14Sep/08246
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. |  |
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May 30th, 2011 - 11:15
kan je da klein veertje ook apart kopen ergens wandt het is gaan vliegen
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.
October 2nd, 2012 - 07:35
Cheers for the awesome explanation, spot on
fyi for those who didn’t know, the case screws on mine required a torx t5 screwdriver.
May 30th, 2011 - 11:19
kan je dat veertje los kopen ergens? wandt is gaan vliegen
June 9th, 2011 - 08:27
have you ever changed a transmitter battery?
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.
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)
August 3rd, 2011 - 13:48
Thanks. Worked like a charm.
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.
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.
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.
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
September 26th, 2011 - 23:09
Worked like a charm. Thanks a bunch!
October 25th, 2011 - 22:59
Thanks heaps, small spring is a bother if it flies off and lands god knows where- be carefull everyone
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
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…..
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!
November 6th, 2011 - 16:02
Good guide! Change the battery in 10 minutes. Worked fine after, thnx.
December 5th, 2011 - 12:16
Thanks Tim for the reassuring and clear instructions. No problem in changing battery myself (in Polar F6).
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.
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
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…?!?
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…
May 19th, 2012 - 08:28
Good afternoon, I have changed the batteries and now I have the same problem, no heart rate over 10cm distance from transmitter, any news on this?
Thanks a lot
Angelo
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.
December 27th, 2011 - 05:01
thank you:D
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!
January 13th, 2012 - 09:27
brilliant thank you.you saved me the cost of a new unit £70.00 thank you
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
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.
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 $75 they require as a pre-approval on your credit card. WOW it’s crazy how people will just take your money…… so thank you, thank you!!
February 10th, 2012 - 10:00
I saved a great deal of money by using this website to change my battery!
The battery popped out and the changing was easy….THANK YOU!
Doug
February 11th, 2012 - 01:07
Great directions. Little nervous about applying too much pressure to release the clip, but it came up nicely and snapped right back into place after inserting the battery. Thanks alot!
February 17th, 2012 - 08:29
The instructions for Step 3 come up pretty wanting. This is where the entire affair can go sideways if you’re not careful about how to pry the metal latch off. The metal latch needs to be CAREFULLY lifted back (away from the battery) and NOT up. A study needle or pin, is a better tool than the mini screwdriver.
Bigger pictures would certainly help here as well.
March 21st, 2012 - 16:07
First time I sent it, cost more than an new one in ALDI. This time I found your instruction, it worked perfectly. Thanks for your great posting!
March 30th, 2012 - 10:40
Great help to change the batterie for my Polar.
Thnx…
@jason helander
Clicking on the picture enlarged it…
April 1st, 2012 - 10:13
Thanks for the help. Saved me 30-40$ and will probably help my sister with hers.
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
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?
August 14th, 2012 - 16:42
I’m having similar problems…. the lower half of the screen is dim. Were you able to find a solution?
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
May 4th, 2012 - 08:33
Hey dude, thanks for the instructions! Photos helped a lot!
May 21st, 2012 - 21:49
Thank You for this info. I followed your directions and I changed the battery in less than 5 min without having to pay $$ or having to wait for it for two weeks. Seriously Thank You Again,
Mary:)
May 31st, 2012 - 05:30
Thanks for the instructions! Photos helped a lot…!!!!
June 5th, 2012 - 21:11
Dang. I successfully changed the battery but my hrm is still dead. Guess it wasn’t the battery.
Thanks for the directions, though.
June 6th, 2012 - 08:30
Thanks mate! Saved me some cash
June 7th, 2012 - 01:16
HI.
I have replaced the battery and the battery was dead within 24 hours.
Have replaced it again and it was dead within 24 Hours.
How does the bracket with hook fit in?
October 22nd, 2012 - 22:45
I had a battery replaced by Polar a while back, and the watch also died in a short period of time. Needless to say, I was not impressed. After returning to Polar, the problem was in the back cover (that you remove to open the watch) In the cover is the buzzer, and mine had low resistance, leading to the battery drain. So the cover was replaced and the watch now has a new serial number! Maybe your watch suffers from the same problem. Does the watch work without the back cover on? That might confirm a similar issue to mine.
July 26th, 2012 - 11:00
Großartig…… über 20 € gespart
Die Schrauben müssen nicht angeballert werden…..
Zur Nachahmung empfohlen !!!
August 10th, 2012 - 21:18
That worked great! I had the battery in backwards at first so it wasn’t working at all. Then I turned it over! Yay! Thank you!
August 22nd, 2012 - 20:39
As I was removing the unit from my F11 Polar watch to replace the battery, a small clip with two tangs sticking up ( I’m Assuming ) fell off,and for the life of me I have no Idea where it goes, have you and advice.
I did notice the watch isn’t lighting up..could this be a electrical connection ? Frustrated.. Jim
September 13th, 2012 - 21:57
My watch is an F6 and looks identical internally, to the F11. Wish I had found this web site before the other one I clicked on first. It said for me to “pry” the battery clip up with a small screwdriver, which I did. Unfortunately, doing so broke the clip retaining tips and now the clip will not reseat fully. That is not a problem since the case holds the clip against the battery when reattached.
Had I come to this site first, I would have seen the way to insert the screwdriver and unloosen the clip. Oh well, the watch works OK now. Not so sure about the transmitter battery. I’ve had the watch for 2.5 years and the watch frequently loses connection with the transmitter. I only use it @5 hours a week, so at 52 (weeks) x 2.5 (years) x 5 (hours a week) = 650 hours and the battery (according to the owners manual) is supposed to last 2500 hours! Not to good service, if it is the transmitter battery.
@James Carlisi-the small clip, with two tangs sticking up should be what holds the battery in place and provides the negative connection for the battery. Without it, the battery cannot connect to the watch. On my watch (an F6), that clip is attached to the mainframe of metal surrounding the watch and should not come off, unless broken off on purpose or bent back too far when removing the battery. When the clip is released, it bends upward to allow the battery to come out and reseated after the new battery is inserted.
September 24th, 2012 - 23:49
Trying to change the battery in the F11. Can not find a screwdriver or hex to take the screws out. Is there a certain size or kind to remove the 4 screws?
October 16th, 2012 - 07:01
@Lisa-the type of screwdriver is a T-6 jewelers, which is a Torqs type of bit. Also, be careful when reinserting the screws, not to strip them out. The case is plastic and cannot stand a lot of torque.
October 6th, 2012 - 15:35
Thanks for the instructions. I was afraid to open it up. It worked like a charm!
December 15th, 2012 - 08:04
Thank you, that was really easy
December 27th, 2012 - 17:25
Just replaced my Polar F6 battery with these instructions. It was a snap! After removing the back cover, I left the unit inside the watch, and had no trouble with a spring falling out. Replaced the CR2032 battery and very carefully realigned the thin rubber gasket in its groove on the black plastic case before replacing the cover and screws. Luckily for me, my T31 chest strap still works, and now I will kick-start a lapsed fitness routine. If your T31 dies, consider replacing its battery too rather rather than buying a new one. I found this youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BugDnn5T-ok
February 8th, 2013 - 05:33
Hi, anyone know what type of screwdriver is needed for this? I’ve got a set of jeweller’s Phillip’s head screwdriver’s, but none of them fit as they are all 4 pointed like a cross. The screws on my Polar F11 seem to be 6 pointed like a star, but I can’t find a screwdriver small enough. Help!
February 8th, 2013 - 08:06
If there’s a dot in the middle of the star, it’s a security bit, those are kind of a pain to find. If there’s no dot, then it’s a Torx. You can go to an electronics store (radio shack?) or possibly even like a Sears and sift through their screwdrivers to find one that fits. I wouldn’t buy a kit or anything – nobody needs an assortment of tiny Torx screwdrivers. Let us know which bit/head it ends up being, it sounds like Polar switched.
You could easily order one online, but it’d be hard to gauge the right size w/o actually being able to try it.
February 19th, 2013 - 10:04
Another thankyou from the UK! Respect due!
Just to add for those still using F11 and reading this:
1) Be careful when taking the back off, as there is a very small contact spring which is pushing against the back plate from the inside. If this falls out it for you, it needs to be dropped back into the small hole with the gold contact at the bottom, just before you replace the back plate.
2) You don’t need to remove the main mechanism out of the case/strap. If you do it is fiddly to get back in
3) If you have taken the main mechanism out, you will find that there is a metal plate that fits between it and the front case/strap. When reassembling; the u-shaped metal strip on this plate should be at the top
4) Make sure you put the battery in the right way. The WRITING on the battery SHOULD FACE the FRONT of the WATCH. If you can read the writing on the battery after you’ve put it in, it’s the wrong way round.
5) I found that where the small contact spring touches the inside of the back plate was corroded (obviously bad for electrical conductivity). I very delicately cleaned it off with some fine wire wool, making sure not to damage the surrounding white insulation.
My watch was now as good as new.
Hope these additions are helpful to someone.
Thanks again to the original poster!!!
February 25th, 2013 - 18:37
Thanks Martin and the OP. I have the same problem as others. I took it apart and put it back together. Watch works BUT only gets a heartbeat when I put it right up against the strap. As soon as it’s a couple of inches away it loses the signal. With the latest activity on this post I was hoping someone had an answer. Made sure the spring was in the hole with the gold contact and thanks to Martin confirmed the bracket is facing the right way.
I already bought a replacement watch as I gave up hope but it’s a side obsession now as to why it won’t work and I occasionally look for answers.
Thanks all.
May 17th, 2013 - 14:36
Thanks, your directions were spot on. I would just add, to pay attention to the correct battery installment.