Battery Removal

[Rosie]

Has anyone worked out how to remove the battery?  My Gemini had an unfortunate encounter with some cider (entirely my fault) and the keyboard is behaving a bit erratically.  I'm currently leaving it to dry out in the hope that it'll recover itself but if not I was going to take the battery out and give it a thorough clean.

And do I win the prize for first person to do something monumentally stupid to their Gemini?

Rosie

[gymbo]

Has anyone worked out how to remove the battery?  My Gemini had an unfortunate encounter with some cider (entirely my fault) and the keyboard is behaving a bit erratically.  I'm currently leaving it to dry out in the hope that it'll recover itself but if not I was going to take the battery out and give it a thorough clean.

And do I win the prize for first person to do something monumentally stupid to their Gemini?

Rosie

Only the best is good enough for the Gemini; it should have gotten some wine or Champagne... (Added benefit; less sugar, and less damage for the circuits and keyboard...)

Hope your Gemini will be fine though!!

[Rosie]

Seeing as I'm guessing there are people on here at least as curious as I am and that no-one else has done anything silly enough to warrant taking their Gemini to pieces I thought you might interested in a couple of photos of the beasts innards.

https://flic.kr/p/23S6U3c

Or at least disassembled bits of it's outers (the key caps) plus a bit of its innards.  The rubber mat thing seems to be what gives the keys their lovely tactile feel.

https://flic.kr/p/23S6TCV

This seems to be the clever bits that actually picks up the key presses.Those ring shaped things look to be little leaf switch type affairs.  I'm guessing this is the bit that objected most to my clumsiness.  Hopefully that's enough disassembly to allow it to dry off properly.

Rosie

[gidds]

That looks so like the innards of a Psion 5 keyboard…!

[Rosie]

A week later and my Gemini is still a bit poorly.  I've got about 15% of the keys working now but the rest seem to be unresponsive to any form of persuasion I can muster.  Along the way I was introduced to the idea of conductive rubber by work colleague who knows more about such things than me.  Aside from just being a completely wrong idea and desperately needing to be in a murder mystery involving some custom made wellies and a Van der Graaf generator it explains the mechanics of the Gemini keyboard.  That rubber membrane that gives them their lovely feel also closes the circuit between the rings thus registering the key press.  I've been testing the keyboard using the very technical 'piece of tin foil' method which also closes the circuit and registers a key press.

I also lifted the flexible PCB that holds the contacts.  You've got to be a bit careful if you do this as the LED is attached to it, gently pressing down as you pull the PCB does the trick.  Underneath there doesn't really seem to be any way of releasing the battery.  There are what look like 3 studs running through the plastic tray the PCB rests on but at that point it was beginning to look like battery removal would be a non-reversible process and I gave up.

I can still use the Gemini as a normal touch screen Android complete with the on-screen keyboard that I hate so much so it's still my only phone.  I'll have to be patient until Planet have some spares and get the flexible PCB replaced.

I'm still waiting to hear from Planet about how the battery can be removed in the hope that there's some residual gak where the ribbon connector joins what I presume is another board hidden under the battery.  At the moment it may be a user replaceable battery but I can't for the life of me figure out how.

Rosie

[depscribe]

A week later and my Gemini is still a bit poorly.  I've got about 15% of the keys working now but the rest seem to be unresponsive to any form of persuasion I can muster.  Along the way I was introduced to the idea of conductive rubber by work colleague who knows more about such things than me.  Aside from just being a completely wrong idea and desperately needing to be in a murder mystery involving some custom made wellies and a Van der Graaf generator it explains the mechanics of the Gemini keyboard.  That rubber membrane that gives them their lovely feel also closes the circuit between the rings thus registering the key press.  I've been testing the keyboard using the very technical 'piece of tin foil' method which also closes the circuit and registers a key press.

An interesting development:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/17746201995...w&ref=notif

"Great news! (Another edit). Planet Computers’ Robin has been in touch, will send a new rubber mat in a week or two, as it arrives from the factory. Will report back how it worked out."

[Rosie]

An interesting development:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/17746201995...w&ref=notif

"Great news! (Another edit). Planet Computers’ Robin has been in touch, will send a new rubber mat in a week or two, as it arrives from the factory. Will report back how it worked out."

Thank you.  That's a very encouraging thing to hear.  Hopefully PEBKAC doesn't mean I'll be ignored.

Rosie

[drand]

I hope your Gemini gets better soon Rosie, without the need to get the battery out.

One thing to note that might be interesting to others coming to the thread is that the Gemini battery is replaceable in the sense that it's not soldered directly onto the main board but it's not a removable part such that you can pop the back off and swap an old/used battery for a new one.

The final technical spec on Indiegogo states:
"
We proceeded to look at other solution making the battery replaceable, but not removable in the sense of not requiring any device maintenance.

In the end we decided to create our own custom battery that can fit the space.  

The battery is not removable, but is replaceable. Having a removable battery would make the device thicker and we did not want that either. The battery can be replaced, as it plugs in neatly into the side PCB. Replacement batteries will be available.
"

[Grench]

I hope your Gemini gets better soon Rosie, without the need to get the battery out.

One thing to note that might be interesting to others coming to the thread is that the Gemini battery is replaceable in the sense that it's not soldered directly onto the main board but it's not a removable part such that you can pop the back off and swap an old/used battery for a new one.

The final technical spec on Indiegogo states:
"
We proceeded to look at other solution making the battery replaceable, but not removable in the sense of not requiring any device maintenance.

In the end we decided to create our own custom battery that can fit the space.  

The battery is not removable, but is replaceable. Having a removable battery would make the device thicker and we did not want that either. The battery can be replaced, as it plugs in neatly into the side PCB. Replacement batteries will be available.
"

However, if they used a gigantic glob of glue to put the battery in...?

How IS the battery held in place?  Is it glue?  A million screws with pentagonal security bit lobes?

[Rosie]

However, if they used a gigantic glob of glue to put the battery in...?

How IS the battery held in place?  Is it glue?  A million screws with pentagonal security bit lobes?

That's what I've not been able to work out.  When you pop the cover off there's no obvious way of releasing the battery but it's held quite securely in place.  There are a couple of end caps to the case held in place by three really tiny screws that have an unfortunate habit of flying off and sticking to the magnets when you're trying to put them back in.  I was hoping it would be a case of removing these and easing off the end caps to release the battery but the end caps didn't seem to want to go anywhere once the screws were removed..  There aren't any screws on the top side of the panel, I checked when I'd lifted the flexible PCB, so for now I'm out of ideas.

I'm hoping it's not a big old blob of glue as that will make it a right pain to remove and is heading into non-reversible procedure territory.

Rosie

[andrewl]

I'm hoping it's not a big old blob of glue as that will make it a right pain to remove and is heading into non-reversible procedure territory.

Rosie

To use the iPhone as an example, is in theory not user replaceable but in reality takes less than 5 minutes and no real skills apart from good near vision.
The battery in an iPhone is secured to the inside of the housing by a piece of double sided tape. It can be pryed off carefully but it is very easy to bend the battery and so it's advisable to take it out destructively and replace it with a new one.

If you are getting a new keyspring mat then perhaps get a battery at the same time, postage restrictions might apply though.

[Alius]

Thank you for sharing some snaps of your Gemini's "guts", Rosie, despite the unfortunate circumstances.  Hope you are able to get it back to full capacity as soon as possible!

[Varti]

Sorry to hear about your Gemini Rosie, I also hope you'll be able to put it back on track! I keep searching for any teardown image as I'm also interested on how does a Gemini look like when disassembled, hopefully someone will post them sooner or later.

Varti

[Rosie]

Sorry to hear about your Gemini Rosie, I also hope you'll be able to put it back on track! I keep searching for any teardown image as I'm also interested on how does a Gemini look like when disassembled, hopefully someone will post them sooner or later.

Varti

Thanks Varti.  There's been some progress on this.  Planet have been in touch to say that they're currently setting up a repair facility but that it's not yet ready to go.  In the meantime they've offered to have a look at the device and given me an address to post it through to.  Given this is likely to be the 3 1/2 folk at Planet I think this is really great, they've got a great deal going on at the moment so I feel it's generous use of their time.  It won't help with working out how to remove the battery but will hopefully mean my Gemini can be restored to health.

Rosie

[Ifanafi]

Reading that Planet Computers is setting up a "repair" facility / department is very good news, indeed.

Those staffers will be kept busy fixing wonky Geminis.

Fingers crossed that my US keyboard, WiFi, 4G, camera add-on Gemini (ID 66XX) (anticipated receipt by early June) is one that has been tweaked free of annoying problems like sticky keys and non-functioning ports...!

Ifanafi

Sorry to hear about your Gemini Rosie, I also hope you'll be able to put it back on track! I keep searching for any teardown image as I'm also interested on how does a Gemini look like when disassembled, hopefully someone will post them sooner or later.

Varti

Thanks Varti.  There's been some progress on this.  Planet have been in touch to say that they're currently setting up a repair facility but that it's not yet ready to go.  In the meantime they've offered to have a look at the device and given me an address to post it through to.  Given this is likely to be the 3 1/2 folk at Planet I think this is really great, they've got a great deal going on at the moment so I feel it's generous use of their time.  It won't help with working out how to remove the battery but will hopefully mean my Gemini can be restored to health.

Rosie