Nest Learning Thermostat 2nd Generation Auto-Away Sensor Replacement

Written By: Justin Curry

Comments: 11

Nest Learning Thermostat 2nd Generation Auto-Away Sensor Replacement

Difficulty

Moderate

Steps

Time Required

5 - 10 minutes

Introduction

When replacing the auto-away sensor, battery removal is necessary. The battery replacement guide should be a prerequisite before starting. The tools required are tweezers and a Phillips #0 screwdriver.

Tools

Step 1

Grasp the display's metal outer ring with your fingers and pull directly away from the wall.

Step 2

Turn the display over.
Remove the four 6 mm screws from the back of the display using a Phillips #0 screwdriver.

Step 3

Pinch the gray 20-pin connector with your fingers and pull directly away from the display.
Do NOT pull too far as there is a ribbon on the back panel connecting the 20-pin connector to the display.

I pinched the connector and it will not pull out

Robert Zelak -

I’m my case, the white backplate cannot be pulled until it is turned about 1cm counterclockwise to disengage the brackets that hold to the internal plate. To do this, yo need to hold the front of the Nest with the metal frame (so the it doesn’t turn), while turning the backplate.

Alberto Lazaro -

And in my case, there are only 2 screws (in the 9 and 3 o’clock positions) and not 4 as shown in the photo.

Alberto Lazaro -

Step 4

Locate the blue pull tab at the end of the ribbon which says, "1. Pull".
Grasp the tab with your fingers and pull directly away from the motherboard.

How do you reattached the ribbon back to the motherboard ??

alexehler - 11/01/18

Step 5

Locate the blue tab which says, "2. Pull".
Use tweezers to pull the battery up and away from the display.
Do NOT pull too far, as the battery is still connected to the motherboard and must be unplugged.

Step 6

Locate the blue tab which says "3 unplug".
Grasp the battery with your fingers. Pull gently directly away from the display to unplug the battery from the motherboard.

Step 7

Grasp the battery with your fingers and pull directly away from motherboard to separate the battery from the display.

Where do you buy the battery?

Robert - 27/05/17

Same question

Milutin Jokic - 14/10/18

At least say the tipe of battery that's needed.

Pedro Sanchez - 26/07/19

I just ordered the battery model specified. When it arrived, I realized it doesn’t have the same specs as the battery that comes with the thermostat.

The part listed (TL284443) is 3.7 VDC, but it is only is 380mAh (1.41 Wh) (if you zoom in on the image when you click “Buy”, you can see)

You can clearly see in the tear-down that the battery that comes with the thermostat is 2.1 Wh.

It might work as a replacement, but doesn’t have the same capacity.

Gerry Beggs - 23/10/19

Double check your own equip online or in the manual people.

There are different generations of thermostats. How would this guy know which battery you need.

Thanks for the directions.

Helps a lot.

LisaKK - 14/11/19

To be fair, most people don’t know that there are different generations of the Nest Thermostat and clearly they didn’t read that this was for the 2nd generation Nest Thermostat. Probably should have been pointed out in the instructions more clearly for those folks. Then they wouldn’t have been so confused about the battery voltage differences.

Resist - 12/05/20

I am a 64 year old woman, I had the Nest next generation installed last year. So far it keeps telling me that the connection to my wi-Fi is not working and now it’s saying the battery is dead. I’ve gone through all the steps to re-connect to wi-fi to no avail. Could this be because the battery needs replacing?

It’s 68 degrees in my house now and that’s thanks to my fireplace not this horrible device. I am going back to the regular thermostat, what a waste of hard earned money.

Laura Rogers - 02/12/20

Step 8

Locate the auto-away sensor.

Step 9

Remove the four 3mm screws with a #0 Phillips screwdriver.
Remove the one 4mm screw located at the edge of the auto-away sensor. Use a #0 Phillips screwdriver.