Elvie Pump - Battery Replacement (and Right to Repair/Reuse Discussion for Designers)

This Instructable is part 'fix-it' guide if you need to replace the battery on your Elvie Pump (breast-milk pump), but it's also part 'thought piece' on what repairability and reuse mean, as it turns out repair and reusing a moderately intimate device like this will no doubt draw differing opinions on the matter.

From a legal standpoint, I'll need to state a disclaimer that you do this entirely at your own risk, and I can accept no responsibility for any consequences of this being done. Also Elvie cannot/does not endorse this guide. For educational purposes only...

With that said, I've been writing about repair of consumer devices now for some the past 2 years on the engineering blog RS DesignSpark, but as a fan of Instructables since 2009, I've found it is also an excellent place to explore the more 'hacker' mindset, and often some of the more contrary or counterculture opinions (link)...

So I'm hoping you'll a) 'do your own homework' on whether you wish to repair and reuse a breast pump, and/or b) consider how devices like these, which contain valuable electronics and are themselves award winning product design - what does it mean to simply throw it away?

In the UK, I visited Sweeep Kuusakoski, the UK's largest eWaste recycling plant, which received over 10 huge lorries of eWaste every day, everything from toasters to vacuum cleaners to computers to toys. To put it simply; we cannot continue to waste electronics at the rate we do, it is economically, ethically and ecologically a habit which needs alternatives.

Elvie's Pump may not be perfect to some people's eyes, but I feel it sparks a discussion. And one which I had with then Chief of Product Officer, Sarah Liddell (interview here), about how these items do appear on eBay and/or are exchanged between mother who have stopped breast-feeding, gifting/selling them to mothers to start.

So whether you're reading this as someone wanting to reuse and/or repair said item, or you're wanting to explore some of the arguments for and against doing such things, I hope you enjoy this techy adventure...

I'm a big advocate of Repair Cafes, so if you have these tools or can afford to buy them, great. But if not, or you just wanted to have someone more experienced help you and check safety, Repair Cafes are excellent places to visit. I event wrote a comparison between UK and Hong Kong here.

Any budget repair tool kit will likely have 'torx' or 'hex' screwdrivers, and will work for this.

Replacement LiPo Battery "3.7V 1500mAh (example). Type: "Rechargeable Polymer 3 Wires Thermistor Li Battery 103443 Lipo".*

(*If all those numbers seem overwhelming, the 103443 is saying 10x34x43mm dimensions, and the 3.7V is the voltage, and 1500mAh is the capacity. You can be slightly out on the capacity (1400mAh or 1600mAh will likely be fine, but not half or double!. Voltage should be exact tho. Size is something you'll see later is a tricky thing to get just right, and hence my provocation these things should be 'standardised' like an AA or AAA battery!).

You'll need some basic tools like wire cutters, wire strippers, spudger, etc.

If you can get some 'Kapton Tape' and 'heat shrink' great, if not generic electrical insulation tape will do.

Safety Warning: LiPo Batteries are much more dangerous than standard Alkaline batteries. Do not attempt repairs without being competent. If in doubt, consult a professional, or Repair Cafe.

Assuming you have been given a used pump, or have bought one second hand, I suggest giving things a clean. Lightly soapy water is fine. No need to use harsh chemicals.

Press in the Spring Clip Button - deeper than you usually would - so it comes out entirely.

Unscrew these two screws. Put them to one side, and keep safe. Ideally label them so you don't mix them up later. (This is good practice, and even though Elvie has most of its screws the same length, it's worth not assuming - as you can put a too big screw in a too small boss, and it'd crack / puncture).

(The eagle-eyed among you will notice I left the clip in - no matter the order - just do both).

Your Repair Kit may have a 'spudger', but any small plastic wedge will do (you could even sharpen an old credit card edge).

Elvie has even been super helpful and left you small 'indicators' to where the 'snap fits' are, so this is where to work the tool towards, until you hear/feel a gentle 'pop'.

This is perhaps where 'the room will divide'... as shown in this image, there is some dried milk that has slightly crusted on the inside of the sensor housing. I personally think it's not anything more 'ick' than what my baby son put their hands in when crawling around, but of course the choice is yours if you feel this is 'too much' to mentally stomach. We all have differing opinions on hygiene, so make the call as you see fit.

I cleaned mine with a little lightly soapy water and a cotton bud / q-tip, and dried off with some tissue paper.

You can now work the spudger around the side walls of the enclosure as shown. You will hear a series of light 'pops' as the clips release as you go around slowly, and not applying too much force.

You should now be able to see the battery. This spec may have changed since my post, as companies are at liberty to change designed slightly, as needs be. So do check the capacity and wiring.

This step is not essential, and may feel a bit intimidating, but the benefit is, it makes the following steps easier. So the choice is yours...I've only done this for better explanation / instruction for you, dear reader.

Using a soldering iron, or heated [by cigarette lighter flame] craft knife - apply heat to this plastic area, to release the copper heat sink.

You can then unscrew the sub-assembly as shown.

Take care to unclip the ribbon cables, by using a spudger to pull back the black 'clamp' as shown, and this will allow the ribbon to gently pull out.

You can now push the black snap fits to release the green PCB.

Using the same screwdriver, unscrew the sub-assembly, and the whole thing should release as shown.

If you didn't the the above 'optional' step, it will simply look like this last picture, with the copper heat sink on it. All good.

A JST clip is the white plug that attaches the battery's wires to the PCB. Pull the plug out holding the plastic (not the wires). The battery should be free now.

Begin by cutting the zip-tie holding the original (blue) battery in place.

If you now replace the battery, it may fit just fine, if you were able to source an exact replica, in capacity and size. However, if like me you needed to go for the right capacity, but had to accept a different form factor, then I found the simplest work-around was to trim the plastic support or armature with some snips so it was the right size.

After a bit of 'back-and-forth' on can see if this fits nicely, and then zip-tie (yellow) in new battery (silver) as shown.

Please do not cut the wires as shown (ie all at once) - this is just for illustrative purposes. You don't want to short out the battery. Cut them one at a time, at the same length of course.

Use wire-strippers to bare the wire strands.

Solder these wires together. Taking care to pay attention to polarity (black-black; red-red; white-yellow).

I recommend using 'heat shrink' if you can get some. If not use insulation tape.

Tip: I also shaved off a little bit of the plastic on the 'cover' with side snips as shown. Ensure it's smooth and not sharp (so as to avoid puncturing the LiPo battery, which would cause a fire risk).

You can now re-screw the battery unit to test the fit. (Do not plug in yet!).

You may realise (as shown) that you have the battery touching the PCB. This is a bit of an issue as potentially the aluminium foil might touch the PCB components, causing a potential short.

To avoid this, add some insulation tape or Kapton tape, as shown. Just to be on the safe side.

Now you can re-mount the battery assembly, and plug in.

Checking the battery is not likely to be 'pinched' by any of the plastic enclosure as you re-close the assembly, proceed with snapping the snap-fits back together with the side, and then the base.

Replace the two screws. Re-insert the spring-clip.

Attach the USB charging cable, and check the orange light shows for charging. Allow to charge fully.

Press the 'on/play' button. The machine should make the usual 'pulsing/sucking' noise of the electronic pump.

You should now have a newly operational Elvie Pump.

Please do exercise some caution when recharging the first few times. This is not a standard Elvie part, so one needs to appreciate that the battery ordered from a third party like eBay is not 'official', so could be in some way defective or incompatible. It's likely not, but best not to recharge unattended (e.g. overnight).

To reiterate the disclamer, please only attempt this is competent, and knowing it is at your own risk. If still unsur

I also had a great opportunity to speak with Sarah about the Elvie Pump.

To be clear, Sarah explained that presently it is sold as a 'Single User' device, and Elvie do not actively advertise it being a 'second user' product. However, she acknowledges there is a throwing second, third, and forth-hand market on eBay. (16:40 onwards). Considering breast-feeding can average 6 months, but product is guaranteed for 2 years - this poses a tricky question: This is fine if you have more than one kid, but of course presents the issue that the product is 'over-engineered' for a mum with just one child.

Sarah and I also discuss how the battery might have been made more user-serviceable. Around 20:30 we discuss the idea of 'standardised lithium batteries' that are user replaceable. Sarah felt the industry needs to move in the direction of such resource conscious moves, but acknowledges it's a way to go before that is universally implemented - with the 'packaging' or 'product architecture' - such that it can be safely done and compliant.

This of course is a bigger problem than Elvie alone can solve, but it's interesting to see companies like Fairphone revisiting interchangeable (by public) batteries, as it was back in 2000's with phone batteries. I did even wonder if Elvie Pump might be powered by a 9V battery, but these things are often more complex than a 'mock-up' like mine show!

I certainly hope these questiosn premeate design student's and professional's discussions on how we can improve products. And of course I'd like to thank Sarah and Elvie again for making a progressive product and being so open to discuss progres

If you're interested to know more, please check out:

Finding a Dyson product (I worked on) in eWaste:

https://www.rs-online.com/designspark/the-fight-to-repair-prologue

Interviews with more designers:

https://www.rs-online.com/designspark/the-fight-to-repair-part-8-end-of-life-sweep

Repair Cafes in UK and HK:

https://www.rs-online.com/designspark/repair-cafe-culture-part-1-repair-like-your-life-and-career-depends-onit

Thanks for reading!

Jude

www.judepullen.com