[New Method] Hardmodding Slim Batteries - Reversable w/pics

[JPness57]

HI everyone, this tutorial will teach you how to open your slim battery For Pandora Hard mod.

Credits:
Mrhankie ~ up close circuit board pic
raziel36  ~ The Creator of the post where I first learned how to do this MOD.
PSPslimHacks.com ~ Hands down the best dam psp site out there, If you need help this is the place to go!
SolidSnake44x ~ PSP Slim Custom Firmware Reference Guide
sneaky ~ for the linking the contact brigde method
JayL ~ How-To: Switchable Pandora PSP-Slim Battery

I take NO CREDIT or RESPONCEABLITY for anything that may go right or wrong while you choose to use this guide.



YOU SHOULD HAVE ALREADY PREPARED YOUR MAGIC MEMORY STICK BEFORE ATEMPTING THIS MOD
   you can go here for more info on this http://pspslimhacks.com/forum/index.php/topic,355.0.html. ~ by SolidSnake44x

Materials needed:

Craft knife / Wal-Mart $1.95
 1.4mm Precision Screwdriver / Wal-Mart  $3.95 set 6 screwdrivers
Superglue / Wal-Mart  $.99
Slim Battery
2 RubberBands
Patience - the ability to endure waiting, delay, or provocation without becoming annoyed or upset, or to persevere calmly when faced with difficulties.

Step 1 ~ locate all your tools.



   
    First I want you to study the pic of an open battery. Notice how the green circuit board is sitting on the left side of the battery. The black you see is a peace of plastic that sits in-between the battery and circuit board when we make our hole we will be aiming to have the blade rest above the plastic in the space not filled with the circuit board reducing the chance of failure.


   Another veiw


  one more 4 you.


 
Step 2 ~ making our first cut/hole

    With the battery topside up and the pins facing you we are going to make our hole on the right hand side. When punching in it is important that you use a 45 – 90 degree angle. All you are trying to due at this point is to break the seal the glue has made.
                              NOTE -DUE NOT PUSH THE WHOLE BLADE IN JUST THE TIP.
   The top of the battery case rests on the bottom half of the case, creating a lip just inside the seam. The 45 – 90 degree angle should help you slip the knife between the inside of the top cover and the outside of the lip. once your in gently pry by pulling in towards the battery on the bottom of the knife handle, your just looking to make enough room so your flathead screwdriver will fit in. be careful not to brake the knife. if your smart you will use the knife to hold open the edge as you slip the screwdriver in. always being carefully not to puncher the battery in anyway.


Side view.


Step 3 ~ Breaking the seal
   
      Using the 1.4mm screwdriver in the hole we created run around the edges starting towards the back of the battery. I left the front for last.


Step 4 ~ open case


Step 5 ~ lifting Circuit board
         
     Gently lift the Board away from you.


Please read Steps 6.a and 6.b are 2 different methods i suggest you try 6.a first and 6.b second if 6.a fails for you


Step6.a ~ bridge the contacts.  thanks to sneaky for the link and JayL for the nice tut - http://www.pspmod.com/forums/hardware/26649-how-switchable-pandora-psp-slim-battery-hard-mod.html

posted by sneaky

I was a little nervous about cutting my slim battery as demonstrated in this tutorial. And I was worried that re-making the connection with a pencil lead would be unreliable.

So I searched around a bit more and found the one wire method of pandorizing the slim battery. Maybe this technique is old news, but I had trouble finding detailed information despite repeated googlings. Anyway, I was able to make this work with very little trouble. I used the battery that came with the slim psp. Basically, with this method you don't cut any of the pins or connections in the slim battery. You just connect two of the pins together using a piece of wire.

I found a forum post (below) where a guy soldered a wire along with a switch across the two battery leads. The switch allows you to change between regular batter operation and pandora battery operation. Very trick.

However, I decided to just wedge a very small piece of wire into place. I temporarily held the connections together using clear tape. It took about 5 tries to get it right, but it eventually worked as a Pandora.

The tape method is certainly not elegant - you can't toss the battery around without the wire coming off for example. But there seems to be little chance of destroying your battery and once you've installed the CFW you can take the wire out and you have your normal battery back.

To make the magic memory stick I used totalnewbieasyinstallerpandorasmenu and it worked on the first try. Anyway maybe this will save some frustration for one or two people. Here are the links I used and some pics I took of my "sweet" setup.

Photo of my psp slim battery open with the wire taped in place:

http://i4.tinypic.com/6xg7nfk.jpg

http://i6.tinypic.com/8ea6ik7.jpg

Close up from the same photo with arrows showing the connection points:

I used a very short piece of wire. I sort of wedged the wire between two chips on the PCB. It's hard to see in the photo but I stripped maybe 3-4 mm at each end of the wire to make the connection. And yes, you can clearly see the sweet, sweet clear tape that temporarily holds things in place.

Thanks sneaky for the info


Step 6.b ~ cutting the trace - use only if step 6.a fails for you

    Locate this trace it is the chip nearest the pins at this point the top left pin is the one to remove if you want a hard mod battery. Or just cut the trace as shown that leads to pin for soft mod.


Step 7 ~ Testing bat

    Close the battery I used rubber bands to hold the battery tighter while running the Pandora battery in slim. Make sure you unplug all cables. Insert moded battery, when you power on the green power lite should be on, and you should have a blank black screen. take the battery out and connect the power cord and power up your psp. It should load as normal, insert the battery agian this time the orange charge lite should come on.

Step 8 ~ use magic memory stick

    you can go here for more info on this http://pspslimhacks.com/forum/index.php/topic,355.0.html. 

Step 9 ~ refill trace

    Once you are finished with Ur Pandora battery fill in the cut you made with a #2 pencil. lead is a good conductor of electricity J.

Step ~ 10  Sealing the battery

    Put Everything Back together press the case tight and use super glue around the edges; WARNING due not use glue near your pins I used my finger to fill in the cracks to get a good bond. You may have to scrape a little off if you use too much to get the battery back in your slim.

 Hope this guide helps PM or POST if you have any questions

[rith]

Another nice guide that I can sticky. Well done. +karma.

[SolidSnake44x]

Awesome, this is something we needed  ++karma
Great pictures, perfect guide. Nuff said, I'll add a link to the reference guide (and mention you at least 3 times)

[shizny]

i opened my battery with my fingernails. Was not hard at all

[ElementalTJ]

Very nice.

[mrhankie]

Yup yup, very nice indeed

[firestyl3]

Oh man if only you made this guide on how to do this 2 weeks ago. Great Guide Im telling you this is the best one Ive seen so far on the internet because you actually put effort into it. Man this would have helped me when i soft modded, I did it all on a faint memory I had about posts i had read about an ico4 chip.

[JPness57]

ty i posted this same tut over at acidmads.com and got a  Post quality +0/-1. needless to say i won't be sharing with them anymore. i figured they at least would have explained where they thought my tut needed improvement. just means pspslimhacks gained exclusive rights to all my future tuts

[SolidSnake44x]

That's sad, I would expect more from acidmods... well from here currently you have +18 -0, your
catchin up to me  , keep up the good work  your a valuable asset to us

[rith]

That's sad, I would expect more from acidmods... well from here currently you have +18 -0, your
catchin up to me  , keep up the good work  your a valuable asset to us

We should give him and dim33 some reward or something and a title that adds more respect. (That's if you's don't want to be moderators).

[SolidSnake44x]

I agree, let's come up with something special for them. But as for moderators, there
would be no other choices obviously but we don't want moderators crawling all over
the place like psp-devs. I'm sure there's something that would interest them more
than being given permissions that do them no good because they're awesome without
that title. We are getting off topic but this is well worth it...

So with all that said, I need ideas, lots of ideas. Perhaps a hall of fame page?

[unlistedb]

HI this is a really good guide but i am stuck i have soft moded by cutting the trace and i have a mm stick but when i put in the memory stick the the battery i nothing shows up.... and the memory access light doesn't blink i don't know if i should ask this here but someones help would be much appreciated pls help... thank you

[JPness57]

try reformating mem stick and running the easy installer again also is your bat fully charged

[unlistedb]

Yeah i did that i think it might be vista ganna try it on xp see if that works.

[unlistedb]

ok so this is what happened i used xp and i got a magic memory stick hooray had my soft modded battery put the memory card in first then the battery but nothing happened the green light turned on and the memory light turned on but the screen stayed blank and now i have a bricked psp. can any one help or should i post in a different section anyone please help!