Open the pack, even if the cells are still OK, they will not last long, so you'll need to change them sooner or later.
Important advice: BEFORE YOU START! Take a bunch of pictures of the pack as it is with you digital camera, phone, whatever. make sure the pictures are clear (i.e. view them on your computer). Otherwise make a diagram of the orientation of the cells inside teh pack.
MARK the pack with signs showing the cell orientation to be sure you get it right in the future.
The pack is glued together, but you only need to use a shapr razor
to split the glue at the seams, and the whole case will simply open.
The pack has four standard AA 1.2 NiCd cells, can't get anything more standard than that.
Take out the old cells and insert the replacements making sure the orientation is correct. The pack has springs on one side pushing the cells against contacts on the 19C mainboard, so you simply insert the cells against the springs and close the pack. No soldering or anything is needed.
Close the pack, using sticky tape to hold the two parts together. Do not glue the pack as you will need to open it again.
Insert the pack inside the 19C and run through the following checklist:
1) There is an indentation in the pack on the side of the contacts. If you do not see the indentation, you have inserted the pack upside down and you will not be able to close the cover.
2) The two middle tabs (contacts) have notes on them indicating the polarity of the battery next to them (there is even an arrow to tell you that the note applies to the battery on the side of the arrow). Anyway the batteries in the pack should match the polarity notes on the tabs. I.e. looking at the 19C batery compartment (the 19C is face down) with the contacts nearest to you, the polarity of the batteries should be (-), (+), (-), (+).
Close the cover, hope for the best and power on your 19C.
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Now to recharge the batteries, my advice is to simply take the batteries out of the pack and charge them on an external battery charger (i.e. never plug your 19C to the mains).
The advantage of this procedure is that you can now use NiMH cells that last much longer.
**vp
Edited: 21 May 2007, 10:03 p.m.