[GCTonyHawk7]

Hello,

I am really new to all of this stuff, so I apologize for not knowing what I am talking about. I was hoping maybe some of you do though.

About one year ago, I purchased an iBasso P2 portable headphone amp. It has worked amazingly until just this morning. I noticed the light was off (I always just keep it plugged in to the wall). I unplugged it and plugged it back in and the green light on the back came on (fully charged). About 2 seconds later, the red light also comes on (charging). This is odd that they would both be on at one time. Anyhow, it will sit like this for a while until the red light goes off, meaning it is done charging, I guess. Anyhow, either way, it will not turn on and I can not get any signal.

I opened stuff up and jiggled stuff around to see if it was just something loose; everything seems fine to my newb inspection.

Here are some pics:

I am open to any suggestions or anything you think I should try. I did contact iBasso, but they won't be in for 2 weeks because of the Chinese New Year. I also would prefer not to send it back to China as the round trip could take over a month. I can't live without my little headphone amp. I would be open to the idea of sending to one of you for repair if you know you could bring it back to life. Let me know, please.

Thanks,
GCTonyHawk7

 

[Nemo de Monet]

If I had to guess, I'd say the battery is probably dead. I don't know where you can get a new one, offhand, and I noticed that iBasso's one-year warranty doesn't cover batteries...

 

[GCTonyHawk7]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nemo de Monet /img/forum/go_quote.gif If I had to guess, I'd say the battery is probably dead. I don't know where you can get a new one, offhand, and I noticed that iBasso's one-year warranty doesn't cover batteries...

Hmmm, right. It doesn't cover the batteries. I think there are three of them too, the big blue thing is a battery me thinks. Not sure why there are three. The "manual" says that is has these:

- Two 4700uf Panasonic Big Capacitances
- Two 520mAH Li-Polymer battery with dedicated current and charging management chip, and integrated charging system

Hmmm, which one would be dead? They are soldered in there too, I don't know how to deal with that sort of stuff.

 

[Jaw007]

The cost of repair,and shipping both ways
would nearly out weigh the cost of a new amp.Next time try to get a amp that has good ole replaceable batteries.I have never had a Chinese rechargeable electronic piece of gear last for very long.

 

[GCTonyHawk7]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jaw007 /img/forum/go_quote.gif The cost of repair,and shipping both ways would nearly out weigh the cost of a new amp.Next time try to get a amp that has good ole replaceable batteries.I have never had a Chinese rechargeable electronic piece of gear last for very long.

That is a thought too... but then comes the 3 month search for something that will sound as good. Anyone know off the top of their head something similar to the P2 with bass boost and what not?

Is it possible to replace the battery completely and just run off of the AC adapter? I do not use it as a portable amp anyhow. We just then got to avoid creating a ground loop.

 

[Jaw007]

You might send a member named HiFlight a message he might be able to lead you in the right direction.

 

[Nemo de Monet]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GCTonyHawk7 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hmmm, right. It doesn't cover the batteries. I think there are three of them too, the big blue thing is a battery me thinks. Not sure why there are three. The "manual" says that is has these: - Two 4700uf Panasonic Big Capacitances - Two 520mAH Li-Polymer battery with dedicated current and charging management chip, and integrated charging system Hmmm, which one would be dead? They are soldered in there too, I don't know how to deal with that sort of stuff.

Yeah, the "big blue thing" is your battery pack. The black things that say "JVC" on 'em are your - ahem - "Big Capacitances" (FYI, they're not Panasonic, and they're 2700uf, not 4700uf.) LiPo batteries, especially cheap, "generic" ones, simply don't last very long under less-than-ideal circumstances. Why they used lithium-polymer batteries in something like this, I have no idea... NiMH would have been worlds better, IMO.

How's the battery held in there? Just taped in place?

 

[GCTonyHawk7]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nemo de Monet /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yeah, the "big blue thing" is your battery pack. The black things that say "JVC" on 'em are your - ahem - "Big Capacitances" (FYI, they're not Panasonic, and they're 2700uf, not 4700uf.) LiPo batteries, especially cheap, "generic" ones, simply don't last very long under less-than-ideal circumstances. Why they used lithium-polymer batteries in something like this, I have no idea... NiMH would have been worlds better, IMO. How's the battery held in there? Just taped in place?

The black ones are soldered in there with two metal prongs. The big blue one is glued/stickied in there and connected by three wires.

I'll talk to HiFlight, thanks for the suggestion.

thanks for the help guys, I really do appreciate it.

 

[cobaltmute]

The board with the green and red wires that is standing up at the back looks like it could be a lithium ion power management board, and I would suspect that the batteries in the blue pack are lithium-ion,

This inside shot shows another one and it may help you figure out a replacement battery

 

[GCTonyHawk7]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cobaltmute /img/forum/go_quote.gif The board with the green and red wires that is standing up at the back looks like it could be a lithium ion power management board, and I would suspect that the batteries in the blue pack are lithium-ion, This inside shot shows another one and it may help you figure out a replacement battery

Alrighty, that is interesting. I did go ahead and "unstick" the blue battery. It is connected using three black wires to that "power management board" which is connected to the main green board by a red and black +/- wires.

Is is ok to just cut the blue stuff away from the battery and inspect what's inside? I googled for that 3.7V 520mAh battery, and found that it is the same sort of battery that iPod videos use. I did replace my battery in that and it was a 3.7V 500mAh battery. This could be interesting...

this is as far as my brain will take me. Is it possible to hook something up to those black wires to simply power this thing from the wall? Can I buy a replacement battery just to replace the current one?

We could be on to something... or not. Heh.

 

[cobaltmute]

the only thing about that picture in the link is that it looks like there might be two packs on top of each other.

If you traced out the circuit you could likely turn the unit into a desktop unit.

 

[GCTonyHawk7]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cobaltmute /img/forum/go_quote.gif the only thing about that picture in the link is that it looks like there might be two packs on top of each other. If you traced out the circuit you could likely turn the unit into a desktop unit.

Probably easier said than done. I don't do stuff like that, don't really even know what you mean. Heh, that is why I buy stuff like this instead. I assume as long as the right amount of power is coming into that red/black +/- wires, it should work, right?

I do have an old iPod 30GB... considering they use a very similar battery, maybe I could mod some stuff from the iPod to just work in the headphone amp? (Considering the fact that the iPod can be plugged in for power just fine.

 

[GCTonyHawk7]

I got antsy, so I did unwrap the blue stuff. Inside is just two 3.7 batteries. Not sure if this will help anyone, but now we know what we need to replace, right?

To Google!

 

[Jaw007]

I myself would cut the wires that are attached to the little circuit board that is attached to the battery leaving the wires attached to the main circuit board,and splice a 9volt power supply to the wires leading from the circuit board red to the + and black to the - and see what happens.It should work!

 

[Nemo de Monet]

Interesting.

First of all, big obligatory safety warning: Lithium-Polymer (Li-Po) batteries are ridiculously dangerous to mess around with - as in, like, "can explode and start on fire, a fire that can't be put out with even a chemical fire extinguisher" sort of dangerous. So, yeah, don't mess around with those. If you could get an exact replacement - same chemistry, same capacity, same physical size - replacing, or having someone replace for you, the battery wouldn't be too terribly difficult, but I don't believe that's something you can just go out and pick up online easily. I really wouldn't start screwing around with other sorts of rechargeable batteries - see the warning about explosions, fire, et cetera above.

In theory, from what I can see, if you disconnect the red and black wires from the battery-management board, and then apply voltage there (i.e. 9V battery, as a fairly safe proof-of-concept) you *should* find that you have a working amp.

It might not be *quite* that easy, however, because the power-management functionality doesn't appear to be *entirely* done on that little daughter-board - the charge and charge-indicator LEDs are on the main board, and the only connection between the two is the two wires, suggesting that at least some of the power-management functionality is done on the main board...

Can you post a picture of the bottom of the main board?