Harman Kardon Go Play repair and upgrade (#029)

We take a look at why the Lithium battery pack failed in this Harman Kardon bluetooth speaker, look at a quick fix and then also a longer-term fix with a substantial upgrade in battery capacity.

Shot on a Canon HF-G50 and edited in Movie Studio Platinum 14

[ATP-Flo]

Nice! My battery was dead too. I did the same and used two "BAK N21700CG-50" for 6, 49 EUR each. Samsung was sold out but Reddit said the BAK is good and has confirmed measured 5000mAh. This mod was cheaper than the original battery replica which cost about 19, 95 EUR and only has 3000mAh and maybe even less. I did not install the original battery housing though but used multiple layers of Duct Tape to close the opening. I was scared that the sound would suffer but I can't hear any problems. Worked great! Thanks!

[atacant]

this is an amazing video. thanks for educating people in terms of repairing themselves in this throwaway products economy. Cheers! One thing I thought of was if one would design a 3D printed housing for 18650s or even other pouch cells, it might even be able to "replace" the old battery caddy. But nonetheless, great work. I would only improve on it by wrapping the new wires with foam in order to 100% avoid any vibrations.

[cmalc]

One of my original cells was puffy and lower voltage, but - successful repair, thanks to a couple of tips supplied in this video. I upgraded to 8 x 18650 4P2S (4 on each side). Sounds REALLY good and despite playing it quite a bit today, it hasn't moved of '5' on the battery meter yet. (Yes, I've checked the meter is working) Thanks for this helpful video !

[cmalc]

The exposed sides of those little plates that take the battery connections do not accept solder, so THANK YOU SO MUCH for revealing that they can be removed. It wasn't obvious.

[bunganek]

Thank you so much for the great video. I was able to successfully change the battery for my HK Go Play Speaker with no hassle! I didn't do the battery upgrade, however (a bit more daunting prospect). Keep making these awesome videos!

[graiionnk.]

Great job! Giving improved lifespan to this product is always remarkable. It may be quite true that modifying the internal space of the speaker may diminish the original acoustics, in this case I truly believe this won't affect it, however, to reduce any rattles and resonance to the minimal the foreign components have to be shock and acoustically insulated with sufficient foam material.

[Alex_IsaeF]

Thank you very much for the high-quality detailed video. I also plan to convert it to 26650.

[cmalc]

Another hot tip from TechBench is using a battery holder. I stupidly glued my cells directly in. It's working wonderfully well, but a minute's thought would have revealed this will be a nightmare if and when it comes to replacing those batteries a few years in the future.

[OleksandrKTS]

Thank you! I managed to change the battery thanks to your video!

[slydeniel]

Thanks a lot my friend! I tought this bms wont enable again, but as easy as to jump start it helps..?! Keep up the good work. Take care!

[skylight]

Thank's a lot. Greetings from Germany😉

[cmalc]

Hot tip for anyone failing to reset the battery management controller at 7V 100mA, if your batteries are fully charged you'll need to set your power supply to 8.4V 100mA, then it will work. I guess you have match the battery voltage for it to reset, as the TechBench batteries were at 3.5V each.

[henryzaher]

Amazing Video, I love this speaker, and it started having some problems with the battery lasting a lot less than it should, yesterday I played my music at Max Vol. and it just shut down refusing to turn on, thanks to you and this video I understand why, although I am not an Expert, and probably will buy a replacement Battery from Aliexpress and just replace it and not upgrade it like this video shows, I don't feel confident enough Sautering and cleaning the battery management board
Thank you a lot, certainly a video worth liking, sharing, subscribing to the channel for

[melcoeb]

Great video. Hopefully you make one for Go Plus Play 3 soon.

[Alejandro_Carpa]

It's incredible. You messed up the sound by changing the amount of space with those accumulators...😱

[borninwinter]

Thanks for this! Just purchased parts as per your config.
How long do you think the batteries will last at apr 50% vol with this setup?

[dipeshkanojia]

Thank you sir for making this video, it really helps alot. I want to know that after upgrading the lipo battery with li-ion battery, does this speaker works well at full volume ?
Should I need to worry about C-rating of li-ion battery ? Please reply

[phyllisjailall]

Excellent job, Techbench. One of the most indepth videos I've watched for the process. I am glad that you have explained each process and trouble shooting with excellent video shots. I have a question regarding the battery upgrade i want use. The battery is a 7.4V 5000Mah /37 wh. The original you aware is a 7.4V 3500Mah / 22.2 wh. Will the difference in 37wh and 22.2wh affect the electronics. Shanal from South Africa.

[TakwanaMunenge]

Hello, Sir. Where can I find you
I need assistance with my speaker

[Bxin]

Hi, great video. Im currently in a process of replacing the battery on my go play speaker and im wondering if I can "jump start" bms circuit by simply charging the speaker because I dont have power source like u do?