Sounds like a Nightclub.
New Model - Cowon Plenue J
- Thread starter tiddlywinks
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- Feb 11, 2008
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If anyone here is still using a Plenue J, here's a bit of info about replacing the battery (not a tutorial, just a few pointers about what I have been doing with mine).
I no longer have my J3 as the screen died and I had to bin it, so I don't have a Sony BA700 battery to measure - if anyone can post accurate measurements of a BA700 battery, I'm interested to know.
J3 with replacement Sony BA700 battery installed:
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/cowon-j3-impressions-thread.484334/post-11206193
However, because the original J3 battery was 1120mah (which is 50mah more capacity than the 1070mah installed in the newer Plenue J), it seems highly unlikely that a Sony BA700 battery would fit into a Plenue J.
Original J3 battery:
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/cowon-j3-impressions-thread.484334/post-15741443
Anyway, I finally popped open my Plenue J, and the original 1070mah LiPo battery measures 45mm x 55mm x 4mm.
Since I was on a roll, I decided to open one of my Plenue Ds, too. Its original 1800mah LiPo battery measures 43mm x 63mm x 5.3mm (the thickness was measured in-situ, as I didn't want to unnecessarily break the double-sided sticky tape holding it in the DAP, since this battery has plenty of life left in it, at the moment).
I noticed something in both the Plenue D and Plenue J that surprised me (some of you may already know this, but I didn't). I expected the 'internal memory' to be soldered memory (as you will see from the two URL links at the beginning of this post, the J3 memory was soldered), but it turns out the Plenue D & J just have a hidden microSD card in a slot that can only be accessed when the DAPs are disassembled. A 32gb Sandisk microSD card in the Plenue D, and a 64gb Sandisk microSD card in the Plenue J. I'm toying with the idea of swapping these internal cards for 128gb cards (maybe Cowon's firmware won't like this), but that can wait - my main priority at the moment is simply replacing the Plenue J battery.
Incidentally, I think I recall Cowon saying that the external/user-accessible memory slot of the Plenue D/J maxed-out at 128gb, but I admit I can't find any mention of this in the user manuals.
http://support2.cowon.com/contents/dn2/data/C09/PLENUED/PLENUE_D_Manual_EN.pdf
http://support2.cowon.com/contents/dn2/data/C09/PLENUEJ/PLENUE_J_Manual_EN.pdf
Cowon never made it clear whether a memory limitation was baked into their firmware (perhaps to stop the DAP from being insanely slow to index too many music files and folders during boot-up), or if there was an actual hardware limitation on 256gb+ microSD cards. Maybe the temporary index (generated during each boot sequence) could be a limiting factor? They did clearly state that, regardless of memory card capacity, there was a limit on how many folders the DAP could manage (this may have been around 8000 folders, but my memory is hazy about that). Folder number has never been an issue for me - just overall memory capacity, because some of my files are large audiobooks.
I never actually tried an external memory card bigger than 128gb.
I don't like the slow boot-up of mini Cowon DAPs, but I am accustomed to it, after so many years, so I think I will go ahead and try a 128gb internal card (along with my existing 128gb external card) and I'll report back in this thread with my findings.
Plenue J circuitboard at top of photo; Plenue D circuitboard at bottom of photo. On each board you can see the hidden memory cards. I assure you, these are not the user-accessible memory card slots - those can be found on the reverse side of each circuitboard (therefore not visible in this photo):
I spent a couple of hours searching the internet (Farnell, Mouser, eBay, battery.org.uk, etc.) for a suitably-sized Plenue J battery and it proved difficult to find one thin enough whilst having suitable length, width and capacity. So many LiPos are 5, 6, or 10mm thick. Annoyingly, Cowon have made the 4mm original battery a very tight squeeze - anything thicker than 4mm looks likely to prevent the back cover of the DAP from closing properly. This really limits options for a 3rd-party replacement.
In the end I decided life is too short to hunt for a perfect battery with maximum capacity, so I settled on an easy option, of a slightly lower capacity (1000mah instead of 1070mah) which can be ordered immediately, and very cheaply. Luckily, they're being sold on eBay UK. My logic is that a 1000mah battery working at full capacity is going to have waaay longer playback duration than a knackered 1070mah battery working at barely 40% capacity, so I should still be on a winner, even if I am losing 70mah off the original battery spec. This is the battery I purchased from eBay. It is being sold as a '404050' LiPo (as in 4.0mm thick x 40mm wide, by 50mm long). I hope it doesn't turn out to be thicker than advertised!:
Please note: I am not encouraging anyone to disassemble their Plenue J or Plenue D - they are quite awkward to disassemble, and there is always the potential for injury when using thin blades to seperate casework and when removing and installing lithium batteries. Of particular note in this instance is the fact that Cowon have used very strong double-sided tape to fix the LiPo batteries into the DAPs, and anyone trying to just rip the battery out of the DAP is likely to literally rip the battery apart in so doing, which could, potentially, result in electrolyte leakage, short circuit, fire, or even explosion. However, for those of you with plenty of common sense, plenty of caution, patience and (hopefully) a bit of experience, maybe this post might give you a headstart when your Plenue J or D battery begins to deteriorate.
I've posted this in the Plenue D1 thread as well - I posted it there because, as an owner of both models, I mentioned it in a post last week, and it's nice to have some continuity in the discussion, as it can sometimes be difficult to find useful breadcrumbs using the forum search function.
I may replace the battery in one or both of my Plenue Ds, at some point, and if I do, I'll be sure to post my experiences in the Plenue D thread.
I did do a quick search, but, so far, the closest battery I can easily find for the Plenue D is a 504050 (5.0mm x 40mm x 50mm), which is only 1500mah compared to the original 1800mah. If anyone reading this feels like doing a little battery hunting, to help this thread, the correct size, as I mentioned earlier, is 1800mah 43mm x 63mm x 5mm. Looking at the DAP, it looks like these measurements could maybe be pushed to 44mm x 66mm x 5mm, but no more than that.
I no longer have my J3 as the screen died and I had to bin it, so I don't have a Sony BA700 battery to measure - if anyone can post accurate measurements of a BA700 battery, I'm interested to know.
J3 with replacement Sony BA700 battery installed:
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/cowon-j3-impressions-thread.484334/post-11206193
However, because the original J3 battery was 1120mah (which is 50mah more capacity than the 1070mah installed in the newer Plenue J), it seems highly unlikely that a Sony BA700 battery would fit into a Plenue J.
Original J3 battery:
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/cowon-j3-impressions-thread.484334/post-15741443
Anyway, I finally popped open my Plenue J, and the original 1070mah LiPo battery measures 45mm x 55mm x 4mm.
Since I was on a roll, I decided to open one of my Plenue Ds, too. Its original 1800mah LiPo battery measures 43mm x 63mm x 5.3mm (the thickness was measured in-situ, as I didn't want to unnecessarily break the double-sided sticky tape holding it in the DAP, since this battery has plenty of life left in it, at the moment).
I noticed something in both the Plenue D and Plenue J that surprised me (some of you may already know this, but I didn't). I expected the 'internal memory' to be soldered memory (as you will see from the two URL links at the beginning of this post, the J3 memory was soldered), but it turns out the Plenue D & J just have a hidden microSD card in a slot that can only be accessed when the DAPs are disassembled. A 32gb Sandisk microSD card in the Plenue D, and a 64gb Sandisk microSD card in the Plenue J. I'm toying with the idea of swapping these internal cards for 128gb cards (maybe Cowon's firmware won't like this), but that can wait - my main priority at the moment is simply replacing the Plenue J battery.
Incidentally, I think I recall Cowon saying that the external/user-accessible memory slot of the Plenue D/J maxed-out at 128gb, but I admit I can't find any mention of this in the user manuals.
http://support2.cowon.com/contents/dn2/data/C09/PLENUED/PLENUE_D_Manual_EN.pdf
http://support2.cowon.com/contents/dn2/data/C09/PLENUEJ/PLENUE_J_Manual_EN.pdf
Cowon never made it clear whether a memory limitation was baked into their firmware (perhaps to stop the DAP from being insanely slow to index too many music files and folders during boot-up), or if there was an actual hardware limitation on 256gb+ microSD cards. Maybe the temporary index (generated during each boot sequence) could be a limiting factor? They did clearly state that, regardless of memory card capacity, there was a limit on how many folders the DAP could manage (this may have been around 8000 folders, but my memory is hazy about that). Folder number has never been an issue for me - just overall memory capacity, because some of my files are large audiobooks.
I never actually tried an external memory card bigger than 128gb.
I don't like the slow boot-up of mini Cowon DAPs, but I am accustomed to it, after so many years, so I think I will go ahead and try a 128gb internal card (along with my existing 128gb external card) and I'll report back in this thread with my findings.
Plenue J circuitboard at top of photo; Plenue D circuitboard at bottom of photo. On each board you can see the hidden memory cards. I assure you, these are not the user-accessible memory card slots - those can be found on the reverse side of each circuitboard (therefore not visible in this photo):
I spent a couple of hours searching the internet (Farnell, Mouser, eBay, battery.org.uk, etc.) for a suitably-sized Plenue J battery and it proved difficult to find one thin enough whilst having suitable length, width and capacity. So many LiPos are 5, 6, or 10mm thick. Annoyingly, Cowon have made the 4mm original battery a very tight squeeze - anything thicker than 4mm looks likely to prevent the back cover of the DAP from closing properly. This really limits options for a 3rd-party replacement.
In the end I decided life is too short to hunt for a perfect battery with maximum capacity, so I settled on an easy option, of a slightly lower capacity (1000mah instead of 1070mah) which can be ordered immediately, and very cheaply. Luckily, they're being sold on eBay UK. My logic is that a 1000mah battery working at full capacity is going to have waaay longer playback duration than a knackered 1070mah battery working at barely 40% capacity, so I should still be on a winner, even if I am losing 70mah off the original battery spec. This is the battery I purchased from eBay. It is being sold as a '404050' LiPo (as in 4.0mm thick x 40mm wide, by 50mm long). I hope it doesn't turn out to be thicker than advertised!:
Please note: I am not encouraging anyone to disassemble their Plenue J or Plenue D - they are quite awkward to disassemble, and there is always the potential for injury when using thin blades to seperate casework and when removing and installing lithium batteries. Of particular note in this instance is the fact that Cowon have used very strong double-sided tape to fix the LiPo batteries into the DAPs, and anyone trying to just rip the battery out of the DAP is likely to literally rip the battery apart in so doing, which could, potentially, result in electrolyte leakage, short circuit, fire, or even explosion. However, for those of you with plenty of common sense, plenty of caution, patience and (hopefully) a bit of experience, maybe this post might give you a headstart when your Plenue J or D battery begins to deteriorate.
I've posted this in the Plenue D1 thread as well - I posted it there because, as an owner of both models, I mentioned it in a post last week, and it's nice to have some continuity in the discussion, as it can sometimes be difficult to find useful breadcrumbs using the forum search function.
I may replace the battery in one or both of my Plenue Ds, at some point, and if I do, I'll be sure to post my experiences in the Plenue D thread.
I did do a quick search, but, so far, the closest battery I can easily find for the Plenue D is a 504050 (5.0mm x 40mm x 50mm), which is only 1500mah compared to the original 1800mah. If anyone reading this feels like doing a little battery hunting, to help this thread, the correct size, as I mentioned earlier, is 1800mah 43mm x 63mm x 5mm. Looking at the DAP, it looks like these measurements could maybe be pushed to 44mm x 66mm x 5mm, but no more than that.
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tiddlywinks
Headphoneus Supremus
https://buyee.jp/item/yahoo/auction/s1086548829?conversionType=service_page_searchIf anyone here is still using a Plenue J, here's a bit of info about replacing the battery (not a tutorial, just a few pointers about what I have been doing with mine).
I no longer have my J3 as the screen died and I had to bin it, so I don't have a Sony BA700 battery to measure - if anyone can post accurate measurements of a BA700 battery, I'm interested to know.
J3 with replacement Sony BA700 battery installed:
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/cowon-j3-impressions-thread.484334/post-11206193
However, because the original J3 battery was 1120mah (which is 50mah more capacity than the 1070mah installed in the newer Plenue J), it seems highly unlikely that a Sony BA700 battery would fit into a Plenue J.
Original J3 battery:
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/cowon-j3-impressions-thread.484334/post-15741443
Anyway, I finally popped open my Plenue J, and the original 1070mah LiPo battery measures 45mm x 55mm x 4mm.
Since I was on a roll, I decided to open one of my Plenue Ds, too. Its original 1800mah LiPo battery measures 43mm x 63mm x 5.3mm (the thickness was measured in-situ, as I didn't want to unnecessarily break the double-sided sticky tape holding it in the DAP, since this battery has plenty of life left in it, at the moment).
I noticed something in both the Plenue D and Plenue J that surprised me (some of you may already know this, but I didn't). I expected the 'internal memory' to be soldered memory (as you will see from the two URL links at the beginning of this post, the J3 memory was soldered), but it turns out the Plenue D & J just have a hidden microSD card in a slot that can only be accessed when the DAPs are disassembled. A 32gb Sandisk microSD card in the Plenue D, and a 64gb Sandisk microSD card in the Plenue J. I'm toying with the idea of swapping these internal cards for 128gb cards (maybe Cowon's firmware won't like this), but that can wait - my main priority at the moment is simply replacing the Plenue J battery.
Incidentally, I think I recall Cowon saying that the external/user-accessible memory slot of the Plenue D/J maxed-out at 128gb, but I admit I can't find any mention of this in the user manuals.
http://support2.cowon.com/contents/dn2/data/C09/PLENUED/PLENUE_D_Manual_EN.pdf
http://support2.cowon.com/contents/dn2/data/C09/PLENUEJ/PLENUE_J_Manual_EN.pdf
Cowon never made it clear whether a memory limitation was baked into their firmware (perhaps to stop the DAP from being insanely slow to index too many music files and folders during boot-up), or if there was an actual hardware limitation on 256gb+ microSD cards. Maybe the temporary index (generated during each boot sequence) could be a limiting factor? They did clearly state that, regardless of memory card capacity, there was a limit on how many folders the DAP could manage (this may have been around 8000 folders, but my memory is hazy about that). Folder number has never been an issue for me - just overall memory capacity, because some of my files are large audiobooks.
I never actually tried an external memory card bigger than 128gb.
I don't like the slow boot-up of mini Cowon DAPs, but I am accustomed to it, after so many years, so I think I will go ahead and try a 128gb internal card (along with my existing 128gb external card) and I'll report back in this thread with my findings.
Plenue J circuitboard at top of photo; Plenue D circuitboard at bottom of photo. On each board you can see the hidden memory cards. I assure you, these are not the user-accessible memory card slots - those can be found on the reverse side of each circuitboard (therefore not visible in this photo):
I spent a couple of hours searching the internet (Farnell, Mouser, eBay, battery.org.uk, etc.) for a suitably-sized Plenue J battery and it proved difficult to find one thin enough whilst having suitable length, width and capacity. So many LiPos are 5, 6, or 10mm thick. Annoyingly, Cowon have made the 4mm original battery a very tight squeeze - anything thicker than 4mm looks likely to prevent the back cover of the DAP from closing properly. This really limits options for a 3rd-party replacement.
In the end I decided life is too short to hunt for a perfect battery with maximum capacity, so I settled on an easy option, of a slightly lower capacity (1000mah instead of 1070mah) which can be ordered immediately, and very cheaply. Luckily, they're being sold on eBay UK. My logic is that a 1000mah battery working at full capacity is going to have waaay longer playback duration than a knackered 1070mah battery working at barely 40% capacity, so I should still be on a winner, even if I am losing 70mah off the original battery spec. This is the battery I purchased from eBay. It is being sold as a '404050' LiPo (as in 4.0mm thick x 40mm wide, by 50mm long). I hope it doesn't turn out to be thicker than advertised!:
Please note: I am not encouraging anyone to disassemble their Plenue J or Plenue D - they are quite awkward to disassemble, and there is always the potential for injury when using thin blades to seperate casework and when removing and installing lithium batteries. Of particular note in this instance is the fact that Cowon have used very strong double-sided tape to fix the LiPo batteries into the DAPs, and anyone trying to just rip the battery out of the DAP is likely to literally rip the battery apart in so doing, which could, potentially, result in electrolyte leakage, short circuit, fire, or even explosion. However, for those of you with plenty of common sense, plenty of caution, patience and (hopefully) a bit of experience, maybe this post might give you a headstart when your Plenue J or D battery begins to deteriorate.
I've posted this in the Plenue D1 thread as well - I posted it there because, as an owner of both models, I mentioned it in a post last week, and it's nice to have some continuity in the discussion, as it can sometimes be difficult to find useful breadcrumbs using the forum search function.
I may replace the battery in one or both of my Plenue Ds, at some point, and if I do, I'll be sure to post my experiences in the Plenue D thread.
I did do a quick search, but, so far, the closest battery I can easily find for the Plenue D is a 504050 (5.0mm x 40mm x 50mm), which is only 1500mah compared to the original 1800mah. If anyone reading this feels like doing a little battery hunting, to help this thread, the correct size, as I mentioned earlier, is 1800mah 43mm x 63mm x 5mm. Looking at the DAP, it looks like these measurements could maybe be pushed to 44mm x 66mm x 5mm, but no more than that.
Close?
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My new battery turned up and probably tomorrow, I'll be installing it.
Original Plenue J battery on left, approximate replacement on right:
Same thickness, but the length & width difference is more obvious with the new one placed on top of the old:
Original Plenue J battery on left, approximate replacement on right:
Same thickness, but the length & width difference is more obvious with the new one placed on top of the old:
- Joined
- Feb 11, 2008
- Posts
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Battery replacement seems to be working OK, but if anything changes, I'll repost.
- Joined
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- Posts
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- 3,488
UPDATE:
Battery is working fine, but I must admit the duration seems a bit less than it should be - I can only guess if this is due to the manufacturer lying about the capacity or if the battery has been too long in storage before being sold to me.
Overall, it was still worthwhile doing the swap, but I just wanted to be honest about how it went, for anyone else who may be thinking about doing the same.
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