Hey all! I’ve been enjoying my HG, but wanted to be able to use it with blue tooth, and have an easily rechargeable battery mounted internally.
I’ve managed to do it with 3 parts
-1s battery management system (BMS)
-Voltage converter to drop the BMS output voltage to 3v
-LiPo battery that is 4mm or less in thickness.
Here’s a poorly drawn diagram of everything
Step 1- Tap the 5v for the BMS voltage IN from the hybrid’s board. This is right by the USB C port for reference.
Step 2- Install the BMS, voltage converter and LiPo. I used a battery that is really a bit too big, but I made it fit. I’d recommend something around 2000mAh or larger if you don’t want to charge all the time. That said, I used a 200mAh for testing, which lasted a couple days without needing a charge. As long as the battery is 4mm or less thick, it’ll fit just about anywhere the felt is, unless a component on the PCB protrudes in that spot.
The BMS and voltage converter fit nicely in the cutout.
Please excuse the messy prototyping extra-long wires
Note- I snipped the JST connector from the stock battery compartment to use from the converter voltage out.
Step 3 - Test everything by connecting the two PCB, and pressing the power button. As is, you don’t have access to the power button with the bottom plate (you could cut a notch if you wanted), so you’ll need to turn power saving off on the dipswitch so you don’t have to wake the board with the button. Plug in a USB cable and check for any indicator lights on your BMS to make sure it’s working.
Step 4 - Enjoy! Just plug it in when you need to charge up your battery. Once a week (depending on battery size) over night should keep it ready to go all the time.
Parts I used
BMS
Converter/Regulator
Battery
NOTES
- The regulator might not be necessary at all. I don’t know what the max voltage allowed on the hybrid’s battery in port, so I went on the safe side and matched the voltage of two charged AA (3.3v) with the regulator.
- This will work on any hybrid that you don’t want to swap batteries on, and have USB charging. The only challenge is finding space for the components.
Feel free to hit me up with any questions! If you’d like me to perform the mod on your board, feel free to send me a PM.
UPDATE - Here’s a much cleaner mod I did for a client
