Battery pack for Creative Nomad Jukebox

Okay folks, I know this isn't flashlight related...but I know that you guys know about these things, and batteries aren't my speciality. I'm much more at home with historic HID lighting and CFLs.

Specs of this Li-ION battery pack:

voltage: 3.7V
Capacity: 1700mAh
Length: 70mm
Diameter: 14mm.

Sounds to me like this might be two 2/3AA cells stuck together.

The packs a good few years old now, and has lost capacity to the point of being pretty much useless - hence a replacement being sought. Needless to say, Creative just want you to buy a new MP3 player, which is stupid, as this one's in perfect condition, aside from an aged battery pack! eBay, Amazon, CPC, RS, Aria etc have all been scoped out, with no likely candidates showing up.

Couple of photos are shown below.




Hope someone can advise on how to make a new one, or how to source a replacement!

You may be able to substitute a 14670 cell (14 mm in diameter x 67 mm in length) sold here

http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=97268&page=1&pp=30

The capacity will only be 1100 mah but I think it is what you are looking for.

Lithiums are typically good for many charging/discharge cycles. Have you tried to condition the battery? Lithiums work a little different than Nimh in that there's a circuit in there that tells it when it's dead. So a lot of times if you dont completely charge is discharge the battery once in a while, the circuit gets uncalibrated. If you give it a few complete charges and discharges, it will be good as new again. Taken that it can still hold a charge.

First of all, that battery was only used in the Creative Nomad Jukebox 2, not the original Jukebox (which used AA NiMH batteries.) If you take a look at the side of that battery, you'll probably see that it is a UR-111 battery isn't it? Sanyo manufactured that battery and it was originally used in Sanyo camcorders. I'm not sure how you got a 14mm diameter, as that battery is 20mm in diameter.

I don't think Sanyo makes that battery any more, you might want to check with them. I have heard of some people using spacers with 18650 batteries as a replacement for that battery. A solid 18-20mm x 50mm disc should do the job nicely, and since it's just another 3.7 LIon battery, you could even use the charger that originally came with that player (no need to remove the battery, just leave it in there like the original battery.)

No need to be so stand-offish about replacing the player either. That player was a low cost no-frills player that Creative sold to attract the poor and tightwad set, it was never meant to be to quality player. They even made a 20GB version that was for Wal*Mart only (though a lot of those seemed to "fallen off the truck" and ended up on eBay.) In any case for the $200 or so that you paid for that thing, you could get yourself a quality MP3 player these days. You could look for batteries for Sharp or Sanyo camcorders that used the same battery to see if some other company might be making them.

But quite honestly, Creative isn't off-base when they suggest getting a new player, getting a replacement battery could cost you more than that player is worth these days.

Alternatively, put 4 AA NiMH batteries into a series battery holder, solder on the appropriate coaxial power plug and plug it into the player's DC input (observing polarity, of course.)

You might also check out a site called Nomadness they have a wealth of information on that site about Creative MP3 players.

Zelandeth said:

Okay folks, I know this isn't flashlight related...but I know that you guys know about these things, and batteries aren't my speciality. I'm much more at home with historic HID lighting and CFLs.

Specs of this Li-ION battery pack:

voltage: 3.7V
Capacity: 1700mAh
Length: 70mm
Diameter: 14mm.

Sounds to me like this might be two 2/3AA cells stuck together.

The packs a good few years old now, and has lost capacity to the point of being pretty much useless - hence a replacement being sought. Needless to say, Creative just want you to buy a new MP3 player, which is stupid, as this one's in perfect condition, aside from an aged battery pack! eBay, Amazon, CPC, RS, Aria etc have all been scoped out, with no likely candidates showing up.

Couple of photos are shown below.
Hope someone can advise on how to make a new one, or how to source a replacement!

Click to expand...

That player has been discontinued for over 3 years now. You figure the life of a LIon battery is only expected to be about 3 years (whether it's used or not) so it's probably about due for replacement; the battery itself is probably over 4 years old.

Alin10123 said:

Lithiums are typically good for many charging/discharge cycles. Have you tried to condition the battery?

Click to expand...

I had one of those (the 20GB version, bought on Ebay for around $100). I remember looking the cell up, just in case, but I only kept the thing for a year. 20 gigs fills up fast when you rip music at higher bit rates, and the Creatives have the sound quality to make this worthwhile.

Anywho, the 18650 sounds like the easiest solution - no need for a protected cell, as the player should take care of all that. I've seen 2600 mAh cells recently, but even a 2400 will net you more play time.

I can under stand not wanting to upgrade. I replaced my 2lx with a 40GB Zen Xtra, and really like the smaller size and greater capacity, but the $220 it cost me is a lot more than a single battery.

Best,
Jon

The UR-111 battery is also known under the designations of:
120-ky002-10-0
AD-MS10BT
B-8702
BBB1129
BP1600R
NB-L5
NB-111
S-L306X
SL306X
S-L306A
S-L306B

The battery can run anywhere from $20-40 depending upon the use that it is advertised for. Figure the NJB2 to be worth no more than $50 in today's market.

For a laugh, take a look at this. The worst part about it is if that is really a Creative branded battery, it's probably so old now that it might not even take a charge.

That's correct. Devices that use unprotected cells like MP3 players and cell phones, generally have all the protection and charging circuitry built into the device so that they can use unprotected cells (also keeping it closer to 'idiotproof' for the mainstream consumer.)

jmw19 said:

no need for a protected cell,

Click to expand...

Thanks for the feedback folks, I'll look into some of that data later this evening.

The player in this case belongs to a good friend of mine, who seems to agree with me that being used to a product is worth quite a lot actually. The JB2 does what is asked of it without grumbling, and the firmware works.

My current MP3 player was nicknamed by someone at work the MPBrick, is a dirt cheap Venturer thing which looks like a cheap casette player from the mid 80s. But hey, a 40Gb player for £50...if it works for a year then I pull the harddrive out and stick it in my laptop...I'm still not going to grumble! Has to be said though, the firmware in this case does let it down. ...the ability to appear to Windows as a simple removable harddrive however is more of a bonus!

I'll let you know how we get on with this.

Zelandeth said:

Thanks for the feedback folks, I'll look into some of that data later this evening.

The player in this case belongs to a good friend of mine, who seems to agree with me that being used to a product is worth quite a lot actually. The JB2 does what is asked of it without grumbling, and the firmware works.

My current MP3 player was nicknamed by someone at work the MPBrick, is a dirt cheap Venturer thing which looks like a cheap casette player from the mid 80s. But hey, a 40Gb player for £50...if it works for a year then I pull the harddrive out and stick it in my laptop...I'm still not going to grumble! Has to be said though, the firmware in this case does let it down. ...the ability to appear to Windows as a simple removable harddrive however is more of a bonus!

I'll let you know how we get on with this.

Click to expand...

Amen brother. I miss my Archos jukebox 20 (simple drag and drop no need to mess around with id3 tags too much).