Not being a Medieval peasant, I like to begin the day by brushing my tooth. And, though my toilet is cluttered with a number of electrical toothbrushes from earlier critiques (you could not be shocked to listen to that manufacturers usually don’t need their gunky, used fashions returned), my go-to brush is an Oral-B iO. Particularly, the iO4.
However someday, it wouldn’t swap on.
I’ve examined a whole lot of electrical toothbrushes, and for my cash – and dental well being can get fairly expensive if you happen to don’t take care of your tooth at house – the iO line has the perfect brushing efficiency round. And I depend on mine to maintain my dental hygienist from getting out her scarier instruments after I’m within the chair.
In brief, I would like it.
I had my suspicions in regards to the battery. I do know a few individuals whose iO brushes mysteriously died, and I’ve learn some related complaints on social media platforms however, as everyone knows, social media is full of bots and lunatics, so earlier than panicking, I set about changing the charger.
With all of the alacrity of an individual used to operating to the web to resolve all their issues – atmosphere and wellbeing of Amazon drivers be damned – I ordered a brand new one on-line. But it surely transpired that the charger wasn’t the issue. It was the comb and subsequently, very in all probability, the battery.
The subsequent port of name was the Oral-B web site, however the model’s official recommendation is alongside the strains of “Is it really plugged in?” and “Oh properly, perhaps the issue is your wall”.
However I struck gold with the /oralbtoothbrush subreddit. A number of individuals with an iO6 or above (which includes a battery proportion show on the deal with) famous that their battery degree was inexplicably dropping from a 40 or 50% cost to zero.
Others discovered that their brush stopped holding a cost altogether, or that it had refused to change on someday, as mine did. Happily, different Redditors had recommendation.
Tips on how to type your Oral-B iO’s battery points
The very first thing to notice is that if the comb is inside guarantee, it’s best to ship it again and get a alternative. If you happen to open up the comb, it’ll void the guarantee and it might compromise the iO’s water resistance.
You could possibly get an prolonged guarantee if the comb stops working simply outdoors of the guarantee interval, in order that’s value a shot too.
But when not, you may as properly strive one of many following Reddit-approved strategies of fixing it. Earlier than doing something, take away your toothbrush head and swap off the comb.
1. Clear the steel ring on the high of the comb deal with
This easy answer is the primary one it’s best to strive. It might work on all iO fashions.
Emma Rowley / Foundry
2. Manufacturing facility reset the comb
In case your iO6 or above isn’t holding a cost, give this a go. You’ll discover the choice within the settings menu in your brush.
3. Discharge the battery and let it recharge
Right here’s the following factor to strive for brushes not holding a cost (once more for an iO6 or above). Take away the comb head, swap the comb on and depart it to run for round 20 minutes. Then cost it once more.
4. Take away and exchange the battery
This ought to be a final resort, however my brush, the iO4, is a straightforward mannequin with no display screen. Meaning there’s no battery proportion indicator and extra simple inside workings. So the one option to type out the battery is to get to bodily entry it. Right here’s what mounted my brush for me.
The bottom of the comb is sealed, nevertheless it will unscrew. There are three notches on the bottom and when you have a brush that fast-charges, you’ll discover three corresponding raised strips on the bottom of the charger which you’ll be able to slot in and use to unscrew it.
If in case you have a brush with a standard Oral-B charger, stand it on the bottom and switch it anticlockwise.
Emma Rowley / Foundry
I couldn’t exert sufficient stress to do this, so I used a flathead screwdriver and the bottom got here off.
Emma Rowley / Foundry
Once you take away the bottom, a spring will come out: don’t lose this.
You’ll then be capable to press down on the uncovered head connector on the high and take away the comb’s workings. Once more, don’t lose the steel ring across the neck of the comb.
Emma Rowley / Foundry
In my case, all I wanted to do was take away the battery, wipe down the terminals and exchange it. As soon as I’d put my brush again collectively once more, it began charging as regular.
Emma Rowley / Foundry
If you could exchange the battery, you should purchase suitable rechargeable batteries from Amazon UK (a pair prices £26.33 on the time of writing) or Amazon US (a single battery is $20.38).
Despite their points, we’d nonetheless suggest Oral-B iO brushes. Take a look at our full Oral-B iO information to search out out the variations between every mannequin, their execs and cons, and what it’s best to really pay for each.
To see which Oral-B brush we expect is greatest general, see our Oral-B round-up. We’ve additionally bought suggestions from amongst all manufacturers in our round-up of the perfect electrical toothbrush, and you’ll see our picks from greatest budget-friendly fashions too.