Tile Sticker Teardown

Written By: Andrew S
Published: 27/11/21
  • Comments: 7

Tile Sticker Teardown

Published: 27/11/21

Teardown

Introduction

A look at Tile's small new tracker

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    • Use a spudger or flathead screwdriver to remove the outer ring

    • I removed the rubber button cover as well, but this is not necessary.

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    • Use a flathead screwdriver to pry the two halves of the case apart from each other

    • The technique I used is to find a small hole in the casing and use a very small flathead screwdriver with upward/downward force.

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    • Pull the electronics out of the casing.

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    • At the bottom is the power source - A soldered-in CR2032 battery.

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    • Hidden away in the top casing is a piezoelectric speaker.

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    • The main chips:

    • 240 C29

    • N(RF)52810 CAAAD0 1928AE

Author

Andrew S

Member since: 30/07/21

15131 Reputation

7 comments

I’m glad I was not the only one who tried this, but you had much more success than me. We used to use ours for the remote to the TV which gets lost often and then the battery died and I refused to believe it was not user replaceable. Unfortunately I didn’t have much luck actually getting past step 1 since the two halves staunchly refused to come apart. So I murdered it in frustration and threw it in the bin.

Alisha C -

Yep, mine lasted a little less than 2 years. The key to getting the two casing halves apart is to use a really small flathead screwdriver and put it in one of the holes in the casing, then start pushing downwards.

Andrew S -

So I got it open, desoldered the battery, resoldered a new one - and it turns on and beeps with a double tap… doesn’t ack its location, can’t be dinged from the app… can’t activate it because it says it’s already activated (duh) - but it’s been off for > 760 days according to Tile. Pretty sure they have a “drop dead” condition or some ultimate expiration date on the ones with soldered batteries (this forcing you to get new ones). AirTags for me from now on (I just wish they were louder)

Dave Miller -

Scratch that! After repeatedly clicking - it’s now working again… huzzah!

Dave Miller -

Glad to hear you had success in replacing the battery inside your Tile Sticker!

Andrew S -

Thanks very much for the instructions, I tried for a long time and then only managed when I found an even smaller flathead screwdriver and mounted the tile in a clamp. Also, this video was very helpful to me! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lg1DRa_u...

Nadine Perera -

I more or less did this to the current version today.

The newer case is much harder to open than this version. It is glued shut and has a very small line on the back rim. mine looks like i chewed it up to get it open... but since its inside a silicone case for my remote I honestly don't care what it looks like. the spot welds are pretty easy to break off once you get under the tab. You can break the tiny spot welds by working the tab on the top a little bit. once you get the top tab loose you can use a spudger or other device to separate the adhesive from the battery and the circuit board. then to remove the battery completely you can pull and twis the battery until the welds break free. then you just sandwich the new battery inbetween the tabs and close the case up best you can, and it works like nothing was wrong.

Jason Hutton (t0cableguy) -