Replacing the Kobo Libra H2O Battery | Hacker News Reader

Replacing the Kobo Libra H2O Battery

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97 pointsaustinallegro37 comments

I replaced the screen on my Kobo Clara hd recently after it broke; by far the hardest part was removing the old screen from the glue holding it on to the metal plate. Apparently newer models are much easier to repair.

Also, while you have it open (in fact, go and open it just to do this!), replace the internal SD card; they have a tendency to fail; my ereader had been getting very annoying with lag and random reboots until I did this, now runs like a dream. You'll need to copy your old sd card across or find an image somewhere (they exist on some forums) if it's too far gone (I got the bulk of my using DD rescue but there was a _lot_ of errors)

That would explain why mine is increasingly lagging as it ages. Unfortunately, the libra H2O went with eMMC for water resistance, so replacement is slightly more involved.

Odd. The Libra 2 (the successor to the Libra H2O) had a uSD card with a conformance coating over it. Of course, the Libra Colour uses eMMC. I wonder why then went back and forth then back again. (All three are advertised as water resistant.)

The term you were looking for is conformal coating.

Thanks for the heads up. Good to know storage won't be an issue with a simple upgrade too.

Can I dump out the image using usb file transfer without resorting to disassembly?

I don't believe so (unless you're getting down and dirty with the OS, which, you probably can do since it's Linux and not particularly locked down). There are all manner of partitions on there, whereas the usb just exposes the FAT data partition.

While diving into R/C hobby, I learned that all the batteries within one technology are pretty much the same.

Like all Li-Ion batteries have nominal voltage about 3.6V-3.7V, and full charge at about 4.25V, depending on how risky you are today (yes, there are some minor variations in rated voltages, but not like 10x). Just because chemistry. For lower current (heat losses) you just connect the cells in series, so you got multiplies 2x, 3x, ... of the same voltages (but never fractional, like 1.5x). They typically have more wires to balance the charges between the cells (so the total wires count is #cells+1).

There are also "protected" batteries, which means there's an electronic chip that protects battery from over/under charging, but authors' doesn't seem to have that. It's just a regular unprotected 1-cell Li-Ion cell, and the device provides the protection.

That means author could as well connect to any battery of 3.5V -- 4.2V, not going through the hoops of looking for their particular reader, as long as it's thin enough to fit. Smaller batteries would just have less charge.

PS: I would double-check it's really unprotected tho.

back in my day we used to upcycle old 18650s from old laptop batteries to use for Nokia phones. Since back in the day phone batteries were basically just insert-in and held by a clip-on backplate, it was just a question of fabricating some sort of a replacement backplate, tape on some batteries, reuse the charging protection board with the connector from the original phone battery and wire it together. It easily doubled the size, looked like a prop from an amateur terrorist movie, but battery life was a week+ ;-)

This is actually terrifying.

Ereaders tend to be fairly unique. If my Kobo Forma dies, there's no other Kobo I can replace it with (in terms of size). I don't want to change brands and deal with yet another OS.

The screens tend to be commodity items (look on AliExpress), as do batteries and sd cards, so the are a lot more repairable than most modern electronics

Yes, but the repair in the article is not all that trivial.

True, but compared to a lot of modern electronics Kobos are generally better for repairability (and that was even before the EU directive)

The H2O model is water tight. Is there anything about seal on the outer shell to take care of?

The housings are not sealed. At least not on the older Aura H2O models. That model's water proofing achieved by a coating on the PCB. I googled this in a panic when a significant amount of water came flowing from the USB port as I removed it from the bath.

IIRC, that is the V2, the original IIRC had a sealed case, with a plug at the bottom for USB and SD slot.

The "glue" he is mentioning on contacts probably isn't glue at all. There is no reason for glue to be there. Most likely, it was a waterproof coating.

Took me a second to realize that weird battery does not have water inside.

Glad to see other kobo enthusiasts. I love the Kobo style buttons.

What's the self hosted ecosystem like for these? Let's say I have my own ebooks and audiobooks. Is there whisper sync like features?

I have no idea what Whispersync is but Kobo works very well with Calibre or Grimmory. You can change the store URL to your own Calibre(-web) [1] or Grimmory.

Some of the Kobo also support audio books. All of them have microUSB or USB-C to sync, some got Wi-Fi or Bluetooth as well. Mine even has a mic for some reason.

There's a plethora of hacks for devices like the Kobo (reMarkable is another one). For example, see [4]

[1] https://calibre-ebook.com

[2] https://grimmory.org

[3] https://koreader.rocks

[4] https://github.com/RiccardoSilva42/Kobo-Hacks-Comp

witbound over whispersync anyday to behonest. its on the appstore only though

No for Whispersync. Kobo only offers synchronization for books purchased through them. On the other hand, KOReader does offer synchronization.

I’m using Calibre Web and it syncs with Kobo just fine. It’s a minor change to the config and then you can sync with your own library.

Self hosted in Docker, I browse to the book I want, add it to a ‘shelf’ that is synchronised. then on the Kobo I press sync. It downloads.

I used a guide that was something like this:

https://jccpalmer.com/posts/setting-up-kobo-sync-with-calibr...

i kind of use the witbound on the app store, my own files epub and m4b instead of being locked using whispersync.

i kind of use witbound instead of whispersync. it was one time purchase and now i get sync my m4b and epubs together and not be locked on whispersync.

I just set up Bookbridge (https://github.com/cporcellijr/bookbridge) to do this. It's so new that I can't even endorse it as I just don't know if it works well yet, but this is at least one solution.

This gives me assurance that when my libra 2 eventually fails that I’ll be able to repair it instead of buying a new one. I love my ereader and have no need to replace it. I just loaded koreader onto it for the first time after 2-3 years of use stock. Feels like a new device! But stock was totally fine too. I just wanted OPDS and kosync.

That is pretty cool and looks easy enough to do. I have never seen batteries like that original one seems to be, it looks quite malleable? Is that normal for it? Has anyone seen batteries like that in other products? Most of the other things I did replacement have been “harder” batteries.

When pouch shells are tall and wide but thin (to fit thin products) they can be quite malleable indeed. It is very ill advised to bend them though.

I wish repairing stuff was a bit more accessible to the average person.

After my Aura died I bought a 10" Kindle. I never use it. I keep wanting to buy another Kobo but used inventory is minimal and the store is sold out.

Not surprised, Kobos are the best value in e-readers right now. (Plus relatively open and hackable.)

Very cool. Would like to do this with my Kobo Clara

So you are entrusting Ali Express with your house and your life?

No, but they can help me fix my devices.

What’s your solution? A whole new e-reader with a model you don’t like?

Guides like these are better found via iFixit [1]. This specific device isn't there though.

[1] https://www.ifixit.com/Device/Kobo

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