Norelco Shaver Battery – How to Replace Your Norelco Shaver Battery

Replacing a Norelco shaver battery is no easy task. With over 9 million units sold worldwide, the Phillips Norelco shaver is probably the best brand of shaver made today, but it’s both hard to find a good quality replacement Norelco shaver battery and it’s also hard to fit. – The Norelco shaver was built to be waterproof , so Norelco made all the connections inside watertight so the old battery needs to be de-soldered from the main board and the new battery needs to be soldered back to the board. Having said that, the inside of the shaver cannot get water in it, but the battery connections can rust even if the tiniest amount of moisture gets inside, so they didn’t take the risk and just soldered the joints, making battery replacement difficult.

Norelco stopped making a replacement battery under their own brand in 2005, so other OEM batteries are available that will fit – but often the OEM quality is poor and the replacement batteries do not achieve the performance that the original Norelco battery did. The replacement of this battery is not an easy task, as it involves using a soldering iron, so when you make the battery switch, you really only want to do this once every few years- thus the need for the best quality battery cell.

Official Norelco Response To Replacing Your Norelco Shaver Battery

To protect themselves from lawsuits and provide their dealers with work, Norelco states that you must take your Norelco shaver to an authorized dealer who will replace the battery for you. We went to the official dealer in New York City and they charged $68.22 +Tax = $73.84, which clearly is ludicrous because this Norelco shaver can be bought for around $50.00 brand new. What Norelco is really saying is that all their battery shavers should be thrown in the trash when the battery is dead, which is clearly an environmental hazard and a corporate mistake. With a little bit of focus you can change the battery in Norelco shavers, but it will violate the warranty on the product, but as the product isn’t working anyway, there is no loss for the owner. The bottom line is that Norelco should have made it easier to change the battery in the first place, a little bit of an improved design would have meant that the Norelco shaver can live for years – but is bad news for them as they are trying to sell you a new shaver every time the battery dies. The Norelco shaver battery should last 5 years.

Norelco ShaverOEM Batteries Can Be Disappointing

The OEM batteries available on the market that will fit the Norelco shaver are sadly using 1980’s technology, IE they are NICad batteries, it seems that it would be a lot smarter to replace the standard NiCad battery with a NiMH battery or even Lithium – Unfortunately, no aftermarket OEM manufacturer makes a battery that will fit the Norelco shaver and it appears that Norelco have designed the circuitry of the shaver to only handle the charging pattern of a NiCD battery, unconfirmed rumors abound that the shaver will actually explode if your try to retrofit a NiMH and Lithium battery cell in this shaver. Even more progressive thinking would be a battery replacement that did away with the soldering forever, by replacing it with a connector that allowed you to replace the battery in the future without using a soldering iron, again no manufacturer has yet created this retrofit product which is an awful shame.

Norelco Shaver Battery Specifications:

The NiCd Battery pack comes with solder tabs that must be soldered into position using a fine point soldering gun .
The battery pack is comprised of two batteries connected together as pictured. The battery pack is actually two batteries connected together as pictured below .Each individual battery is 1 7/8″ long and 9/16″ diameter. Most batteries on the market are unbranded, which usually means that they are the standard 600mah battery that doesn’t’ have much lasting power. Our battery is a far superior to the 600mAH by coming in at 800mAH, but it still suffers from the memory and degradation that all NiCD batteries have, so it will run well for a couple of years is you look after it.

Compatible Norelco Shaver Model Numbers

This nickel-cadmium battery (commonly abbreviated to NiCd or NiCad) OEM battery pack will fit most models including Norelco 5601X 3865XL 7864XL 7886XL 8865XL 7885XL HQ8865 7865XL 8883XL 7735X 7737X 7775X 7866XL 7867XL 8867XL 400DX 6716X 6711X 6709X 6706X 6705X 6701X 605RX 650TX 665RX 825RX 835RX 875RX 905RX 955RX 965PE 965RX 968RX 885RX 915RX 935RX 945RX 985RX 300SX 4805XL 4845XL 4865XL 4853XL 4852XL 4817XL 4816XL 5825XL 5845XL 5848XL 5865XL 5885XL 5867XL 5864XL 5863XL 5862XL 4807XL 4625X 5849XL 5855XLD 5842XL 8845XL 8825XL 3805XL 5886XL 7845XL 7825XL 4825XL 6735A 6735A/X 6756X 6756X/A 6863XL 5602X 5602XL 6885XL 6865XL 6846XL 6826XL 6828XL 6829XL 5861XL 5841XL 5821XL 5801XL 5801XL 5841XL 5861XL 6826XL 6885XL 6887XL 6886XLD 6867XL 6866XL 6848XL 5802XL 5817XL 5842XL 5855XLD 5842XL 5822XL 5887XL 6886XL 4821XL 4821XL/A 5603X 5864XL 6885XL 3801XL 5863XL 5864XL 5867XL 7616X 7617X 8846XL 5616X 5615X 5655A 5655A/X 5565X/B 5565X T990

It also fits Norelco models: 605, 650, 825, 835, 875, 885, 905, 915, 955 Fits models 985, 965, 5865, 5885, 5887, etc.
The battery also fits the above model numbers ending in RX

This battery pack will last a couple of years of heavy shaver use and then you have to go through the whole rigmarole again, but it’s the best quality that we could get from a manufacturer, still far superior to competition, but still not good enough we know.

Using “Single A” Batteries instead of AA as Your Norelco Shaver Battery

Yes, there is such a thing as a “Single A” Battery and it’s a little bit larger, but if you dump the battery tray you can use 2 of this slightly larger battery, which will actually last a lot longer – They make the “single A” Battery in up to 1700 mah, which means nearly 3 times the amount of power than the original or replacement battery.
The install is even trickier than the AA replacement battery install, but it’s well worth it if you have the time and patience – It really will supercharge you Norelco shaver – let’s be clear, the shaver will still operate at normal speed, but the battery juice will last up to 3 times longer than when your Norelco shaver was new.

Here’s a YouTube video on the right on how to do it. Suggest full screen so you can see the intricacies of the install. Shouldn’t someone actually be doing this for a job, seems to me that a lot of people would pay for it.

Making the NiCd Shaver Battery Last

Some tips on making this (and any other NiCd battery) last longer is to not charge it until its empty, don’t overcharge it – i.e. keep the shaver on the charger, don’t shave while plugged in (unless the shaver is completely flat of course) and perform a full discharge and recharge once-a-month. The NiCd technology is ridiculously bad, but if you want the battery to last you have to jump through these hoops to keep it alive before its time for anther solder operation.

Frank Roberts

A ten year veteran of remote tech writing, Frank hasn't set foot in an office for over two years. He misses the human connection, but is thankful that he doesn't have to put up with the distractions any longer. Specializing in wired/wireless tech and mobile software, Frank has written about everything from the iPhone7 to the Timex Sinclair z81/1000. This stiff is always interesting, never boring and the writing isn't bad either.