How to replace the battery in a Polar F11 Heart Rate Monitor (HRM)

14Sep/08222

How to replace the battery in a Polar F11 Heart Rate Monitor (HRM)

Disclaimer: The user manual for the Polar F11 clearly states to take the HRM to a Polar dealer and have them replace the battery - taking the back off could void your warranty. If you wish to be 100% sure that you maintain the water-resistant seal and do not want to void your warranty - or risk breaking your HRM (certainly a possibility when you take it apart...), take the unit to an authorized Polar dealer and have them replace the battery.

Step 1: Remove the back cover (4 little screws - make sure you have the right size screwdriver or you'll strip them out). Also note that the back has a water-resistant seal - keep this clean and remember that there is always a chance that the seal may be damaged if you do this yourself.
Step 2: Remove the internal unit from the watch casing (it just pulls out).
Step 3: Get something to pry the battery latch tab with (I used another small screwdriver)
Step 4: Take whatever you used to pry the latch tab out with and use it to pry the battery up by placing the device (screwdriver in my case) in the notch above the latch (see picture).
Step 5: Go to Wal-Mart and purchase a new CR2032 watch battery (you may want to do this before hand... I didn't know what battery it used so I had to take it out first) - runs about $3.50.
Step 6: Put the battery back in and put everything back together.

Tagged as: f11, heart rate monitor, hrm, polar, polar f11 Leave a comment

Comments (222) Trackbacks (1) ( subscribe to comments on this post )

bart
May 30th, 2011 - 11:15

kan je da klein veertje ook apart kopen ergens wandt het is gaan vliegen

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- Mattie
  December 3rd, 2011 - 16:15
  
  I followed the above directions and presto. Worked like a charm without incident. I will now be replacing my own battery for my F11 receiver. Thank you. You saved me a ton of money. In the past I always sent the receiver in.
  
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bart
May 30th, 2011 - 11:19

kan je dat veertje los kopen ergens? wandt is gaan vliegen

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sharon & George
June 9th, 2011 - 08:27

have you ever changed a transmitter battery?

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- Tim
  June 9th, 2011 - 09:05
  
  yeah, if you have one of the cheaper (T31 style) molded case straps where there’s no battery door – just go buy a new one. You have to slice it open with a utility knife and it’s pretty much a disaster.
  
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Becca
July 9th, 2011 - 16:25

Thanks for the wonderful tutorial! I was able to easily change the battery your instructions are great! (My Polar CE0537 took a CR1632 battery) Thanks again, you made my life easier and $aved me the money on buying a new heart rate monitor :0)

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Jeff
August 3rd, 2011 - 13:48

Thanks. Worked like a charm.

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Andy
August 7th, 2011 - 05:27

instructions were spot on – did attempt to do without instruction but couldn’t figure out how to get the battery released! Thanks.

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Sherry
August 18th, 2011 - 18:43

Thanks! I used instructions for T31 watch. For the t31 there are 4 additional screws inside that have to be removed in order to access the 2032 battery. Also be careful the little spring stays in tact.

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funnyfreddie
August 29th, 2011 - 03:22

Thanks for the good instructions. I paid a lot of money to return my watch to polar uk to get the battery changed just over a year ago.I still had 50% battery life showing on the old battery but when i went into exercise mode, the view disappeared. I found a pack of new 2032 batteries for a pound in the local pound shop. Changed the battery for first time this morning. On my watch I did find a) the screws needed to go back in same holes, they didn’t sit right (tighten the cover plate correctly) if i didn’t put them back in the right place-strange but true and most importantly b) after opening the top cover plate, there was no waterproof seal and where the screws mount, only 1 small rubber ‘O’ ring under one screw hole. Bearing in mind this is how the watch was returned to me from Polar service and the cost I paid, I am not too impressed with Polar service uk.

Thanks to your photos, I will now be doing it myself.

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Paul
September 13th, 2011 - 06:30

Took it apart before I read this. Looked inside and thought “no way”. Your photos were spot on. Saved a fortune.

Many thanks

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Tom
September 26th, 2011 - 23:09

Worked like a charm. Thanks a bunch!

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ron
October 25th, 2011 - 22:59

Thanks heaps, small spring is a bother if it flies off and lands god knows where- be carefull everyone

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- Bob T
  December 8th, 2011 - 18:09
  
  So, where does the spring go (now that I have it disassembled and didn’t see where it was while taking the watch apart)?
  
  My model is called the Polar Target…
  
  Tia – Bob
  
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yolanda
October 29th, 2011 - 08:55

Thanks a bunch, I was a little nervous because the battery cover would not come off that easy but it finallly came off, works great now…..

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Dave
November 3rd, 2011 - 10:23

Hi – Just curious, as one site listed that some “recalibration” might be required after putting in the new battery. Did you notice anything or did it work the same as before without any trouble?

Thank you!

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Kare
November 6th, 2011 - 16:02

Good guide! Change the battery in 10 minutes. Worked fine after, thnx.

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brian
December 5th, 2011 - 12:16

Thanks Tim for the reassuring and clear instructions. No problem in changing battery myself (in Polar F6).

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chris
December 15th, 2011 - 18:23

Hi,

I have just changed battery to my polar F6.
The problem is that it does not show any heart rate!
When i approach (about 10cm) the watch near the transmitter then it shows the correct heart rate. However, when i keep away from the transmitter then the watch shows no heart rate.

Do you have any idea about this problem?

Thank you in advance.

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- john
  January 13th, 2012 - 15:46
  
  did you ever find out why your heart rate monitor gave you no reading from a distance because mine is doing the same thing
  
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  - chris
    January 20th, 2012 - 17:39
    
    No…unfortunately i could not manage to solve the above problem…
    The watch shows my heart rate just only it is near the transmitter….when i keep it away from the transmitter it shows no heart rate…!!
    I sent it to the local service and they said that they must change the whole watch-mechanism….cost of about 80 $…..!!!!
    Of course i denied this….and i hope that someone from you may have some idea for my problem.
    I wonder may be there is some kind of synch the watch with the transmitter..?!?
    or is there any hard reset of the watch…?!?
    
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    - Mark
      January 26th, 2012 - 23:03
      
      Had a similar experience. Since the battery on the watch was dying, I bought a replacement battery and figured I’d do it myself. Certainly didn’t look difficult. I believe my first mistake was in taking the internals out of the case. I don’t recall doing it intentionally, but I do recall them coming out. After replacing the battery, put everything back in and it appeared fine. Since the strap appeared to be giving a faint signal, I figured the battery on the strap was going as well, so I bought a new T31 coded strap. Nope. Same result. So, either my new strap is a dud (possible but not likely) or the internal antennae on the watch got damaged (more likely). Either way, it appears that I no longer have a functional HRM. While the unit had flaws, I hadn’t planned on replacing it yet. Guess I don’t have a choice now…
      
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Mike Goitein
December 18th, 2011 - 18:11

Thanks – Extremely helpful & insightful. Prying the back plate off was a bit dodgy, as was getting it back in, but overall, nothing the home hobbyist couldn’t handle. Cheers.

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agu35
December 27th, 2011 - 05:01

thank you:D

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Eric
January 11th, 2012 - 09:42

Nice guide! My HRM has been dead for a while and decided to try and change the battery myself after seeing what Polar wanted to charge to send it in. The only problem I had was getting the latch to lock back in place properly. I went ahead and put it together without it being locked down and it seems to be working fine. Guess I won’t have to pry it up next time!

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chris
January 13th, 2012 - 09:27

brilliant thank you.you saved me the cost of a new unit £70.00 thank you

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Wayne
January 19th, 2012 - 07:51

Thanks, great instructions that enabled me to complete the task within a few minutes. The replacement battery cost $4.95 so overall a cost saving of $115.05 from what I was quoted ($120.00) for Polar to do this job.

You just need to ensure you have a micro phillips screw driver and a micro flathead screw driver to enable cover to be removed and the old battery to be removed.

Thanks

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Scott
February 4th, 2012 - 21:44

Thank you so much for such brilliant notes and photos. This worked for the “polar fit” style as well.
You saved me from wrecking my watch, as well as repair bill.
It was good to have a 5/64″ flat head to get under the latch as well to flip it up.
Watch out that the waterproof seal dorse not get caught in the process of reassembling.
Thank you again.

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j9
February 7th, 2012 - 13:34

I can not thank you enough for this post. You just allowed me to replace my battery with a small eye glass screw driver we already had, and a replacement battery we also had on hand. Cost = $0 compared to the $40 I calculated just to send and replace to a polar service shop. That $40 is assuming they didn’t “find” any other problems and charge me the full $75 they require as a pre-approval on your credit card. WOW it’s crazy how people will just take your money…… so thank you, thank you!!

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Doug
February 10th, 2012 - 10:00

I saved a great deal of money by using this website to change my battery!
The battery popped out and the changing was easy….THANK YOU!
Doug

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Dave
February 11th, 2012 - 01:07

Great directions. Little nervous about applying too much pressure to release the clip, but it came up nicely and snapped right back into place after inserting the battery. Thanks alot!

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jason helander
February 17th, 2012 - 08:29

The instructions for Step 3 come up pretty wanting. This is where the entire affair can go sideways if you’re not careful about how to pry the metal latch off. The metal latch needs to be CAREFULLY lifted back (away from the battery) and NOT up. A study needle or pin, is a better tool than the mini screwdriver.

Bigger pictures would certainly help here as well.

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Erich Aregger
March 21st, 2012 - 16:07

First time I sent it, cost more than an new one in ALDI. This time I found your instruction, it worked perfectly. Thanks for your great posting!

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Goofy_OS2
March 30th, 2012 - 10:40

Great help to change the batterie for my Polar.
Thnx…

@jason helander
Clicking on the picture enlarged it…

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Thx4Help
April 1st, 2012 - 10:13

Thanks for the help. Saved me 30-40$ and will probably help my sister with hers.

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avremi
April 8th, 2012 - 06:28

after changing the battery i get error 16 message which does not allow me to do anything.
any ideas what i did wrong or how to fix this?
thank you
Avremi

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sarah
April 10th, 2012 - 13:28

I’ve done it, but the screen is so faint that I can hardly see it! I think I was a little clumsy with this delicate bit of kit – not done anything like this before. The battery is working though! Any clues about the screen?

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Lynne Broderick
April 25th, 2012 - 17:14

I followed the directions on how to replace the Polar Battery, and it worked like a dream. So easy. It certainly saved me some money doing it myself vs. bringing it to an authorized repair dealer. Thank you!

Lynne

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David
May 4th, 2012 - 08:33

Hey dude, thanks for the instructions! Photos helped a lot!

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