As experienced by gurrag and thekingarthur in the Areca Owner's Thread here, my battery was dying/dead. It always showed as "charging" never reaching "fully charged" status and appeared to be slightly bloated.
The factory battery is a 3.7v/1880mAh "Sanyo F1144" which is a of type 103450.
I set out to find a suitable, cheap replacement, but didn't know how lucky I'd be. The Duracell Portable battery backup includes a single 103450 battery with 3xWires and was on sale for $5 at Factory Direct.
Link to battery found inside from RedFlagDeals post #25
- The top & bottom of the powermat is glued/melted together, so it takes a bit of force to break the plastic pins holding the two halves together. I used the backend of a carpet cutting knife, but a regular butter knife would work just as well. The blue guitar pick pictured *did not work*
- Open the top of the powermat battery (side with the embossed "P", not the side with the text) as the main circuitboard is attached close to the bottom. Even though we don't care about ruining the actual circuitboard, we don't want to short something and ruin the precious battery.
- Once open, just disconnect the pin header, free the battery from the double sided tape and walk away with your prize.
My battery was a PSE H103450 at 3.7v/1850mAh, close enough.
Now that you've got your old and new batteries, time to switch over the leads (The powermat pin header doesn't match Areca's and this is the easiest way)
- Clip & Strip the wires.
- Put the heat shrink tubing on the wires before you solder...I always seem to forget this, and have to recut, restrip & resolder the wires.
Because the circuitboard is on the top of the replacement battery vs the side on the original, it is a bit snug in the clear plastic enclosure, but still fits.
Plug the battery into JP4 and marvel at your handiwork.
Old bulging battery & newly installed battery.
Reinstall the BBU, connect it to the Raid Card (1880ix, in my case) and hope for the best...
SUCCESS
New, working BBU with the same specs as the original, for $5 and less than an hour of work.
Better, and less wasteful, than buying a new $130 BBU which includes the circuitboard.
The factory battery is a 3.7v/1880mAh "Sanyo F1144" which is a of type 103450.
I set out to find a suitable, cheap replacement, but didn't know how lucky I'd be. The Duracell Portable battery backup includes a single 103450 battery with 3xWires and was on sale for $5 at Factory Direct.
Link to battery found inside from RedFlagDeals post #25
- The top & bottom of the powermat is glued/melted together, so it takes a bit of force to break the plastic pins holding the two halves together. I used the backend of a carpet cutting knife, but a regular butter knife would work just as well. The blue guitar pick pictured *did not work*
- Open the top of the powermat battery (side with the embossed "P", not the side with the text) as the main circuitboard is attached close to the bottom. Even though we don't care about ruining the actual circuitboard, we don't want to short something and ruin the precious battery.
- Once open, just disconnect the pin header, free the battery from the double sided tape and walk away with your prize.
My battery was a PSE H103450 at 3.7v/1850mAh, close enough.
Now that you've got your old and new batteries, time to switch over the leads (The powermat pin header doesn't match Areca's and this is the easiest way)
- Clip & Strip the wires.
- Put the heat shrink tubing on the wires before you solder...I always seem to forget this, and have to recut, restrip & resolder the wires.
Because the circuitboard is on the top of the replacement battery vs the side on the original, it is a bit snug in the clear plastic enclosure, but still fits.
Plug the battery into JP4 and marvel at your handiwork.
Old bulging battery & newly installed battery.
Reinstall the BBU, connect it to the Raid Card (1880ix, in my case) and hope for the best...
SUCCESS
New, working BBU with the same specs as the original, for $5 and less than an hour of work.
Better, and less wasteful, than buying a new $130 BBU which includes the circuitboard.