[H20Fidelity]

Maybe the battery needs a software\patch for the operating system (android) to recognize the battery. Since you bought the battery just by size, the Walkman did not recognize the battery in the program. Ask the seller if there are any patches available from the manufacturer.

Another thought had crossed my mind actually. Something in Sony's battery (protective circuit) that makes it propriety which prevents a different battery from communicating. 

Or in this case accept a charge. The new battery will be here in a few days. 

 

[H20Fidelity]

New battery arrived - same thing, won't charge.

 

[H20Fidelity]

Ok, I now have this sorted.

I've taken one up on Sony working right around their system making the Walkman run on external / interchangeable batteries and Its quite an easy painless process. What you need is a 14500 3.7v battery, the kind used in some high powered torches. Be aware these batteries are not your regular 1.2v or 1.5v AA battery used in common devices but instead 3.7volt. They're however the same size as an AA battery.

1) Here's an example of the battery used: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Free-Shipping-2x-1200mAh-14500-3-7v-Li-ion-Rechargeable-Protected-Battery-New-/201143743937?pt=AU_Electronics_Batteries_Chargers&hash=item2ed519f5c1


2) Another thing you'll need is a battery casing to put it all together.

Here's an example: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/271633240002?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

(keep in mind you only need one battery, the above casing supports two though I set it up for a one battery assembly) 


3) Last thing you'll need is the original battery harness which was attached to the stock Sony battery, this is very important as the Walkmans mother board connection depends on this proprietary plug, without one you'll be pushing to get this job done.



When you have everything, open the Walkman then carefully drill a hole in the back of the Walkman casing about 1cm from where the connection is on the mother board. Poke the wires through and solder the original battery harness to the positive and negative wires, be sure to tape them off or use heat shrink you don't want any shorts inside the Walkman.



There will be a white wire as well on the original harness, disregard it, chop it off clean or tape it off. You don't need this as I'm aware it's just for monitoring charge and temperature purposes. All you want is the red / black wires.





Attach the battery compartment to the back of the Walkman, I used double sided tape for now but will secure it with something else later (probably dual lock velcro). Make sure you don't plug anything in until you have everything soldered taped off and secure!



 


Here's what the Walkman runs off now, an interchangeable 14500 3.7volt -1200mAh battery, there are others at around 2300mAh I'm going to try. Keep in mind again you do not need two batteries, this was just the best case I could find and I've altered the wiring so the case works with one. You could even try the next size up 3.7volt 18650 batteries which go up to 4000mAh, I simply used what batteries I had here for the time being.
 




And there you have it, one Walkman I've been listening too all afternoon.

See, because the original Walkman battery was 3.7v 1280mAh, we're basically using exactly the same thing (minus 80mAh in this case) so there's no reason why it shouldn't have worked. Best of all, if the Walkman goes flat you can simply hot swap to a fresh battery, hell, you can carry 4-5 if you want in those battery storage cases and take it camping. Now the Walkman can live way past any internal batteries life span. Keep in mind when you connect to PC for file transfer the battery still will not charge, this must be done externally with a 3.7v battery charger.

Run times with 1200mAh 14500 battery are being tested and so far proving well.

 

[nick n]

Now that is awesome.
 Good work there. 

 

[H20Fidelity]

  Now that is awesome.
 Good work there. 

I've ordered these 2300mAh batteries. Knowing Chinese batteries they won't be exactly 2300mAh, but hopefully a little more than the 1200mAh currently in use.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/251609888181?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

Everything is working well though. Battery percentage works with Android Battery Mix app and we're losing about 10% every 2 hours simply playing music. Wifi works, apps, everything like a normal Z Walkman. The only thing you might lose when switching batteries is the time / date, possibly the brightness setting (we will see).

From something about to go in the garbage bin no thanks to Sony, this is a good outcome.
 

 

[turokrocks]

 

I've ordered these 2300mAh batteries. Knowing Chinese batteries they won't be exactly 2300mAh, but hopefully a little more than the 1200mAh currently in use.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/251609888181?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

Everything is working well though. Battery percentage works with Android Battery Mix app and we're losing about 10% every 2 hours simply playing music. Wifi works, apps, everything like a normal Z Walkman. The only thing you might lose when switching batteries is the time / date, possibly the brightness setting (we will see).

From something about to go in the garbage bin no thanks to Sony, this is a good outcome.
 

I have another idea, why not use the empty batterybay for another battery and connect them in parallel? double the running time.
What do you think?

 

[H20Fidelity]

  I have another idea, why not use the empty batterybay for another battery and connect them in parallel? double the running time.
What do you think?

I had thought about it, though I don't exactly have the right connections to add a second battery to that casing and hold it 100% secure.

 If anything down the road I might change over to this casing linked below using the slightly larger 18650 battery rated at 3100mAh.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/201142854115?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649

That battery is Panasonic branded and probably much closer to it's real life specs.

As it is atm, the 1200mAh UltraFire batteries are looking at getting about 12 hours (just rough guess atm) of FLAC per charge. I have two atm.

It's working very well though and I'm super happy about saving the Walkman. I will keep reporting in with updates.
 

 

[Yazen]

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

  Ok, I now have this sorted.

I've taken one up on Sony working right around their system making the Walkman run on external / interchangeable batteries and Its quite an easy painless process. What you need is a 14500 3.7v battery, the kind used in some high powered torches. Be aware these batteries are not your regular 1.2v or 1.5v AA battery used in common devices but instead 3.7volt. They're however the same size as an AA battery.

1) Here's an example of the battery used: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Free-Shipping-2x-1200mAh-14500-3-7v-Li-ion-Rechargeable-Protected-Battery-New-/201143743937?pt=AU_Electronics_Batteries_Chargers&hash=item2ed519f5c1


2) Another thing you'll need is a battery casing to put it all together.

Here's an example: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/271633240002?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

(keep in mind you only need one battery, the above casing supports two though I set it up for a one battery assembly) 


3) Last thing you'll need is the original battery harness which was attached to the stock Sony battery, this is very important as the Walkmans mother board connection depends on this proprietary plug, without one you'll be pushing to get this job done.



When you have everything, open the Walkman then carefully drill a hole in the back of the Walkman casing about 1cm from where the connection is on the mother board. Poke the wires through and solder the original battery harness to the positive and negative wires, be sure to tape them off or use heat shrink you don't want any shorts inside the Walkman.



There will be a white wire as well on the original harness, disregard it, chop it off clean or tape it off. You don't need this as I'm aware it's just for monitoring charge and temperature purposes. All you want is the red / black wires.





Attach the battery compartment to the back of the Walkman, I used double sided tape for now but will secure it with something else later (probably dual lock velcro). Make sure you don't plug anything in until you have everything soldered taped off and secure!



 


Here's what the Walkman runs off now, an interchangeable 14500 3.7volt -1200mAh battery, there are others at around 2300mAh I'm going to try. Keep in mind again you do not need two batteries, this was just the best case I could find and I've altered the wiring so the case works with one. You could even try the next size up 3.7volt 18650 batteries which go up to 4000mAh, I simply used what batteries I had here for the time being.
 




And there you have it, one Walkman I've been listening too all afternoon.

See, because the original Walkman battery was 3.7v 1280mAh, we're basically using exactly the same thing (minus 80mAh in this case) so there's no reason why it shouldn't have worked. Best of all, if the Walkman goes flat you can simply hot swap to a fresh battery, hell, you can carry 4-5 if you want in those battery storage cases and take it camping. Now the Walkman can live way past any internal batteries life span. Keep in mind when you connect to PC for file transfer the battery still will not charge, this must be done externally with a 3.7v battery charger.

Run times with 1200mAh 14500 battery are being tested and so far proving well.

 

This is amazing!  Walkman Z survival guide.. Good source for future reference

 

[H20Fidelity]

 

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

 

This is amazing!  Walkman Z survival guide.. Good source for future reference

Thank you, I'm pretty chuffed myself. Proof a Z Walkman can be brought back from the dead.

Everything still running fine here and I have a small update.

When you change batteries you don't lose any settings, this means brightness level, screen time out, sound settings (for example turning off key sounds), volume levels, the Walkman retains everything I can see, including continuing where you left off and resuming. Removing the battery and changing it (at least in just 30 seconds) doesn't seem to effect anything (except the time) . 

 

[Yazen]

 

Thank you, I'm pretty chuffed myself. Proof a Z Walkman can be brought back from the dead.

Everything still running fine here and I have a small update.

When you change batteries you don't lose any settings, this means brightness level, screen time out, sound settings (for example turning off key sounds), volume levels, the Walkman retains everything I can see, including continuing where you left off and resuming. Removing the battery and changing it (at least in just 30 seconds) doesn't seem to effect anything (except the time) . 

Could be worse.  Wish there were subforums for devices, this really should be stickied!  
Maybe OP can revise?
 
My Walkman Z may have a faulty battery.  Not sure how it is configured, but it drops from 100%>80% really fast and gets around a few hours of usage before needed a charge.  Could be a calibration issue..
 
Might have to put mine on life support like yours, but it would be a damn shame because it looks so sleek

 

[H20Fidelity]

  Could be worse.  Wish there were subforums for devices, this really should be stickied!  
Maybe OP can revise?
 
My Walkman Z may have a faulty battery.  Not sure how it is configured, but it drops from 100%>80% really fast and gets around a few hours of usage before needed a charge.  Could be a calibration issue..
 
Might have to put mine on life support like yours, but it would be a damn shame because it looks so sleek

Give it another 2-3 weeks for further testing I'll consider making a thread with the correct keywords for future google searches. I'll use the guide post above as a template around that thread.

I want to test more batteries. Believe it or not the UltraFire batteries used at the moment cost me about $1 USD each shipped. After further research I highly doubt they're anywhere near the specified 1200mAh. I've been speaking to a genuine battery seller on eBay, the highest capacity 14500 cells he has are 800mAh which are legit. So at the moment I'm really running phantom cells with what the seller called "anything goes" specs. I've ordered two of his 800mAh cells for about $17 AUD and far as I know anything above that in 14500 is a lie?

These Ultrafire batteries have been giving different percentage readings on the Walkman after a full charge, I'm not sure if they're leveling out or the charger is cutting of early. The only problem I've run into is one UltraFire cell the Walkman shut down at 50% charge (flat battery). This is despite running the other UltraFire cell below 40% previously.

So sure, just some further testing and securing things. I must say this Z Walkman sounds very nice, excellent deep bass.  

 

[senzen]

Very cool H20Fidelity! In other news, downloading update 2.04... I'm really impressed they keep on updating the Z, in spite of the battery nonsense. Very welcome, very unexpected.

 

[H20Fidelity]

Its been a couple of weeks now since I did the modification.

I've begun testing different batteries some of which are genuine 800mAh Sanyo cells, others eBay cheapies such as GTL, Ultrafire. Let me say I'm always open to possibilities and read members in other threads some who have tried a lot of gear like Rudi mention different batteries effect the sound. I see people following suit in the DX50 and DX90 thread doing the same.

I don't know how to explain it but I'm hearing a difference between batteries and it's not the more expensive battery which sounds better.

The genuine Sanyo cells cost me $16.90 AUD for two sound overly bassy and restricted in soundstage while the Ultrafire batteries exhibited a noticeable difference in width and detail. When I use the Sanyo cells although giving me the longest run times it sounds congested / restricted and the bass is overly prominent, almost bloated.

The Ultrafire cells (which I started with originally) are spot on where I want to be, the bass isn't as strong, wider soundstage and a more effortless detail. I'll say I didn't go into this expecting any differences, it was my ears picking up something wasn't right, especially the soundstage width which is what made me start thinking in the first place.

"I wish" the Sanyo cells sounded the same as they're genuine and probably the highest quality cells.

As for the GTL cells they're very light in weight compared to the other two brands which leads me to believe low quality. I've not spend much time with them, I will say if you're wanting to do this mod just use the Ultrafire cells which are cheap and effective. the run times using them are absolutely fine.

 

 

[Wertzius]

You should google "Ultrafire Explosion" for your own safety!!

These batteries are crap (GTL too) and there are indeed no 14500cells with more than 840mAh available.

The Sanyos are the one o f the best 14500 cells.

Batteries with the same voltage will never influence the sound, battery power is the cleanest power available.

Greetings from a flashaholic which handles a lot of ion cells every day.

 

[H20Fidelity]

You should google "Ultrafire Explosion" for your own safety!!

These batteries are crap (GTL too) and there are indeed no 14500cells with more than 840mAh available.

The Sanyos are the one o f the best 14500 cells.

Batteries with the same voltage will never influence the sound, battery power is the cleanest power available.

Greetings from a flashaholic which handles a lot of ion cells every day.

Well, I'm not here to agree or disagree with you just say my thoughts. I was actually waiting for something like this. 
 
To be honest I'm not particularly interested in your thoughts, plenty of others in DX50 and DX90 threads hearing differences with branded batteries, but also keep in mind my intention of testing different batteries was never for any sound quality changes as I tried to explain several times clearly in my above post, more importantly run times. What happened after your guess is as good as mine, but I'm sure going to say something if I hear it and not keep quiet.

Before this goes on for several posts of back and forth just be happy with your opinion. 

.