iPhone SE (2016) battery swap

Nearly two years ago I bought a used iPhone SE 2016 with a Punkcase to use as a mapping GPS, as outlined previously. Throughout this time the battery has reported >90% health but  the usable life seemed to have become short. So much so that I felt it useless to take on my Yorkshire Wolds Way trip. An hours run, with a photo was all it could manage. 

Once again I considered Garmin dedicated devices and supposed IP68 Android phones.  They all seemed too costly and even then not ideal solutions.  What I wanted was a practical battery life on the iPhone. So swap the battery! 

On eBay the batteries are £16 from what look to be fair suppliers. Anyone offering a capacity twice the original couldn't be genuine as budget phone batteries haven't improved that much. Replacebase fitted the bill and the battery arrived in a day or do. 

A key advantage of the 1st edition of the iPhone SE is that it can be opened with a small screwdriver and a plastic pry. No glue is involved, hence not water resistant! I followed a YouTube video and found the job fairly straightforward.  The hardest point was softening an adhesive strip under the old battery which hadn't done the quick detach trick. At this point it might be fair to point out that I  am dextrous and have a good stock of tools. If that description doesn't fit you, then perhaps best to use a phone repair shop...

A few weeks after the swap I'm pleased to report that it was well worth doing.  The SE isn't known to have great stamina so I didn't expect miracles,  but the working life has improved considerably.  It's hard to quote an objective figure as power consumption depends on the duration of screen illumination,  probably daylight intensity and if photos were taken. 

How the old battery showed 91% and was so poor in use is a mystery to me, although there's lots online to suggest that the figure can be faked.

Garmin Swim Battery change

My V1 swim watch has been very unreliable for my last few swims. Stopping, data loss, time reseting itself etc but no 'low battery' indicator! Also the display has been crisp and contrast-rich which made me think the battery was fine.

Anyway, today I'd got the box of CR2032 in my hands so swapped it over.

Looks like it has been 11 months since the last replacement so perhaps not unsurprising. Let's hope the fault is resolved...

Forerunner battery dead?

Before yesterday's run I'd changed my Forerunner 100 overnight but half way through it showed 'Low Battery'. I put it down to the cold, and perhaps poor connection with the charging clip. Last night I made sure the clip was well positioned and by this morning charging was complete. I disconnected the charger and within an hour I heard the beep of 'Low Battery' again even though the watch was on standby. The battery indicator is low, of course. I've tried rebooting the watch and it still shows an empty batter but no inclination to charge. Maybe it's the end of the line for it? Although batteries are available online I wonder how easy it will be to get a good outcome. These things aren't built to be repaired.

New battery

I'd hoped to swim today but work was too much work. On the walk home the Garmin Swim flashed up 'Low Battery'. Although this has been the first warning I don't want to lose data so swapped the battery this evening. I had spare CR2032 cells in stock as they are one of those sizes that fit a multitude of gadgets nowadays.

The swap was easy as per the instruction manual.

The estimated battery life is 1 year, my first use is recorded as 14th July 2015 so that's a pretty reasonable prediction. I've barely used the light which I'd assume is a substantial drain.

I hope the seal is OK, the O-ring is slender!