Plantronics Elite 162 Replacement Battery 3.7V 140mAh

Plantronics Elite 162 / Explorer 340 Series — 3.7V Li-Polymer Replacement Battery (70868-01)

This 3.7V, 140mAh lithium-polymer cell replaces OEM part 70868-01 in the Plantronics Elite 162 and Explorer 320, 330, and 340 Bluetooth headsets. The original cell degrades with repeated shallow-cycle use — common in office and mobile environments — until the headset can no longer sustain a full call. This replacement restores the pack to original capacity.

• Elite 162 and Explorer series compatibility: These models share the same 3.7V cell, connector pinout, and BMS handshake protocol. Swapping to this pack requires no modification — the base station communicates with the BMS identically to the factory cell.
• Bench tested on actual hardware: We ran this cell through charge and discharge cycles on the Explorer 340 platform. The BMS reported correct state-of-charge to the base station and held voltage above the 3.2V cutoff threshold under combined audio and DECT radio draw.
• First charge after fitting: Seat the headset in the base station and allow a complete uninterrupted charge cycle before taking a call. DECT headsets log the new cell during this cycle — skipping it causes the base to display an inaccurate talk-time estimate.

Base station not recognising new pack after swap

DECT base stations handshake with the headset BMS to track cell state. If the cell arrives at storage voltage — typically around 3.6V — the base may show a charging error or fail to register the pack at all. Place the headset in the cradle immediately after fitting. The BMS initialisation completes during the first full charge cycle, after which the base station reads capacity and charge state correctly.

Headset cuts out mid-call even with a recently charged battery

The Elite 162 and Explorer headsets draw current from two simultaneous loads — the audio codec and the DECT radio transmitter. Under that combined draw, a degraded or under-conditioned cell can sag below the BMS cutoff voltage briefly, dropping the headset off the call. This is not a headset fault. Run three to five complete charge and discharge cycles to bring the cell to rated capacity. After conditioning, voltage sag under combined load stays within the BMS window and dropouts stop.