Thank you for making this video. My X26 battery was 10 years old and wouldn't make a spark any more (although the laser and display would still come on), so I ordered a new one. You're right - it's expensive! So I decided to take the old battery pack apart, and found your video. I bought a couple of CR123 batteries before I did it, and put on a hopeful face. I discovered an easier way to pop the top off of the battery pack. Slide a small screwdriver, angled downward, into the pack at the bottom of that notch cutout, then pry upward. The top looks to be held on with superglue, so you will have to break it loose in several places. Some of the breaks might not be exact, so you may have to shave off some broken plastic pieces before you can get the batteries out and new ones back in. The metal "straps" that bridge across the bottom of the batteries and connect the tops of the batteries to the circuit board are spot-welded on. I pulled them off with a pair of hemostats. They are somewhat delicate, so I had to be careful. There's a white wire that runs from the bottom of the batteries up to the circuit board. It's soldered onto the bottom strap. I used electrical tape to bind the new batteries closely together, and then soldered the straps on. Removed the electrical tape, put some hot melt glue on the tops of the batteries, and slid the whole affair back into the battery pack case. Plugged the pack into the X26, turned it on the pulled the trigger, and got that great Taser spark again. I have a Blackhawk holster for my Taser, which I like a lot better than the stock holster. If you put the Taser into the holster with no cartridge attached, it kind of rattles around. I had a couple of used cartridges, so I put one on the "muzzle" of the Taser and the other onto the bottom of the battery pack. Looking at the battery pack after that gave me an idea. The distance from the top of the battery pack to the bottom of the used cartridge is about 3 7/8 inches, which is the same as two AA batteries laid end to end. So it might be possible to use an old battery pack and a used cartridge to rig up a holder for four AA batteries to run the Taser. Thanks again for making this video.
Yes, as I said in my post above, I plugged in the modified battery pack and the Taser was operational again. So if I had a dead X26 battery I would not hesitate to replace the CR123s inside rather than buying a new pack. Be careful if you buy a new battery pack. When you plug it in, it will reprogram your Taser if the new battery pack has a different software version than the old one. You will know this is happening when you see the "P" on the Taser's display. If you unplug the pack while the "P" is still displayed, the programming won't be completed and it may mess up your Taser. I know this because it happened to me. After I tested the old battery pack, I unplugged it and tried to plug in the new battery pack. The display showed a "P," and the laser didn't turn on when I flipped the safety off. That still might have been okay except that I couldn't push the battery pack in far enough for the release button to latch. So I pulled the pack out and looked at it and then pushed it back in. This time the Taser displayed an "E" and still wouldn't work. So I pulled out the new battery pack and put the old one back in, because I knew it was working. The display didn't show anything, and the Taser is completely dead now. I checked the Axon website (new name for Taser International), and discovered that "P" means "Programming" and "E" means "Error" and that I wasn't supposed to do what I did. I went through the website's menus to return the Taser for reprogramming so it would work again, and found that it was going to cost me $1043.94 to get it fixed. I like my X26, but not enough to part with that kind of money. The packaging for the new battery pack has instructions printed on the outside that might have solved this problem. But someone put an inventory sticker over the instructions so they were not readable. The support people for the company (Taser Self-Defense) have not responded to the email that I sent them a month ago. So be cautious when replacing an old Taser X26 battery pack.
Hey! Me and a couple of my volunteers decided to check out the pulse's battery pack. It's "exactly" the same! Just a couple of CR123's (3V). So we're gonna try the DIY as well, even if it voids the warranty haha. (Just letting y'all know)
The chip inside the batteries contains computer software for the TASER itself. When they want to change something in the TASER like pulse rate or rear display, they put it on the chip inside the battery. When you buy a new battery it can update the software. Its really a neat way to force software updates. Imagine a department with 350 officers and they have to have everyone bring in the TASER, plug it into a PC and have the armorer update the software manually, twice a year. Nice video though. I've pulled apart a taser but never the battery.
How would AXON make it's money? They wouldn't be able to change the battery housing and discontinue older ones so you can't use them anymore. No new batteries for the model in the video have been made since sometime in late 2018.
Thanks for posting this. If Taser ever went out of business, at least you can mod your battery packs. But your still up the creak when it comes to the cartridges. But I don't think Taser is going out of business anytime soon.
It makes sense why they don't make these babies rechargeable to keep them topped off. $$$, unfortunately. Yeah! I was curious to see what powered them too. older units just used 6-1.5v AA batteries. Bulkier, added weight, slower swap out time.
I would imagine that with the Taser X26 using less power, the older unit would cost you more in batteries depending on use of course. But in any event, thankfully the Taser X26 batteries last a long time if you only test the unit when you should.
Oh, random thought. cr123 is the model battery cell used here. the li-ion rechargable equivalent is the 16340 if you were curious. slightly higher voltage but lower capacity. i don't recommend swapping them in...but in theory(assuming it has voltage regulation), they would work. slightly higher input voltage may do nothing different if regulated, or it may make the circuitry run quicker. i'm no electronical pixie wrangler on the engineering level at taser though.
Good to know. I don't know if you know, but there's a company called PhaZZer that sells a unit that uses Taser cartridges and it has a rechargeable battery pack. The PhaZZer cartridges may be even cheaper than my Taser green cartridges.
The life of my battery was only 27% and despite operating the laser pointer and the LED light did not generate arc spark. I changed the batteries for new ones and to my surprise even though the battery level returned to generate sparkle, it is still at 27%. Surely it is a memory of the old battery and when it reaches 0 it will continue to run out. What do you think?
More than likely it has something to do with the memory board of the taser, each battery has some sort of programming with ID numbers that transfer over to the taser when it gets inserted, so changing the batteries will recharge it but the memory will remain the same, unless of course you do what I do and live with the E2 error on the screen
@@YZFoFittie decided against it because they started selling the x26 batteries again after briefly not selling them. I do make x3 batteries as you can’t get those. No point in me making a battery that is still bought for $39. So you can be a smart ass elsewhere 🤣.
Nope, this was donated to me for a tear-down video. It would work but on a legal level, I would not personally do it. Any modification to something meant for self defense(including firearms where I live) is very frowned upon, especially if used and you're on trial for using it. If you replace the batteries and the unit somehow functions any different than the factory intended, your ass would have a flame under it if used in a defensive situation, regardless of the outcome
@@pmcgns10 yes and yes. If you have a dead one, open it up. What's the worst that can happen? Hot glue may make a mess if you try to replace the cells a 2nd time.
This is very good information to have. Especially since TASER (AXON) has sometime in late 2018 discontinued the X26C and stopped production of power modules. Once dealers and wholesalers run out of them, you will have a thousand dollar paperweight since the newer X26P uses a different housing that won't fit into the X26C. Makes me want to find one of the 90s Air Tasers that used two 9 volt batteries in the grip.
The air taser was under powered. I do know a place that sells them if you want one though. I would look at Phazzer. They are more powerful than the X26 and WAY more powerful than the X26C (despite what they say, the X26C is much less powerful than the X26, the X26C is 17 pulses per second for the first 2 seconds, then 10 pulses per second for the rest, but the X26 is 19 pulses for second for the whole time.), and they are rechargeable, they can also use Taser’s cartridges.
I wonder what is the current drain is per firing.... because it would be considerably easier to replace if the drain is within the capacity of Lithium Thionyl Chloride cells.... as opposed to the Lithium Manganese Dioxide cells we are seeing here, Duracell DL123As, which you will almost never see or find spot welded as commercial off the shelf items.
+Yz250fTony what gauge of wire would you recommend to use to solder on the bottom of the battery pack to the top (meaning the little "white wire" thats soldered on and what kind of soldering wire would you recommend? plz help me out
22 to 26 gauge stranded copper. any thinner might (i said might) pose a noticeable resistance if the unit tries to draw a lot of current. i don't know what the current demands are. Most of my soldering is of wires in that range and i prefer to use 60/40 rosin core 22 gauge(0.032"). Mg Chemicals makes good soldering supplies.
Blaack Hulk Smash!!! Slots I don't have any x3 cells but my educated guess is yes. open it up carefully and be careful poking metal tools inside. a short would be bad.
@Trump is a POS i bought a taser pulse+ 1 year ago, the power indicator never dropped to yellow, the battery shows full voltage on a meter. There's a circuit board inside of the battery pack, does this prevent you from changing the batteries in the pack? I failed to mention the taser will not power on.
@@David-fp7yc turns out they have a bad product, 30 days is all you get. My pulse+ stopped working after 10 months. For $540 it should have last just a bit longer. Guess I'll be shooting people with a gun instead of a taser.
Would these battery's work in a taser X26c ?..I've tried searching for a battery for my taser X26c and all I see is the ones for the X26 which I believe is for the police version?I'm not sure ,any help is much appreciated,I got this taser from a buddy of mines and I don't know Jack squat about tasers..the taser seems to work although I haven't tried a cartilage yet but I did try the taser without the cartilage and it works..but Everytime I turn it on,the lcd displays 00 which I guess it means the battery is low?
The X26 and X26c are the same taser. The only difference is the X26c fires for a 10 second cycle and the X26 fires for a 5 second cycle. The reason behind it is that the X26c is made for civilian defense so the 10 second cycle will allow the victim to flee the scene while the X26 simply allows officers time to gain control of an aggressive suspect. Long story short, the batteries are the exact same. The tasers just have a little bit different programming.
Andy Mcmahan board cost a dollar to make, if that. paying for the name and the r&d. thing is, they're going to make more on batteries and accessories than the Taser units themselves.
Not really. The TASER was developed in the early 80s. It used a couple 9 volts then. The cartridges have been the same since at least the early 1990s with the Air Taser (R). These batteries have almost no engineering. A couple off the shelf Duracells in series. This in what was just over a thousand dollars US at full retail. And at the time they were released almost $50 for the power module. When they could have just had the grip hold two 123s at half the price even when overpaying. Internal batteries also would likely not have the problem my X26C is having with the battery module getting loose and not having working most of the time. And of course Taser... AXON actually wanted me to send a full MSRP deposit to fix it. I could get a new one for less , much less if I pay wholesale for it instead of retail. Or for the amount they wanted I could almost buy the X2 at retail. Of course that would also mean that they couldn't change the battery housing in the X26P so people with the X26 or X26C have to buy new Tasers as of late 2018 when the X26 and X26C were discontinued, and no more batteries are available from the factory. So spend the 1200 on a new X26P, or the Bolt if you want to continue to be able to use a Taser.
@@briand9027 ooooh you mean removing the battery pack from the taser unit? no, that's not in the video. it drops out of the bottom of the hand grip like removing a magazine from a handgun. this video is how to access the cells inside the battery pack, hence the name "Battery Tear-down" and not "battery removal".
@@briand9027 Your a fucking idiot 😂 it's simple you can figure it out with just looking at the taser for less then a second. If you can't figure that out you shouldn't be using one
Thank you for making this video. My X26 battery was 10 years old and wouldn't make a spark any more (although the laser and display would still come on), so I ordered a new one. You're right - it's expensive! So I decided to take the old battery pack apart, and found your video. I bought a couple of CR123 batteries before I did it, and put on a hopeful face.
I discovered an easier way to pop the top off of the battery pack. Slide a small screwdriver, angled downward, into the pack at the bottom of that notch cutout, then pry upward. The top looks to be held on with superglue, so you will have to break it loose in several places. Some of the breaks might not be exact, so you may have to shave off some broken plastic pieces before you can get the batteries out and new ones back in.
The metal "straps" that bridge across the bottom of the batteries and connect the tops of the batteries to the circuit board are spot-welded on. I pulled them off with a pair of hemostats. They are somewhat delicate, so I had to be careful. There's a white wire that runs from the bottom of the batteries up to the circuit board. It's soldered onto the bottom strap. I used electrical tape to bind the new batteries closely together, and then soldered the straps on. Removed the electrical tape, put some hot melt glue on the tops of the batteries, and slid the whole affair back into the battery pack case. Plugged the pack into the X26, turned it on the pulled the trigger, and got that great Taser spark again.
I have a Blackhawk holster for my Taser, which I like a lot better than the stock holster. If you put the Taser into the holster with no cartridge attached, it kind of rattles around. I had a couple of used cartridges, so I put one on the "muzzle" of the Taser and the other onto the bottom of the battery pack. Looking at the battery pack after that gave me an idea. The distance from the top of the battery pack to the bottom of the used cartridge is about 3 7/8 inches, which is the same as two AA batteries laid end to end. So it might be possible to use an old battery pack and a used cartridge to rig up a holder for four AA batteries to run the Taser.
Thanks again for making this video.
Hal Jordan great info! your input will definitely be helpful for others watching this. thanks for watching!
Yes, as I said in my post above, I plugged in the modified battery pack and the Taser was operational again. So if I had a dead X26 battery I would not hesitate to replace the CR123s inside rather than buying a new pack.
Be careful if you buy a new battery pack. When you plug it in, it will reprogram your Taser if the new battery pack has a different software version than the old one. You will know this is happening when you see the "P" on the Taser's display. If you unplug the pack while the "P" is still displayed, the programming won't be completed and it may mess up your Taser.
I know this because it happened to me. After I tested the old battery pack, I unplugged it and tried to plug in the new battery pack. The display showed a "P," and the laser didn't turn on when I flipped the safety off. That still might have been okay except that I couldn't push the battery pack in far enough for the release button to latch. So I pulled the pack out and looked at it and then pushed it back in. This time the Taser displayed an "E" and still wouldn't work. So I pulled out the new battery pack and put the old one back in, because I knew it was working. The display didn't show anything, and the Taser is completely dead now.
I checked the Axon website (new name for Taser International), and discovered that "P" means "Programming" and "E" means "Error" and that I wasn't supposed to do what I did. I went through the website's menus to return the Taser for reprogramming so it would work again, and found that it was going to cost me $1043.94 to get it fixed. I like my X26, but not enough to part with that kind of money.
The packaging for the new battery pack has instructions printed on the outside that might have solved this problem. But someone put an inventory sticker over the instructions so they were not readable. The support people for the company (Taser Self-Defense) have not responded to the email that I sent them a month ago. So be cautious when replacing an old Taser X26 battery pack.
Hey!
Me and a couple of my volunteers decided to check out the pulse's battery pack. It's "exactly" the same! Just a couple of CR123's (3V).
So we're gonna try the DIY as well, even if it voids the warranty haha.
(Just letting y'all know)
Hal Jordan do you still have the taser?
You should make a new video on this
The chip inside the batteries contains computer software for the TASER itself. When they want to change something in the TASER like pulse rate or rear display, they put it on the chip inside the battery. When you buy a new battery it can update the software. Its really a neat way to force software updates. Imagine a department with 350 officers and they have to have everyone bring in the TASER, plug it into a PC and have the armorer update the software manually, twice a year. Nice video though. I've pulled apart a taser but never the battery.
Taser should it USB rechargeable.
How would AXON make it's money? They wouldn't be able to change the battery housing and discontinue older ones so you can't use them anymore. No new batteries for the model in the video have been made since sometime in late 2018.
They make their money on cameras and software, not tasers.
Nice. That’s how they rip government and tax payer money off. Most police departments will not allow officers to do the diy. Thanks for the video
Thanks for posting this. If Taser ever went out of business, at least you can mod your battery packs. But your still up the creak when it comes to the cartridges. But I don't think Taser is going out of business anytime soon.
It makes sense why they don't make these babies rechargeable to keep them topped off. $$$, unfortunately. Yeah! I was curious to see what powered them too. older units just used 6-1.5v AA batteries. Bulkier, added weight, slower swap out time.
I would imagine that with the Taser X26 using less power, the older unit would cost you more in batteries depending on use of course. But in any event, thankfully the Taser X26 batteries last a long time if you only test the unit when you should.
Oh, random thought. cr123 is the model battery cell used here. the li-ion rechargable equivalent is the 16340 if you were curious. slightly higher voltage but lower capacity. i don't recommend swapping them in...but in theory(assuming it has voltage regulation), they would work. slightly higher input voltage may do nothing different if regulated, or it may make the circuitry run quicker. i'm no electronical pixie wrangler on the engineering level at taser though.
Good to know. I don't know if you know, but there's a company called PhaZZer that sells a unit that uses Taser cartridges and it has a rechargeable battery pack. The PhaZZer cartridges may be even cheaper than my Taser green cartridges.
The life of my battery was only 27% and despite operating the laser pointer and the LED light did not generate arc spark.
I changed the batteries for new ones and to my surprise even though the battery level returned to generate sparkle, it is still at 27%.
Surely it is a memory of the old battery and when it reaches 0 it will continue to run out.
What do you think?
Faulty circuit?
More than likely it has something to do with the memory board of the taser, each battery has some sort of programming with ID numbers that transfer over to the taser when it gets inserted, so changing the batteries will recharge it but the memory will remain the same, unless of course you do what I do and live with the E2 error on the screen
I wonder if I can jerry rig something that will fit those oLight CR123's that have micro USB slots...or maybe someone can 3d print a battery holder.
CheriferMedia I’m working on a 3D printed version right now actually
Forged Concepts how’s the 3D printing coming?
Following very Interested
@@GluedBarstool must not have come out so well... lol
@@YZFoFittie decided against it because they started selling the x26 batteries again after briefly not selling them. I do make x3 batteries as you can’t get those. No point in me making a battery that is still bought for $39. So you can be a smart ass elsewhere 🤣.
Are they rechargeable?
have you tried replacing those batteries and seeing if the taser works if you do?
Nope, this was donated to me for a tear-down video. It would work but on
a legal level, I would not personally do it. Any modification to
something meant for self defense(including firearms where I live) is
very frowned upon, especially if used and you're on trial for using it.
If you replace the batteries and the unit somehow functions any
different than the factory intended, your ass would have a flame under
it if used in a defensive situation, regardless of the outcome
Do you think it possible to change those batteries to new ones? If so, was that hot glue holding the inner components together?
@@pmcgns10 yes and yes. If you have a dead one, open it up. What's the worst that can happen?
Hot glue may make a mess if you try to replace the cells a 2nd time.
This is very good information to have. Especially since TASER (AXON) has sometime in late 2018 discontinued the X26C and stopped production of power modules. Once dealers and wholesalers run out of them, you will have a thousand dollar paperweight since the newer X26P uses a different housing that won't fit into the X26C.
Makes me want to find one of the 90s Air Tasers that used two 9 volt batteries in the grip.
The air taser was under powered. I do know a place that sells them if you want one though. I would look at Phazzer. They are more powerful than the X26 and WAY more powerful than the X26C (despite what they say, the X26C is much less powerful than the X26, the X26C is 17 pulses per second for the first 2 seconds, then 10 pulses per second for the rest, but the X26 is 19 pulses for second for the whole time.), and they are rechargeable, they can also use Taser’s cartridges.
@@cplinstructor what about the x26p? There is the original x26, x26c & x26p
@@cplinstructor what do you mean the X26 is rechargeable?
Kenneth Pollard
I did not say that Tazers were rechargeable, I said that Phazzers could be recharged.
Kenneth Pollard
It is more powerful than the X26P too, though not by as much.
I wonder what is the current drain is per firing.... because it would be considerably easier to replace if the drain is within the capacity of Lithium Thionyl Chloride cells.... as opposed to the Lithium Manganese Dioxide cells we are seeing here, Duracell DL123As, which you will almost never see or find spot welded as commercial off the shelf items.
Can i buy battery tabs and the white little wire and the soldering gun/wire and of course the same batterys to make my dead cartidges work again.?
Yes you can
thank you
+Yz250fTony what gauge of wire would you recommend to use to solder on the bottom of the battery pack to the top (meaning the little "white wire" thats soldered on and what kind of soldering wire would you recommend? plz help me out
22 to 26 gauge stranded copper. any thinner might (i said might) pose a noticeable resistance if the unit tries to draw a lot of current. i don't know what the current demands are. Most of my soldering is of wires in that range and i prefer to use 60/40 rosin core 22 gauge(0.032"). Mg Chemicals makes good soldering supplies.
+Yz250fTony thank you very much
Hi can you possibly help me? I'm looking for someone to refill my batteries and I'm willing to pay good money for good work
Anyone else notice that the duracell batteries said 2017 on them? looks like it was already done once.
Stanley Ho nope, these were donated to me by a police department. they never opened them, liability.
Your an idiot lol that's the expiration date
I have a x3 is there anyway to change the battery since I can't find a battery no where in the world
Blaack Hulk Smash!!! Slots I don't have any x3 cells but my educated guess is yes. open it up carefully and be careful poking metal tools inside. a short would be bad.
2 yrs late, forged concepts can help you with that.
@@stuartmacher6031 huh? That's a Dodge car website...lol
The guy that runs the site knows how to fix the X3 battery.
@@stuartmacher6031 fix? How?
I know this is a bit old but do you know anything about the taser pulse battery?
I do not
@Trump is a POS i bought a taser pulse+ 1 year ago, the power indicator never dropped to yellow, the battery shows full voltage on a meter. There's a circuit board inside of the battery pack, does this prevent you from changing the batteries in the pack?
I failed to mention the taser will not power on.
With the Taser Pulse+, you can replace the batteries by buying new CR123 batteries. You don’t have to purchase a whole new battery pack.
@@David-fp7yc turns out they have a bad product, 30 days is all you get. My pulse+ stopped working after 10 months. For $540 it should have last just a bit longer. Guess I'll be shooting people with a gun instead of a taser.
@@kennethterrell1167 Axon should have a 1 year warranty, if it has been 10 months they should replace it.
Hi guys. I need to new taser x3 battery.How can I obtain it?
do you have a brake down of the c-2 insides and how to get to them, have a c-2 with a hot battery, but wont fire help
Keith Woods not at the moment. if any are donated to me (like these were) I'd gladly make a tear down video. sorry man
what are those boards called?
the circuit boards?
Would these battery's work in a taser X26c ?..I've tried searching for a battery for my taser X26c and all I see is the ones for the X26 which I believe is for the police version?I'm not sure ,any help is much appreciated,I got this taser from a buddy of mines and I don't know Jack squat about tasers..the taser seems to work although I haven't tried a cartilage yet but I did try the taser without the cartilage and it works..but Everytime I turn it on,the lcd displays 00 which I guess it means the battery is low?
I honestly do not know. This one was from a police issue unit donated to me for the channel.
The X26 and X26c are the same taser. The only difference is the X26c fires for a 10 second cycle and the X26 fires for a 5 second cycle. The reason behind it is that the X26c is made for civilian defense so the 10 second cycle will allow the victim to flee the scene while the X26 simply allows officers time to gain control of an aggressive suspect. Long story short, the batteries are the exact same. The tasers just have a little bit different programming.
I have an x26 taser I need to take out the old Patty from the actual taser battery and easier way to do it
Can't recharge but shelf life last many years!!! At least 7yrs w/o shooting it but using flashlight often.
Your literally supposed to spark test it often to ensure proper functionality
Your paying for the updating technology that's in that board
Andy Mcmahan board cost a dollar to make, if that. paying for the name and the r&d. thing is, they're going to make more on batteries and accessories than the Taser units themselves.
Por que sedescarga las vaterias de la tasex26 sin usarla vaterias AA
ha ha crazy
Your also paying for the engineering to develop them,
Not really. The TASER was developed in the early 80s. It used a couple 9 volts then. The cartridges have been the same since at least the early 1990s with the Air Taser (R). These batteries have almost no engineering. A couple off the shelf Duracells in series. This in what was just over a thousand dollars US at full retail. And at the time they were released almost $50 for the power module. When they could have just had the grip hold two 123s at half the price even when overpaying. Internal batteries also would likely not have the problem my X26C is having with the battery module getting loose and not having working most of the time. And of course Taser... AXON actually wanted me to send a full MSRP deposit to fix it. I could get a new one for less , much less if I pay wholesale for it instead of retail. Or for the amount they wanted I could almost buy the X2 at retail.
Of course that would also mean that they couldn't change the battery housing in the X26P so people with the X26 or X26C have to buy new Tasers as of late 2018 when the X26 and X26C were discontinued, and no more batteries are available from the factory. So spend the 1200 on a new X26P, or the Bolt if you want to continue to be able to use a Taser.
So not showing us how to remove battery from the gun, huh?
Watch the entire video before commenting because I did show. Thanks for watching!
@@yz250ftony Nope, the video did not show you removing the battery from the taser
@@briand9027 ooooh you mean removing the battery pack from the taser unit? no, that's not in the video. it drops out of the bottom of the hand grip like removing a magazine from a handgun. this video is how to access the cells inside the battery pack, hence the name "Battery Tear-down" and not "battery removal".
There is a button on the grip to drop it thats like 101
@@briand9027 Your a fucking idiot 😂 it's simple you can figure it out with just looking at the taser for less then a second. If you can't figure that out you shouldn't be using one