How to Replace the Battery on Beats PowerBeats 3 Wireless Earbuds
The PowerBeats 3 wireless earbuds from Beats have been known to have battery issues as time goes on. If you find that your earbuds will only flash a red light and will not turn on and you have performed a Reset on them, then there is a good chance that this repair is for you.
If you would prefer to read a written repair guide, check that out below. Or if the tool cost seems prohibitive for a one time repair and you would prefer that we complete this repair for you, check out our Repair Catalog to see if we offer repair services for this device.
Are you a business? We offer wholesale discounts on our repair services if you are sending numerous units in for repair or want to send us continuing batches of devices for repair on a regular basis. Contact our support team for more info Info@JoesGE.com (This email is only for wholesale inquiries, please contact Support@JoesGE.com for other inquiries).
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Repair Difficulty: Moderate
Time to complete: 2 Hours including drying time for the glue.
The tools and parts that you will need for this repair:
- Replacement PowerBeats 3 Battery
- Heat Gun (A hairdryer will also do the trick if you are careful to not heat the earbuds up too much)
- Soldering iron (around 15 watts is good for small electronics and would be cheaper than purchasing a temperature variable unit)
- Small Flat Head Screwdriver (For removing the glue on the battery solder points)
- Solder Flux (To ensure a clean contact for the new battery)
- T8000 Glue (To re-secure the side cover)
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1. Heat up the right outer panel
Start by carefully bending the right side ear hook away from the housing. Do not bend the base of the ear hook where it connects into the housing, instead, bend the upper portion so that you do not break it off.
Now grab your heat gun and set it to 200 degrees Fahrenheit.
***When you are heating up the PowerBeats, make sure to continuously rotate them and not leave the hot air on one spot for more than a couple of seconds or else you could melt the plastic or damage the internals.
You want to heat up the side cover that says "PowerBeats" on it. This cover is held onto the main housing by glue. Move your heat source around the edge of the cover for a minute or so while continuously turning the PowerBeats in your hand.
2. Remove the right panel
Once you have heated the glue enough, you should be able to pop the cover off with your fingernail or a very thin pry tool like so:
3. Remove the old battery
With the cover removed, you will see the top of the battery. It is not held in by anything so you can simply pull one side of the battery up. There are three small wires attached to the side of the battery nearest to the ear hook therefore, you will want to pull the battery out from the other side.
There is some glue covering the solder points on the battery, we usually remove the glue with a Small Flat Head Screwdriver by prying up on one end.
Now you need to desolder the wires on the battery. Make sure to remember which color of wire goes where and to not hold your soldering iron on the wires for more than a few seconds each. You can usually quickly run the soldering iron over all 3 of the solder points while lightly tugging on the wires to remove them.
4. Connect the new battery
We always recommend making sure that the tip on your soldering iron is cleaned and has fresh solder on it. If you have it, we would also recommend putting some Solder Flux on the contact points that are on the battery to ensure a good connection for the new wires.
Solder the wires on one at a time ensuring that you do not bridge the contacts to each other with solder. Each wire should be soldered to its own individual contact point and not be joined by solder. From left to right like in the image below you want the red/copper wire on the left, the red wire in the center, and the blue wire on the right.
Once you have soldered all of the wires onto the battery, test the PowerBeats to ensure that they turn on and function as they should. (You will likely need to reset the earbuds by holding down the power button for 10 seconds in order for them to work. You may also need to remove the old Bluetooth pairing record from your phone in order to reconnect to your phone.)
5. Secure the side cover
Before applying glue to the plastic side cover, ensure that you have cleaned off all of the original adhesives that are on the side cover as well as on the inside of the housing around the battery. Make sure to remove the adhesive from the side of the housing where the cover wraps around as well.
(Pro Tip: We typically use a Small Flat Head Screwdriver to scrape off the adhesive and applying some heat to the adhesive makes it easier to remove. Just be careful to not overheat the battery.)
Once you have cleaned off the adhesive apply a thin line of new adhesive to the inside of the housing. We use B7000 Glue because it is water-resistant once dry. Make sure to keep the glue near the top of the housing on the ridge where the side cover will be sitting when you put it on.
After the glue is applied, line up the side cover and push it into place. Then using some rubbing alcohol on a rag or paper towel, clean off the excess glue on the outside of the earbud.
(Pro Tip: Once the glue excess is removed, wrap a rubber band around the earbud to apply constant pressure to the housing so that it dries securely. Make sure to spread the rubber band wrappings around as much area of the side cover as possible.)
6. Be Chillin 😎🕺🏼
Go have a quick dance sesh outdoors for an hour to show off how stoked you are that you're PowerBeats work again then come back inside and take that rubber band off your earbuds...then go back outside and have another dance party 🕺🏼