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 1st, 2010 - 09:06
Hi Great site. I tried to change the battery but got a little careless and the whole assembly came apart. I have a small clip on part with what looks like 2 contacts or perhps it’s some kind of spring. Does anyone know where it fits the watch refuses to power up so it seems i may have to buy a new one.
Can anyone help Pictures would be very helpful
Thanks
June 1st, 2010 - 06:47
Dave, I’ve done exactly the same as you. Got a little metal spring and metal plate loose fromt he battery part of the casing and haven’t got a clue where they go back. I’m confident I can put it back together again but just need to know where these 2 tiny parts go. Did you have any luck your end? Can anyone else help? Thanks
June 1st, 2010 - 08:41
Dave- I’ve fixed my watch now with a little patience and thinking. I managed to work out where those pieces went and put it back together and its working perfectly. Let me know if you want guidance on where those two metal parts go.
June 3rd, 2010 - 18:28
I’m having the same problem, can you please tell me where the unusual shaped spring goes? Thanks
October 6th, 2010 - 16:17
Rosa,
If you look a the forth Picture down from the top (the one with the battery removed and off to the side), then you can actually see where the little funny shaped spring goes. It’s used to put pressure against the SIDE of the Battery. It clips onto the bottom on the plastic housing upside down.
Hope this helps.
June 7th, 2010 - 15:56
Mike -
I have the same problem, can you post a pic or description where that piece fits?
Thanks a million.
Vince
July 24th, 2010 - 15:54
Mike,
I pulled the whole assembly apart before I found this website. Now, as you describe, I have a small spring and a small metal piece that looks like it might provide 2 electrical contacts. I know it was at the side of the battery and it came out when I popped the battery out. Do you have a picture or description than can help me identify where and how these 2 peices (spring and metal piece) are re-inserted? Thanks.
September 26th, 2010 - 21:02
There’s a hole that the spring fits very neatly into. When you look down the hole, it’s gold in color. Hope it helps.
September 16th, 2010 - 13:43
Please Post where and how these are placed back.
May 11th, 2010 - 13:30
Best directions I’ve found anywhere and the pictures are very helpful, especially when you enlarge them. Note that the picture showing the battery to the right of the watch assembly may imply that the positive side goes up. When installed, the positive side goes down toward the watch face.
June 12th, 2010 - 19:51
Really you don’t have to take internal out as in step #2, just remove the battery.
June 13th, 2010 - 15:11
Just found this site after trying to change mine. Mine won’t power up and I don’t seem to have the spring that’s being mentioned??? Looks like I’ve killed it, is there anyway I can get a replacement spring?
September 5th, 2010 - 20:18
If you put the battery in upside down it won’t work. Ask me how I know. The teeny tiny spring is in one corner and rests against the small square pad that’s on the inside of the cover plate. You can see the mark on the pad.
June 30th, 2010 - 13:50
was so carefull taking this apart, got the spring and made sure that the back plate is contacting where the spring is, but can;t get it to work, gutted.n
September 5th, 2010 - 20:19
I got the same result until I took it apart and reversed the battery.
July 4th, 2010 - 13:07
Before I found these extremely helpful instructions, I took my F6 all apart, even removed the clipped metal frame to get to the layers underneath. I replaced the battery and put everything back together, including the spring, and the battery polarity is correct (i.e. Negative is facing up towards the back of the watch). Now, the watch is completely blank. Since the old battery wasn’t completely dead, I even tried putting that one back in but the screen is still completely blank. Anyone have any ideas???
July 20th, 2010 - 09:06
Did you every figure this out? I am having the same problem. The display worked for a split second, then blank.
March 18th, 2013 - 19:55
Um- was looking here for help with the same situation… My husband was trying to change the battery in his Polar watch but the display stayed blank. After reading the original post to him, we realized he was putting the original, dead battery in the watch…he assumed the battery on the counter was a replacement I must have bought over the weekend. D’oh! :-/
July 11th, 2010 - 21:40
This was very heplful. Even going to Walmart for the batteries!
Thanks
July 18th, 2010 - 16:43
Thanks, this is super helpful! The watch repair I took it to wanted to charge me $38 b/c it requires a “special battery”…considering I paid $90 8 years ago for my Polar F4, that seemed steep. I ended up paying $5 for the battery at Radio Shack for the battery and changing it using these directions in about 10 minutes.
July 24th, 2010 - 14:00
Can someone tell me where that little metal piece goes? i also had the same problem of the tiny spring and the little metal piece falling out. I know where the spring goes, but not the other piece…help! Please!
September 13th, 2010 - 16:57
if you look at the pics real close Rene you will see the clip in its proper location across from the battery lock down.
December 29th, 2010 - 17:24
The small tab on the little metal piece that is on the side of the battery must go into the tiny plastic slot that holds it. I did not initially see the slot and just clipped it onto the plastic. I had a couple of different symptoms when it was only clipped on. The first was a totally blank screen, the second was half of the screen flashing and the third was the watch coming on but fading after only a few seconds. There is a floppy metal contact that made contact with the metal piece and caused these issues, and drained a battery. Thanks to all the posts here and the excellent pictures my watch and I are up and running again!
July 29th, 2010 - 08:25
Thanks this saved me both time and $$’s and since mine was out of warranty then Polar’s warnings were moot. FYI to anyone doing this you don’t lose your presets and fitness values when changing the battery. It really is as easy as the directions point out and don’t forget to add just a ‘touch’ of lube to the O ring to help renew the waterproofness and it is just a ‘touch’ (amount is equal to the head of a pin)
August 1st, 2010 - 09:30
Kevin, could you tell me what kind of “lube” for me to use to get it water-tight again? My F11 is about 2 yrs old now, and seems the waterproofing ability “died” 2 months ago. I got some moisture (water?) underneath my F11 crystal from swimming in my pool and it took well over 2 wks to dry it out again. Now, my battery is almost dead.
And, also, where is the O-ring you mentioned? Do you think the “lube” will solve my moisture problem??
August 1st, 2010 - 04:03
Hi good advises so far. Ihave a different problem. After batterie change the clock works fine. But next morning the batterie was empty again. I thougt that it might be an old batterie, so I repaeted the batterie change. Still clock works fine all funktion, good contrast,… Next morning same result. Any Ideas?
Regards Burkhard
March 30th, 2011 - 07:50
I, too, have this problem. Did you figure it out?
August 1st, 2010 - 11:44
Hi Guys! A little tip. Whenever I am taking something apart that has a tendency to have lose little parts I take pictures with my camera. Then I have something to refer to, and when I’m done I just delete the pictures.
August 21st, 2010 - 09:09
These instructions worked great. Picture helped enormously especially the one showing how to disengage the battery “strap”. That had me buffaloed. All is back together and working well
August 30th, 2010 - 09:11
The pictures helped enormously. Thank´s.
One question: If the the numbers are not good to see on one side of the display, can I do something against this?
September 13th, 2010 - 16:54
Thanks for the directions!! Per my usual routine, I did the dismantle before I read ANY type of direction, lol. The only thing I was not quite sure of upon the rebuild, was the location of the little battery clip. Your pic fixed that right up, thanks!
September 15th, 2010 - 09:19
I have done this and it worked great for a few days… now my screen goes blank every workout. The watch is still functioning, just cant see. I have to wrap the watch a few times to get the screen back. Anyone else experience this and have a solution?
September 16th, 2010 - 14:55
Changed the battery. Light comes on, but the screen stays blank. Held down all button for over 20 seconds, still display stays blank. Should I buy another one?
September 17th, 2010 - 06:55
Del, sounds like we are having the same issue. Have you tried wrapping the watch against something? Giving it a goo knock? I usually could get my screen on after a few good knocks… but got reallly annoyed with it because I was having to pause my workouts to get my screen back on. Still think it’s an issue of the contacts.
September 18th, 2010 - 13:39
I’ve tried that. Didn’t work. I had changed the battery and now it won’t start up. I am going to clean everything with alcohol and see if that helps. Will post if that works. It’s probably dead and I will have to buy another one. The F6 is no longer made and I will probably replace it with an FT7 or an RS200. Not sure yet. Dang it!
September 28th, 2010 - 10:05
Cleaned it with alcohol. Spring in right place, Battery Clip in. Nothing. Only get a full screen display when press the LIGHT button. I suppose it is fried. Bought a FT60. 8-(
September 23rd, 2010 - 07:06
worked perfectly for my polar f6 as well
thanks
September 26th, 2010 - 10:35
Thanks for this, it saved me a lot of money.
October 11th, 2010 - 16:31
GREAT SITE! I took mine to the jewelry counter and when we got the back off … they sent me over to the watch repair shop. I left it with them, and when I got back they told me my watch wouldn’t work–even with a new battery. I said that was odd since it was working a few minutes before I tried to get the battery replaced (only dim). As it turns out, after reading your site–they had the battery in backwards too–it is opposite of what you would think. Thanks so much (I was on the verge of tossing the whole thing).
October 19th, 2010 - 09:32
Thanks for the information. It worked perfectly. I was very careful as the other posts warned. That saved me money and 4 weeks of time if I sent this watch off to Polar to change a simple battery.
November 7th, 2010 - 20:43
After changing my battery in my F11 everything works fine except when using the sonic-link to transmit fitness data it doesn’t chirp anymore. Any ideas?
November 8th, 2010 - 04:57
Hope someone can help. my F11 battery keeps dying within a day. I changed the battery about two weeks ago. Everytime i put the new battery in the next day the watch is dead again, any ideas. Are these button batteries sensitive to touch, i have a little problem getting the catch on on the back easil, by the time this is locked in properly the watch has switched off and on a few times until i secure the back plate.
November 9th, 2010 - 03:42
Very handy. Instructions worked out well.
Small addition in dutch:
Batterij vervangen Polar F11
Het eind van het metalen bandje over de batterij zit achter een plastic lipje. Dit kun je loshalen (pry =”prikken”) door het voorzichtig met een kleine schroeverdraaier het eind van het metalen bandje naar beneden te drukken. Het bandje schiet dan los. Zorg voor goed licht, dat helpt. Verder erg eenvoudig. Ik had meer moeite met de schroefjes.
November 21st, 2010 - 11:46
Thanks for the help.. very simple and quick
November 23rd, 2010 - 11:28
Thanks for the help! Worked great!
November 28th, 2010 - 09:43
Thanks, i was very nervous but I did it.
November 30th, 2010 - 16:51
I followed these instructions, and when I put it all back together, the screen came back up, my settings remained, etc. But… the watch doesn’t receive heartbeat signal. I’ve checked transmitter(s) with other monitors and they’re fine. Sometimes I get a heartrate holding the watch against the transmitter, but it does away when I separate them. When I took out the battery, I also removed a metal plate with a cutout shaped like the screen that had a tab which rests against the side of the watchworks. I may have replaced this in the wrong direction, but swapping it around doesn’t seem to make a difference. Does anyone know whether the tab should be at the top or bottom of the screen?
December 13th, 2010 - 06:15
I’m wondering if your transmitter battery also needs replacing? This happened with mine. I replaced the battery in the monitor, with some difficulty – the battery retaining clip would not click back in place after I prised it off, so now the battery and clip are being held in place by the steel back of the monitor. But everything worked except I wasn’t picking up a heartbeat. So I also replaced the battery in the transmitter, and now it works perfectly. Note it is a different battery, CR2025 instead of CR2032. The transmitter battery is supposed to last longer than the monitor battery (2 years as opposed to 18 months), but you have to account for the time it was in stock in the store before you purchased it.
January 5th, 2011 - 22:09
Lee I just had the same problem with the transmiter. No signal unless the watch is held right on the transmitter. I too have tried the metal part with tab in several directions. I also replaced the battery in the transmitted with the correct number to no avail. Have you or anyone found a solution to this week transmitter problem.
January 31st, 2011 - 13:44
The exact thing just happened to me, I changed the battery and the transmiter battery and it wont work unless right next and in front of the transmiter. Very frusterating! Any solution would be nice! Kind of expencive to not work after changing a battery!
April 14th, 2011 - 17:07
I am having the same issue – were you able to get it to work? If so, how?
December 16th, 2011 - 14:27
I have the same problem!
Is there a solution please?
December 2nd, 2010 - 16:04
Very helpful instructions so thanks much. I was very hopeful, but no dice. I replaced it properly, no doubt. It powered up completely for about 30 seconds, then went blank. I took it apart and back together 6 times trying to get it to work, to no avail – same thing – brief power – then all blank. I used a brand new Duracell, positive side (writing) face down in the watch. I know others were having this issue, so if anyone has figured it out, please advise. someone was giving it a good knock on the wall. that hasnt helped either. oh well. was worth a shot.
December 11th, 2010 - 06:02
Excellent instructions and photos. Got it in minutes. Thank you so much!
December 21st, 2010 - 15:21
Thank you so much for the pictures and description. My F11 has been sitting in the shelf for a month and a half untill I saw you site. Two minute fix and the watch is running again, and now so should I.
Thanks!
January 14th, 2011 - 15:34
Thanks for the Great helpful stuff.
Great pictures… was able to follow and saved 35$.
January 16th, 2011 - 03:10
Hi !
I just did it like above description, but the monitor stay´s grey and I don´t know how to start the watch.
Can anybody help me please ?
Thanks in advance !
January 16th, 2011 - 16:07
After changing the battery following these instructions the watch turns on to what appears to be a display test. Then it switches to normal operation but the display is messed up. Got faint display and vertical lines. When I press ok the display reads locked (display still messed up). Has anybody experienced this. Any ideas as to what may be wrong? Thanks.
January 22nd, 2011 - 11:30
Thank you so much for such good instructions on changing the battery on the F11 watch. Went without any problems.
January 23rd, 2011 - 11:02
I did this today, unfortunately I found this page AFTERWARDS….I took the entire metal casing off and had a hell of a time getting it back into the plastic watch housing. Just pry off the little tab covering the battery, pop out the battery, slide the new one in and put the metal backing on. Simple
February 2nd, 2011 - 08:46
Worked very well for me! thanks a lot!
February 5th, 2011 - 20:46
Great pictures and directions! Worked perfectly, I appreciate the help!
February 5th, 2011 - 21:34
Contrast was too low so I decided to replace the battery… The operation went well but contrast remained the same… Any idea on how to adjust contrast in a F11?
February 26th, 2011 - 14:24
did you fix your problem? did you find out how to adjust the display?
February 24th, 2011 - 14:25
Thank you! This was very easy and saved me time and money – truly appreciated!!!
February 26th, 2011 - 14:24
I have the same problem that Juan, I replace the battery and I know the HRM works because it beeps, but I do not see anything in the display, any help on this problem? I have reset the HRM pressing the 5 buttons at the same time and it does reset but no display. Need some help
March 4th, 2011 - 20:03
Thanks! Worked perfectly! I’ve got an F6, and was able to change the battery without having to remove the internal unit.
March 14th, 2011 - 23:26
Worked like a charm! Thank you!
March 23rd, 2011 - 10:31
Great guide. Thank you. I’ve had my F11 for many years now and had always taken into a watch repair shop for battery replacement. The water seal failed on it recently — I didn’t need to replace the battery, but this guide helped me disassemble it and dry it out (use a can of compressed air that you can get from an office supply store — the kind they use to clean the insides of computers). The seal wasn’t visibly cracked so I re-lubed the O-ring with some silicone lube. The watch works again — haven’t tested water seal yet though.
March 27th, 2011 - 08:01
Thanks, instuctions were dead easy, and thats saying something from a technophobe like me!
April 6th, 2011 - 14:42
I put in the battery in the wrong direction. Happy to see that my watch now works again!
April 16th, 2011 - 18:22
Changed the battery in my f6 and the watch works great except for the heart rate picking up from the chest strap. Everything on the chest strap is clean and I am using water for the conduction. I can’t get it to work. aaargh
Can anyone help?
April 27th, 2011 - 12:41
Thanks!! This was very easy. Thanks for the great pictures and good instructions. Really helpful!
May 24th, 2011 - 12:03
I am so grateful for your post. Thank you so much!!