Battery Base for Google Home Audio/Video Product Copper/Bronze (Loft Copper)

There are some great reviews here about how to get these working. Here is my summary, and the solution that worked for me. 1) These are old stock, and the batteries are completely drained...to the point that they are not recognized when you plug in this unit to charge. 2) Once you get them charging, they work great, and are definitely worth the $15 I paid in Aug. 2022. 3) The trick is to get _some_ power into _one_ of the batteries in the 4 battery array. 4) People either do this by buying a battery that is somewhat charged, or by charging a battery. 5) Once you have a battery with some juice in the mix, the rest will charge up and you're in business. You'll be surprised that there really are just 4 Blackberry NX1 batteries in here. Remove 4 screws under the rubber foot, and you'll see them. They pop right out, no problem. Most reviews mention ordering an NX1 battery from ebay, which I did. (I'm still waiting for it.) I got impatient, so I wondered about getting a bit of charge into a battery, and going from there. A quick youtube search of "charging a battery without a charger" brought a simple solution. See pics. 1) Cut and old USB charging cable (I used a mini-usb), and find the + (probably red) and - (probably black), and ignore the other colors. 2) Strip the wires, and tape them to the battery in the right locations. These batteries are marked + and -, so just tape red to +, and black to -. 3) Plug in, and monitor. These will generate some heat, so I didn't want to leave them plugged for long. 10 minutes is all I waited, and it must have been enough of a jumpstart. 4) Put the slightly-charged battery back in your speaker unit and plug it in. You should see the charging lights on the front start to do their biz. I then unplugged the unit, added the other 3 dead batteries back in, and blam...they all charged up. Screw the top back on, slide your speaker in, and "Ok Google, play Paul McCartney" to your hearts content while you're working in the yard. I tested the batts with a multimeter before and after to verify, and they were indeed getting power and charging up. After a few hours of charging, all 4 lights were filled, and I used (unplugged) it for a few hours with all 4 lights still strong. I may add a little loop of fabric to the plug for an easier pull so I don't eventually cause a short in the plug by wedging my sausage fingers in there to unplug it. Now I want a few more of these speakers so I can make more portables!

I plugged it into the same outlet and used the same cord that my Google Home Speaker used (and worked with), but nothing happened. No lights on the base or the Google Home Speaker. To test, I plugged my speaker back into its own cord and the speaker, cord, and outlet all work perfectly. Thinking this was a fluke, I returned the first one and got another one. The exact same issue. I am not getting a replacement for this and I am just shipping it back. If I can get 2 duds in a row, then I don't even want a working one at this point. This is a shame because this product is amazing to look at and is such an amazing idea, but this company needs a better quality product or at least a better QA system in place.

Frustrated by the lack of affordable battery-powered Google speakers, I decided to try this device despite the negative reviews. I've had several JBL Link speakers in the past, all of which have unfortunately failed. Replacing the internal batteries in those JBL speakers proved to be nearly impossible, even with online guides, and also doesn't fix the well known "clicking" problem those speakers seem to develop over time. While this battery base seems to require a bit of initial effort to get started, the fix is quite straightforward, and well worth it, and the first generation Google Home speakers are solid performers, and can be found at reasonable prices on the used market. As many other reviews have noted, these appear to be new-old-stock units with completely discharged internal batteries, rendering them non-functional due to a flawed charging design. However, you only need to apply a small charge to one of the internal batteries to revive the device. This does require opening the unit: first, carefully remove the rubber base (applying gentle heat from a hairdryer or space heater can soften the adhesive). Then, unscrew the four Phillips head screws holding the case together. Inside, you'll find four Blackberry NX1 batteries. Note their orientation during removal, as the top battery has a rubber bumper, and the top two are installed in the opposite direction of the bottom two. To jumpstart the speaker, remove at least one battery and briefly apply a small voltage to its positive (+) and negative (-) terminals. Many suggest using a USB charging cable for this. I personally used an old cell phone battery and paper clips to connect the positive and negative contacts of the old battery to the corresponding contacts on the removed speaker battery. Once this is done, reinstall all the batteries, plug in your charging cable, and the unit should power on. Despite this initial step, the current clearance price makes this battery base an exceptional value. You simply couldn't buy the individual components to build this yourself for anywhere near the same cost. In fact, I'm so pleased with it that I've ordered a second one as a backup, anticipating the eventual failure of the batteries in this one. Having an extra unit provides me with four additional replacement batteries down the line. I'll also keep watching this in my Amazon cart, and may even order a third. Once this device was charged, I was able to use my google home unplugged for over 6 hours, with battery life left to spare. I am once again free to listen to music on my patio, even though there are no outlets available there.

I got the used - like new one for $13. It works great, charged it up for a few hours and had to do a little bit to get it going. Be sure to delete the speaker from your google home app, then add it back and you may have to turn off the speaker and back on. I got it going and can't believe I've gone years without adding this portability to my google home. My life is changed, this is a big deal. **update one day later** Haters are right, battery doesn't hold charge for more than a day, much less really, like maybe a few hours.

2025 update- Batteries are still an issue. The top 2 batteries were still charged, the bottom 2 were 0V. I charged up the cells with a power supply to wake them up. Installing in the pairs they came out in, it wouldn't charge. I ended up staggering one "good" one and one "bad" one and it's working like a charm. Even if you have to pay $10-15 on ebay for new batteries, this is an EXCELLENT value. Adding this to an existing speaker vs buying a new one saves literally hundreds of dollars. Sidenote, the fact that google stopped supporting Gen1 cast devices in groups should be illegal. The ewaste generated by a software decision is ridiculous. The 2 insignia battery powered speakers I have still physically work GREAT.

Would be 5 stars if the batteries would charge out of the box. I found out after returning the first on that I ordered that these are old stock and need a kick start to start charging. Lucky for me this was a replacement for one I bought many years ago and so it was an easy fix. I put one of the four batteries that were in the new one into the one I had that broke and let it charge for about an hour. After that, I put the one battery I took out of the new charging base back into the new charging base and it started charging. No problems after that and it has been working just fine.

The battery life is as advertised. It can last for several hours with a pretty decent charge. It looks nice, and i swear it does improve the sound quality a little bit. And you dont have to worry about it draining the battery when you not using it as you can simply turn it off and pack it up, but more on that later. The install was incredibly easy. Just twist off the old base and gently slide this one on. The existing power cable simply plugs into it. From there the google home gets its power from the battery. I havent noticed any issues like a degrading battery so im pretty sure that once its fully charged it simply passes through the power to the google home. This also makes for a pretty decent battery backup. Ive found that these devices will remember the alarms they are set for, even if they loose internet. Or at least ive been lucky in that regard. I wouldnt buy this exactly for that purpose. Instead the reason i bought it was to easily take into the bathroom or out on the patio. In both scenarios while there is an outlet, using it or having to move the power cable with it was just a chore making cheap bluetooth speakers the better options. Not anymore. Now i can just unplug the home and bring it in the bathroom with me or out onto the patio or porch. One decent feature is the ability to power it off. My most common place to use it is in the bathroom since i have Minis in other rooms for more basic stuff. But listening to music in the shower with it is quite nice. (Its not water proof, please dont take it into the shower. But ive had no issues with steam.) But once im done using it, i just need to hold down the power button and it simply powers off. This greatly extends the battery life and makes it so i can just leave it in the bathroom without charging for a week or more. And not having to worry about plugging it in when the bathroom outlets are already plenty limited is a huge plus to me. IMO, this is a must for any google home. It just makes the device far more versatile and useful. You wont regret getting this.

A real disappointment. It's the second one that I've got that did not charge. Return it for a refund. You shouldn't be selling these inferior products that don't work. You will not accept a return but you will give me a refund. These things must have been sitting on the shelves for years. The batteries are completely dead and cannot be recharged. The unit must be disassembled. Batteries must be taken out and recharged physically.

Hace completamente portátil la bocina Google home, excelente producto le dura muy bien la batería y estéticamente levanta mucho la bocina.

Unique and best product

Batterie qui ne charge pas du tout. Dommage, je connaissait déjà ce produit pour en avoir déjà eu, et comme c'est très pratique de pouvoir emporter google dans toutes les pièces de la maison, j'espérais en avoir retrouvé. Je retourne donc ce produit avec grand regret.

I'm so pleased with this battery base. It is super easy to use and the power lasts all day. Great for entertaining in the garden. The unit is metal and plastic which makes the speaker a little heavier and the build quality is quite robust. The only criticism of this product is that it is a little fiddly to plug in and remove the power cable - maybe a future model could have a charging base to drop the speaker onto. Other than that, it is a great investment.

No sirvio