Changing the Battery

The Philips TAUH202WT is an inexpensive bluetooth headset () without noise-cancelling that has the property of being nearly indestructible and remarkably functional given the low price by comparison to high end headsets. It seems to make sense to repair the headset when the battery dies and perhaps even extend the battery in the process.

The TAUH202WT contains one lithium battery that is placed within the right earpiece (the one without any buttons). Opening the ear cup involves applying pressure between the "foamy part" of the cup and the plastic container till the earpiece splits into two halves. There will be some wires connecting the cup to the headset so some care must be used to not pull the cables and rip them out.

The cup reveals a small container with a lithium battery inside the cup connected with the positive and negative wires to a small PCB.

The PCB is screwed to the chassis on both sides using two small threaded screws. The PCB can be then easily removed and the underside will expose two contact points from where the old battery can be de-soldered and a new one added.

Without further ado, the old battery is swapped out for a brand new one, slightly larger than the older batter and rated at instead. The easiest way to tell whether the transplant worked is to connect an USB cable to the Philips TAUH202WT and check that the circuit inside is charging up the battery such that a small white LED will light up on the side. Initially, an older battery was used that turned out incidentally to be flat as well, such that the small LED did not light up.

The Philips TAUH202W is pretty amazing in times of rated hours, lasting up to 15 hours without a charge. Swapping the battery for a larger one should result in an even longer timespan without needing a charge. Given that very expensive headphones like the Sony WH-1000XM3 seem to break down in similar ways but at 10 times the price, it is well-worth it to just replace the battery on these expendable headphones with a great performance.