View Single Post
Posts: 1,417 | Thanked: 2,619 times | Joined on Jan 2011 @ Touring
#1
I have had a Nokia BH-214 Bluetooth headset for about six months, it is really great since I can use my own preferred headphones for whatever activity as it has a 3.5mm audio jack and it is fully compatible with the N900 for pause, skip forward and back, answer call, and volume; it also has a mic so your phone can stay safely inside a bag. While I suspect mine may be an eBay counterfeit, even per official spec the otherwise amazing BH-214 shares one major issue.
That issue is the 5-6 hour battery life or less which is too short for really long bike rides where I need my music, audio from GPS, and phone calls, I power the N900 from a hub dynamo/generator and a converter to 5v USB power.
The stock BH-214 battery is 2mmx30mmx20mm 110ma/h Li-Polymer without its own regulator.
I found a 4mmx35mmx25mm 400ma/h Li-Polymer battery that had a regulator soldered on, since the BH-214 has a regulator on the board I removed the tiny regulator circuit board that was covered with transparent yellow tape, of course marking the + and - poles on the battery first.
Installing meant carefully grinding away any obstructions with a Dremel tool, and using a butane soldering iron with the tip removed as a heat gun to very carefully soften the bottom of the casing as I pushed the circuit board into its mounting clips.
Once everything cooled I soldered down the power leads.
The mod leaves the circuit board sitting too high so I cut a square of plastic so it fit inside without getting caught in the snap downs of the case, I like the look of the BH-214 front buttons better than blank white so I filed off the edge that held the button in the bezel, I glued the modified four way button down with hot glue.
Everything works as before, just the buttons feel a bit less clickey, but I have yet to run the battery down after all day listening, not sure why Nokia didn't choose to use a larger battery in the design.
This mod and a tough pair of headphones, search eBay for flat cable earphones, and I am good for all day cycling.
The clip is fragile and I have cracked it, melting the cracked area with a soldering iron fixed that but now I hang the BH-214 from a safety pin on my collar or t-shirt.
This headset battery mod is perfect to match with the Mungen battery lid and the double Scud super 3000ma/h N900 battery, or just when your headset wont fully charge anymore.

Last edited by biketool; 2012-02-21 at 22:21. Reason: specify Nokia headset
 

The Following 5 Users Say Thank You to biketool For This Useful Post: