Apple Magic Keyboard 2 Battery Replacement

Facebook Marketplace is a great way to get some good stuff super cheap. Sellers are often not very honest or not knowledgable about the items they have which can make it a little tricky to navigate. Sometimes, they are both of those things and even if someone is attempting to rip you off you can still come out on top with a little technical knowledge. Recently I found a listing for this Apple Magic Keyboard (lighting port) combo listed for $35. Well, as you can see in the image below this combo still sells on Amazon for $120+ used. The items on marketplace even came with the original packaging. I was skeptical, but even if only one of the pair worked I was coming out on top so I offered $25 and got it. The whole exchange was weird.

I picked up the items and went straight home and put both on a charger for a while to see what I had. The mouse worked perfectly. The keyboard however, did not. One thing about the newer Apple Keyboards I can't stand is the absence of an indicator light to let you know that its on. I plugged the keyboard into my mac via lightning cable and forced connection. I watched it charge to about 50%, then unplugged it and nothing happened. Plugging it back in a second time I found the battery to read 0% even though I had just watched it charge, The battery was toast. I messaged the seller and asked if they had known the keyboard wouldn't hold a charge. They responded, saying they had just charged it the day before and used it with their iPhone and then proceeded to talk to me as if I knew nothing about this kind of thing. Obviously, they had not connected it to anything for a long while.

My next step was to search for repair guides and found this item is considered unserviceable. But I was able to find a replacement battery on amazon for about $20. What the hell, I'm already making out on the deal with just the mouse can't hurt to tear into the keyboard and see what I can do. 

I used a thin screen opening tool I think I bought on iFixit a few years ago to gently work my way in and between the back plate and the rubber inside. Gently work your way around the edges and be mindful of the area around the switch. I found that I could start at the space bar and slide the tool in all the way and once the tape in the bottom half of the keyboard was fairly well loosened I could gently pry the back the rest of the way be gentle enough not to bend or break anything.

With the back off now, I used a medicine dropper to squirt some 99% isopropyl alcohol underneath the battery and let it sit for a few minutes.

Using an iFixit card I gently worked my way under the battery. It's important here to be careful. Don't use any metal or pointy tools that might puncture the battery. These things may look like nothing but its possible for these batteries to burst into flames and burn at a temp around 1300°F.

Once the battery is free, dry up the area with a cloth. Any residual liquid should dry up in the time it takes to clean up as much of the old glue strips that held the back in place as you can. This will allow the back to sit flush so it looks just as good as it did before you opened it.

Connect the new battery to the board before adhering it in position to ensure it lines up correctly. You can use a piece of two sided tape to fix the new battery, The black strip that held the old battery in was still pretty sticky so I just stuck it down to that.

Before fixing the bottom cover on with new tape, use a lightning cable plugged into a mac to text that the keyboard will start to charge. Then, you can run new strips of tape on the back panel roughly along the lines in the photo below. I found it was best to leave space underneath the space bar because when I didn't you could hear the key hit the tape.

Once, you have it all put together, switch it off then plug it in and let it stay on the charger for a while after it reaches a full charge. I'm honestly not sure it it requires a similar cycling process as iPhone batteries but it's a good habit anyway. After it is fully charged plus an hour or so, use it until it goes completely dead again before recharging it. I've been using this keyboard for several days now since the first charge and It's still at 86% so it's a successful repair in my opinion.