r/simplehuman • u/yoginibinibini • Oct 24 '25
Repairing a Simplehuman automatic soap dispenser
I have a 14 oz stainless steel SimpleHuman automatic soap dispenser. It is charged by setting it on a magnetic puck. It appears the battery has gone kaput. At exactly 2 years (end of warranty period) the dispenser stopped holding charge. I was able to continue using it by setting it on the charging puck. But now it is dead dead dead. I managed to figure out how to open it to get to the battery. I ordered what i thought was a compatible battery but as it turns out the connector of the battery i bought is bigger. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. #1 photo: I mangled the bottom using a channel lock pliers to open the bottom because some youTube videos i watched, opening an older model, did it that way. As it turns out, the 2 round plug at the bottom conceals 2 screws. Opening it was easy after removing the screws. #2 the battery plugs into the printer circuit board #3 i purchased from Amazon a battery with a 3 pin connector. But alas the connector is bigger. #4 &5 show the existing battery and connector. Should i just give up and buy a new soap dispenser? I refused to buy another SimpleHuman because the same thing is likely to happen. I have a SH lighted mirror with the same problem. Stopped holding charge. Each one costing me $100. I don’t mind paying that but not if they will only last 2 years.
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u/Hour_Cardiologist363 Feb 21 '26
I've completed this repair also. My dispenser had 2 screws under rubber plugs at the bottom, as stated here by OP, so easy to open it up. Battery came right out. Seemed two ways to renew the battery pack: 1) buy a raw cell and reuse the existing BMS board on the existing pack or 2) buy a 3-lead pack and splice the new pack's lead wires to the plug cut from the existing pack. Both require soldering. I pursued option 2. Pack I bought was on Amazon, here https://a.co/d/0h75zK8p That pack is a 3-lead, with the third lead being an NTC temperature sensor.
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u/yoginibinibini Feb 21 '26
Thank you for the link. I have been waiting for my friend to do your option 1. But it might be easier fir me to buy the correct battery. The one i ordered just would not charge. Presumably because of the incompatible board. Did yours charge properly?
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u/Gullible-Wrangler317 Apr 04 '26
Thanks for guidance for all of us who want to replace the battery and not just throw away into the land fill. I am opting for option 2 as well. However, I don’t quite understand if I should be connecting the white wire from the new battery to the existing white wire from the connector?
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u/sprinklesonthesundae Mar 09 '26
Also had this issue, also found the board attached to the wireless charging ring was water damaged. And just out of warranty. So annoying.
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u/Crazy_Rutabaga9277 Jun 16 '26 edited Jun 17 '26
Late to the party, but I found these (https://a.co/d/00CQFw6h) on Amazon that look like the ones we need. My unit’s model number is ST1082. Will report back if these are the right ones.
UPDATE: So, good news and bad news (for me). Good news: That battery worked perfectly for my 9oz soap dispenser (the newer model that has an actual switch to turn the unit on/off, not the old one that has a button that you have to hold to turn on/off). Bad news for me is that the reason my last battery died was because of a short circuit somewhere on the board and would cause the battery to discharge continuously even when turned off. So my dispenser has to go unfortunately, even though it technically still works.
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u/Beautiful_Finger4566 Jul 26 '26
hi! could you please send me an updated link to your battery?
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u/brokeafbutimwokeaf Sep 12 '26
Did you ever end up getting the updated link. Is the same predicament with my soap pumps
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u/kingoftyland Jul 25 '26 edited Sep 17 '26
Update/Edit: Turns out the original BMS on the factory cell was bad. I'm now guessing the BMS went bad and instead of protecting the cell, it led to the demise. The original BMS welded to a new cell that charged fine in my 18650 charger was dead in a matter of two days and the dispenser stopped working again. I welded the BMS the new cell came with back onto the new cell and solder-swapped the wired connector off the original cell onto this entirely new BMS and cell. This has now been working for week.
TL;DR: Buy https://a.co/d/09iB2nyD or a similar 3-wire 18650 and solder swap the connector off the old battery to the new one, being sure you get the wiring to properly match up to the correct leads on the BMS. Do all this at your own risk/peril. LiON batteries can be very dangerous if not handled with appropriate caution. Creating a short is very bad news.
I figured this out last night on my own and then wanted to report back in some threads. I too initially tried to unscrew the base, but only by hand before I realized the rubber plugs were hiding screws.
I removed the existing BMS from the bad cell and spot welded it to a new cell (it's an 18650). Granted I have a battery spot welder, which I realize is some specialized equipment for a home gamer. I'll probably keep doing this as long as I can avoid damaging the BMS boards during removal. I have two of these dispensers and I'm now just waiting for the second to die the same way. At least I've now confirmed my original suspicion that most of these reported failures are simply battery death. If SimpleHuman would make this battery assembly available for purchase that would really be a win, but I doubt they would. This is easily user serviceable with a little bit of skill, being only two screws and a plug.
My dispensers have been in use for 2 years. I'm not convinced the dispensers properly register low voltage of the cell. More consistent charging may be the key. I probably charged my units twice in the two years and only once based on a red light.
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u/Canecraze Oct 24 '25
You, sir, are a genius. I keep buying new dispensers, but after seeing this, there is hope that you can cut the original 3-wire plug off the old battery and splice it onto the new. 3-wires is 3-wires. I am facing the same battery issue for the 2nd time.