Introduction

How to open an HTC RE Companion camera, so you can check for some basic faults, or dry the inside. This camera is not really made for disassembly by the looks of things, so some brute force is needed here and there.

Many of these cameras suffer breakdowns, I think mainly due to water ingress.

If you are quick, you may be able to save yours using the standard techniques such as alcohol and demineralized water.

Note this is not intended as repair manual.

You will need:

Several sharp pointed tools, such as spudgers, (very) small flat screwdrivers, small phillips screwdriver Ph00, some very thin needle like bent tools, a camera mount screw bracket.

To do it right, a very long phillips screwdriver, size Ph00

Willingness to break stuff.

I have some sets of old dentist tools, which work very well for many jobs. Just ask your dentist next time for their old ones (sterilized pls, they are very sharp so easy to cut yourself). Check out the last pics.

Sorry iFixit, no sales opportunities here.

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    • The button has a little prong in the middle that has a recess, and two hooked prongs, that release when turned counter clockwise.

    • To release it, be careful to avoid the extra ring you see around the button. That is part of the sealing assembly.

    • Lift the button carefully with very thin flat screwdriver, or dentist tools, and pry it off while rotating counterclockwise. This shoudl be the result.

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    • Release 2 black screws to release the button retainer.

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    • Remove the 4 screws that hold the sealing asembly.

    • You now see the on-off button assembly.

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    • Here is a close-up of the switch support plate and main camera head to camera body connector.

    • It's glued on to a metal cross, and needs to be carefully removed to allow the body with cable to slide out.

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    • If you lift the switch, you can see the metal holding plate, and connector for the camera head below.

    • Carefully pry off the metal plate without damaging the cable and switch button.

    • The long body holds the battery and electronics and locks the camera head in place. So when pulling out the main assembly,, this flat cable and switch needs to be kept free to avoid damage.

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    • Lift off the connector carefully, try to use non metal tool to avoid damage.

    • You can see the metal plate is still on here, but easier to remove it first.

    • First time for me, so the sequence of details may be off a little.

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    • Put a standard camera connection onto the bottom of the camera, so you have something to pull on.

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    • This is a picture from another one we sawed open. You can see the small latches that keeps the main assembly in.

    • Carefully note their position compared to the connector. This will be the most difficult step to remove the main assembly.

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    • You need al least 3 hands. 4 is better for this step.

    • 4 right hands are better than 4 left, unless there are lefthanded people involved. Thanks for the two hands Bro

    • We also tried to push the whole assembly down, there seems to be some movement there, but then you jam it in and you cannot pull it out at the same time...

    • Got fed up and just broke the two latches using my very handy dentist tools. It's kind of round the corner so hard to reach. Again be careful for the connection, but the alignment is approximately the bottom of the camera head connector.

    • I don't think you can do it with a screwdriver.

    • Or better, the lower third of the horizontal part of the cross. Hmm is that clear?

    • The latch is just touching the body at the side of the cross shape.

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    • Watch out for the record switch now while this slides out!

    • Once the two latches were broken, constant wiggling and pulling started to show the bottom was moving.

    • Careful help of wide spudger, going round and round may help.

    • Keep watching that little cable!

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    • and it is out!

    • Note the broken latches.

    • And the poor seal around the speaker (or is it the mic?? Did the water get in there?

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    • You can see the cap is well locked in place on the main assembly, and worse, as I discovered after breaking it.

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    • Gently pry the tape away and pull out the connector for power.

    • Watch out for the earthing strip you can see in the picture.

    • Mine was full of green copper corrosion. Cleaned as best I could and re-inserted. Still very very dead, no charge light, with or without SD card, nothing.

    • Second connector appears to be for the sensors that switch it on when you hold it. Did not touch.

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    • Time to get rough

    • Remove the connector again in preparation to free and remove the bottom cover.

    • If you do it as below, you will break stuff...

    • Using force and unlatching the 3 obvious. Hmm that seems hard...

    • The junk one already has the bottom cap missing, so hard to see where the issue is.

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    • The right way:

    • Find some really long Phillips 00 screwdrivers. One side has an obvious channel to loosen one of the two screws.

    • Maybe you can get to them when you have squeezed the housing open a little, but not obvious.

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    • Gently pry some more of the tape away, see also the earthing mesh connecting to the power cable.

    • Open the clips on the plastic holder and the main body folds open.

    • Another view on the bottom cap and the channel to get to these two key screws.

    • Cleaned up some more water damage, but corrosion in too many places.

    could u please tell me what is the spec of the battery.. i try to replace mine..

    Zul -

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    • top board is held in with single phillips screw.

    • All damaged. Water dried and corrosion present.

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    • The camera head can only come out once you have the main assembly out. The lens ring has a bajonet connection, seal and glue. Bajonet is anti clockwise to release. All it needs is about 1 mm.

    • Its quite hard to get any kind of grip on it. Leave it in place if you can.

    • Don't touch the 4 screws on the back of the camera head, they hold the sensor to the lens assembly.

    • Here are some pics of the denstist tools I used to break the little latches and get under the button.

    A big thanks for all these! It seriously worked!

    Jay Patel -

    Thanks al lot !

    I want also disassemble because i want to connect a bigger acu from outside so the camera can run 12 hour especially when i am underway; or you have a better idea to overcom this problem?

    Thanks Paul

    Paul Esposito -

    Hi Paul, i would suggest using batterij bank and usb Cable to charge internal battery.

    Bigger batterij wired in may overload charge circuit etc.

    Mike B -

    Where can buy replacement battery ??

    Chiam Ghee How -

Conclusion

The HTC Re is clearly not built for repair, and I see no spares on the Internet for it.

If you have two, and want to build into one.

To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order. Add small dot of glue to put the metal cross onto the switch after the main body has been inserted and the switch is sticking out of the opening.

Put some extra glue such as hotmelt on the bottom cap, as the broken latches will make it possible for the thing to come apart.

Mike B

Member since: 31/08/14

1149 Reputation

23 comments

Unusual question here. My dog DESTROYED my HTC Re camera. Im trying to figure out where the batteries are located in the Re camera. I need to know if he might have got to them or not.

dagossett -

Hi Daggosett,

Bad dog!

In step 15 and 17 you can see where the battery sits and shape (17, right side), sitting all along the main body of the camera.

If I recall correctly, it sits at the side of the little pinhole - mic, but not 100% sure.

Not much you can do if the dog got a mouthful of the Lithium battery anyway. I would not imagine he would like to ingest any of it.

Hope you both recover.

Mike

Mike B -

Great post. Water ingress caused my lens to permanently fog up. Have you had any success taking the lens assembly apart? I think I'll give it a go.

John Berry -

Hi John,

No, did not try taking lens apart. See my comments in the huide on the lens.

Perhaps you can try to evaporate it and or absorb.

Like using the rice and warm place trick. (Hairdryer?)

If it is real water droplets - and has salts inside, that will leave residue.

If it is condensed water from another spot...it may work

You could try those 4 screws also I explain to leave alone...

Depends where the water sits.....

Good luck

Mike

Mike B -

my htc re camera is working.

but problem is , its not charging, even after reset .

please help me to rectify this problem

Saurav Naskar -

Mine too, it produces weird soft sounds while operated but doesn’t work and doesn’t charge. I guess it’s due to water inside, I ordered another one.

Angelo Fiorillo -

First, perhaps the obvious, try changing the cable / charger.

Second common problem with these connections is some muck gets into the connector, or some corrosion. Have a good look with magnifying glass and good light into the bottom of the connector.

Look for corrosion, plucks of cotton and dust. Clean with toothpick.

Opening it up, all I can think of is wiring.

Another option is your battery is completely shot.

Good luck.

Mike

Mike B -

A minha câmera trabalha com dificuldades de focagem e com imagem a tremer e muito ruído.

alfredo mingas Munto -

hey sir, i try to take a video with my re camera, but there is no sound in the video, how can I fix the mic?

Kabul Dinar -

Kabul,

I don't remember exactly where the mic sits...

It could be the mic, it could be many other things, like the sound processing.

PErhaps try this: Locate the mic, and put a sensitive voltmeter over it. Then, yell at your camera. If you see something, it should be ok, and the problem is....hard to find and fix (other than possible light corrosion somewhere).

If the mic is giving null, then I suspect the mic is dead. Try soldering another one to the connection... Not so easy to put something back together then...

Good luck.

Mike

Mike B -

mic location. Great tutorial! thanks! https://http2.mlstatic.com/action-cam-ht...

rastelinho -

hey my htc re camera sd card slot needs to changed any suggestion..?

Amyn -

Amyn, you can see the card slot on picture of Step 15.

So you need to strip it quite a bit to get to this level. Note those hard to get at screws…

Assuming there is some dirt inside, can you not cleanout with a toothpick or somthing? Make sure you don’t leave any part behind.

the rubber toothpicks can be good for cleaning out dirt too…

Good luck.

Mike

Mike B -

Hey hi everyone unfortunaly mine die so, I'm selling parts of my camera. Lens block, USB and SD block, inner AND outter plastics or other if you want. If u interesed please message me 4ldo.mg@gmail.com

Aldo montelongo -

Hi, my HTC RE Camera won’t charge up even after trying to reset it. It seems like that battery is gone case or so. How to replace the battery and where can I get the replacement part? Thanks!

Eric Mar -

Hi Eric.

first, does it work with battery bank attached? That may be an indication it is only the battery.

Anyway, check for markings on the old battery. Else, just look for the same form factor and connectors. Very likely NimH will be same voltage and approx same capacity. If you find battery details, feel free to add them to this guide.

good luck.

mike

Mike B -

How I can replace the battery on this camera? Any place to buy a battery ? Thanks

redrott -

Many thanks for the details. In the end the Vive (hmd and controllers) can be opened and repaired but it is important to know the required steps. So this will help.

Areslane Arsoy -

Many thanks for the details. In the end the Vive (hmd and controllers) can be opened and repaired but it is important to know the required steps. So this will help.

Sarkari Result Pnr Status 192.168.1.1

Areslane Arsoy -

Thanks for the guide, it helped me to take apart my camera. I hope you can update it to show that the 2 bottom cap screws are actually the last ones you should remove once you take the unit out of the body, and open the two halves up. I didn’t want to pull and break them and it turned out well. Now I need a replacement battery as mine doesn’t hold a charge any more. I found it on Aliexpress for about $10 and $70 for shipping, so it is a no-go. Do you know of any tutorials on replacing batteries with different ones? It is a 3.8V 800mAh battery and I’m sure I could find an equivalent cell phone battery, I just don’t know what to look for because the charge cycle has to be compatible with the camera.

Jesus Chavez -

dose anyone have the settle button parts or where can i get one?

nelson -

Try farnell in one for a battery. https://www.farnell.com

Mike B -

I lost the bottom “screw” that holds the lanyard on. Does anyone know where I can buy another one? Or have one they’re willing to sell? Thanks.

blacksheepe -