As we all know, the Aiwa Sealed Lead Acid Batteries are no longer usable today. However, some of us don't have the AAA battery adapter, or just prefer the look of the machine without the adapter. This is a Tutorial on building a simple, reliable alternative (specifically for a PB3, but as long as the 2 half height Gumsticks are smaller than the original Lead Acid, you can modify it to work). I have been using this adapter for the past few months in one of my P202. This was inspired by a thread on Old Stereo2go where someone made a similar battery holder. You'll need: Basic Soldering Supplies/Equipment Veroboard/Stripboard with at least 2 horizontal rails Copper Sheet, .5mm thick 2X Half Height Gumsticks, Size 5F6 Smart Gumstick Charger (Or Smart Nimh Charger) Copper Wire Photoetched Saw/Dremel 2 Part Epoxy Here are links to what I bought (2018) if you are in the US: https://www.ebay.com/itm/2-pcs-3-5-...392455?hash=item5440dbb147:g:TaQAAOSwEzxYZNij https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01KHWGLJ4/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AKMNNE8/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 The first step is to cut your Stripboard to the same size as the original battery. I used a PE Saw, but a rotatory tool like a Dremel will work too. Ensure that you have at least 2 power rails of your Stripboard at the edge where the connectors will be. Mark out this area on the component side of the Stripboard. Mark out the shape of the battery and Saw/Cut, or score and snap like I did. CAUTION: Do not inhale PCB Dust! Wear a mask if using a Dremel, and clean all the dust up immediately! Next step is to add Copper Wire to the contact area, and solder to the power rails on the other side. Then file down both sides until they are reasonably flat. Next, cut and bend some Copper sheet to make battery contacts for the Gumsticks. As the Stripboard has 2 power rails, with Negative on the outer rail, We can solder the copper as shown: The Positive Contact is soldered to the inner rail, and the Negative Contact is shaped so that it only touches the outer rail. A small bend is added to the Negative Contact so that it acts as a spring for the Gumsticks. Test the fitment: You may need to modify the size of the contacts/PCB to fit in the Adapter/Walkman smoothly. I also filed the Contacts so that they are thinner at the PCB, as thickness cannot be exceeded. Next I add 1 more contact for the Vertical Negative Contact of the PB3 as shown: I also moved the Positive Contact closer to the Negative, as the earlier attempt was too far away. This is why we use a Stripboard with 2 outer power rails , it makes this step easy. Adjust the Copper Wire on the top to make the best contact, and epoxy it in place, filling some of the PCB holes underneath the wire. This is to prevent the contacts on the Walkman Body getting trapped. As for how to charge these tiny Gumsticks, I made a jig out of the copper sheet to use with my Gumstick Charger, or AA Nimh Charger. Smart charger is required to sense when the 600mah Gumstick is full. If you are using a Timer Gumstick Charger, halve the charge time. That's it! If your Lead Acid Battery model is thinner than the PB3 I have, you can use a thinner stripboard. You may also want to add tape on the outside of the Battery Contacts so that they are insulated, although in my case it was not necessary.
That’s pretty cool, thanks for sharing. I may give it a try if I ever get my Aiwa HS-PL707 working. I do have the AAA battery holder so I am not in a hurry for it yet.
Thanks for the tutorial. Just one question, Dont we need the 4.7v capacitor in the 3v models like the pc202?
Not required as long as your battery contacts are good. Usually that capacitor is 220/470uf in my experience, not 4.7
Great tip, Million thanks for sharing!!! I was looking at those half-gumsticks but now going to buy a few, and will follow your instructions. Are you saying that they won't be charged off Aiwa and have to be pulled out for recharge? And yes, my Aiwa had a small 470uF cap, at least for AAA gondola. Gondola for Aiwa rechargeable is just a piece of plastic.
No I would not charge them in the Aiwas for their Lead acid Battery chargers. There are also Nimh battery chargers that self adapt to different cell sizes, but you must make sure they are smart chargers so you don't overcharge the small capacity cells.
ah sorry it was 470uf, bought the wrong capacitor then. dont want to pay digikey again for 1 type of cap though................... can i substitute it with 220 then?
Hi...I need to make this circuit X 3 to connect 3 Arduino Nanos plus shields to control eleven 2 aspect colour light signals and 5 servos for semaphores , I was being guided step by step through the procees by a guy in Aussie till he just disappeared of the net about 2 months ago leaving me with all the components he'd told me to order but only a veroboard diagram for eleven very simple voltage and brightness adaptor boards for the 2 aspects. seo expert
Wow, nice to see, that someone repeated my mod from 8 years ago. Here is the original thread from 2011 which lost most of the pictures: http://www.stereo2go.com/topic/index.php?content_oid=228719286779384460&board_oid=193392314111653425 But I posted it also in a German forum, which still has all pictures: http://www.hifi-forum.de/viewthread-125-7223.html By the way, I use both mods for PB-S5 and PB-3 still today and non of my Walkman's got damaged because of slightly higher voltage.
Hello guys could someone sell me a plate built like this? (without batteries) My diy skills are so small and I really need a substitute for my hs pc202...
