Chosen Solution
I have arthritic hands and the YouTube video (https://youtu.be/eNQNNUCk6GA) they have to open shows you to open it between your palms. I’ve talked their support staff and they insist that is the way to open it. I asked if their was a tool to open it and they told me no. I even had my next door neighbor who is much younger and stronger couldn’t open it. I was wondering if anyone knows another way to open it to get to the battery?
I had to hold the TrackR at the edge of a table with a pair of needle nose pliers and then use the rubber end of a hammer to push down and twist before it finally opened.
I had the same problem. I just couldn’t get a good grip using my palms. I decided to take a 2 small pieces of electrical tape and i place one on each side of the trackr, Then I used the palm method in the video but you don’t have to apply as much pressure. The electrical tape give you enough grip and it just twisted off. After leaving the battery out of the trackr for about 5 minutes and put the back on and the trackr was reset so that you could connect it to your phone. Good Luck
Didn’t work for me, I had to drill two small indentations in the back case (be careful not to go through the plastic) and use a device for getting the backs off watches. These indentations could be usefully added to the basic design
Thanks for your help.
Didn’t work for me either. I couldn’t budge the back using any technique with my palms. I used RegShoe’s method (but without the watch tool) and got the back off. I used a dremel tool with a flat-tipped burr bit to grind two small divots on the back surface of the Pixel, being careful not to go through the plastic. I then used a pair of fine needle nose pliers, spreading the tips and putting one into each divot. I could then rotate the pliers in those divots to get the back to come off.
Okay, I was in serious WTF mode trying to get the battery out without destroying the Trackr Pixel. VERY FRUSTRATING! Poor design. How about putting something like a slight slot in the back where a penny or nickel would get enough grip to open it??? Okay, Here is how I got it open. Duct Tape (Gorilla Tape in my case). Tear off a piece about the size as the Trackr Pixel, say .75" or so. The duct tape itself is the “normal” 2" kind.. So now you have a piece that roughly measures .75"x2". Stick it to the face of the Trackr Pixel so that the Trackr Pixel is covered and most of the tape is hanging off. Now make another one the same size as before and stick it to the other side of the Track Pixel but with the excess pointing the opposite of the first piece. Now, simply pull, in a twisting motion, the two pieces in opposite directions making sure the piece of Duct Tape on the back is being pulled in the “open” direction and the Trackr Pixel will open. No pressure (Squeezing) needed to open it. Kinda looks like this with the tape on it: -O- Good Luck! ~e
After calling customer service and trying their methods of using a rubber band to grip it or using double stick tape, which didn’t work, I used rubber Playtex gloves. I held the front side of the Tracker in my palm and used two fingers with the other hand to twist the cover. It actually twisted easily, both to open and close. This was an important design flaw, to make it so difficult to open! It causes so much frustration with all their customers, and even they couldn’t offer a working solution. They shouldn’t have to leave it to the ingenuity of their customers to figure out a way to open it!
Great idea about Playtex gloves. I used my dog’s booties which are like thick rubber balloons. Anything with a high degree of tackiness cause pliers don’t work. Agree it is a design flaw.
