Sharp Brain 3 and above replacement battery?

I can't seem to find any info about how to replace the battery on the later models >=3 of Sharp Brain. Is it difficult to take apart or does it need a strange battery? Low prices would suggest there is some problem making people dislike these models compared to the AAA Brains.

Although I don't know which model you want the information of, these videos may be of help.





Edited by stingraze 2023-12-10 6:37 AM

Thanks for the videos. I found PW-A7200, a model that uses AA for about $40. If I like the dictionary software enough, then I might mess around with repairing lipo models.

You're welcome!

Enjoy your new electronic dictionary!

-stingraze

Do you know where to get batteries for PW-SH3 models? I think the Sharp model number of the battery is EA-BL38 or EA-BL40?
I tried the usual places, eBay and Amazon, but there's not much there. Just found one Chinese seller.





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I wonder if you’d have any luck getting those batteries re-celled.

It's just one rectangular 3.7V cell. Probably, there is a board under the label with 2 terminals ( + and -) soldered to the battery and 3 wires coming off it and going into the funny plug. It isn't too terribly difficult to find a generic replacement battery with similar capacity and dimensions and solder the board to its red (+ and black(-) wires. However, it's a helluva lot easier to just get the proper battery from Japan and probably costs about the same thing.

**** There are some EA-BL40 batteries on eBay (from Shinzen for about $25 shipped). The poorly adhered, dirty stickers are a bit troublesome (genuine? new?). Regardless, make sure that would fit your Brain before ordering.

I also scanned the major Japanese sites (Sharp, Bic Camera, Yodobashi, amazon.co.jp, auctions.yahoo.co.jp) for replacement batteries and found nothing but old chargers, touch pens, etc.

The Japanese forums might be your best bet (start with https://brain.fandom.com/ja/wiki/Brain_Wiki)

I always wondered how Sharp would deal with replacement rechargeables for these Brains. I guess Sharp just planned for disposable products. For sure, the massive number of AA-battery electronic dictionaries (used and NOS) floating around Japan are impacting new sales.

I wouldn't be surprised if Sharp built in some extra circuitry in the battery for the on-board recharging, so there a less than 100% probability of a generic battery working.

EDIT - It is 3 wire red/black/white as far as I can tell:
https://jp.sharp/support/dictionary/doc/pwsa2_sb2_sh2_sj2_mn.pdf



Edited by AximUser 2023-12-25 10:10 PM

Also watamario15 helped us with specs for the devices in this thread.

https://www.hpcfactor.com/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=20902&start=1

denshi-jisho.com sources electronic dictionaries and accessories and ships globally. They have a lot of obscure accessories and have been around for over a decade.

I think they can sell the EA-BL38 for 5000 JPY plus a small shipping charge. I asked them but I made a small typo so please confirm directly with them if you are interested.

https://www.denshi-jisho.com/

Might be same as iPod gen 4 battery 3-wires?

Once I have a PW-SH3, I will measure the size of the battery and confirm + and - and at least probe continuity with the white wire using a meter. Something around this size (5cm x 5cm x 6mm) might work if I replace the connector with the sharp one:

https://eoe.works/collections/shop-all-ipod-video-ipod-classic-replacement-parts/products/2000mah-extended-capacity-lithium-ion-replacement-battery-for-apple-ipod-classic-3rd-4th-generation

or perhaps this one which is a little too small both in capacity and physical size:

https://eoe.works/collections/shop-all-ipod-video-ipod-classic-replacement-parts/products/1400mah-li-ion-replacement-battery-for-apple-ipod-classic-4th-generation-monochrome-photo

I already have these batteries so it's easy to test. I don't work at eoe, but have gotten good batteries from them before.

My PW-SH3 just arrived...and my first impressions are a little bit...BAD! This device doesn't seem like an upgrade from A7200 but in many ways a downgrade:

1. The touchscreen is unresponsive. You have to tap very firmly.
2. It is not at all easy for this beginner to input and look up Kanji, as it was on the A7200. Still studying the manual.
3. The mediocre English dictionary has not improved.
4. Lipo battery, as discussed above, is easy to replace, hard to buy.
5. Keys are even mushier than A7200: I would not play nesterj or PocketGBA on PW-SH3 unless this were the last handheld in the world.
6. While you can rotate the screen all the way around to portrait, it feels creaky like it doesn't want to go.
7. Higher 800x480 res. make most applications look bad; tiny fonts and scrollbars combined with poor touch sensitivity really sucks. I just manually switch (lowres.exe) to low res.
8. Wider range of viewing angles on the A7200; PW-SH3 only looks perfect right in front of my eyes (90). Reading is not comfortable in landscape. Colors also look better on A7200.

I'm not blaming the device for poor battery life as it probably is an old battery: several hours of light use(just reading and editing, no music or emulators) consumes half the battery!

About all this PW-SH3 has going for it was cheapness: I found it locally for about $30.

btw, I do blame the device for the bad touchscreen: you can see people on youtube having difficulty tapping this device in several videos. Mine isn't defective.

I'll still replace the battery because it will be interesting to see how long a new battery lasts.

That sounds a bit disappointing. Wish I were in Japan now to compare the different models. . .

Based on your comments a few items stood out from a quick glance at the 2017 catalogue:

-1- Sharp claims improved touch screen response for the (newer) SH4
> The panel specs look the same. I don't know if this means the hardware/firmware/software was tweaked or it is just nonsense marketing speak
> There are Amazon reviews complaining of laggy touch screen response on the SH4
> It seems SH4 word search is a bit streamlined, unrelated to actual touch screen performance

-2- The SH4 has a 40% longer battery life
> Bigger battery and/or firmware tweaks?

-3- The SH4 has bigger keys on the physical keyboard
>There are Amazon reviews complaining of medoicre SH4 keyboard feel and laggy response.

-4- The frame may feel and be creeky. But both the SH3 & SH4 have alu LCD frames, bathtubs, bottom frames. Sharp highlights "POWER BODY" test results on p.1 of the catalogue for the SH4 (I suppose the SH3 has the same frame). Google translate:

Shock resistant
Robust structure with aluminum alloy LCD frame + bathtub structure + bottom frame.
Strongly protects the LCD. Protects from drops, pressure, and vibrations.
? Verified through in-house testing. We do not guarantee that the product will not be damaged or damaged or malfunction.
¦Drop test: Natural drop from a height of 75 cm to the floor (P tile) on 6 sides and 4 corners of a closed product
¦Pressure test: f12 (approximately 1.1cm2)
) Apply a load of 30kgf within the range of
¦Vibration test: Fix the closed product in a vibration tester and apply it in XYZ directions for 1 hour each (total 3 hours) at a total amplitude of 2 mm and 1000 cpm.

https://web.archive.org/web/20171018164755/http://www.sharp.co.jp/catalogdownload/btoc/pc/edictionary/SHARP-edictionary.pdf

I couldn't find the 2016 catalogue.

This is the quick guide in english
https://jp.sharp/support/dictionary/doc/pwsa3_sb3_eng.pdf

Check out some YouTube videos for help (you can see basic operations even in the marketing and sales pitches).

FYI - The older Casio dictionaries had poor Kanji search. I think the Casio database was optimised for kana search. I don't know if the newer Casios or Sharps had this issue. Problem is as described in this older post (read section "Why is the PDA/Smartphone dictionary better than a denshi jisho?"

https://www.japaneselanguagetools.com/

I have a 2013 Casio EX-Word XD-N9800 and it has that kanji search issue. However, there is a workaround my Japanese friends showed me (use the kanji dictionary to find the reading and a basic definition). That workaround is a bit inelegant.

Casio could improved the kanji search but I don't know if they did. Casio had a refresh in 2015 (K models) removing the second screen. Casio had a bigger refresh in 2019 (SR models with high-def screens and I think a new CPU).