Hi Hairtellers,
I need to replace the battery on my Apilus SM-500, the instructions in the manual aren’t very clear,
so I’m a bit worried about resetting the card in case I do it wrong, does anyone have this machine…? How do you replace the battery correctly? Thanks in advance
I do. You replace the cell while the card is inserted in the machine and on so that there is a power source to the card and the memory is not lost while you are changing it.
You are right to be concerned, the card costs $300 to replace if the memory is lost. That said I found Dectro’s technician in their montreal office very helpful, so it may be worth your while to call them and have him walk you through it.
my friend James gave more thorough instructions on this thread here:
Seana
oh and thank you for reminding me, after deciding to review what little instructions are in the manual, I realized mine has been in service for well over twice the serviceable life of the battery.Time I follow the same directions! There’s a small latch to release the battery, you use a paper clip to push the latch to the left and the little plastic door should release. There are markings on the back of the crd if you are unsure.
Thanks Iluv2zap for that excellent explanation, just changed the battery and it works - I was really stressing about changing it before your tips, so thanks 
There’s something else I hope you can help me with, whilst on this machine subject…?
I can’t seem to get the ‘AUTO, no footswitch mode’ to work, I’ve followed the instructions in the manual, holding the metal handle etc., but no luck…(the metal handle is kind of rusty, but I don’t see why it shouldn’t work?)
Ok well I should preface this by saying I’m not a technician, and there may be others who can give better advice. I should also say that I almost never use the automatic function on my machine for reasons I’ll explain a bit further on.
As to why your automatic function isnt working, lets break down how at, least, I understand it works. It’s basically a small DC current not enough to cause any galvanic electrolysis but enough that the machine can detect when that circuit is completed. So you want to be making a good connection at all points. Starting with your Annode chunk of steel pipe. If there’s some corrosion take a piece of wet dry sandpaper to it, and a thin wire brush to where the wire pugs in. Theannode comes with a sponge you are supposed to wet but on every machine I’ve ever seen it’s missing. I wrap paer towel around the piece of steel and wet it.
Probably the easiest troubleshooting you can do is test your actual DC function. IT’s the same circuit. You can either stick a probe in a follicle and see if you produce lye froth, or do a bubble test.
It’s also fairly cheap to replace the banana-plug cables that go from the machine to the annode, and it’s a good idea to make sure that the cable is firmly plugged in at the machine end.
If you’ve cleaned the annode and wrapped it in wet towel, and replaced the wire, and it’s still not working when you insert probe into follicle, it’s time to call Apilus. Do test if your DC is working.
Now as to why I dont really find the automatic helpful, I find it triggers as soon as the saline in the follicle comes in contact with probe, which is too early if I’m doing thermolysis, and when I want to give more treatment to the same follicle, I cant just press the pedal gain, I actually have to remove the probe from the follicle and reinsert it. In short, the control factor of manual over automatic is huge. But make sure all modes of your machine are working, including the galvanic side.