Chord Hugo battery replacement

[rockingdoc]

So, without warning, my Hugo went from working normally to not working. Flashed a few different colours on switch on, but no linking to source and no audio output.
Guessing it could be the batteries, took the back off and I did a Google search on the part number, to no avail. Searching the RS site for type and specs revealed an identical looking battery, but with different part number. Took a punt and ordered.
Soldered the replacement batteries to the board, which was a little fiddly as the terminals are so close together and I was keen to avoid a short. Could have left the old leads in place, but they were looking surpringly ragged at the pcb joins, and I thought I could do better.
Plugged in and all is fine. So that’s about a hundred quid saved for five minutes work.

 

[venton]

Nice one. Might be worth posting the part number for future site searchers?

 

[rockingdoc]

The original part no: MGL2868

The apparently suitable replacement: (RS)
MGL2811

 

[Jo Sharp]

Chord have just dropped the price of battery replacement to £50...they’ve found a cheaper supplier.

 

[rockingdoc]

Well that’s a bit of a bargain, the quote I saw was £140. I’d let them do it next time.

 

[Jo Sharp]

They did my Hugo last week and it was a nice surprise when I heard the price. But I dropped off and collected so no dealer or postage involved.

 

[TheDecameron]

Jo, is that price for parts and labour? I bought a pair of batteries as back up when I heard the price dealers were charging for replacing them.
From “Allbatteries” £29.60 posted

http://www.allbatteries.co.uk/searchengine/result/?q=MGL2811

Also, I wary about handling lipos- any advice for safely fitting/ avoiding shorting them etc?

 

[Jo Sharp]

That was the price for parts and fitting.

 

[davidsrsb]

How old are your Hugos? LiPo batteries should last several years if not mismanaged

 

[TheDecameron]

How old are your Hugos? LiPo batteries should last several years if not mismanaged

Mine’s three years old. Is it best to keep them on charge as opposed to fully discharge before charging? I will probably go ahead this week and put the new batteries in.

 

[Mark Dirac]

Is it best to keep them on charge as opposed to fully discharge before charging?.

Excellent site : http://batteryuniversity.com

No, life of LiPo greatly reduced by time spent or stored at 100% charge.
No, life of LiPo greatly reduced by fully discharging.

 

[Dowser]

Excellent site : http://batteryuniversity.com

No, life of LiPo greatly reduced by time spent or stored at 100% charge.
No, life of LiPo greatly reduced by fully discharging.

To be fair, fully discharging a LiPo is a bit more serious than reducing its life, unless you also meant the life of all the occupants in the house that burned down as a result of fully draining it? Not familiar with the Hugo batteries, but for RC cars LiPos offer stunning performance...but should be set to a controlled voltage if being stored for any period of time, I use a smart charger to achieve this.