Brookstone Big Blue Party 360 Speaker Battery Replacement Repair Guide

Difficulty

Moderate

Steps

Time Required

                          45 minutes

Sections

Battery
15 steps

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In Progress

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Introduction

Original Big Blue Party battery has 2 prong connector.

Big Blue 360 has three prong connector.

Replacement battery is no longer being sold due to the recall issued on the speaker by Brookstone. At this time, there is no information on the root cause of the recall.

More recall information: https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2018/brooks…

What you need

Step 1

              Battery description

The battery used in these speakers is 11.1V 4400 mAh Lithium Ion 3S2P 18650 battery pack. It consists of 6 cells total. The battery pack is protected by an internal PCB board. You can build your own, but I highly recommend purchasing a pre-assembled pack made with high quality brand name cells. Here is one.
The original Big Blue Party connector is 2 pin JST-XH 2.54mm 2P. There are many places where you can obtain one. You can even get it on eBay with attached wire leads. Pay attention to the wire polarity! Many vendors sell these connectors with wires attached in reverse from Big Blue battery. You can always reuse your old one though.
The original Big Blue Party connector can be attached by simply soldering the wire leads to the battery wire lead. Once again, pay attention to the polarity!
The Big Blue Party 360 connector is 3 pin JST-XH 2.54mm 3P. There are many places where you can obtain one. You can even get it on eBay with attached wire leads. Pay attention to the wire polarity! Many vendors sell these connectors with wires attached in reverse from Big Blue battery. You can always reuse your old one though.
The Big Blue Party 360 connector is much more complicated. You will need 10K NTC thermistor in order to make it work like the original battery. The recommended one is an axial mount type. Once again, these are carried by many vendors, here is one of many. You will need to attach the connector to the battery pack as follows (see attached diagram):
Positive (red) wire on the connector will connect directly to the positive (red) wire on the battery pack.
Middle (white) wire on the connector will connect to the one side (doesn’t matter which one) of the NTC thermistor. Other side of the thermistor, will connect to the negative (black) wire on the battery pack.
Negative (black) wire on the connector will connect directly to the negative (black) wire on the battery pack.

The battery used in these speakers is 11.1V 4400 mAh Lithium Ion 3S2P 18650 battery pack. It consists of 6 cells total. The battery pack is protected by an internal PCB board. You can build your own, but I highly recommend purchasing a pre-assembled pack made with high quality brand name cells. Here is one.

The original Big Blue Party connector is 2 pin JST-XH 2.54mm 2P. There are many places where you can obtain one. You can even get it on eBay with attached wire leads. Pay attention to the wire polarity! Many vendors sell these connectors with wires attached in reverse from Big Blue battery. You can always reuse your old one though.

The original Big Blue Party connector can be attached by simply soldering the wire leads to the battery wire lead. Once again, pay attention to the polarity!

The Big Blue Party 360 connector is 3 pin JST-XH 2.54mm 3P. There are many places where you can obtain one. You can even get it on eBay with attached wire leads. Pay attention to the wire polarity! Many vendors sell these connectors with wires attached in reverse from Big Blue battery. You can always reuse your old one though.

The Big Blue Party 360 connector is much more complicated. You will need 10K NTC thermistor in order to make it work like the original battery. The recommended one is an axial mount type. Once again, these are carried by many vendors, here is one of many. You will need to attach the connector to the battery pack as follows (see attached diagram):

Positive (red) wire on the connector will connect directly to the positive (red) wire on the battery pack.

Middle (white) wire on the connector will connect to the one side (doesn’t matter which one) of the NTC thermistor. Other side of the thermistor, will connect to the negative (black) wire on the battery pack.

Negative (black) wire on the connector will connect directly to the negative (black) wire on the battery pack.

1024

Step 2

              Tools

Come prepared

Come prepared

Step 3

              Remove screw covers

Use a thin flat screwdriver to pry these out.

Use a thin flat screwdriver to pry these out.

Step 4

              Remove 8 screws from the bottom cover

Remove the screws.
Pull the cover off

Remove the screws.

Pull the cover off

Step 5

              Remove old battery

Pull off the tape
Remove the battery
Use small pliers to unplug battery connector from the circuit board.
Carefully guide the wire out from under the circuit board.

Pull off the tape

Remove the battery

Use small pliers to unplug battery connector from the circuit board.

Carefully guide the wire out from under the circuit board.

Step 6

              Optional - Big Blue 360 Update

360 has a connector that may prove more difficult to remove
Remove circuit board by removing 5 phillips screws.
Pull the circuit board back.
The connector is glued in place (Why????). I used a thin flat screwdriver blade to carefully scrape the glue off. But you may have to hit it with a heat gun if it doesn’t loosen up.
Note, that this connector has three prongs. You will need to get a battery specifically made for Big Blue 360.

360 has a connector that may prove more difficult to remove

Remove circuit board by removing 5 phillips screws.

Pull the circuit board back.

The connector is glued in place (Why????). I used a thin flat screwdriver blade to carefully scrape the glue off. But you may have to hit it with a heat gun if it doesn’t loosen up.

Note, that this connector has three prongs. You will need to get a battery specifically made for Big Blue 360.

Step 7

              Install new battery

Insert new battery into compartment
Use electrical tape to hold it down
Guide the wire under the circuit board to the connector
Connect new battery to the circuit board.

Insert new battery into compartment

Use electrical tape to hold it down

Guide the wire under the circuit board to the connector

Connect new battery to the circuit board.

Step 8

              Install the cover

Install the bottom cover
Secure with the screws
Put the rubber plugs back in
Turn the speaker on to test it

Install the bottom cover

Secure with the screws

Put the rubber plugs back in

Turn the speaker on to test it

Step 9

              Optional - further tear down

Complete steps 1 - 4
Remove the power button bezel by prying it off with a small flat head screwdriver

Complete steps 1 - 4

Remove the power button bezel by prying it off with a small flat head screwdriver

Step 10

              Connector panel removal

Remove 6 screw covers from connector panel. Note that 2 covers in the center are longer than those in the corners.
Remove 6 screws holding the connector panel with a small phillips screwdriver.
Remove the cover.

Remove 6 screw covers from connector panel. Note that 2 covers in the center are longer than those in the corners.

Remove 6 screws holding the connector panel with a small phillips screwdriver.

Remove the cover.

Step 11

              Remove the grill

There is a wire soldered to the grill on the bottom. You will need to cut or desolder that wire in order to remove the grill
Slide the grill off
Wear it on you head

There is a wire soldered to the grill on the bottom. You will need to cut or desolder that wire in order to remove the grill

Slide the grill off

Wear it on you head

Step 12

              Remove woofer membrane

Remove 6 phillips screws holding the membrane
Pop it out

Remove 6 phillips screws holding the membrane

Pop it out

Step 13

              Remove the subwoofer

Remove 4 phillips screws holding the subwoofer in place.
Push it out from the back.
Unplug it from the amplifier board.

Remove 4 phillips screws holding the subwoofer in place.

Push it out from the back.

Unplug it from the amplifier board.

Step 14

              Removing tweeter (optional)

4 tweeters are all wired together and soldered to the amplifier board. You will need to cut or desolder the wire if you need to remove them.
Remove 4 phillips screws holding the speaker in place.
Remove the speaker.
Note that the speaker mount has cutouts to provide screw clearance. So they go in only one way.

4 tweeters are all wired together and soldered to the amplifier board. You will need to cut or desolder the wire if you need to remove them.

Remove 4 phillips screws holding the speaker in place.

Remove the speaker.

Note that the speaker mount has cutouts to provide screw clearance. So they go in only one way.

Step 15

You can continue the tear down on your own from here. Rest of the screws are exposed and easily accessible.
When putting the grill back on, you will need to solder the wire that was disconnected during dissassembly back on.

You can continue the tear down on your own from here. Rest of the screws are exposed and easily accessible.

When putting the grill back on, you will need to solder the wire that was disconnected during dissassembly back on.

To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order.

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                                                                                      7 other people completed this guide.

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                    Alex P

Member since: 04/26/2017

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Thomas Ellengold - Oct 1, 2018

The AC plug cover came off on my big blue party. Is it possible to reattach it?

I tried to do it from the outside without disassembling it but no luck.

Jonathan Alstad - Dec 31, 2018

Thanks for posting this—does anybody know if the Big Blue 360 Party Speaker recall is going to have any further developments regarding the battery overheating issue? Does anybody know if simply replacing the battery will fix the issue or if it’s something in the motherboard itself? Of course they went out of business earlier this year so I’m doubting they’ll actually follow up on it, but would love to keep this product if possible.

Alex P - Jan 1, 2019

Update the guide with battery description and connector information. Hopefully this is enough to point you to the right direction.

rendz72 - Apr 20, 2019

I replaced the battery on the Big Blue Party and got a new charger but it still won’t power on. The red light won’t even start or flash. Any ideas?

Ernesto Urmeneta - Sep 16, 2019

Where can I buy charger in Philippines

In Progress#

Member-Contributed Guide#

Introduction#

What you need#

In Progress

Member-Contributed Guide

Introduction

What you need