The battery in my (fairly ancient) Boots electric toothbrush had died, and I am wondering if it is worth-while opening it and putting in another re-chargeable battery? Has anyone tried this?
I don't see any obvious way of opening it, so will probably have to be rather brutal. The charging socket appears to be glued inside the cylindrical container.
Don't know about Boots ones, but with Braun ones the hole that sits on the charging spike is slightly non-circular, you shove something into the hole that will wedge rather than turn and give it a good twist to break open the case, it comes with a warning that this is not reversible and only to do it when you're ready to dispose of it.
Yes, on an Oral-B toothbrush. Frankly, it wasn't worth the hassle. By the time the original battery died, enough water and toothpaste (i.e. fine grinding paste) had leaked down the drive spindle to wreck the gear mechanism. It didn't last long with the new battery.
On the Oral-B you give the base a partial turn and push the mechanism out using the drive spindle. Only the elderly toothbrush I put a new battery in actually allowed re-assembly. A later model resisted attempts at replacing the innards correctly.
I suggest you are better off getting a new toothbrush. The leading brands are the Braun Oral-B and the Philips Sonicare. I've used both brands.
The Sonicare had an edge over the Oral-B for cleaning ability. Its lithium battery and control circuitry maintained a constant speed over the 2 week life of a charge (so little need to pack the charger when travelling). The mechanism does have a tendency to suddenly break though. Mine lasted a decent 3.5 years but there are plenty of complaints of much shorter life in Amazon reviews so keep your receipt. Mine did come with a 2 year warranty so you should be good for at least that long.
The Oral-B is still better at cleaning than a manual toothbrush used with anything other than perfect technique. My model has a Ni-MH battery. The brush speed slows down as the charge diminishes so the need for top-ups every few days makes the per-charge life irrelevant. On the plus side I'm now on my third Oral-B brush and the mechanisms do seem to soldier on until the batteries lose their ability to re-charge.
Two minute and 30 second timers are handy but lots of cleaning modes get as much use as lots of cleaning programmes on a dishwasher so there's no point in paying extra for them (on either toothbrushes or dishwashers!) It is worth paying for a mains rechargeable model though. The cheap ones that use disposable batteries are underpowered and a false economy.
Boots (in both .ie and .uk) have periodic special offers on both brands that makes them competitive with the usual online vendors.
Brauns that I have opened need you to push the spindle inwards 3 or 4 mm to release a bayonet latch whilst twisting the charging socket. quite a powerful spring to overcome.
FWIW the cheapest replacement Braun heads I've found are the 8-packs at Costco, particularly when on special offer.
Ho to open a Braun:
- Mike
fascinating! What I'd like is a good-quality brush that takes rechargeable cells - 30s to 'recharge' rather than 18h - but all brushes that do are the cheap 'n' nasty ones.
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