SPRO2 Battery Replacement

[Silverado]

My Surface Pro 2 battery has been chugging along pretty good but its been longevity has been declining. I've been getting about 6 hours but lately it has dropped to around 4(still not horrible but annoying to carry a charger all the time and be that guy). I did buy a power type cover for it that I'm waiting to try out and I have tried tweaking everything possible.

Has anyone on here done a battery replacement on these? I've been looking around and have seen them done on the RT and surface pro 1 but not the pro 2. I have seen some docs that make it look pretty easy by taking off the back cover and others that go from prying off the screen and taking everything out.

Also, before I go trying to crack this thing open, does anyone know which replacement will go in there. I keep seeing a place called newpower99 and they have a list of surface batteries. Are any of these known to be for the Surface pro 2?

http://www.newpower99.com/SearchResults.asp?Search=surface&Search.x=0&Search.y=0

Thanks,
David

 

[malberttoo]

My Surface Pro 2 battery has been chugging along pretty good but its been longevity has been declining. I've been getting about 6 hours but lately it has dropped to around 4(still not horrible but annoying to carry a charger all the time and be that guy). I did buy a power type cover for it that I'm waiting to try out and I have tried tweaking everything possible.

Has anyone on here done a battery replacement on these? I've been looking around and have seen them done on the RT and surface pro 1 but not the pro 2. I have seen some docs that make it look pretty easy by taking off the back cover and others that go from prying off the screen and taking everything out.

Also, before I go trying to crack this thing open, does anyone know which replacement will go in there. I keep seeing a place called newpower99 and they have a list of surface batteries. Are any of these known to be for the Surface pro 2?

http://www.newpower99.com/SearchResults.asp?Search=surface&Search.x=0&Search.y=0

Thanks,
David

Welcome to the forum!

I'm not 100% positive, but I believe it will be very difficult for a consumer to replace the battery. The only way into the unit is by removing the display, and it is heavily glued in place. Go check out iFixit's teardown of the Surface Pro 2...

https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Microsoft+Surface+Pro+2+Teardown/18604

If you DO decide to do it, please post the vid here

 

[Silverado]

I don't mind tearing this thing apart. The glue doesn't scare me ( I've opened IPhones and the like before.) What does scare me is out of the 90+ screws that are in this thing how many I will have left overs, I mean "spares". lol

Any direction on which battery from my previous list is compatible with the SP2?

I know from the directions it says its an Escalade brand.

 

[Compusmurf]

It's not the glue that is the issue, most who have tried have destroyed their screens in the process. About the screws. You have a camera, right? No excuse now for having leftovers unless you're lazy.

 

[jnjroach]

Microsoft has a program to replace the batteries, I believe it runs USD $200 IIRC, basically you end up with a factory refurb unit....ping support.

 

[Silverado]

Been talking to support and reading on technet. I have to give it to microsoft support chat, outstanding service! He did take me through a couple of troubleshooting steps which included reinstalling the battery driver and he asked if I could do a factory reset. He did say it is possible to replace the unit but he didn't mention a price. If its only 200$ then no big deal but the guys on technet have been saying that OoW this runs close to 500$!!!! Yikes!

If that's the case I'm gonna do it myself. I feel confident in the opening and putting back together, I just need to hunt down a replacement battery that will work for me.

Can anyone confirm if any of the replacements in the link I posted above will be compatible with a SP2?

 

[redbrick]

Wow...tagging along just to see the outcome... I've also wondered what to do if my battery capacity starts to deteriorate.

 

[Silverado]

Sorry to not post a reply yet.

Anyhow, I bought this battery from amazon, just be warned it will take a better part of a month just to receive.

Now onto the interesting part opening this SP2.

The tear down was similar to this. I do have a few adjustments I made.
Pro Tip 1: To get the screen off I did not use a heat gun. My heat gun would melt the tablet so I chose to go with a hair dryer. Yes it took a while but I'd rather spend a little longer on it than melt my tablet.

Pro Tip 2: From everyone I asked that had done this before said to be very careful using a prying a device on the screen. So I didn't pry on the screen at all. I used suction cups. Perfect tool for the job. Suction cups limit the pry marks on the bezel too. and depending what size they will tell you that your pulling to hard.

The screen was painstaking because a lot of care went into making sure I didn't overheat the display, sever the ribbon cables at the bottom or flex it in such a way to crack it or torque it. Just start at the top because all the cables are at the bottom.

Pro Tip 3 & 4: Screw Management is key. I lost count but I will take other people at their word that there are ~50 screws in here and they are not universal some are different sizes. So take pictures and layout your screws. I used sharpie markers on the screw heads before I removed them, a different color for each layer and then I took a picture so I knew where they went. I also tried to keep them in the holes in the hardware but that didn't always work

The battery itself was glued to the back, as promised. I was a little less gentle as I was with the display. If I have to open this again its time for a new tablet.

To get all the old remaining glue off the bezel and the back cover I used goo gone and then acetone to help clean it up and I used a credit card to scrape it off.

To glue the battery and display back on I used double sided tape I tried to avoid the foam variety because I didn't want a squishy tablet lol.
Last Pro Tip: one you get the bezel back on set a decent waited book on top of it for over night to compress the adhesive tape.

It took me probably about 4 hours including the breaks I took. It is not impossible but Microsoft out of warranty will charge 500$ and they replace the whole unit with a referb. In warranty they will swap it out no problem. And you might get lucky if they are out of stock I have heard of some people getting a slight upgrade in hardware. I did have one screw left over but I know where it goes I had just missed it when I put it all back together. I think the other 51 screws are doing a good enough job holding it all together.

 

[GreyFox7]

Sorry to not post a reply yet.

Anyhow, I bought this battery from amazon, just be warned it will take a better part of a month just to receive.

Now onto the interesting part opening this SP2.

The tear down was similar to this. I do have a few adjustments I made.
Pro Tip 1: To get the screen off I did not use a heat gun. My heat gun would melt the tablet so I chose to go with a hair dryer. Yes it took a while but I'd rather spend a little longer on it than melt my tablet.

Pro Tip 2: From everyone I asked that had done this before said to be very careful using a prying a device on the screen. So I didn't pry on the screen at all. I used suction cups. Perfect tool for the job. Suction cups limit the pry marks on the bezel too. and depending what size they will tell you that your pulling to hard.

The screen was painstaking because a lot of care went into making sure I didn't overheat the display, sever the ribbon cables at the bottom or flex it in such a way to crack it or torque it. Just start at the top because all the cables are at the bottom.

Pro Tip 3 & 4: Screw Management is key. I lost count but I will take other people at their word that there are ~50 screws in here and they are not universal some are different sizes. So take pictures and layout your screws. I used sharpie markers on the screw heads before I removed them, a different color for each layer and then I took a picture so I knew where they went. I also tried to keep them in the holes in the hardware but that didn't always work

The battery itself was glued to the back, as promised. I was a little less gentle as I was with the display. If I have to open this again its time for a new tablet.

To get all the old remaining glue off the bezel and the back cover I used goo gone and then acetone to help clean it up and I used a credit card to scrape it off.

To glue the battery and display back on I used double sided tape I tried to avoid the foam variety because I didn't want a squishy tablet lol.
Last Pro Tip: one you get the bezel back on set a decent waited book on top of it for over night to compress the adhesive tape.

It took me probably about 4 hours including the breaks I took. It is not impossible but Microsoft out of warranty will charge 500$ and they replace the whole unit with a referb. In warranty they will swap it out no problem. And you might get lucky if they are out of stock I have heard of some people getting a slight upgrade in hardware. I did have one screw left over but I know where it goes I had just missed it when I put it all back together. I think the other 51 screws are doing a good enough job holding it all together.

Nice... I hope you don't get the missing screw blue screen

 

[malberttoo]

Sorry to not post a reply yet.

Anyhow, I bought this battery from amazon, just be warned it will take a better part of a month just to receive.

Now onto the interesting part opening this SP2.

The tear down was similar to this. I do have a few adjustments I made.
Pro Tip 1: To get the screen off I did not use a heat gun. My heat gun would melt the tablet so I chose to go with a hair dryer. Yes it took a while but I'd rather spend a little longer on it than melt my tablet.

Pro Tip 2: From everyone I asked that had done this before said to be very careful using a prying a device on the screen. So I didn't pry on the screen at all. I used suction cups. Perfect tool for the job. Suction cups limit the pry marks on the bezel too. and depending what size they will tell you that your pulling to hard.

The screen was painstaking because a lot of care went into making sure I didn't overheat the display, sever the ribbon cables at the bottom or flex it in such a way to crack it or torque it. Just start at the top because all the cables are at the bottom.

Pro Tip 3 & 4: Screw Management is key. I lost count but I will take other people at their word that there are ~50 screws in here and they are not universal some are different sizes. So take pictures and layout your screws. I used sharpie markers on the screw heads before I removed them, a different color for each layer and then I took a picture so I knew where they went. I also tried to keep them in the holes in the hardware but that didn't always work

The battery itself was glued to the back, as promised. I was a little less gentle as I was with the display. If I have to open this again its time for a new tablet.

To get all the old remaining glue off the bezel and the back cover I used goo gone and then acetone to help clean it up and I used a credit card to scrape it off.

To glue the battery and display back on I used double sided tape I tried to avoid the foam variety because I didn't want a squishy tablet lol.
Last Pro Tip: one you get the bezel back on set a decent waited book on top of it for over night to compress the adhesive tape.

It took me probably about 4 hours including the breaks I took. It is not impossible but Microsoft out of warranty will charge 500$ and they replace the whole unit with a referb. In warranty they will swap it out no problem. And you might get lucky if they are out of stock I have heard of some people getting a slight upgrade in hardware. I did have one screw left over but I know where it goes I had just missed it when I put it all back together. I think the other 51 screws are doing a good enough job holding it all together.

Wow, tremendous effort, kudos! I don't have the patience for it....

 

[redbrick]

Wow! A real life effort.. I took apart my ipad once...it was the first and last time. No way I'm doing that again. Really, if the battery is all the way at the back, I'd be okay with a bit more weight just to make it user replaceable. Good job.

 

[Snake Doctor]

Sorry to not post a reply yet.

Anyhow, I bought this battery from amazon, just be warned it will take a better part of a month just to receive.

Now onto the interesting part opening this SP2.

The tear down was similar to this. I do have a few adjustments I made.
Pro Tip 1: To get the screen off I did not use a heat gun. My heat gun would melt the tablet so I chose to go with a hair dryer. Yes it took a while but I'd rather spend a little longer on it than melt my tablet.

Pro Tip 2: From everyone I asked that had done this before said to be very careful using a prying a device on the screen. So I didn't pry on the screen at all. I used suction cups. Perfect tool for the job. Suction cups limit the pry marks on the bezel too. and depending what size they will tell you that your pulling to hard.

The screen was painstaking because a lot of care went into making sure I didn't overheat the display, sever the ribbon cables at the bottom or flex it in such a way to crack it or torque it. Just start at the top because all the cables are at the bottom.

Pro Tip 3 & 4: Screw Management is key. I lost count but I will take other people at their word that there are ~50 screws in here and they are not universal some are different sizes. So take pictures and layout your screws. I used sharpie markers on the screw heads before I removed them, a different color for each layer and then I took a picture so I knew where they went. I also tried to keep them in the holes in the hardware but that didn't always work

The battery itself was glued to the back, as promised. I was a little less gentle as I was with the display. If I have to open this again its time for a new tablet.

To get all the old remaining glue off the bezel and the back cover I used goo gone and then acetone to help clean it up and I used a credit card to scrape it off.

To glue the battery and display back on I used double sided tape I tried to avoid the foam variety because I didn't want a squishy tablet lol.
Last Pro Tip: one you get the bezel back on set a decent waited book on top of it for over night to compress the adhesive tape.

It took me probably about 4 hours including the breaks I took. It is not impossible but Microsoft out of warranty will charge 500$ and they replace the whole unit with a referb. In warranty they will swap it out no problem. And you might get lucky if they are out of stock I have heard of some people getting a slight upgrade in hardware. I did have one screw left over but I know where it goes I had just missed it when I put it all back together. I think the other 51 screws are doing a good enough job holding it all together.

How did the tablet perform once you had it back together? Do you still have it?