What's in the parcel

This is what you should find in your parcel (among some other things like cables, stickers and manual, as shown in the previous picture). You can click on each image for a higher resolution.

How to assemble

To minimize risk of damaging the board with static electricity, only hold it by edges and do not touch components. Click on the banner above to learn more about risks of ESD.

Start with the front plate and the spacer plate, watch for correct orientation. Put 4 shorter black screws in the holes and from the other side, 4 brass spacers. Tighten them well.

This is how it looks from the top, check that the panels are well aligned, also screws look better if they are at the same angle.

Add buttons and two longer black screws. You may want to put something soft under the front plate, a piece of foam or corrugated cardboard, it will help to keep the screws in place and help a lot when adding bolts.

Now add the board.

Add two teflon washers onto every screw.

Place the acrylic plate, watch for correct orientation. Don't forget to peel off the protective layer from both sides.

The wires should go through the cutout.

Put two bolts in place and secure everything together. Do not tighten it too much, so the acrylic does not crack. You can put a drop of glue on every bolt to prevent loosening over time.

The battery holder is attached using a double-sided tape. It should be fitted so it touches the top side panel, otherwise it will be hard to remove batteries. Also make sure it is well centered.

Now add the side panels, the left and right one needs to be inserted at angle, do it very gently - if you find correct position it goes in with minimal force (the video linked below should give you some idea).

Before moving on, check that you placed all four side panels correctly, the texts printed on their inner sides should all be upside down - otherwise you won't be able to fit the battery door or insert the micro-SD card. Also watch for correct orientation of the holder, so the wires will not get close to the micro-SD card slot (they might block it if the holder was installed in reverse).

Put the bottom panel in place, watch for correct orientation again, and make sure all side panels get neatly into the notches.

You may want to temporarily insert the battery door and try if it moves smoothly. If not, file the cutout a bit.

Put 4 wide-head steel screws in place. Tighten them well, but not too much so they won't snap or panels might bend and it will be hard to insert the battery door (you can do that first, then gradually tighten these screws while checking that the door can still slide).

Insert the battery door.

Add the puller. Its purpose is to make it easier to close and open the door. When closing, it helps you to lift the door, so it fits into the smaller slot in top side panel. You still need to push the door with your fingers, it is hard to close it just by pulling the puller (it is likely to detach if you did that).

Add the silicone bumper legs.

They should be placed as on the picture, otherwise they will be in the way to magnets that are installed in the box (mangets are bit excentric to the screws as that's the position where the force is stronger).

All completed now! Fingers crossed everything works! :)

Opening and closing the battery door

The door might not move smoothly. This will get better over time as you use it, but in the meantime there is a simple trick to it. If the door twists a little bit sideways, it will get stuck. Leaning the unit against a flat surface helps, but put something soft under (like a newspaper) to not scratch anything. Puller is helping to get the door into the notch, but it is not a good idea to pull the door all the way only by the puller as it may snap, also it is very hard to keep the door straight, instead pull the door with your fingers.

This is a unit with 14500 rechargeable cell, so the door doesn't really need to be opened more than once when installing the cell. But of course with AA batteries powered unit you will need to do it more frequently. Plugging in the USB power at any time conserves batteries.

If your board has a wire terminal

If your DIY kit does not require any soldering, or uses a different kind of power source (e.g. Li-Po cell), the board may have this screw terminal installed.

In such case, you just need to plug in the two wires in correct polarity: Red = positive (+), Black = negative (-).

The wires are thin, they need to be in the center of the hole so they hold well. You can as well strip more of the isolation and wrap the wire around, to give the terminal better grip.

If your kit supports 14500 lithium-ion cell, you will receive the bottom panel already assembled with battery protection circuit and holder. The installation process is the same as described above - you need to connect the two wires into the terminal. Please be careful to not bend the wires too much at solder joints and to not tear them off.

CAUTION: Do not confuse rechargeable Li-Ion with non-rechargeable "primary lithium batteries" with Li-SOCl2 chemistry that work at similar voltage (e.g. 3.6V), such as Xeno Energy XL‑060F or SAFT LS14500. The unit will power up but attempt to charge such non-rechargeable cell can be very dangerous.

When installing Li-Po cell, be very careful - as the wires are under voltage, only install one at a time and keep the other safely isolated. Accidentally touching elements on the board with a loose battery wire may lead to electrical damage.

Make sure the power switch is at OFF position during installation and double check the polarity of wires before powering the device on. Installing the wires in the wrong way can permanently damage the board. You may want to add a drop of glue to secure battery wires in place on top of the acrylic plate, just in case the screws in wire terminal get loose over time.

Tighten the screws well, be careful to not rip the terminal off the board. Do not hold the entire board in your hand while tightening the screws, only hold it by the connector (you can use flat nose pliers to do that, but be very careful to not damage elements on the board).

Check that the wires are secured well by pulling on them. If they did get out eventually, they might create a short circuit, lead to violent discharge, heat up, melt, set something on fire - especially with rechargeable cells that do not have a protective circuit. Make sure the cell you use does have the protection - you can find more info at the end of this article.

In the acrylic plate, there is a cutout that accommodates the terminal. The holder is attached to the acrylic plate using double-sided tape. Please see above for instructions how to install it - position and orientation matter.