Ran into a situation with a Microsoft Wireless Laser Mouse 7000 that also seems to plague the Wireless Laser Mouse 8000. When placing the Laser Mouse on its charging cradle, the LED on the top of the mouse slowly flashes green for a few seconds, as if it was successfully charging the NiMH battery inside, but then switches to rapidly flashing the LED red.
Taking the rechargeable battery out also results in the flashing red LED. So, the battery is clearly not being recharged. This is further corroborated by the short battery life.
I saw online that some people have found some sort of button underneath the battery and that it’s not being depressed. However, the mouse I was having problems with did not have such a button. There is a small hole under the battery, but no switch or button in the hole.
Upon further investigation, I noticed that the positive metal plate in the battery compartment of the mouse has two plastic rails holding it in place.
When putting the battery inside, the rails tend to press back against the top of the battery such that the battery’s tip doesn’t make good contact with the metal. Since the metal plate is tapered inward, it only makes reliable contact with the battery when the battery is pushed all the way down into the compartment.
As a result of this plastic getting in the way and preventing the battery from making contact with the positive conducting plate, of course it can’t recharge. It also explains why it only charges for a few seconds–just until the battery slips out of position and loses contact. However, the fix for this recharging problem is rather simple.
- Cut a small piece of paper a little shorter than the length of the battery and about twice as wide
- Fold the paper in half to achieve a thickness of two sheets of paper
- Place the battery into the battery compartment
- Put the paper on top of the battery
- Close the battery cover
The cover should go on snugly so that it firmly presses the battery into the compartment. That will enable the positive tip of the Laser Mouse’s battery to stay in contact with the positive conductor plate. If it doesn’t press firmly enough, add one more sheet that’s half the width of the first one (for a thickness of three sheets).
After applying this little fix, the problem mouse’s LED properly throbs green and charges up completely.
(Update: Added photos)
@Leonid: Have you tried a new battery? Perhaps yours has been recharged too many times. 300-500 cycles is about the lifespan of rechargeable batteries.
Also note that if a battery is drained too far, a “smart” charger will perceive it as not being there at all. Try charging it partially with a cheap standalone charger and then put it back into the mouse to continue normal charging.
MS Wireless Laser Mouse 7000. Same charging problem that everyone else has had here. Sit it on the cradle and it flashes green for a few seconds and then red… no charge. The best thing I’ve tried so far is to cut away the plastic coating around the top edge of battery’s positive post, giving slightly more “tip” to make contact with the battery compartment terminal. I just took a sharp knife, placed the blade against plastic in the indentation of the battery tip and turned the battery against the blade until the green plastic came off. Seems to be charging every time I place it on the cradle now.
Thank you!!!
With your help I was able to solve the charging problem.
Lucas.
FIXED:
I had the same problem, flashing red light and tried everything listed here to no avail. I also noticed the mouse was manufactured in 2008 and is now 2012 which I thought was a bad battery.
The charger output is 1 volt but when i checked the battery voltage, it didnt read anything. Bought a pack of rechargeable’s from Amazon, same place I bought the mouse and problem solved.
Dear Peter,
I see you have spent a lot of time helping people with the issues that haven’t been solved by even MS itself.
I got a question:
1. MS Presenter 8000
2. it has gone crazy, whenever I turn it on the green light comes up and it stays forever. doesn’t go away for the sync, pair or whatever.
Note: last time I used it was yesterday, it started blinking red, I was sure that it was for the battery shortage, so I recharged my batteries and put them back in, and since then this situation persists.
Note II: I have replaced the batteries with new ones nothing happened, and I am quite sure that something has went wrong in hardware point of view.
I love this device, I’d appreciate it if you could help me on the issue.
WORKED PERFECTLY! Thanks!
@Saman: A couple of things you can try to fix your Microsoft Presenter 8000:
1. Update the Bluetooth drivers on the computer. There may be an incompatibility from something else getting updated or settings may have been changed.
2. Related to #1, try a system restore to an earlier state. Since it was working before, you may be able to return Windows to the configuration that worked in the past.
I can’t believe this actually worked. I was banging my head against the desk trying to figure out why the 8000 wouldn’t charge. It had been working fine for over a year.
Took a post it note, cut it in half, folded it up and put it on top of the battery and put the cover on.
Now it charges just fine. Crazy. Thanks!
@Nate: Yeah, sometimes the simple things make all the difference.
Thank you for this! I ordered it on Amazon and I did not want to have to ship it back. Instead of doing the paper trick, I simply replaced it with my own rechargeable battery with a longer positive head. Still this helped me alot. Thank you Peter!
Alright, the mouse on my old office computer started acting up. It was a really old one with a ball and cord (Green connector). I knew I had a spare wireless 7000 but when I plugged it in… NOTHING. Red light flashing and no green when I picked it up. After reading a few of the comments/fixes it became obvious it was a contact problem at the positive end. I opened the mouse, poked a paper clip under the positive tab and pushed it outward into the battery compartment (battery removed while doing this). Put the mouse back on the cradle and a minute later when I picked it up, GREEN light came on. No paper, no duct tape, no lead ball, no foil paper… If it happens again, I may take the metal tab out completely and bend it more.
Thanks for pointing me (pun intended) in the right direction.
Raymond
just FYI…the paper trick only worked for me when I put the paper underneath of the battery. Make sure it presses down on the metal bar the detects a battery.
Hello
I have this problem and tried the solutions and none og them work
Probably a stupid q, but can one just use a normal aaa durcaell battery to work around this ?
@Padraig: A regular AAA battery would probably work fine. Just don’t put the mouse on the charging station if you’re using a regular, non-rechargeable battery.
Thanks for the reply Peter
Im just using a regular battery now and thats working fine, not bothering with the re charge able battery at all.
thanks
Hi Peter, Been having this problem for several months now.
my own personal solution was to gently trim the offending tabs at the + terminal away w my xacto knife,
Problem solved! thanks for this informative post
Hi Peter, I came across your forum when searching for MS wireless mouse 8000 technical manual because I also had the flashing red light problem (by the way a manual doesn’t exist, only a pathetic quick-start guide that doesn’t even mention the light at all!).
I’m an electronics engineer, so I immediately dismantled the 8000 and I can confirm that
(1) it uses pulse charging and is therefore susceptible to poor connection problems
(2) there is a thermistor sensor using the steel “cradle-shaped” band underneath and to one end of the battery, but this wouldn’t normally give rise to the dreaded red flash.
(3) It is true that deeply discharged Ni-MH batteries take some coaxing to start recharging (and deep discharging vastly reeduces their life, so it might be knackered anyway)
So for anyone having the red flash problem, the key points are:
(A) Make sure that the battery seats solidly in its spring and button connections (this relates to your posts about paper, solder beads, paper clips, cutting away the plastic +ve contact surround etc)
(B) Make sure that the mouse charger pins and the mating pads on the charge base are seating properly
(C) make sure that battery and mouse/charge-base connections are CLEAN – use switch cleaner or similar – DO NOT use abrasives as these will take the shiny finish off the contacts and will soon result in poor connections that can’t then be cleaned. Don’t forget to clean the battery +ve and -ve contacts too!
(D) For deeply discharged batteries, try recharging them in a separate charger, or if not available, keep removing and replacing the mouse on the charge base several times. An “intelligent” charger that tells you the battery status will identify if the battery’s knackered, or else just replace with a similar rated Ni-MH (doesn’t have to be exactly the same mAHr rating) – but be sure it fits well physically as other posts have said, some are too small or have too short +ve contacts.
The main message is keep all contacts clean, ensure battery is correct size & well seated onto its contacts, and ensure battery isn’t knackered.
By the way, I agree that Microsoft have not done a very good job with these mice, though the basic electrical design is OK, the attention to detail isn’t. And as for no decent technical guide, that’s disgraceful for a product that’s not the cheapest on the market.
Tried everything above, to no avail, with brand new 7000. Put dry cell batt in and works fine. MS simply shipped these things with defective batteries – unbelievable quality control problem.
Wow, all great info. Tried about all, even a separate, narrow wrap around the MS-supplied battery to depress the switch in the battery compartment (that the ‘paper wrap’ didn’t seem to do). Also trimmed a bit of the battery plastic wrapper, tried foil and clipped paper clip to get the battery positive electrode to contact the mouse. Then, I tried a regular AAA battery and it was happy as could be. I charged the supplied battery in a separate charger, and it still didn’t work. Went to RadioShack today and got new rechargeable AAA batteries (only 850 mAh – supplied battery claims 1000 mAh), and voila, it now works like a charm. All that work for nothing because the supplied battery was no good. So, for what it’s worth, save yourself a lot of headache and just get a new rechargeable and you will most likely not have any further problems, either. Thanks everyone for all the great advice – the new battery advice was what won the day for me, too!
Man. The internet literally has everything on it. I was just about to return my MS Laser 7000 for a new one but I will try this fix.
Thanks a lot for putting this out!
Wow … this thread has been going for nearly 4 years now, people still reading & posting here! Thanks to Peter for posting the original article and regards to all the posters adding useful tidbits of information.
In my case, I’ve had my MS Wireless Laser Mouse 7K for a little under two years, and this recharging problem cropped up just last week. I read the original post & other suggestions for a quick-fix or interim solution, but the battery in my mouse fits very very snugly … I do not believe there is any issue with the contacts as the thing worked fine for almost 2 years, and when I pull the battery and put it back in it is very clear to me that it is in fact making a solid connection. The one guy mentioned that a deeply-discharged battery may be “knackered” and I know I’ve let this mouse die completely a few times so I have a pretty good feeling that in my case the battery is simply toast. In looking at this issue from a lazy-man’s perspective I’d have to vote for the “replace the battery” solution as the most complete solution. 🙂
@Johnny: Yeah, it is surprising, but good to see that the info is helpful and that many, like you, add to the knowledge base via comments. It’s also interesting to note how long the mouse is still in use despite the charging anomalies.
After some attempts, it really works!
Sadly none of these tricks worked for me with my 8000 set, however a new set of Sanyo Eneloop 3rd gen batteries (part no HR-3UTGB) have done the business!!
I think someone else mentioned using Eneloops way back a few pages , so many thanks to them for the tip.
Before this I was using a back-up charger to keep a spare set of batteries ready which was frustrating , I even replaced my 8000 set with an Eclipse Litetouch keyboard and Touchmouse for a while … these were rubbish in comparison though!
The 8000 is still one of the best keyboards I’ve ever used and I’m so pleased to get everything up and running again , so thanks Pete and all others here for keeping the faith!
@Oscar: Thanks for sharing your experience with batteries for the 8000. Eneloops are excellent rechargeables and hold their charge for a long time.