I have a pair of Bernafon Verite 9s in my ears, purchased at Costco 2010. They work well considering their age and are likely to be replaced in the next year or two when I have the $$$. Until then I am compelled to live and work with what I have: the Verite 9 and Soundgates (SG).
My original SG’s battery died 2015 and was replaced with an SG3.
Now the SG3’s battery died.
Bernafon’s Cust Svc, on contact, repeats their standard line: “You bought from Costco, our policy is not to deal with patients directly, talk to Costco.”
Costco, as happy as I am with them, is unable to get me a Soundgate as Bernafon apparently no longer carries them.
I need the SG3 around my neck to: a) adjust the volume on my Verite 9s; b) manage telephone calls piped through my Verites; c) connect to my other SG hooked up to my TV.
Without a functioning SG3–for want of a battery–I can’t do anything with a pair of hearing aids and/or SG hooked up to my TV (both functioning well).
I need your advice on:
a) can I replace the dead SG3’s battery on my own? how?
b) if I can’t, what are my other options to have a functioning SG3 (until such time I can afford to replace my hearing aids)?
10 years is like an eternity in the hearing aid world. My Oticon OPN 1, which came out in 2016, is already 2 generations behind by now. Even something as new as the Oticon ConnectClip (the equivalent of your Soundgate device) that just came out about 3 years ago already have their batteries go bad, and guess what? Oticon doesn’t offer battery replacement or repair of the ConnectClip. You’d have to buy a new ConnectClip from them. At least they’re still available for purchase.
But there are resourceful folks on this forum who opened up their ConnectClip to find out what battery is used inside, then go on eBay for find the equivalent battery, buy it home and unsolder the old battery and re-solder the new battery on.
I guess what I’m trying to say is maybe you can try to do the same if you’re so inclined. If not, then I think there’s an outlet advertised on eBay that offers hearing aid repairs. Maybe you can contact them and see if they offer repair/battery replacement for your SoundGate or not. Just search for “hearing aid repair” on eBay to find them. Even if they don’t have SoundGate replacement, maybe they’d be willing to replace the battery inside for a price for you.
Volusiano, thank you for your detailed and comprehensive reply.
Yes, I’d welcome tips (from the resourceful folks on this forum you refer to) on how to open up my SG3 and replace the battery. I’m comfortable with soldering, if any required.
And, yes, ten years is an eternity these days wrt anything tech, including hearing aids. However, wouldn’t you want something for which you spend several thousand dollars to last longer than the next 1-2 generations the manufacturers churn out (every 18-24 months)?
By making it impossible (or difficult) to replace an inexpensive battery the manufacturer (Bernafon in this case) insured the customer’s other investments-- the actual hearing aids, the SG connected to my TV, etc. are rendered unusable. Those other items cost orders of magnitude more than the battery, thousands of dollars vs say $5 for the battery!
My next pair of hearing aids will NOT be any rechargeable.
I take good care of my hearing aids. And I want them to function and serve my needs as long as the replaceable batteries (13 or 10 or 312…) keep them going. Not for some manufacturer’s business-driven decision to compel me to throw out the baby with the bath water.
I would agree that I wouldn’t want to own a rechargeable pair of hearing aids if it means I’d have to send them in for battery replacement when the time comes, only to learn that they wouldn’t even do it anymore because they discontinue that model.
But, some HA mfg now have designed the rechargeable battery to be easily replaceable by the user or the HCP and not have to be sent in for replacement. I wouldn’t mind going with those kinds of hearing aids, as long as the rechargeable battery replacement is available for sale long after the HA model is discontinued. And usually it should be, because they tend to use the same battery and charging system for subsequent models as well.
Volusiano, I am reassured by your comment that some models of rechargeable HAs allow for the batteries to be replaced by the user or HCP. Yes, we expect the replaceable and rechargeable battery–usually made by parties independent of the HA mfgr–to be available long after the HA model has been discontinued. Thank you for educating me on this.
Experience has proven otherwise so we need to be cautious on this. The SG[1-3] has the same charging system, same antenna (around the neck), and presumably the same (enclosed, replaceable only by the manufacturer) battery. However the manufacturer just discontinued/stopped supporting them…and we customers need to be aware they might do the same for the accessories, even if they allow for the HA’s rechargeable batteries to be replaced. And for want of a battery for the accessory the customer would find themselves unable to avail the (fully functioning) HA’s features, even though the HA’s rechargeable battery may well be replaceable by the customer/HCP.
Tenkan: I checked out the link you pointed me toward. Would you mind helping me on something specific? A post in that that thread says: "Go to Amazon dot com and search for the ipod nano battery. It fits…". A search on Amazon for “iPod Nano battery” finds batteries of different sizes and capacities. Some are almost square, others very rectangular…
E.g., https://www.amazon.com/s?k=iPod+nano+battery&ref=nb_sb_noss_2
Exactly which battery should I get (or avoid) for my SG3?
The issue with the SG[1-3] is that they didn’t design it to allow users to be able to replace the battery by themselves. Similarly on the Oticon ConnectClip. It seems like the do that on purpose for accessories to make you buy brand new accessories. But they can’t do it as brazenly on the HAs because then people would just switch brand completely.
For the Oticon OPN S rechargeable HAs, the same removable/replaceable-by-HCP-or-user used in the S is now also used in the next generation More. So even if they discontinue the OPN S, you can still buy the same battery used for the More and put it in the OPN S. And as long as they use the same battery and charging system on the HA model after the More, and so on, then you have backward compatibility on the battery and charging system. We don’t know if that’s going to happen, but at least if I see them do that between the OPN S and the More, I’d be more confident buying the More because the likelihood of them propagating the same battery/charging system forward is higher because they’ve demonstrated that they’ve done it once already.
Incidentally, the same eco-system of accessories, from the TV Adapter to the ConnectClip to the EduMic are all compatible between the 3 generations of OPN, OPN S and More. So that’s a positive step as well. But people also don’t forget that the accessories for previous generations before the OPN is not forward compatible. So they only carry forward so far only to so many models before they drop support entirely.
Many other HA brands don’t design with a rechargeable replaceable-by-HCP-or-user in mind, however.
I understand and agree with the value of replaceable (by user or HCP) rechargeable batteries. And I understand Oticon is one of the few that has designed their HAs to support that. Perhaps more would over time.
They also do that on purpose for accessories to make you buy brand new HAs.
Without the accessory the customer is unable to avail some of the HA’s functionality which they might depend on very much. My SG3, not functional because of a dead battery, has rendered impossible my ability to increase or lower volume on my Verites, stream phone calls into my HAs, watch TV via the attached SG, etc. Unable to replace the (cheap) battery for an accessory the customer ends up having to dump their investments in the other accessories and the HA. It is thus that the tail ends up wagging the dog–to no surprise–to the manufacturer’s advantage and the customer’s loss.
I suspect this problem continues to loom large for us HA consumers, even if the HA’s rechargeable battery is replaceable by us or the HCP. If this has been discussed/debated here already please point me to the thread(s).
We can’t tell the extent of their “use” and the impact on the battery (which is the problem part).
I see two options that I didn’t know of earlier today.
a) replace the dead SG3’s battery with a new one (off Amazon,as detailed in the thread Tenkan referred above);
b) buy a used SG3 (off eBay)
(b) comes with unknown battery reliability which may put me back where I am currently.
I’m inclined to go with (a), assuming I figure out which iPod Nano battery to get from Amazon (see below).
If that fails then the eBay path is the only option left.
Please correct me if you think I should be doing it the other way around.
Can someone help clarify which iPod Nano (5? 6? 7?) battery fits the SG3, please?
Sure, this is my old connect streamer taken apart which is super easy to do, just pry it apart starting from the bottom where you charge it, the battery just unplugs from the connecter real easy.
It’s a iPod nano 5 battery from here
In opening my SG3 I find the battery inside it is different from the one Tenkan recommended above.
The connectors are also visibly different (though I never got to the point of trying them out!)
Attached are pics of the recommended battery and the one inside my SG3.
Costco assured me my Soundgate is an SG3 (which I bought 2015, replacing my original SG purchased earlier).
Tenkan, others that are familiar with Bernafon and its Soundgate accessories: could you advise me on what battery I should get to replace the one in my SG3, please? It’s been a frustrating few weeks for me, unable to alter my HA’s volume and unable to have phone calls streamed into my HAs…
The battery you recommended for the Soundgate 3 finally arrived.
Which takes me to the next piece of the puzzle in replacing it…which I hope you’d be able to help me as well.
The attached pic shows the old battery (with the white connector) and the new battery (with the wires).
The connector is a vital piece of the solution as it’s how the battery fits into the circuit board.
Removing the connector from the old battery seems (almost) impossible.
However without it, the new battery is as good as dead weight.
Could you advise how to remove the connector from the old battery?
I presume that would also guide how to connect it to the new battery. If otherwise, please advise on that too.
Snip the wires close to the battery so you get the connector with some wire attached.
Strip the wire ends.
Cut the wires on the new battery to a convenient length, strip them.
Twist red to red, black to black, solder, turn the soldered joints back on the wires (opposite directions if you have room), tape the joints, and reinstall – hopefully there is room.
I did this on my Soundgate in 2014 - found the thread Tenkan posted - and even though the battery I got from Amazon was physically smaller, it had the same voltage and milliamp-hour ratings and it worked for several years. Next time it died Amazon did not have that same battery and I gave up.
Good luck with this! You are right, it used to be called “planned obsolescence”.
