[SkinnyPupp]

Originally Posted by 68style

So I have a Casio G-Shock 5600 with Bluetooth and solar recharging, it's a Japan only model from 2014... I thought I had lost it after a trip to Calgary back in July, but randomly found it 3 weeks ago at the bottom of a bag it must have fallen into. I guess being in the dark for so long killed the battery on it, even if I left it sitting in the sunshine/light for days on end it would just say "CHG" on the screen.

I had changed a similar type of battery on a ProTrek before, but decided since I was going to Japan I might as well bring the G-Shock with me and get it changed by a proper Casio tech there instead of troubling myself.

Long story short I went to Yodobashi in Akihabara and talked to the Casio tech there, he told me that I just need to charge it. I told him I already did try that, it isn't holding a charge and I'm confident the battery needs to be replaced. He says no, no, it's impossible, the strap will break and many other things would happen long before that battery will ever die. After having an incredibly obtuse discussion with him for like 5 minutes I realized that basically what he's saying is that there's no way a Casio G-Shock battery will die, he won't replace it because replacing it admits that the watch has a fault and it's some weird Japanese pride in products thing in play here that I'll never be able to circumvent even though I am basically saying "Change it anyway and tell me what it costs"... he just can't or won't do it. Such a bizarre encounter.

Anyway, I brought the watch home with me and found an extra CTL1616 I had around and with help from my phone to take pictures and zoom in on details and some decent lighting, was able to replace the battery and perform the AC reset myself and now it's good to go. It definitely was the battery, no matter what the Casio tech said or believes haha...

Yup my old G-Shock stopped keeping a charge as well, so I changed the battery myself. Batteries are batteries! Of course they expire over time!