Tuesday, April 16, 2013

How to Change The Battery in Your iPhone's Alivecor Heart Monitor Case

After recording about 120 electrocardiogram (ECG) tracings from your Alivecor iPhone case, the device will suddenly stop recording EKGs when the battery in the case cover runs low.  Fortunately, replacing the battery is a very simple process.

First, assemble all of the items needed: (1) a new 3-volt model 2016 battery (I got mine from Walgreens), (2) a tiny Phillips screw driver (used to repair eye-glasses and often found in hardware stores), and (3) your Alivecor iPhone case as seen below (Excuse the DEMO sticker - I was a beta-tester for the iPhone 4S case):
Click to enlarge
Next, unscrew the plate on the inner side of the iPhone case as shown:


This will reveal the old battery below the case cover.  Set the cover aside using care not to lose the tiny screw that attached the cover to the case:


In the upper left corner of the battery holder is a small recess where the battery can be carefully pryed from the holder as shown:


Carefully remove the battery to reveal the contacts below it:


Take the new replacement battery and remove the adhesive backing on the battery before installing it back in the holder:


Be sure to place the replacement battery in the holder with the writing side up, using care to first place it beneath the metallic retaining clips in the lower right side of the battery holder:



Once seated back in the case, screw back on the cover:


Then just place the cover on your iPhone and you'll be good for another 100-130 ECG tracings or so!

-Wes

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

or you could just get a heartcheck pen handheld ecg and just replace the AAA batteries like you would a remote control for a TV.

http://theheartcheck.com/how/pen-parts.html

I could come up with a cure for cancer and nobody would care unless I made it an iphone app.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous:

I prefer the convenience of having my ECG machine on me at all times without having to carry any extra hardware (since this replaces my old phone case). Also being able to save and send ECGs from my phone (instead of having to hook up to a computer) is very useful features that HeartCheck pen can not match.

Anonymous said...

What happens if your iphone gets stolen/lost. That seems to be a common problem these days. What happens when the battery on iphone starts to go. What happens if I want an Iphone 5. As far as I know, Alivecor case is only available to 4s. I'm sorry, but I would rather go for the heartcheck pen. Heartcheck pen also has a software program which is excellent. The alivecor thing, seems like a gimmick to me.

N said...

AliveCor battery for my phone's stickon monitor is a CR2016.

Is the battery flat? Look at the vertical bars shown in the top left corner of screen. The should be green when you're fingers are on the sensors (I presume it's 'signal' strength). If you don't see green, then chances are your battery is flat.