HackerGadgets NVMe battery board with dual 21700 holder
The 21700 version of HG's NVMe battery board fits the stock backplate and roughly doubles runtime: 4 h 31 min of 1080p playback against 2 h 27 min on 18650s.
What it takes
- Purchase required
- Disassembly
Difficulty 2 of 3 — moderate.
Details
HackerGadgets sells its NVMe battery board — 2230–2280 drives, a reverse-polarity warning LED, and R14/J6 pads for a manual power switch — with a dual-18650 holder, no holder, or a dual-21700 holder at $37; the 21700 version was announced in August 2026 and is listed as a pre-order with a late-September shipping estimate. HG's own figure is 4 h 31 min of 1080p video on two 21700s versus 2 h 27 min on two 18650s. The NVMe slot needs the adapter board from the Upgrade Kit; the battery side works on its own.
Owners in Wander_Menezes' thread confirm it fits the stock backplate, giving up about 5 mm on the right-hand side. Cell picks so far: Molicel INR21700-M65A (6,500 mAh, 26 A), Molicel P50B (5,000 mAh, 50 A), EVE 58E (5,800 mAh) and EVE 40PL (4,000 mAh, 70 A) — the thread's point being that the discharge rating matters as much as capacity for voltage stability under CM5 load, and that charging heat adds to the console's temperature.
Links
Open at Forum threadRelated mods
Swap the two 18650s for a single 10,000 mAh 9858102 pouch — 24–31 Wh measured — but only with a protection board that survives the uConsole's 5 A peaks.
Any genuine branded 3,000–3,500 mAh 18650 works, flat-top or button-top; listings claiming much more than 3,500 mAh are fakes.
hotellonely's Python script logs the PMIC's voltage and current every 0.1 s until the console dies, giving a real watt-hour figure for any cell or pack.
Lars Lorenz's remix of the stock back cover adds a magnet-held lid over the cells, so 18650s can be swapped without taking the cover off.
bored99's one-piece replacement back leaves the CM5 heatsink open to the air and covers the cells with a magnet-held plastic lid for quick swaps.
beams' MSK12C02 slide switch uses the pads HackerGadgets reserved on the NVMe battery board to cut the cells — and the NVMe — without a hole in the case.