MiniVac Handheld vacuum cleaner Philips 4.8v FC6142 DIY battery replacement

We use this little gem for more than eight years now.

All this time it works great but now battery does not keep charge, and we should replace them.

I am going to share with you how to do it

Tools and materials

• New battery - find below what type do we need
• Soldering iron
• Alloy
• Heat shrink tube (optional). Just to have nice looking results.
• Soldering acid (optional). For ease of work.

Battery

I bought the set (four pieces) on aliexpress for $8.

The name 1.2V rechargeable battery 2000mah 4/5 SC Sub C ni-mh.

The mostly important are the size 4/5SC and the type Ni-Mh.

In theory, you better have bigger capacity but for me I bought the cheapest one with the smallest capacity. This is because I do not believe in actual numbers from aliexpress sellers so may be bigger capacity are just the same batteries. How to check battery capacity.

(!) Important! You need cells with welding tabs attached.

It would be very hard to attach wires just to plain battery cells without welding tabs.

Disassemble Philips 4.8v FC6142

Not tricky at all. Just unscrew five well visible screws.

Replacement

This is old model so no stand-by modes. Battery effectively switched off by the button. That means you can work safely.

Using the wires inside the cleaner unsolder old cells and solder new ones. One by one. So you won’t get confused what end of cell you have to use.

Ensure all the wires are not in a way of any screw.

Results

Congrats!

You finished the project, and your wife is proud of you ;)