me where i can get the Correct Replacement battery for the Triumph professional OralB Toothbrush. Thank you.
It’s above if you read the introduction: http://www.component-shop.co.uk/
Thank;s Anne
Hello there – inserting the charger triangle into the bottom of the oral b toothbrush to remove the battery compartment and it’s just spinning so the triangle on the adaptor is becoming worn away – no purchase. I was turning it the right way (checked on your video) but it’s less usable now as it’s corners are worn (part on the toothbrush remains unmarked) is their a tool you can use to get this off? I’ve also made sure that all toothpaste was removed and not acting as an additional sealant….
Hi Anne .
Thanks for the comment. I have answered a question like this before.
Before I knew about using the plug to undo the bottom I made an adaptor. I used an m8 bolt the head is 13mm>
Draw a triangle on the bolt head it and then grind the head to the triangle lines then round off the three corners of the triangle and grind to fit your toothbrush..
You will just need access to an angle or bench grinder and 10 minutes of your time.
hope that makes sense
nobbly
maybe not for the faint hearted, but i had a similar problem, and i solved by gently heating a flat ended screw driver over the gas and then carefully melting it into the hole at the base of the toothbrush, creating a small slot which the screwdriver could tighten (and un-tighten) the base of the toothbrush, you don’t have to melt in very far to give enough of a slot. I melted mine a little too much and created a small hole through which water (although very unlikely) could get in, so i just blocked the base hole with white blu-tack, which i just prise out when i need to replace the battery again. Not an particularly elegant solution i know, but it works.
Hello Nobbly and Paul,
I found a solution! So simple – I got a Bic biro and melted it on the gas (similar to what you’re suggesting Paul) it only took a couple of seconds to get soft and then pushed it into the recess on the tooth brush. I left it to cool for 1/2 hour and then use a pair of pliers to turn it. It slipped out of the recess easily but provided enough purchase to turn the blimmin bottom (plastic of bic biro not as soft as that on the adaptor). If you squeeze too hard the shaft of the biro will fracture but you don’t really need to hold it too firmly just enough so it will turn. It worked anyhow and a bit easier than an angle grinder… Found the answer here: http://www.xavboxcube.com/fr/technique-du-bic-gamecube.php3 – Besides this the rest of the fix worked perfectly (didn’t need to use solder – but could as bought the kit for it) and it’s happily charging. Thank you! Saved me £120.
Best wishes,
Anne
Hi can anyone tell me where i can get a replacement battery for The Triumph Professional Oral B Toothbrush. In Ireland they tell me you cannot replace the battery, but yet they say they can. Puzzling. Can anyone give me an address anywhere i can purchase one online, i have tried everywhere. Thanks’.
Hi Mossie
The first step would be to find out what size battery you need.Take your brush apart and measure the battery then come back here with the size and I will tell you what to order.
nobbly
Hi Nobblynoel, wow that was quick. The battery size is Ni-MH Recycle 444MV SAN. The battery is an inch and a half long. It’s identical to the one you changed in your video clip, which i found very useful, and simple to do. If i could get the battery from somewhere abroad, i know there would be no problem whatever replacing it. Thanks again.
Can you measure the length and diameter in millimetres ? mine was 43mm long X 17mm diameter
Hi Nobblynoel, wow that was quick. The battery size is Ni-MH Recycle 444MV SAN. The battery is an inch and a half long. It’s identical to the one you changed in your video clip, which i found very useful, and simple to do. If i could get the battery from somewhere abroad, i know there would be no problem whatever replacing it. Thanks again.
Yes, it’s 41cm in Length, and the base is 16cm. Hope this helps
Well I hope you mean mm not cm.
Looking at the powerstream battery chart there is no battery 16mm. It’s either 14.2mm or 17mm
and same for the length it must be 43mm. Just order a 4/5A battery 17mmx43mm either from component shop or search for 4/5a battery on Ebay.
nobbly
Ok Nobbly, but the battery is exactly the same as the one you replaced on your video clips, its the very same model of toothbrush also, i sent you a photo of the battery a short time ago
Hi, I guess I must be lucky mine is 6 yrs old and the battery is just starting to last a few days between charges.
Thanks for this very clear guide which I will be using in the next few weeks when I get annoyed enough.
To prolong battery life only put it on charge when down to 1 bar.
Hi David,
Nice to hear from you. Please let us know how you get on and if you have any problems just ask….
nobbly
Forgive the resurrection.
Better late than never.
did it last year (2021), no problems thanks to the information here.
Thank you.
I just replaced mine but it’s been sitting on charger overnight with the what seems to be never ending battery indicator blinking. How long does it take to charge?
Hi there,
From flat i would say around 12-16 hours. Should have started with no, or 1 bar and the flashing bar should slowly increase. How many bars are showing when you take it off charge ?
If it’s not working take it apart again and check the battery + and – terminals are the correct way round. Also check the solder joints are good and maybe remelt the joints.
Then try again. Costs nothing.
nobbly
Hi Nobblynoel. Thank you for your video on Brother HL 2040 printer. My question is how you open up the side or the bottom to get the two rollers out? The video showed the printer had already been peeled. Thank you. Richard from richong@verizon.net.
Hi Richard. Not sure why your post came up on the Oral B page? All the info, for taking off your printers side and bottom, is on the following page. https://nobblynoel.wordpress.com/2012/10/25/brother-hl-2040-laser-printer-repair-solutions/
nobbly
Many thanks for this help. It worked well. The only difference is that I took the old battery out without removing the old contacts and without having to access the circuit board. With care it was easy to solder the new battery on to the old contacts.
HI David thanks for your input and glad to help.
All the best
nobbly
Thank you for all your help, You were right on the money with everything and saved me money. Shame more people are not like you, thanks again..
Hi Bill,
I guess that you have replaced your battery and all is working good ?
all the best and glad I helped..
nobbly
Hey, thanks for the great video tutorial. Your brush is different from the Oral B “Professional Care” series brushes, but for a first-time solderer, it still offered some great insight and basic understanding to approaching the task. For others who may’ve ended up here but who have a Professional Care brush, I just wanted to provide this link as well:
http://www.blinkenbyte.org/braun-battery-replacement/index.html
Between it and yours, I was able to delve into this new skill and get the job done. So thank you very much!
I usually do everything I can to extend the life of my appliances, rather than subscribe to this awful “throw-away” mentality that the new world seems to be a part of. Seriously, I went to my local Oral B replacement parts dealer, and they told me that unfortunately, when the battery dies, “THEY CAN’T BE REPLACED. You have to buy a whole new replacement handle assembly!”
**Yes, an otherwise perfectly operable appliance goes to the landfill simply because the rechargeable battery died. That’s the way things work these days, and sadly, the majority of us just accept it.**
Not in my books. Google (i.e. you, Sir Nobbly) has come to the rescue once again.
And for what it’s worth, I had assumed that I’d have to order a 4/5A NiMH battery online somewhere, but actually had no problem finding it locally. Most cities (maybe not the smaller ones) will have stores dedicated to selling only batteries, all shapes and sizes of them. There are a handful of them where I live; after calling three, I found one that had a bunch in stock for me. So check your local vendors first, people. Chances are they’re not that hard to come by.
Best,
Shawn
CANADA
HI there Shawn
Thank you very much for the info. I too hate this “throw-away” mentality and like you spend hours repairing rather than seconds throwing.
I guess from your post that you have replaced your battery and all is working good ?
all the best and thanks again.
nobbly
You bet – like I said, you helped me get the job done! Performs as good as new (looks as good as new too… ’twas a good opportunity to give it a scrub and get all the dried paste out…). Thanks again, man!
Hi thank u so much for this guide, couldn’t have done without it u saved me a fortune on a new tooth brush.
I’ve got an issue I opened it all up fine close it but it’s come loose and I cant undo the bottom screw the plastic on the charger is just getting mashed. Any ideas of another tool to open it with?
Edit, sorry i was typing that from a phone. what i mean is solder has come loose and is wrattling around, i dont want to cause a short but i cant open the base, think i did it up to tight!
I have a Bruan 3D Excel. I took out the battery and it is a single piece about 4cm long. Can anyone tell me what battery I need to buy? Is it 4/5A or 2/3A? How many mAh? How many volts? And perhaps where I can purchase it in the U.S…online or b&m.
HI there Steve,
You need to measure the length and the diameter of the old battery then look at this chart to determine what size you need.
The battery will be a 1.2V and around 2000mAh NiMH..
When you know what size you need just google it…
All the best
Let us know how it goes..
nobbly
nobblynoel, thanks so much for this chart! The battery I have measures 41mm height and 16mm diameter. Judging by the chart, I think its a 4/5a battery. Do you think it will fit in the toothbrush? I’m looking at this battery: http://www.all-battery.com/tenergy4_5a2000mahnimhflattoprechargeablebattery_10706.aspx?variation=2537
As long as your measurements are correct it will be ok.
Hey it’s only $2 so go for it. You have nothing to lose..
nobbly
Thanks again noblynoel, will give it a try and post back. Also I should mention that there were four wires in the coil, however, one of them is broken/disconnected. I don’t know if this happened while I was taking it apart or at some earlier point. Do you think it will still work with the three wires?
thanks for good instructions how to change the battery.
Have just ordered a 4/5a 2000 from the recommended supplier
and will do the job when it arrives.
Is there a way to disable the 2 minute timer function on this toothbrush?
it drives me absolutel mad!
Are there wiring diagrams to be found anywhere or has somebody done this before?
Thanks
Gunter
Rochester, Kent
Hi there Gunter,
I can’t imagine there is an easy way to disable the timer as it would be integrated in the circuit.
Most people, like me, like the timer and wouldn’t want to disable it.
Have a goole search….
All the best.
Let us know how it goes..
nobbly
The replacement battery I got does not have any soldering tags on like the one in the video. Would it be ok just to solder the old ones straight onto the ends of the new battery? Cheers
Hi dan
people don’t recommend it but I remember I have done it before for my hair clippers. If you want to try it give the battery ends a good clean with some sandpaper and tin the ends with solder quickly trying not to get the battery too hot.
If not buy another as they are not too expensive.
all the best
Let us know how it goes..
nobbly
I Followed the great instructions as per the video and encountered 2 problems people should be aware about:
– I could not find the Oral B battery, so I bought something that met the same requirements. but the tags were in the middle on both sides of the battery, where one of the tags is on the side with the Oral B battery. So I just soldered the tags horizontally in stead of vertically.
– The tootbrush charged when the plastic coil cover was not tightened. But when I put the tootbrush together and tightened everything, it did not charge. It figured out I severed one of the coil wires to the circuit board. So that’s important to watch when you take the toothbrush apart and when you put it back together.
Hey. that was fun. It’s just a pity that the Oral B engineers did not design a little back panel into the toothbrush for easy replacement. It’s all about money I guess.
Thanks for the lovely science project.
Michel Claes
Hi Michel
Glad it went well for you in the end. Like you say you must be careful with the coil wires as they are very thin and can easily be damaged. If these are damaged the battery will not charge.
I think the idea of a none replaceable battery is that after the 1-2 years of use you won’t go back to an old fashioned toothbrush you will buy another electric one.
All the best
nobbly
I bought the smaller battery, then discovered my brush had the larger battery. No problem – easy to fit the smaller into the larger space.
Hi
Great Vid !!
Any chance you will be doing other models too ?.
I have the 3000 model and it seems to be the same process to unlock bottom coil.
I am a little afraid of pushing it too hard as it seems to sit pretty tight.
Maybe it has some glue in the “lock mecanism”.
Any comment would be appreciated.
Rgds
Nicholas
Hi there,
I think most models are the same but I have never seen your model. Just take your time and don’t force things to hard or bits will break.
Let us know how you get on.
All the best
nobbly
I have the same brush – did you get around to replacing the battery?
Just took the Professional Care 3000 apart, all ready for my 4/5 A battery….. it looks like the 3000 model takes 4/5 AA as the battery is much smaller, 14.2 x 43mm
HI james
Thanks for the info and let us know how you get on.
All the best
nobbly
Replaced the battery with a GP 1350mah 4/5 AA battery I got from cell pack solutions online. There are a few additional steps to take with the pro care 3000. I had to desolder the coil wire from the PCB in 4 places.
– The charging coil (& black plastic holder) slides off the bottom of the unit once you desolder the coil from the PCB, and unclip it.
– The charging coil goes up the whole length of the unit on a white plastic part – this is desoldered on the side and unclipped. It can also be removed.
– Desolder motor and additional section above the motor.
– Desolder and replace battery
Hope this helps anyone with this model
Hello Sir.
I have not read all the letters, so I am sorry if it has been mentioned. But the LCD panel is hold down with 1 star-screw, and then release the 2 black clips on the sides. Then the LCD panel is all free.
There are 2 types mainly of the batteries, for Oral-B? One is approx 42 mm and the other are approx. 50 mm in length. Both are 16,7 mm in dia. Wich type depending on production time and area. Check before order. But the main difference seems to be the length of the spring holding the motor and battery in place.
Best regards Oyvind, Norway
Hi Oyvind
Thanks for the information. My LCD panel is held on with a very small allen screw. You would need a very small allen key to remove this screw and most people haven’t got one so small. Also leaving the original battery tags in place keeps people away from soldering the circuit board.
Have you repaired yours yet?
All the best.
nobbly
I think I’ll just buy a new one 🙂
Thank your for the video, great help
HI,
thank you soo much 4 the vids.In Germany this tooth brush costs about 130 Euros with the smart guide feature.If you wanna order a replacement accu, this will cost you about 20 Euros.But if you contact some shops for e.g. Rc elektro cars, you will find some good quality Nimh accus for a very lower price.
My advice is, not to buy a accu with 2800 mAh or higher because in my opinion, this is overstated by the manufacturer.Buy Sanyo or Panasonic accus with lower capacity and you will have the advantage of a lower internal resistance.In addition to this, the charging electronic of the brush could eventually not handle bigger capacities as in stock mounted and the display shows you a full charged battery but it isn´t!
At the soldering, take care not to overheat and do not hold the solder more than 3-4 seconds to the accu.Wait a few minutes before you proceed tho the next battery pole.
AND: The triangle key on the power supply connector is not made for using to open the brush for more than 1 attempt, so be careful.
Thank you and greetings from germany.
Hi McCullen
Thanks for the helpful extra info.
All the best to you in Germany..
nobbly
Man, that was really helpfull! Thanks a lot
HI there Herbert,
Have you repaired yours yet?
Hi Noel! (hope okay to call you that?)
Thank you so much for doing this. I can’t tell you how invaluable. It was also interesting seeing all the posts, and very funny the comment about going back to a manual toothbrush.
I also appreciate your mentioning what you did the first time and coming back and adding to it as you learned something new!
I still had to pry out that screw on white plastic end piece at the bottom since it wouldn’t pop out on its own…but was really stuck….but it goes back in okay and pops in after unscrewing. But like a few folks said – it appears stripped – but it also has this catch or rim that sort of has to be pulled out.
And really, I do understand companies trying to make a profit, but….pretty ridiculous that the don’t make it easier to change the battery.
Here’s where I stand…and I’m about to give up. Alas!
I have the replacement battery soldered in (bought a tenergy since a lot of other folks had problems with the generic batteries off ebay. I bought mine off ebay was 3.95 and 3.95 for shipping and came real quickly…allbattery.com. I think they also have a website.
ebay…experience! 😉
If you look at his items (and many other ebay merchants) some of the exact nimh 4/5a batteries are the same but more expensive, as the same ebay merchant can price the exact same merchandise differently. Some as used to get people in…etc. but exactly the same, as you probably know, some folks don’t….so just for fyi for folks shopping on ebay, as I learned this the hard way. I also learned that a 4/5 means (I think) 4/5 the size of an A battery – but I may be wrong!) 🙂
There’s a cool site I found called battery college or battery university that was interesting to learn whether to use a NIMH or other batteries and why you shouldn’t in some devices.
My toothbrush for a second showed charging (the bar going up)…and then it didn’t. So – I thought the copper wire might be lose since it appeared the new battery was working as it indicated the battery was in there with about a 25% charge.
One of the wires (at the solder) to the (is it transformer – the copper wire at the base that when put close to the charger connects the two to charge) appeared lose and was – so I soldered it.
The battery is blinking but it is not charging or appears on the LCD to charge. It showed charging for a second the first time it charging and then it has not. I’ve tried everything I know. I took out the spring and plastic part to see if disconnecting that contact would help to reset it – and it didn’t.
So…I’m going to put it in the charger and see if it charges but does not show on the LCD. I’ve tried recycling it (or the smaller button that brings on this unit 2 black bars on the LCD and then goes back to the lcd of the toothbrush that appears to have about a 25% charge. The unit does turn on and appears to run okay.
(I wonder if the charger base might be an issue.) If not the charger base – there’s something wrong somewhere from the copper wires to the electronics that get it to charge.)
I do have a multi-tester here …for voltage and continuity and learning how to use it. I also find an old charger for oral-b but (of course) to get you to buy new things – the bases don’t fit. I have several of these old chargers so I’m thinking of taking one apart…to see how it is constructed. Actually – I have about 4 of these old ones…for the cross-action…since at a time I was using those, and some store was closing out their chargers for about a buck so bought several extra ones.
Also…I’m new to soldering (at least electronics – did jewelry years and year ago…)…but appears that you should use a solder gun that is lower temperature….than some of them…like a weller or lenk…at 25 watts I believed.
It’s just a blimey shame that I can’t get my unit to work. The good news is I learned a lot about the different batteries and why regular batteries don’t work with these (the charge is not consistent or starts off higher and decreases, etc.)…(and I may be saying this wrong)…and also learned about how the charger base works – which is cool.
So if you suffered through my long email…thanks so much….for the video, and even if I don’t get this blimey sucker working…still appreciate your contribution.
But really – I hope Oral-B or Braun gets enough complaints about this to change the units.
HI Meg.
OMG you win a prize for the longest post on nobblynoel’s blog..LOL
Where do I start?..
After reading your monster post I can see it being a couple of possible problems. First, like I have said to others, your working with low voltage and need a good connection with your soldering. If your not very experienced in this field you can easily create a hight resistance joint which might look ok but not conduct very well. I would suggest re-doing your solder joints making sure the solder and the conductors get hot enough. seeing the solder flowing is a good sign. At the same time you re-do your joints make sure you haven’t damaged your coil on the bottom of the brush as it’s this that captures the current from the changer.. I doubt there is a problem with the charger..
A long shot could be that the new battery you bought could be not ok. What was you old one like? did it charge a bit? I’m asking because just as a test you could put back the original battery, possibly without putting the case back on, and see if it charges..
you have nothing to lose.. have another go..
all the best
nobbly
great video. i have it all apart. now i have to find where to get the battery in canada. my measurements do not seem to fit any on the data sheet you provided. anyhow i figured i would give it a try as i can’t use it now. and a new one is 200. hopefully i can borrow a soldering thing so i can finish it off once i find the battery. thanks again. i let you know how it works out.
HI wendy,
Nice to see some women having a go.
PLease let us know how you get on.
All the best
nobbly
I just snipped the metal thingy as close to the battery as possible. Then I used a regular rechargeable aa battery, a Eneloop. Then I bent the metal thingy to make better contact with the aa battery. Folded up tin foil to make better contact with the battery. Then I snipped the spring in half to accommodate the larger battery. Be sure to bend the ed of the spring to make better contact.
HI there,
The metal thingy is called a tag. It would of been better if you had found the same size replacement battery and I would recommend soldering it to be sure of a good contact..
All the best
nobbly
Noel,
Thanks for this video. It was really helpful.
For instance I forget to check the +/- and … of course connected it wrongly (the Thriumph started spinning at first contact with the battery, but apparently with no harm). Replayed that part to find out the right polarity.
Found the “Tagged 4/5AF NiMH 2100mAh 1.2v GP Industrial Rechargeable Cell” on a UK website (www.budgetbatteries.co.uk). As shipping costs to Belgium where £5,61, I decided to buy two of them a at unit price of £2,69. Found the batteries in my mailbox two days later. Perfect service.
Battery is now charging, can’t wait ’til tomorrow morning to give my teeth a thorough cleaning job!
Thanks again!
Thomas
THanks Thomas for the comments and another link of where to buy the battery from.
Also good, like your doing, to leave the battery overnight to charge fully before use..
well done
I’m only down the road from you in northern France…
nobbly
Thanks Nobby, worked a treat. The battery I replaced it with was 2700mHa (16 NZ dollars) but works fine. Your video tutorial was great. I was on the verge of chucking it out but just thought I’d do a quick internet check before I did to see if the battery could be replaced. The battery came with tags so I just bent the existing tags into the new ones so didn’t even have to solder. The hardest bit was getting that little blue ring off, you do have to use quite a bit of force. Once again, thanks Nobby.
hi there Chris,
Glad it worked but not so sure on your connection method of bending. As it’s such a low voltage and to be sure of a good connection I would solder the joints.
nobbly
Thanks for the advice Nobby, if it sputters out on me I’ll go and buy myself a soldering iron. You’re a star!
I simply replaced it by a standard Sanyo Eneloop (typ. 2000mAh, w/ the newest gen. up to 1500 cycles) and soldered it. Fits and works perfect, w/ the benefit of much less self-discharging than a standard NiMH accu.
Just my experience to share. nobblynoel is right to be very careful about the thin wires at the bottom. If they are cut, no charge will go to battery. I actually followed this nice step-by-step instruction https://sites.google.com/site/electoothbrush/procare-triumph-instructions . Whoever provided the instruction knows exactly what he is doing. The battery selection guide is particularly helpful convincing me to use NiMH, instead of NiCd.
Your battery might not be 4/5A as mine is larger than that. The google site compares the two sizes. I found the offset tab at the negative particularly convenient for DIY.
Thanks nobblynoel for starting the topic.
Awesome video. Although the instructions are give in the manual as well but your video makes it much easier to follow, specially the trick to pop off and back on the plastic ring at the top. Just going to leave this here in case anyone else is looking for it. In the States replacement battery can be found at Batteries Plus. Their’s a 2700 mh. Also, if you use a smaller tipped flat head screw driver you can wank off the metal tabs on the original battery with only minimal damage. These can be later used for the replacement battery and might not even need soldering. Again thanks for the video. You saved a lot of people 100s of dollars.
Dear Nobby, Watched your video… Ordered two Batteries ( just in case) £5.50 from North Wales… Waited a few weeks …. Followed the instructions… The only snag was the old dud battery was a bit longer but the smaller battery was much easier to fit and SOLDER… reassembled it all… fairly easy.. Put it on charge for 24 hours…. Now last just over 2 weeks with 2 of us using it each day..
Thank you From two Old Fuddy Duddies (76 years +)
Well done colin,
Keep the other battery as in 1 or 2 years you will need it again……lol
all the best
nobbly
Thank you for this great tutorial.
I used your video to be able to disassemble my Triumph toothbrush. It was not working anymore and I found out that one of the connections to motor was broken, probably because of continues vibrations. I just soldered it and the unit is working once again beautifully. Thanks. Joe from Sweden.
Hi, brilliant video and I followed it to the letter. The only thing is my display is blank for some reason. Tried pushing the smaller button as suggested but still no joy. The toothbrush with its new battery appears to be charging as it works fine, any ideas why the LCD wont work?
No need to reply I found the problem it was the screw securing the LCD which for some reason was needing a little tightening, not sure how that happened as I never touched it but as soon as I gave it a turn up pooped the display so I am well happy. Thanks again for you great video
Richard
Well done twice..
happy teeth cleaning
nobbly
Excellent tutorial!!
I didn’t get the same battery, but got a 1,2v 2500Mah (from televersum NL), which was slightly thinner than the original. But the spring is holding it just fine. My toothbrush is working fine again 🙂
Followed the instructions and fitted the battery without any problems. Mine had the full size ‘AA’ battery which cost £3.50 inc delivery. Can now brush the gnashers 30 times before recharging.
Cheers
Many thanks for sharing this- it’s worked a treat, st
just ordered at the component-shop:
1.2V 2000mAh NiMH 4/5A Single Cell (High Discharge)
43mm long x 17mm diameter with solder tags.
I can’t wait….
Menno
Can’t wait for what?
to clean your teeth again..LOL
all the best
nobbly
Great Tutorial,
today I tried it for my self and the toothbrush is on charge again! Thanks a lot for this tutorial
greetz to you and your cute daughter from germany
Tony
Well done Tony.
All the best
nobbly
Your video is really top! Thanks very much! Very good description!
The battery from http://www.component-shop.co.uk/ was cheap, is easy to buy and send to Holland.
The + was only indicated by red colour and on the other side from the battery as on the video.
Cheers from Holland
Arnold
Wow – THANK YOU!
I have two of these at home and the batteries are nearly dead. I’ll give it a try – if it works your tutorial has saved me about 120 EUR! You should have a flattr-button in your blog!
HI there,
Sure it will work and you will have fun doing it. If you have any problems just ask before you do it wrong..
Let us know how you get on.
BTW I will look at a flatter button..
nobbly
it worked like a charm!
Hi Nobby – great tutorial!
Just opened up the wifes Triumph 9000 (with smart guide) – the battery is definately 4/5 A size – but all it says on the outside is “Sanyo Ni-MH” and “333MV” – nothing regarding its voltage or current rating!
Do you think the 1.2V 2000mAh one used will be fine?
Hi there,
mine is also the Triumph 9000 (with smart guide). If your battery is 43mm long x 17mm diameter then it’s a 4/5 A 1.2v and should be about £2.00 each from component shop..
all the best
nobbly
Ah.. Also
Let us know how you get on… 🙂
nobbly
Just to follow up….
Success!!!
I went the route of desoldering the battery tags from the mainboard – however the new batterry tags were a lot shorter! So i had to solder the old tags on and then resolder back to the board. Not ideal – but it did mean I had more room to solder the old tags onto the new batterry.
I also used a 1.8 mm flat-head screw driver to take the LCD off – worked fine and didnt cause any damage.
Thanks again forall your advice!
Thanks for the support! Very good description!
It looks that the Accumulator is not the Problem….
Best regards
Hi, thanks so much for the guide. I took mine apart as it is a different model checked which battery to get, ordered from budget batteries on line. Battery arrived this morning followed the instructions to the letter and it is now charging.
battery model I bought: Tagged 4/5AF Size NiMH 2100mAh 1.2v GP Industrial Rechargeable Cell. Link http://www.budgetbatteries.co.uk/cgi-bin/product/ProductSummary.pl?searchtext=Tagged+4%2F5AF+Size+NiMH+2100mAh+1.2v+GP+Industrial+Rechargeable+Cell+&Search=GO&_pageid=33&cartid=vQPJDe4hmBEjQc_A8ytrng&_pagestatus=find
My toothbrush was a different model so check the battery first!
HI Sean
Glad my guide helped. Thanks for another link.
All the best.
nobbly
Thank you! Couldn’t believe it when I heard that oral b expected us to buy a whole new toothbrush after a couple of years. bought a soldering iron and popped my soldering cherry with the help of your video. Toothbrush now charging. Brilliant!
The instruction is great, worked without any problems with Triumph toothbrush #1, #2 will follow soon. Got the 4/5 accu at AkkuShop.de (or akkushop.com) who have also a french and german version. Type was HR-4/5AU, which has a bit higher capacity (2150mAh) than the original one.
HI Juergen
thanks for the info. Here is the link. http://www.akkushop.de
All the best
nobbly
I’m finding it impossible to take the bottom cover off. It seems to almost be sealed and I dont want to damage the toothbrush.
I’m guessing you opened and closed your one for the video many times before you recorded this video right because I cannot see how you are able to do this so easily. Am I required to damage the surrounding of the case to praise it open?
Hi there,
If I can remember the one in the video was only opened once before. so I guess yours is just tight. Try something flat and solid like a metal putty knife, metal blade or metal rule. but as it’s plastic there is also a change you will damage it slightly as it’s only plastic.
All I can say is don’t be scared and go for it as long as you have undone the bottom screw there shouldn’t be a problem.
Let me know how you get on..
All the best
nobbly
Hi
Ok manged to get it open, and also to take the battery out. I bought my toothbrush from Boots around 2-3 years ago at Xmas. Looking at the size, I’m wondering if mine is the “A” size you’re talking about. Its about 48mm in length and about 17mm diameter. I check in Maplins and it looked as if the 4/5A was too small. I checked on the powerstream site, but doesnt seem to be listed?
The 4/5 left a ‘gap’ either end with mine? No problem. By the time
the clip is on, the battery soldered in and the spring replaced, the battery was quite secure. Inserting a physically smaller battery isn’t an issue, or wasn’t with mine.
HTH Dave
@dpawson – The problem is by using a smaller battery, the capacity will not be as great. I see that in the US, you can get 2700mah A size battery. Am flying over there next week so might just order one to my brother’s place.
excellent post! I just swapped my battery out, and it’s charging even as I type. I had to redo my soldering due to a broken solder the 1st time. But that was totally my fault for not checking my work properly, your described process was impeccable. I couldn’t find an “A” size online in DK, so I went with a 4/5A and it works fine. One way I could check if everything was properly done was that the LED panel immediately turned on (even before charging) with the “Empty – recharge” text and the animation of the plug shape moving towards an outlet.
Thanks again!!
excellent post! I just finished swapping my old battery for a new one. I had to redo my soldering due to a broken solder – but it was totally my fault for not checking my work – your described process is 100% fool-proof (just did not count on this fool…..). I had a model which came with an “A” sized battery, but what I could find online in DK was a 4/5 A. It still worked fine and is charging even as we speak. I could immediately see if my soldering was correct because the LED panel switched on with the “Empty – re charge” text and the plug shape moving to an outlet. I did not get this on my first try, and I don’t know if every toothbrush does this. But this is one way to verify if everything’s OK.
Thanks again!
Great thanks I was about to buy 2 new brushes so this saved around £150 THANK YOU
your welcome.
nobbly
Excellent! I now have a fresh battery in my toothbrush happily charging away. For some reason the key in the bottom keeps springing out but it all seems secure. I’ll have another go at and see if I can fix that. This has save me a lot of money when the toothbrush itself is mechanically sound. Thanks nobbly noel!
For anyone else tackling this, you can remove the LCD with a T6 Torx driver, and solder the battery tags directly to the PCB which would be easier.
Hi there,
My LCD in not torx but a very small allen key about 1.5/2mm not something that is a a normal set of allen keys. I chose to leave the LCD in place as most people wouldn’t have the correct key.
nobly
My Triumph is from June 2007 and has to be charged every 5 days. So a new akku will have to be build in.
What do you think of getting a 4/5 A 1,2 with higher mAH than 2000? Would it help to expand charging intervalls? Or will it affect the ability of charging at all?
BTW: I will do a German Tut-Vid of me changing the accu – of course mentioning who taught me how to change the accu :-).
Hi there,
Yes you could try a higher capacity battery but they are very difficult to find and it should give you more time between charges.
I have noticed that my new battery now is 1 and a half years old is starting to die. So what ever battery you put now will need changing again in about 2 years.
all the best
nobbly
Whilst I am technically minded to do all of this (I fix computers as a hobby), I dont think I have the patience to replace my battery myself as I dont have the kit etc either.
Can I pay for you to replace my battery and post it to you? Also I would like to replace that battery with a higher mAH than the one supplied so that the battery lasts longer. Can you get a higher capacity battery?
Pls advise your email address or tel number if you are happy to do the above, thanks.
Dan
Dan
Being technically minded you should have no problem doing it yourself.
I don’t have time to repair other peoples brushes and if I did the cost would be the same as a new brush.
you can get a soldering iron kit from ebay for £4.99 including a stand and solder.
Get some patience and do it yourself. You’ll be glad you did.
all the best
nobbly
So awesome! First time soldering for me and hardly to believe – but it worked!
Thank you very very much for the great video!
your welcome..
could not have done this repair without this instructional video.i even had the misfortune of the front tab near the motor come completly off with almost no pressure,but i guessed rith & figured it weny through the hiole at the bottom & i soldered it back on the other side & kept going, the whole process took about 15 minunites once i had all my materials, $22.77 american,included $6.79 battery,plus 4.98 soldering iron,plus $11.00 for solder,cheap fix for a $135.00 toothbrush,thanks again.
$11.00 for solder sounds a lot. you can buy a complete ebay kit including solder for less.
Anyway if your happy thats whats counts.
all the best
nobbly
hello from italy! i want to thank you for your precious information! i bought the batteries on line and i replaced the battery very easily! it’s very nice to know that my toothbrush will live more than oral b expected!!!! tschuss!!!
Hi paolo,
I happy your happy. Where did you buy the battery from?
nobbly
Thanks for the information, much appreciated.
I replaced batteries in two models, different ages?
The two taken out were:49 and 42mm long, both 17mm diameter?
The longer marked Sanyo, NiMH 224LH
The shorter marked 538MV SAN, NiMH.
Both 1.2v.
Of help to me. I soldered wire to the tags, pushed that through
the holes in th PCB, then soldered them to the PCB, since the tags
on the battery are too slender to stand much bending.
Also, note that the neg terminal is offset from the centre line
of the battery? Take care if cutting the battery tags to account
for this offset.
My replacement was as suggested, the 4/5A, from component-shop UK, which delivered them very promptly at a good price.
Dave
Well done dave.. and thanks for the info
all the best
nobbly
Silly thing, I emailed the manufacturer help line and they made
a flat statement, these batteries are not replaceable!
Greedy or what.
Dave
Dave,
thats understandable from a company after sales point due to they can’t expect the average comsumer to start soldering. What they should have done is made the battery removeable and then sell you a new battery. I guess they want to sell more toothbrushes but what they are forgetting is that when your £100 product is thrown in the bin, will you buy another from the same manufacturer ?
Noel, Just a very quick thanks for your video. Love the way you took you time in walking through the process and didn’t fall into some of the traps that other video instructionals do.
A job well done by you, much thanks!
Cheers from Australia, Nick
hi Nick
Glad I helped.
Did you manage to find a bet try without too much trouble?
nobblynoel
Wow!! How can I thank you enough for posting this video?! I love my toothbrush and was gutted when I got to the point of having to recharge so often as the LCD screen would go from full to then showing 3 bars to nothing in 3 days!!
The video is great, so much so, for a woman who had never soldiered before was able to do this (well chuffed with myself!) and I love the bit when your little one started chatting to you – so cute!!
Many thanks again
Help!!
It was showing fully charged, then suddenly cut out dead after 3 days if use. I re-charged it over night and was showing full again. It then lasted for just over a minute.
Any help on what you think it could be?!
Mary,
Very difficult to troubleshoot problems without seeing whats up but first check your solder connections maybe remelt the solder and get it nice and hot . It can happen that you have a dry joint it will look ok but not conduct electircity . After, if no luck you could try another battery.
I just want to let you know that I recently got round to having another go at trying to fix my toothbrush. I re-soldered the points on 21st Dec. Charged it over night….haven’t had to charge it since!!! Result 😃
And it’s still showing 2 bars left!!!
Thanks for your suggestion of re-visiting my solder points (it was my first time at soldering anything!!). X
Thanks for the tuition. Bought a 4/5 A NiMH 2000mAh 1.2V cell with solder tags for £2 and the exchange was a breeze. Thanks again…
Regards,
Phil
Thanks for a great video.
I am not a diy person, but eventually managed to complete the process, however, this may be helpful to others struggling.
I could not get the first battery to work. Everything seemed OK left it to fully charge, but it kept immediately discharging itself when turned on. Tried several times to re-solder with no luck.
Tried a second battery and a slight variation on your instructions, left a about a quarter of an inch on the battery connectors, soldered as per your video then folded over the extra on the connectors and soldered again and it is now working perfectly .
Thanks again
Thanks for the info and I’m glad you can clean your teeth again.
It could be that you and others had a dry solder joint which looks ok but has a very high electrical resistance that will cause problems charging.
all the best.
nobbly
i take my triumph apart and its a type A (17x50mm)
(bought it in austria)
only sad thing is, the shops around me doesnt have this type of battery in stock. now i have to wait for the packet service
Internet shops are the best for hard to find things…….LOL
nobbly
yeah 😀
now i get a package, one 6V 4,5AH lead battery for my camping light.
one sanyo 2700mah A battery for my toothbrush 😀 booth working perfect 😀
thx for the tutorial!
GREAT.. Where did you buy them from ?
bpught it from akkushop dot de
Here’s the link
http://www.akkushop.de/
Did this last night. Worked perfectly. Great videos thanks.
Well done Matt..
Thanks for the thanks
nobbly
Hello Nobbly,
I need your help and I am living in the UK
I manage to unscrew/open the toothbrush. I checked out the battery, the battery is slightly longer as I brought mine from the US. The size app. 16.5mm x 48mm. The website you mentioned regarding the battery is out of stock.
I have installed a normal AA 1.2v 2900mah NIMH rechargeable battery and I fully charged it but it only lasts few minutes, why? I have tried two different one’s already and it is the same.
Is there a difference in battery specification?
What I understand from your video is that the battery you installed is a 1.2v as well but what is the mah or is there a difference in battery specification?
Please help me your help is much appreciated.
Thank you
Zaman
Hi there,
The battery I installed is a 4/5 A NiMH 2000mAh 1.2V so your battery should be fine but for some reason it’s not. Are your batteries Nimh type ?
You should take note of the original and try to replace with as near to original as possible..
PLease let us know how you get on…
nobbly
Nice try with the AA battery but there is one more battery requirement for the battery besides voltage and capacity (mAh) and that is current capability (amps). The 4/5A battery contains more surface area and thus can deliver more amperage with less drop in voltage (needed for the power to drive the motor) than the AA. Therefore, even though the other specs are the same, the AA battery cannot supply the needed power.
hi
whats the maximal length of the battery that will fit in the battery shaft?
thx!
Sorry I can’t answer that. There seems to be different sizes of batteries depending on model and country. The best thing to do is take yours apart and see for yourself what battery you need.
nobbly
I have installed it without soldering the tags. The way to do this is folding the tags from the toothbrush and battery inwards together and then creating a bend on the battery’s tag so it locks-in and does not loose contact. The tags on the toothbrush got to be long enough for you to do this.
HI there,
Thanks for posting a comment. Although folding the tags might be possible I would recommend you solder the tags to be sure to have and to keep a good contact for the future.
Hi Noel,
Your video was very helpful. I ordered the replacement batteries (for two of these Triumph 9000 Oral-B toothbrushes. I removed the old, soldered in the new. They were slightly smaller in length than the battery that was in there, I’m in America, so maybe that’s why. The old ones were a dark green, the new ones a very light green — in fact, looked just like the ones you used in the video. Got everything back together. Once a new battery was in, the little animation went on, a moving plug indicating it needs a charge. So on the first toothbrush, just as you advised, I put it in its charging cradle and it indicated “Charging”. Ten minutes later I returned to check on it. Just fine so far, took it off its cradle, and it showed the first square lit (charged). Put it back on its cradle, while I continued work on the second unit. Got that one finished, and it also displayed the little plug-me-in animation. So I put the 2nd unit on the charger, and the animation continued with no change — the display did not change to “Charging” — the little animation just continues. Swapped the 1st unit back onto the charger, and it will no longer display “Charging”. Don’t know what’s going on… do you think the charger suddenly just quit? Logically, I can’t see why it would do that. This charger charges by induction, so even if I did have a short in the toothbrush(es), how could that harm it. I’m at a loss. Please reply with any ideas when you get the chance.
Gratefully yours,
Jeffrey Western
Like I answered in my post before just go back and check what you have done wrong. either that or try another battery. Don’r give up yet..
Hmm, so you’re suggesting re-soldering… ok, i can try that… simply it’s strange that one of them would start charging, and then when removed and placed back on cradle, won’t charge anymore. Thnx
I completed the change and the display shows charging. But when I take it off the charger, the display goes dead and the brush will not turn on. Back on the charger, the displays shows charging again. Any suggestions?
Hi there,
Sorry to hear that it’s not working as it should.
It sounds like the battery has either a bad connection or a bad battery.
First check that the battery is conected the correct way round. ie positive and negative ,
Second check your solder joints. It is possible to have dry joints where all looks ok but no voltage will pass. Try re-melting the solder to remake the contact.
If the above fails try another battery. It that fails it could be part of the electronics which is daed..
let us know how you get on..
all the best
nobbly
Cheers man. Very helpful. Seemed to work perfectly. Just waiting to charge now
Hello nobbly
Thanks for the great video.
I am looking forward soldering the battery i ordered.
regards,
Alex
Great video. I successful repair was carried out. I have a North American version with the bigger A sized battery, there is not much room to solder so I soldered a couple of small wires between the tabs to give me room.
Thanks again
Thanks for the video, changed the battery over easily, even with my dodgey soldering skills !! worth emphasising not to over-tighten screw at the bottom as I rounded the edges of the triangle bit on my charger. I had to then use the services of a red hot screwdriver to remove and a bit of silicone sealant afterwards, excellent video though. made me smile all day knowing that I’d saved a few quid . easily pleased me !!
Searched for some time in Holland looking for a “how To” web site until I stumbeld upon yours. Excellent! Changed the battery without problems but could not re fit the spring because the battery is slightly longer. Used cut up rubber band (from the mail man) instead, works just as well. Greetings from the Netherlands and thanks. Paul.
HI paul.
Glad It helped you but why was your battery longer ? Did you buy the wrong one ?
nobbly
When I checked the battery length it was the same or very close. So I think I messed up while soldering the – pole (miplacement of the soldering lip). As a result the battery position is wrong (too far in the direction of the brush head), leaving too little space for the spring.
Thanks a lot for the good tutorial. Very helpfull.
Danke
Harald
Thanks for posting the video, really helps when you take it apart for the first time. I had to get a similar battery as the website you bought from is out of stock, its not as long as the original but I had a longer spring from a different toothbrush so got away with it.
Thanks again for your help.
First Class video tutorial. Thank you very much
Hi phil
Does that mean that you have changed yours or you plan to ?
nobbly
Thanks mate, this is very helpful!
Excellent and very clear videos, glad you mentioned to wait when you put it back on to charge as nothing happened for several minutes and I thought I’d messed it up, but no… success!!
Glad it help.
You have to wait a while for the battery to charge up.
All the best.
nobbly
Thanks – will give this a go over the weekend and let you know how I get on. Ridiculous that Braun don’t do user replacement batteries!
Great.
Its very easy. Just let us know how you get on.
If your stuck we are here to help…..
all the best
nobbly
Excellent – have taken the battery out just to make sure on size and will order today so hopefully get it by Tuesday. Video excellent and all worked exactly as explained. Thanks Chris
Hi Chris,
Where have you ordered from? If it’s somewhere different from Componentshop I can add it to the blog page.
Let us know how you get on..
nobbly
What an excellent video. Many thanks for doing this as I really wanted to avoid chucking an otherwise fine toothbrush in the bin simply because of an old battery.
You’re awesome. Thanks much!
Fabulous videos – would never have tackled this without your help. Looked at a couple other vids on this and yours is far superior! I do have a question about the battery. Mine is a bit larger (50MM) than yours and I suspect, like the other person who posted from the US, I have a “full A”. Thing is, when I search for this kind of battery, the searches turn up AA, not A. Is that right? The one I’ve removed only says Sanyo, NI-MH, JCH. No other info.
Hi there. I have added more info for those who need more help with battery sizes..
IF your is 50mm it could be A or AA.
“A” has a diameter 17mm where an AA is much thinner with a diameter of 14.2 mm
check the size chart here. http://www.powerstream.com/Size.htm
Thanks for the vids. I been looking for this diy for some time before my battery go dead.
I have my Triumph for 2 years, since Dec 2008. I remember because it was the month I got my braces and had some fillings done. Then I decided the regular hand brushing is not enough for me. I hate going to the dentist.
I heard you said you replace your battery each year? Mine been fine for 2 years, I havent replace my battery yet.
I read the manual and it says to have the battery last longer, make sure you always fully charge the battery and every 6 months or so unplug the brush. Use it until there is no more power from the battery and then recharge it again.
This will keep the battery going longer…
Maybe this is why mine lasted 2 years.
HI there,
Yes you can let your battery drain down once in a while then fully recharge it and this should slow down the memory effect on the battery.
Also not leaving it on charge also might help your battery last longer but one day it will go lazy and not hold it’s charge very well.
BTW I did say after 1 or 2 years on the VID
thanks for your input..
nobbly
Nobblynoel,
Thank you for the video on how to do this. As you mentioned my battery was a different size. It’s a full A size.
One problem I ran into was that there is a coil around the top of the brush made of very fine wire. While trying to pull out the spring I broke the wire off of the circuit board. The display on the brush went into a “weird mode” where it was cycling through the segments in a round robin fashion. I figured I really messed it up but after a few minutes the display went back to normal. I figured at this point I didn’t have anything to loose so I continued with the repair.
Everything seems to be working and I am currently charging the brush with the new battery. So far after I’m not sure what that coil at the top of the brush is for but so far breaking it doesn’t seem to have rendered the brush worthless.
The coil at the bottom is for the induction charging off the battery. The coil at the top is an antenna for the signal transmission to the wireless display. It will explain why your toothbrush still works but maybe you smart guide doesn’t or you range is limited.
It can happen that the display will start cycling through the segments . It seems to be a test mode you can get in and out of this mode by pressing the smaller of the two buttons. The one that changes the speed..
hope this helps..and thanks for the input.
I will add info about the flashing segments to the blog.
nobbly
Thank you for the fast update to my question.
It’s not a big deal to me if the wireless display doesn’t work properly. Just glad it wasn’t something functional.
Hi,
What tool did you make to open the brush? I opened mine to check which battery was required and ended up screwing the cover back too tight, now the plastic triangle on the charger has rounded and I can’t open it… Cheers Mark
hi mark
Before I knew about using the plug I made an adaptor. I used an m8 bolt the head is 13mm>
Draw a triangle on the bolt head it and then grind the head to the triangle lines then round off the three corners of the triangle and grind to fit your toothbrush..
hope that makes sense
nobbly
It’s not necessary to chop the tags off the battery, the little LCD display pops off and then you can simply unsolder the tags from the circuit board – probably saves a few minutes and the most fiddly part of the job.
Hi there
What you say is true. You don’t need to chop the tags but if your like me, even though I have a large array of tools, I didn’t have a very small torx/hex screwdriver adapter , i thought it would be easier just to leave the LCD in place and solder on to the existing tags. you might also need a solder sucker if you want to remove the original tags from the board which I have but others might not,,
All the best
nobbly
Nobblynoel…thank you so much!!! I was told to just throw the toothbrush (and $100) away. Charging the new battery now…you rule, my friend! It was very kind of you to publish this video.
Your welcome. I’m glad that it helped save the planet.
The thing is that most things can be repaired quite cheap if you put your mind to it.
All the best
nobbly
You, sir, are awesome. Thanks so much for the videos. I’ve been meaning to undertake this project for ages, having successfully changes the batteries in my Braun razor some time ago. However I was worried about the disassembly of the toothbrush. The instructions lead one to believe that once you undo that bottom screw all is lost, but your videos gave me the confidence to press on. A couple of notes:
My model, also a Triumph and one that looks practically identical to yours, took a full A sized, 2500mAh cell. Maybe mine is longer? It’s a Triumph Professional Care 9000, Type 3731,
sold in North America. My local battery shop (Battery World in Calgary, Canada) sold me the cell for $6.75, including GST.
Also, by making a little fold in the new solder tab, I managed to get the old and new solder tabs to interconnect a bit before soldering, so that the connection has a bit more mechanical strength than it would if it were just held by a dollop of solder.
Thanks again for the disassembly and reassembly video.
Hi there,
Well i’m happy that you found my videos useful. As for the battery I have added a note saying check your battery size before you order one.
all the best.
nobbly
Great guide. Thanks to your video it took me 10 mins, now charging the new battery.
The original battery in mine was the same length as AA, so the 4/5A replacement was a bit on the short side, but the spring takes care of that.
Hi there,
yes I forgot to say check first to make sure your battery is a 4/5 as not all models are the same. A “4/5 A” battery is 43mm long x 17mm
I will add this to the top of this page..
This is the best, most relaxed DIY video I’ve ever seen.
Thanks
Glad you liked it.
All the best
nobbly
Hi Noel,
I’ve just bought a battery from the website mentioned and I’m going to follow your excellent videos to replace it. Can I just double check I got the right battery please? This is the one I bought…
4/5 A NiMH 2000mAh 1.2V cell with solder tags (High Discharge)
Thanks mate, keep up the good work – I wasn’t gonna fork out another £100 for a new toothbrush when there was nothing wrong with it (apart from the cr@p battery of course!)
Mark
Hii there,
Thats the right battery if you have the same toothbrush as me the Oral B Triumph.
I think is was £1.99
good look…
nobbly
Thank you very much for sharing this guide! I’m already charging my new battery. For Hungarian folks: you can order this 4/5 A battery at http://www.conrad.hu/
🙂
Well thanks to all who suggested using the power adaptor to unscrew the back. Hey I didn’t know so I thought I was being cleaver making my own adaptor.
Well I have took your advice and remade part of the videos so it now includes the correct procedure for screwing the back. lets just forget I didn’t know
Thanks to all and appreciate your comments..
Lets make the world better and repair everything.
Hey, great video.
I didn’t spot the triangle on the charger either!!
Regards
William
Thanks for the video, however there’s no need to make the tool to get the bottom off, the triangle shape is moulded into the charger, just use that!
First of all thank you for this video, it showed me the general view of what a need to do to put my toothbrush to work again.
The only comment is regarding the tool you came up with, it was totally unnecessary since the sort of triangle shape tool needed to open the battery compartment is on one of the sides of the power cable plug… the plastics are really soft so being gentle its a must
Thanks again!!
You do realise that there is a tool on the charger to undo the screw on the toothbrush?
Why aren’t you using the charger to open the toothbrush?
Great video! It was just what I was looking for on the web. 🙂 I just want to say that there is an easier way to open up the toothbrush . It is to use the triangler key that is on the side of the charger the goes into the wall.
Im gonna give this a go. nice video. BTW where did you get the battery, can you post a link thnx!
link added in description