#18: "Disassembly" FengPods Classic (1562M).

April 29, 2021

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FengPods Classic v3m (Airoha 1562M / BT 5.2)

The second part of the photo review - the FengPods Classic model (the first part FengPods Pro is here). An overview of the functionality of the Pro and Classic versions will be published in the blog shortly.

Since I did not have the task of preserving the working capacity and appearance of the "guinea-pigs", I did not stand on ceremony and used a metal tool (knife, screwdriver) for parsing. In case of repairs, I strongly recommend using only a plastic tool - the materials are quite soft and any metal immediately leaves noticeable traces. The presented samples were assembled without glue, so disassembling the cases was not a problem (not all manufacturers assemble their headphones this way).

The Case of "Classic" model also consists of 4 main plastic parts: "body", "insert" (with electronic circuits), lid, "insert" of the lid. Magnets and "plummet" are installed in the appropriate places, with the help of which the weight of the replica is adjusted to the weight of the original. The hinge is completely metal, made and assembled very carefully, the metal is soft (I think silumin). All parts are securely fastened with latches along the perimeter of the connection (for disassembly, I recommend using plastic picks or strips of plastic from old credit cards):

The "Insert" of the case is assembled from several units: a wireless charging coil, a pcb with a control button, a pcb with electronic components, a flat cable with a Hall sensor, a battery (3.7V, 250mAh), a rectangular plummets and round magnets for fixing each earphone inside the case: Unlike the Pro version, in this model the plummets are most often fixed inside only with scotch tape (same way was used before). With this method of attachment, when the case falls, the plummets often fly off their seats and begin to "rattle" inside. Be careful, not to let the case fall. If this happened and bounce appeared, then it can be eliminated only by opening the case and fixing the plummets in their places.

"Classical" version is a little bit simpler inside but each Earphone is still a rather complex system assembled from micro-"units": a case, a cover, a speaker unit, a flat ribbon cable with an "in ear" sensor, a battery, a main pcb with a chip and components, a charging "tip":"

The Case and The Speaker unit: the headphone case consists of two parts - the cover and the "leg" (the cover was removed by simply pressing firmly on the joint with your fingers), inside the "leg" there is a small magnet for fixing the headphone in the case, on the back wall you can see a hole closed with a mesh. On the front wall of the cover there is a round hole for the "in ear" sensor, as well as an oval acoustic hole, closed with a mesh. Speaker unit (speaker 13mm) - a gray plastic "insert" with an acoustic hole and a rectangular seat for an "in ear" IR-sensor, the sensor is connected to the main board by a flat cable by soldering:

Battery (3.7V, 0.1295Wh = 35mAh, 9x3.5mm) - a standard metal "pill" is almost +60% more powerful than in the Pro version (there is only 22mAh)! You can expect a really significant increase in autonomy (declared 5-6 hours). I already recommended manufacturer to install the same in the Pro version:

The main board and the charging "tip": the board (Airoha 1562M chip) is located in the "leg" of the headphone; it was removed quite easily with just your fingers. Headphones are controlled by tapping. A plastic charging "tip" with two contacts is attached to the end of the board, between which the main "spoken" microphone is located on the board. There is no active noise cancellation (ANC) system in this model but a system for suppressing extraneous noise during a conversation is implemented:

These are all the main components. In my opinion, this version is more maintainable at home than the Pro version (there are no additional microphones, there are no connectors on the cable, everywhere the connection is only soldered). As in the Pro version, it is quite difficult to re-solder the main chip or other components without special equipment but it is not difficult to replace a battery that has degraded over time (well, if you are at least a little friends with a soldering iron).