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Motorola H700 bluetooth earpiece dissassembly instructions (Jeff L?)

Anyone have pictures of how to open the Motorola H700 bluetooth earpiece?

Googling, I found a "JeffL" picture of the opened earpiece over here:

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And, I found written instructions (but no pictures) over here (& elsewhere):
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Four of these Motorola H700 ear pieces have all gone bad on me over time (I can hear the caller yet the caller can't hear me) so I want to fix them because, when the H700 works, it works well, & it still uses the ubiquitous mini-USB charger.

PS: Yes, I know to press both volume switches to mute and to unmute the Motorola H700 bluetooth earpiece (that's not the problem with the mic not working).

After extensive googling, I find three fixable things seem to go bad:

1.> The red microphone wire breaks (due to poor initial quality) 2.> The tiny microphone hole has a filter inside that clogs 3.> The microphone switch contacts need to be periodically cleaned

A reference for the first issue above is here:

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A reference for the second H700 repair is here:
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And, a reference for the third Motorola H700 repair is here:
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Unfortunately, all three references have DIFFERENT instructions for opening up the Motorola H700 clamshell - so that's why I ask (I wonder if JeffL is the famous Jeff L. of this newsgroup?)

And, none of the references show anyone actually disassembling the earpiece. For example, this reference (wrongly) tries to explain how to open the H700

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This one refers to disassembly photos on a geocities site that no longer exists:
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Here's the geocities Motorola H700 disassembly instruction site that's gone:
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Q: Does anyone know how to resurrect those Motorola H700 disassembly pictures?

Reply to
William Beckley
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What happened in two of these headsets was that the tiny plastic pin, that is used to depress the switch when the microphone switch is extended, wears down until the switch no longer activates reliably. Various people have given me their broken H700 headsets for repair. My batting average is about 50% by filling the groove gouged into the microphone plastic with epoxy.

If you look at the above picture, I've labeled the "pair switch". The circular rubber thing is the switch. If you remove it, underneath is a bizarre shaped tiny plastic pin with a "jog" in the middle. It's easy to drop and loose so be careful. That's the pin that is wearing a groove into the hinge area of the microphone. Slop some hard epoxy filler (i.e. 24 hr epoxy, not 2 hr epoxy) into the wear area, and it will work again for a while. However, instead of gouging the mic hinge area, the plastic pin will start to wear. No fix unless you want to beg MotoGoogle for replacement parts. You can probably slow down the wear with some grease or keeping the area clean, but that's too much work for most users.

I probably have more pictures buried in the office archives.

I haven't seen that problem. When the switch doesn't work, nothing works. In between new and dead, is the intermittent zone, which is highly frustrating.

However, methinks your problem is a dead battery. Charge up the headset, go away for an hour or three, and measure the terminal voltage. A good fully charged new battery will measure about 4.0-4.2 VDC. Anything over 3.9V will probably be ok. Any less is a dead battery. For a better test, I use a West Mountain Radio CBA-II.

3.> The microphone switch is a piece of crap and needs to have both the PCB contacts, and the rubber elastometric connector cleaned regularly. The contamination seems to be condensed breath and sweat.

Yeah, that's me. Instructions are simple. Pry it open with a plastic or metal spudger (spatula) starting at the end opposite the charge connector. It comes off in two layers. First the outer decorative shell. Then the two halves of the clamshell come apart.

No kidding. Mine have no screws.

No, but I still have a baggie full of dead H700 headsets and similar Motorola mechanical marvels. What exact model do you have and I'll see if I can tear it apart. However... I'm busy for a few days and there's no available bench space in my palatial office to take photos. This may have to wait.

Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

Thanks for all this info. I have been using various models of the Motorola "flip-boom" headsets for years. They are my favorites although I've a few go bad. Now I have a way to possibly resurrect them. Of course, I tend to lose them before they go bad. I now have 2 since I lost one, bought a replacement and then found the other one - in a pair of pants after they had been washed. I covered it in rice for a few days and it works fine.

I would like add this to Jeff's comments regarding "Mine have no screws":

If a link includes the words "ehow" don't even waste a mouse click by following the link. I don't know who writes that crap, but I have yet to find any useful information via ehow. Either the instructions are so generic/vague as to be completely useless or they are flat out wrong. For example, look at this other link that supposedly explains how to "disassemble-motorola-h700-earpiece". The device pictured is not an H700, therefore it's no wonder the instructions are wrong. Typical ehow crap.

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Reply to
DerbyDad03

It's the Motorola H700. I think it's the first one they made.

Here is a picture of two of my broken Motorola H700 earpieces:

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From reading the text DIYs, it's confusing whether there are 3 screws or not; and whether to pry off the clamshell or to pry out the mini-usb connector first.

I can hear the speaker but they can't hear me. Under charge, the colors go from red to yellow to green. So, I don't have any 'direct' indication of a bad battery. Although, these have been sitting around for a while, broken, so, the battery may have failed - but I don't think so.

I'm not sure though HOW you test battery voltage without opening it up.

Reply to
William Beckley

Mine looks exactly like the silver one in the photo.

No screws. Here's how I got mine apart.

  1. Find a sharp screwdriver and pry ANYWHERE under the black plastic decorative cover. The chrome button will just fall out.
  2. One the microphone end of the device, you'll see 4 slots. They're the only 4 slots so you can't miss them. To the left and right of the four slots is a tiny air gap between the two halves of the clamshell. Insert a screwdriver into each slot and pry the clamshell halves apart. Do not try to separate the halves yet.
  3. The tiny disk shaped rubber contact thing will fall out, land on the floor, and you will spend 10 minutes trying to find it.
  4. The clamshell halves will NOT easily separate. One end is hung up on the USB connector. Pry on where they seem to be stuck together and it will eventually release.
  5. The rest should be easy and obvious. The two chrome buttons will try to fall out.

You have to open it up.

No photos tonite. I'm dead tired.

Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

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