How to Replace Battery in Oral B Electric Toothbrushes

Almost everyone that’s tried one agrees that using an Oral B electric toothbrush is far better than a regular manual toothbrush. After all, they do a significantly better job in cleaning your teeth in half the time than its manual counterpart. However, these work on batteries and eventually they can wear out, which is why knowing how to replace battery in Oral B electric toothbrushes is imperative.

Some electric toothbrush’s battery replacement is very simple as they function on an AA-sized battery. All you need to do is twist the cover to open it, remove the old battery and replace with the new one.

Then again, what if you own an electric toothbrush that has an in-built battery? Is it even possible to open the toothbrush up, let alone replace the battery? Let’s dig a little deeper and find out.

What Oral B Has to Say

If you do a quick search on Oral B’s website on replacing their electric toothbrush battery, you will be disappointed to know that they do not have any instructions and even admit that the battery can’t be replaced.

According to the website, the battery is well within the electronics of their toothbrush handle. This whole unit is sealed in order to keep the water from entering in, which is why they don’t offer battery replacements.

However, they do have their service centers where you can take your electric toothbrush to get it fixed. Either that, or you will have to buy a whole new toothbrush.

We all know that Oral B toothbrushes are not the cheapest. So, it isn’t economical to buy a new toothbrush every time the battery fails. While the company does not offer any replacements nor gives any instructions on how to replace the battery, it does not mean that it is not possible.

How to Replace Battery in Oral B Electric Toothbrushes

Below, we will provide you with a list of instructions as to how you can replace the battery in your Oral B electric toothbrush. However, please note that this is meant for educational purposes only.

Tampering with your electric toothbrush will most probably void its warranty. The activity carried out by you is completely at your own risk, and any damage to the toothbrush is your responsibility.

The Things You Will Need

• The electric toothbrush
• The charger
• Soldering iron, 18 to 25 watt
• Lead-free silver solder
• Desoldering pump
• Craft knife
• Scissors
• 2mm to 4mm wide flat screwdriver
• 10 to 11mm ring spanner
• Super glue
• Replacement battery

The Replacement Process

1. Begin by removing the brush head from the handle. Make the brush tip stand in 60C hot water for about three to five minutes so that the plastic softens and the ring becomes easier to remove.
2. Pry off the ring from around the shaft by using the screwdriver. You can alternatively use pliers too. Once done, put the brush on the charger.
3. While holding the brush and charger, gently bend the handle backward. This will make the base open the lever. Continuing to keep the end of the brush in hot water will make the plastic soft, which will help release the clip far more easily and lower the chances of it breaking.
4. Now, you can remove the handle from the charging port. If you have done the previous steps correctly, the base of the handle will come off. Be careful that the spring will come off too and ensure you don’t lose it.
5. You will now realize that you have fallen victim to Oral B’s classic non-repairability design as the plastic tab in the front of the base will break off. While this does make it difficult to repair your toothbrush, it is not impossible to fix it. All you will need is the super glue.
6. Now that the base is off, you will need to remove the inner electronics of your toothbrush. You can do this by pushing the shaft out from the inside.
7. Start off by removing the inner power switch plate that is clipped on both sides of the brush on the top. Begin by clipping it from one side then the other.
8. Warm up the soldering iron and use it along with the desoldering pump to carefully desolder the battery terminals, starting from the negative one, on the circuit board.
9. Then, bend the metal tabs vertically and away from the board with the help of the craft knife to ensure that there is no solder left joining to solder tag on the board.
10. Now, move on the copper wire solder points. This is for the pressure warning light and the charging coil. Again, very carefully solder these too and away from the wires from the circuit board so that you do not melt the plastic around it.
11. You now need to unclip the black coil support. You can do so by using a screwdriver and carefully pressing in on the white clips on both the sides to unclip the black coil. Follow by unclipping the carrier for the wires for the pressure warning light from the top shaft. At this point, you will be able to unclip the circuit board and slide it out.
12. This will allow you to remove the battery. Measure the original battery in the toothbrush before you fix in the replacement. In case you do have the option to fit in a slightly larger battery, then opt for it as that will have a higher electrical capacity and will last longer.
13. Repeat the entire process backward to re-assemble the toothbrush for use.

So, Is It Worth It?

We can say this without a doubt that replacing your toothbrush battery is not a simple task and you too may have figured that by reading our elaborate guide. So, if the question arises whether you should replace it or not, we would likely suggest not to unless you are good at repairing electronic appliances.

Replacing the battery involves touching the fine parts of the circuit board on the toothbrush. This leaves you with a very high possibility of permanently damaging the internal parts, which will render the brush completely useless.

Conclusion

We hope our elaborate guide on how to replace battery in Oral B electric toothbrushes proves to be helpful to you. As mentioned earlier, only choose to do this if you are 100% confident that you can fix electronics. Replacing the battery can be quite a difficult task, and you also risk losing your warranty. So, it’s wise you do this only once your warranty expires.