Skulpt Aim battery failing, repair and teardown -- DO NOT SPRAY WATER TO SKULPT AIM!!

This is a long message and you can start by reading my conclusion:

I am pretty sure that water goes inside the Skulpt Aim if we get it wet - I were spraying just like as they instruct on their app and website:

My recomendation is to: DO NOT SPRAY WATER TO SKULPT AIM - TRY TO AVOID USING WATER OR IT WILL GET INSIDE AND DAMAGE THE ELECTRONIC BOARD!!! -- SKULPT AIM IS NOT WATERPROOF.

Knowing this and that Skulpt Aim needs the contacts to be wet, I thought on a possible solution: using a water gel - because it is more dense, it should not get infiltrated so easily inside the Skulpt Aim.

I went to a local shop and found the cheaper one this:

It's a fixative water gel for hair -- and it works!!

Now everyday I use that water gel and a soft, damp cloth to clean the Skulpt Aim.

NOTE 1: I verified on day 2015.05.04 that all the messages I wrote on the SKulpt Aim Facebook about this subject, were deleted.

NOTE 2: On day 2015.05.05 I got an e-mail from a Skulpt Aim Firmware Engineer offering help - but my device is working perfectly :-)

NOTE 3: On day 2015.05.10 I wrote my review after using Skulpt Aim for more than 1 month.

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My Skulpt Aim couldn't hold charge for the 3 measurements I do every morning. I sits on the charger all day and it says it is charging... I noted that this situation of not holding enough charge started 1 week ago until today it didn't hold enough charge for the 3 measurements.

After reading the Facebook page, on the messages posted by the users, I remember to read about problems that potentially could be related, like:

(...) also just recently the aim has stopped getting a full charge. last night I charged it for 8 hours and this morning when I turned it on it said low battery and turned off. (...) 

(...) The video shows what happens when I turn on my AIM. After about 15-secs it shuts off. Anyone have any suggestions? (...)

 (...) Is anyone else having issue with the charging cradles not working? This is my second AIM that I cant get to charge properly. (...)

 (...) My AIM first started out not syncing (yes it's on the most update firmware), then go stuck on "Data Sync must occur before measurements" but wouldn't respond to buttons, and then it started to flash the welcome screen on and off. Now it will only turn on and then turn off when it wants...  (...)

So, I decided to open my Skulpt Aim (anyway, it was almost opened already, as other users reported, the build quality is not so good) and try to see possible problem inside. The next pictures is the Skulpt Aim inside:

So, the batteries used are NiMh and not Lithium...

And I could see something strange on the electronic board right under the batteries...

And there are some strange thing on some ICs on the corner, as seen on this image.

















I wanted to access to under the electronic board and so I had to unconnect the flat cable of the LCD:

And can you guess why the Skulpt Aim is so heavy? - yes, it is heavy because the batteries are light, the electronic board is very light and all the package is plastic and also very light.

That metal parte under the LCD is heavy!!! I don't know a reason to use a big piece of metal only to add weight -- I saw this on cheap chinese products - I believe the reason is because a heavy device fells to have more value :-)

So finally I got all the electronic board in my hand:

As you can see, there are that strange things that now I am pretty sure it was result of a kind of short-circuit due to the existence of water inside the Skulpt Aim!!!!



So, I decided to clean the electronic board and all the contac pins, using alchool and a soft tooth brush. And in the end:

And when I tried to clean the pins, I found this:

The 4 charging pins are loose!!! SO, THE WATTER CAN COME INSIDE FROM THIS PINS!! Also the Skulpt Aim closure from the front panel to the back panel is NOT FOR SURE waterproof.

I were not sure if the original batteries were ok, because the Skulpt Aim could't hold charge for 3 sequential measures (even after being charged for 24h).

So, I decided to exchange the original NiMh batteries for a new ones that I bought on a local store. This ones have good quality - are the ones that keep charged for at least 1 year (that's why they say "ready to use") while the old type ones just keep their charge for about 1 month.

After exchanged the batteries, I assembled everything back and made a deep breath...... and it worked :-) :-)

I also find the following: when removing the energy from the board (removing the batteries), the Skulpt Aim need to be reseted and paired again with the SmartPhone, otherwise it will not sync.

Conclusion

I am pretty sure that water goes inside the Skulpt Aim if we get it wet - I were spraying just like as they instruct on their app and website:

My recomendation is to: DO NOT SPRAY WATER TO SKULPT AIM - TRY TO AVOID USING WATER OR IT WILL GET INSIDE AND DAMAGE THE ELECTRONIC BOARD!!! -- SKULPT AIM IS NOT WATERPROOF.

Knowing this and that Skulpt Aim needs the contacts to be wet, I thought on a possible solution: using a water gel - because it is more dense, it should not get infiltrated so easily inside the Skulpt Aim.

I went to a local shop and found the cheaper one this:

It's a fixative water gel for hair -- and it works!!

Now everyday I use that water gel and a soft, damp cloth to clean the Skulpt Aim.

And here are my currently stats on Skulpt Aim: