I saw that the battery can be changed when it finally gives out, but I’m not able to find anywhere how to do that. Do I unscrew the 15 screws on the bottom, or somehow pop out the cover where the USB plugs in? And if I take off the bottom, are there other pieces that may fall out that I need to be careful of?
I don’t have a need right now, but I just want to have these instructions for later.
Blockquote[quote=“meebee, post:1, topic:2076, full:true”]
I saw that the battery can be changed when it finally gives out, but I’m not able to find anywhere how to do that. Do I unscrew the 15 screws on the bottom, or somehow pop out the cover where the USB plugs in? And if I take off the bottom, are there other pieces that may fall out that I need to be careful of?
I don’t have a need right now, but I just want to have these instructions for later.
[/quote]
I’m curious about this too. It was one of the reasons I bought ChessUp2.
Yes you just unscrew the rear case. It is a torx T-8 bit that fits the bolts.
Be aware that they are thread forming, so while you can access the rear cover, I would not do it dozens of times for no reason.
If the battery ever needs replaced, do reach out so we can give you the specifications for replacement.
Any reason this information isn’t made readily available? I’ve tried to find the details, but the most info I’ve gotten is 4000-4600mAh (depending on where I look), “not proprietary”, but also one mention of it being rectangular which isn’t something I’m used to seeing sold as standard cells like e.g. 18650s and such.
Admittedly, the battery will likely outlive my use of the board, but I’m irrationally invested in finding out now, and if I could do so without opening the board that would be nice.
There are specific protection circuits on the battery - so we would recommend an active and proper replacement at the time replacement was needed. It is a LiPo pouch - very common construction. But these come in a variety of wire gauge, connector, connector pin ordering, charge rate, capacity. In addition, there are different specifications on under voltage and over voltage protection circuits.
The least important property is the capacity (4000 mAh). It is the details on protection circuits and such that matter a lot more.
I am confident anyone can find a viable replacement - but it is best for us to point the way when the time comes.
FWIW - I don’t think a single battery has worn out in the history of ChessUp. So we don’t currently put any effort into keeping an active list of replacements. We will help anyone who needs help if a battery ever wears out.
Given the youth of the company and devices, it’s no surprise there has been no need for battery replacements just yet. As someone with 20+ year old battery powered gadgets, my outlook is a bit longer.
Thanks for the clarification. While not technically proprietary, that sounds like not much of a difference to me as far as local availability of replacement goes. I was hoping for more of a “available everywhere, here’s the model number” sort of drop-in replacement, but at least now I know. 
I do have a follow up question. Does the device function without a battery at all, or does it rely on the battery being present? Based on other answers I’ve seen, it does not seem it has circuitry for battery bypass when fully charged, so I suspect the answer is that usb power but no battery = no go? This is very much in the “if this should become a retro device for me” category, but I figured better to ask while I can.
By the way, I waited out the first ChessUp as it seemed a bit “very much first generation” to me. The ChessUp 2 was worth the wait. I did have a brief moment of disappointment, but the firmware fairies got that sorted days after I got the board (save/resume; I was used to that from my DGT Centaur). Other than that, it’s been moment after moment of “I didn’t know I was missing this, but now I can’t live without it”. I haven’t been this motivated to play chess in ages.
With a proper power supply it can run from the USB-C without a battery. You would need a true 2 amp power supply on the USB-C.