Is there a way to replace the nike plus battery?

Since there's no Apple store within a thousand miles of me, I thought I'd take a stab at replacing the battery myself. I'm actually halfway through the process - here's what I've done so far:

1) Use single-edged razor blade to separate the top (red) and bottom (white) halves of the sensor casing. There's probably a way to separate them more cleanly than I did, but I just ended up cutting the two halves apart. No biggie, I'll glue them back together later.

2) Disconnect the leads to the battery. There are two wires that connect to the top of the battery, white and black. They're soldered in place, and there's a bit of glue over the top of the solder. I used a scalpel blade to remove the glue and a soldering iron to remove the solder. This was some heavy-duty solder that wouldn't melt until I cranked the heat up over 800 degrees.

3) Pry battery out of casing. The battery itself is a typical CR2032 3.6V Li Ion battery, which can be found at any battery store. There is double-sided tape sticking the battery to the white half of the case. I used the back side of my scalpel blade to pry the battery out.

4) At this point, the battery is still connected to the circuit board by two other wires, red and black. I've unglued and desoldered those wires like the previous two, but now I'm not so sure if that was necessary.

5) Buy new battery. This is the step that I'm stuck on, since I'm at work and just started this today. When I get the new battery, I'll know if the second set of wires really needed to go. Either way, from here on out, the process will just be the previous steps in reverse order - solder the new battery in place and glue the casing back together.

All in all, this has been a pretty easy job. Of course, it was made easier by the fact that I had nothing to lose since the sensor was already dead. Also, having the right tools handy certainly helped:

1) Single-edged razor blade
2) #11 scalpel blade
3) Soldering iron
4) Some fine forceps to help maneuver the wires during soldering/desoldering
5) Microscope. This isn't necessary, but the solder points are really small, so magnification (10x) was a definite plus.

I'll post when I'm finished to let you know if the process was a success.

<Edited by Moderator>

So I (finally) finished replacing the battery on my sensor. Now that it's done, here's a better rundown of what needs to be done:

1) The battery is not 3.6V, it is a 3.0V CR2032 LiIon battery. The replacement cost me about $3.75 at Walgreens.

2) The black and white wires that I mentioned in #2 above are NOT the battery leads. They are the leads to the piezoelectric sensor that sits on top of the battery. The sensor is a gold disc with a blue center.

3) The black and red wires that I mentioned in #4 are the leads to the battery (duh...red = positive, black = negative). It is not absolutely necessary to desolder these connections, but I think it would be better to do so, as it will allow you to remove the battery more easily.

4) Peel the piezoelectric sensor off the battery. This is easily done with a scalpel or razor blade.

5) There are a couple of black plastic spacers/shock absorbers/insulators on the battery. One is horseshoe-shaped and sits on top of the battery, one is a black ring that sits between the battery and the outer casing. Remove both.

6) Even though you've desoldered the red and black wires that attach to the battery, you still need to remove the connectors on the battery. This proved to be the toughest part of the job to do cleanly. There are two connectors, one attached to either side of the battery. Each is connected to the battery with what looks like some very small, but VERY sturdy solder joints. I worked a razor blade between the battery and the connectors to very slowly work them apart. Take care here not to bend the connectors too much - they're just flimsy pieces of metal - but they can be more or less bent back into shape.

7) Now that everything's apart, you can swap batteries and work through all the previous steps in reverse order. I reconnected the battery connections using a little superglue to hold the connectors in place, then some solder to ensure a good connection. Before continuing, I used a voltmeter to test across the two reattached connectors to make sure I was getting 3.0V (i.e., good continuity between the battery and each of the connectors).

8) Replace the black plastic ring that sits around the battery.

9) Resolder the black and red wires to the battery.

10) Fit the battery back into the plastic shell.

11) Replace the piezoelectric sensor. I used a small drop of superglue in the middle (though this may make it difficult to ever replace the battery again).

12) Replace the other black plastic spacer on top of the battery.

13) Resolder the black and white wires that connect to the sensor.

14) Tuck all the wires away and close up the case. I only used four small superglue joints in the corners in case I ever need to take the sensor apart again.

15) Check to see if it all works. I fired up the iPod Nano and pressed the reset button on the bottom of the sensor when prompted to walk around to detect it. Bingo - press the center button to begin my workout.

I did take some pictures of the deconstructed sensor, but have nowhere to post them. Instead, you can find others posted online with a Google search.

Good luck to anyone who attempts this fix. It's really not too difficult, and shouldn't take more than an hour or so to do. It's much less nerve-racking than the previous fix I posted in another forum on repairing the power cord to my PowerBook.

It's a first Gen nanos issue. I talked to a support person the other night and she told me that it's an issue with 1st gen nanos. She didn't know if there was a software update or anything coming down the pike.

I just replaced the battery in my nike+ sensor for under $5 (the price for a CR2032 watch battery) and it works good as new. The best step by step instructions are at:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Replace-battery-in-Nike-receiver-for-under-5/

Good running!

You can now buy the sensor alone for $19.00 at the apple store.
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MA368LL/A?fnode=home/shopipod/ipodaccessories/extras&mco=MTcwMzE

As far as I can tell, no, you just have to replace the whole thing ($29).

http://blog.smalldog.com/article/262/nike-plus-update

You can order a $19 Sensor from the Apple website. Believe me, I chiseled my way into a dead sensor and that baby is sealed tight. There's no way to replace the battery 🙂

This is untrue. See my post on finishing the job. It was definitely a dead battery.

Yeah!!! Good site! I've just changed the battery of my sensor and works great! It's a bit difficult to weld those little cables but after asome tries it finally works!

Thank you for the link!!!