User:Wolfman/philipsS3000

Philips S3000 series shaver batteries

Philips is a large, dutch electronic company founded in 1891 and made 20 billion USD revenue in 2023.

Electric shaver

They are famouse for their rotating blade electric shavers.

Philips S3000 series shaver

Battery replacement

Philips writes on their support page that the battery is not user replacable. As my shaver was new, but i stored it for 4 years i didn‘t want to put it into the trash.

Opening the shaver was quite easy, i had to unscrew 3 torx T15 screws. Next step was opening the 2 halfes using a prying tool. For newbies difficult but once you have opened a modern notebook it is do able quiet easily.

Then i saw the battery:

„Li-Ion 20“ battery which in reality is LiFePo4

It is a shorter than AA sized battery of ‚Li-Ion 20‘ type (which i have never heard of) having 2 soldering tabs.

Evil traps

14480 size

Measuring it surprised me. It is not the usually 14500 format which is common (similar to AA size) but a properitary 14480 size. The battery compartment is designed so that no 14500 battery will fit.

„Li-Ion 20“ battery chemistry

On chinese shopping websites there were 3rd party replacement parts in philips properitary 14480 size with solder tabs in 3.7V Li-Ion chemistry Reading the 1 star reviews (can‘t believe those websites don‘t delete 1 star reviews as usual) people wrote ‚don‘t buy, burns electronic board‘ As my battery was dead (0.6V) i very carefully put 100mA at 2.4V into it, then 3.0V. Quickly stabelizing at 3.2V i realized it is LiFePo4 battery chemistry misleading named Li-Ion 20. Continuing charging Voltage climbed to 3.65V where i stopped it. Shaver worked again but as the battery was dead the capacity was only 170mAh instead of about 650mAh. When the voltage was at an acceptable level, the original charger worked again and charged to 3.65V.

Burning electronic boards

What is dishonorable and reprehensive about Philips is that they accomplished to design the electronic board in a way that the tolerances are that tight that the board or one of it‘s components burns when applying 0.4V to high. That seems to me not like regular tolerances beeing used in this business but as an evil, intentional design to destroy any attempt of repairing it yourself. I wouldn‘t be surprised if they sold a small series/batch in china with regular 3.7V Li-Ion batteries (which charge to 4.2V) so that the repair market reacts to this type of shaver with the „wrong“ battery chemistry - and as we know - chinese suppliers never adapt to changes, they always stuck to the first generation of something. And companies there don‘t copy the original but the first clone as it is easier to acquire than dissassembling and reverse engineering the original.

“Li-Ion 20“ = LiFePo4 !!!

Well done, Philips! Seems to me like a well thought thru intentional move to strategicly destroy the devices beeing tried to be repaired.

Shame on you, Philips! How dare you! I would like to use Louis Rossmann‘s words - but this is a public wiki.