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I have an AA-230 Pro Antenna Analyzer.

AA-230 Pro Antenna Analyzer

Its similar about 5-10 years old with a failing battery. The battery will only hold a charge for a day or so, and only for minutes while in use.

I tried:

  • looking for a manufacturer's replacement, but it's a discontinued product
  • looking for a way to open the plastic battery case, but its sealed pretty tight.

How can I replace the battery?

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  • $\begingroup$ That was rather short-sighted of them to make the batteries difficult to replace. For a few pennies more they could have added a battery door and used a connector for the battery cable. It's a bit disappointing for a consumer-grade product, and more so for a product aimed at hams. $\endgroup$
    – rclocher3
    Commented Jul 6, 2020 at 14:08

1 Answer 1

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  1. With the battery case detached from the device, look at the side with the copper terminals. You should see several seams that can be exploited with a sufficiently thin shim. I carefully used a box cutter on the right hand inner seam of the battery case and separated the battery case into two pieces without actually cutting or breaking any of the small plastic tabs that allow reassembly.

  2. Inside the battery case you will find a standard 4xAA NiMH pack wired to the copper terminals, with soldered connections. Cut the wires as close to the battery end as possible and strip a small amount for re-use or connection to a new pack or connector.

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Here an Eneloop NiMH AA is shown for comparison.

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  1. You can find 4 AA NiMH packs pre-made on eBay and Amazon for under $20.

4 eneloops will also fit in the compartment. I made a pack by taping and soldering 4 of them together in series.

But I think it would be better to buy a pre-made NiMH pack because (i) consumer NiMH batteries are not really made for direct soldering and could fail early or create a hazard, and (ii) if you try it anyway, you'll fight with some issues with melting plastic and clamping/geometry to get good connections.

  1. Reassembly is simply snapping the two pieces of the battery case back together.
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  • $\begingroup$ Thank you Paul - mine was "working," in that I could charge the battery pack and go through the menus, change settings, etc. But when I would try to test and SWR, which required more power, the unit always reverted to the Home screen - not enough juice to operate. I ordered a replacement pack from Amazon and will split the case as you described. KM6U $\endgroup$
    – Checkerboard
    Commented Jan 17, 2022 at 13:39

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