Sony WF-1000MX3 Battery Replacement + new battery test

/! \ Small warning - Be carefull when lifting the plastic mold after you removed the screws, especially at the ribbon and the led as you could damage both , I'd suggest you to lift the cover up from the sides and not the ends as this is where the led and the ribbon are placed

In this video I'll show you how to replace easily and for quite cheap the batteries of the Sony WF-1000XM3 earbuds

0:00 Introduction
0:30 Battery type and tools
2:12 Replacement
6:35 New batteries testing

Battery model: VARTA CP1254 A3 - 3.7V / 0.2Wh - 60mAh capacity

Tools used:

Recorded with an Oppo Find X3 Pro
Edited in Davinci Resolve
Microphone. Trust GXT 256 EXXO

[woongbinkang]

This worked, thanks. Words of warning for others - 1 - be careful near the front edge because you can easily damage the led on the board. I killed one of the LEDs this way. 2- If your touch sensor is wonky, try restarting (putting it back into the charger) - it will work again.

[sergeychalkov]

This is so nice and satisfying to see the battery replacement done by a sane responsible person, not by an idiot who cannot even explain what they do. Thank you so much for making this world slightly better.

[sammike]

Just bought a two pack of the batteries on Amazon, and it took a little longer to get off the faceplate BUT they work and charged fully. Great video, thanks!!

[Averethel]

Thank you so much for this! I love my headphones but after a few years of heavy use followed by the pandemic and almost no use batteries were pretty dead. You, kind sir, saved me a few hundred dollars for new headphones and prevented generating unnecessary electronic waste. Big kudos!
One note - when lifting the battery - it's much easier to do from the side where the ribbon is. If you go from that side you're also more likely to only extract the battery which saves you the effort on re-aligning the contact

[foyo]

Thank you for this video! My right earbud had gotten down to just over 30 minutes before running out of battery. Bought some new batteries and followed your video. Again thank you, very much appreciated!

[Flyingredcactus]

Thank you for this guide ! My left earbuds has only a battery life of 4 mins and the right earbuds a battery life of 30 minutes after 2 years of daily use in public transport, at gym and by traveling.

[mastas]

Omg we need more tech where this is possible! Happy to have bought them

[Lorenzo_Strozzi]

Just performed the replacement successfully, thanks for this video! couple extra thinks to look out for:
1- as other said, look out for the led's on the bottom of the board, take your time and open the perimeter in small steps, do not go deep with the picks.
2- my replacement batteries came wrapped with an amber, adhesive tape film that needed to be removed prior installation
3- watch out to not short the batteries! the metal contact bends upward and that upward part needs to be phisically distant form the side walls of the battery. I made this mistake initially and the battery got very hot. Luckly I was able to recover it but be careful!
4- removing the old battery was quite more difficult than shown in the video. Personally the best tactic was to really push down with the plastic lever to really get under the adhesive before prying.

[Minerva___]

Thanks so much for posting this. I love these earbuds and hated the thought that I’d just be tossing them once battery life was poor (its getting there). Glad to hear they can be replaced even if it is a little tricky. Even better still you provided evidence as to the improved battery life with good testing technique.

[alecj]

Thank you!!! My headphones were only getting 30 mins of play and this has breathed new life into them!!!

[ghibliq]

HOLY SMOKES!
I bought these exactly 2 years, 1 month ago and the earbuds discharge at an unequal rate. The left one discharges considerably faster than the right one. Plus: The left one discharges completely after merely 30-40 minutes of use :(
I was considering buying new ones, as they have dropped in price significantly (about 100€) and they are definitely the best true wireless earbuds i've EVER had.
That was until now because i absolutely did not realise how stupid easy the batteries are to replace!!
I was absolutely convinced one could not open these without totally destroying them in the process.

Thank you so much for this video!!!
I will be replacing the batteries myself ASAP!
And should i fat finger it somehow and destroy them, despite them being so easy to repair, i shall order new ones :D

[Jumpeex]

Je n’ai pas ces earbuds mais je ne peux que reconnaître que ton tuto est super. Merci !

[rwoodward]

Tip for anyone that finds the touch controls aren't working when you put the top cover back on. I found the touch controls worked fine with the new batteries without the top cover, but as soon as I put the top cover back on, the touch commands stopped working (for both buds). I found that I needed to reset the buds.

Put the buds back in the case, the red LED (per bud) should light up indicating charging. Press and hold the touch button (one bud at a time, with the buds in the case, and with the top cover on). After around 15 seconds the red LED will start flashing, keep holding the touch button. After a couple more seconds the LED with flash faster, then a couple more seconds the LED will turn off. Once the LED goes off, stop pressing the touch button. The LED will come back on after a second or two to indicate it's charging again. Repeat for the second bud. Once I did that I found the touch commands were working again. The reset will not change any of your pairing settings, so you won't need to re-pair to anything.

It's weird. Obviously the touch is working to some extend, otherwise the reset process wouldn't work, but when paired with my phone it would not work with media commands (play/pause/skip) without me doing the reset.

[Adam_mohammed_]

Thanks man! I follow your instructions and replace the batteries by myself, you just forget to mention that the metal sheet which is attached to the battery must not touch the side of the battery itself because it causes a short-circuit. by the way, after more than 2 years I needed to replace the batteries because they hardly ever last for more than an hour. Now after first test they last for more than 2 hours! Notice that! always head for Sony authorized repair shop first and ask them for replacement.

[MalumnikaKiro]

Well, I think I messed up the LED indicator, but the Left earphone I've worked on is working perfectly! Amazing guide! Thank you!

[jonash]

Awesome, I just finished replacing mine. The new batteries came fully charged with a small tab on both sides for some reason, so i put the battery in with the tabs pointing into the battery and held it closed for a few seconds to see if the led would start blinking, but immediately notice the battery getting hot. so I removed the battery and installed it with the tabs facing the opposite direction and checked again for heat and power, and it worked great. Tested with charger and phone, no issues yet.

[msr]

Thanks for the guide !
Super simple to change, also nice to see that Sony didn't go the apple way of making stuff unrepairable.

I bought some Varta cp1254 a4 which work perfectly and offer 74mAh vs the 60mAh that the a3 delivers. Hopefull that gives a bit more battery life

[Naisan]

THANK YOU, @Saroua! - 3 years later, and this saved me tons of money! (got the dreaded "right-side-battery-rot"-issue, which also hit my XM4's... Sony taking no responsibility.)
I did decide to just try and get Z55H batteries (the original type that goes into the WF-XM4's) and boots up, pairs, plays, so I think they're good too!

One thing for me personally though, was that the point of having to align the dot, when reinserting the battery was unclear to me.
I saw a dot/hole at the bottom, where you could see orange through (ribbon cable), but I guess the dot mentioned was the dot around the middle of the casing, with the HOLE in the metal plate that goes on the battery - I figured it out, and it worked, so all good!

[SolfonicToast]

Great guide, thank you! One thing that was different with the battery I got was that the side with the writing on was the POSITIVE side, I very quickly realised and flipped the battery over and now all is good. Also, I had to be careful with the ribbon cable that is attached to the touch sensor when first opening the ear bud up as that was attached to the outer casing.

[kipzonderkop]

I’ve had mine since early 2020 and they’re still amazing, not a single issue with battery life and I use them every other day or so only requiring a charge once or twice a month. I do tend to listen to fairly low volume though so maybe that’s why they last so much longer

Edit: forgot to add, watching the video in case I need it, wanted to confirm if the battery was replaceable or not 😂