Odd ball topic. I have an Arcam rcube I bought at a thrift store a while back. The battery lasts an hour at best.
Rather than blow like $70 on a 10 year old battery pack, can I open the shrink wrap and slip some new batteries in there?
Link to ebay auction:
Probably not to difficult . Is it just a heat shrink wrapped pack of cells and a connector ?
I'd only put brand new matched cells in it .
( from the above link ) >>> The rCube comes with a 19 volt switch mode power supply that can deliver 5A and the built-in Lithium-ion Battery pack has a capacity of 2200 mAh (milliamp hours) delivering up to 8hrs of playtime depending on volume.
You can certainly beat the 2200 mah with name brand 3500mAh 18650 cells or even higher capacity cels since there is probably extra space in the case .You could probably get away with sticking 21700 or 26650's in it if you get rid of the little battery box and strap them down with velcro or duct tape , string and some gum . Has to be lots of room in the case to play with .
I passed on something like it but much bigger at our local goodwill .It was massive and probably was sporting a full sized car battery ..but it was cool .
Excellent. Thank you!
Oh yeah, get protected? Or the circuit is probably already protected? I suppose I’ll look at the batteries once I get them out of the wrapper.
Not such an oddball topic. I’ve had an Arcam rCube from new in 2012. Battery gave up the ghost in 2019 and I’ve been running it on mains power since. Still a brilliant speaker but have missed its portability.
I’ve opened the shrink wrap. You have four 18650 cells joined together. Can’t just slip four singles in.
I’ve not got the skills or equipment to do any of that battery making shown on YouTube.
A 10 yr unused battery pack would be significantly dodgy and I’d keep clear of that.
I’ve found no equivalent to the original 14.8V 2200mah via Google searching.
Closest is a 2800mah but thickness is 22mm rather than original 18mm. Case is very tight on space.
My options are;
Buy a new 2800mah one at £69 or £34 ; either a known name (Ansmann) or suppliers own brand (RS supplies).
Hack out the supporting hard foam in case to squeeze it in.
Then make up a connection.
I’m then
left with confirming the type battery connector used and then sourcing the bits.
Again I’ve not got any of the crimpers shown on YouTube that make it easy.
Simple if you have the skills and knowledge but not for me.
yeah, i haven’t even opened mine to really “get into it”. the existing pack still works for like an hour before it dies. don’t worry about the MAH. the more, i think the better? as far as i know, an 18650 is an 18650. they are all the same nominal 3.7V. good ones will just hold higher voltage with a good charger. i’m guessing the internal charger is fully regulated, and will cut off charging at factory specs regardless.
so, just find any decent 18650 (like LG, samsung, sony, etc.) who’s dimensions work. see if you see a protection circuit on the tail of the original 18650s. that’s my question…. protected or unprotected. i almost think UNprotected. the arcam is probably protected anyway?
yup, it’s still a great unit! i use a no name 30 pin bluetooth transmitter and my old samsung glaxaxy S5 as an IR blaster/music streamer with spotify.
I’ve just peeled back the covering strip over top of the 4 pack (power lead end) and found a printed circuit board.
Presumably protection.
Has BK-LTW-18650-4S -A-T printed on it.
Quite neatly designed. Wouldn’t have thought it was there.
Keep yours going as long as possible.
It has to have some kind of BMS or the cells will not stayed balanced — very dangerous to charge series Li-ion cells without a way to keep them in they’re range— that pack shouldn’t be that hard to change the cells out — I do tool packs all the time
Thanks. For a beginner that’s all great info.
Centaurus3200; You use a transmitter from your phone to the rCube. Sounds like it replaces the Arcam Wand.
Is it a special transmitter using Kleer technology?
I’ve not found anything capable of transmitting in Kleer.
It would be great to run the rCube like you do rather than being chained by the auxillary connection to the phone.
My Galaxy10e certainly doesn’t recognise the rCube as only scans for Bluetooth.
I run the rCube mainly from my PC in the same room via the rWave USB transmitter.
Kleer had good a range in the house whilst the Cube was still portable, but it did drop when solid walls got in the way.
Sorry for the late reply. The Bluetooth transmitter is just a little cheapie Bluetooth adapter like this. I paid like under $20 10 years ago. Super cheap now. It’s powered by the rcube’s 30 pin port.
I only use the rcube to stream spotify, so good enough. I’m literally listening to it right now next to my bed.
Did you ever replace the batteries?
Is this the right battery pack? Li-ion 3000mah For Million 14.8v Battery Ml1500 Fy-18650lp01555 Lpo155-14.8v-2.2ah | Fruugo NL
Kind regards,
Matthieu