Chosen Solution
I have tested and replaced batteries in my quiet comfort 2 headphones to no avail. the red power light does not come on and not a hint of sound, static or owtherwise. bose wants $100 to fix them and not only no way but now way in the world. and hints? thanks, jeff
One thing you may want to check is the contact points both on the headphones and the batteries. I had a friend who used these for jogging and would sweat profusely. He brought them to me with the same problem you describe. After cleaning the contact points with an eraser and some alcohol on a swab, the headphones worked fine.
I figured out what the problem was for my QC-15 Headphones not powering up. Its definitly a design defect with this model. The problem is that the wire that runs from the battery compartment to the negative post on the door/hinge has a fatigue failure problem. Through many repetitions of opening and closing the door to change the battery you inadvertently cause the wire to snap, very similar to how a paper clip breaks when you bend it back and forth a bunch of times. The wire is pretty hard to see too because they have it pretty well hidden on the little hinged cover and it dissappears into the headphones maybe 3/4" down from the edge of the hinge. You really have to look to see it. What really gets my goat here is that it seems that quite a few people are experiencing an issue where the unit just fails to power up all of a sudden and end up sending the unit back to Bose for close to $100 for a “replacement”. That is just plain old robbery for an almost built in failure point on a pretty expensive pair of headphones. When they get your headphones in they replace one tiny wire and then ship them to the next customer for another hundred dollars. Its insane. The only reason I found it was that it happened right after i changed the battery which got me thinking about what could have possibly happened just from changing the battery. SO check the negative post wire to see if its broken. Also its worth mentioning that the wire could be intact and still broken internally. Mine was just snapped right in half though.
Fixed my my Bose Quiet Comfort 15 that would not power up! Fortunate because the battery wire broke at the solder point on the battery door. Did not need to disassemble anything, just wiggled the door loose. Removed 1" insulation from a piece of junk wire, twisted the strands. Soldered, not to the door, but to the base of the spring. Then re-installed door, trimmed wire to about 5/8", crimped it to the end of broken one and soldered that. No need for any insulation, here. Difficult to get door closed but WORKS - at least until the next battery. I SHOULD have put a little heat shrink, not for insulation, but for strength. FYI: although my unit is many years old. my local (USA) Bose store will replace with refurb for $120.
Hi, i had the same problem that told “RKEW” , the cable wich have to make contact with the negative polo where is the battery is not making contact, because the cable is very short. I opened all the headphone and i saw others cables thats are going to break…. i cant belive it because i paid 300 dollars for this. Here is the photo of the problem:
So, i have to weld the cable or replace it(s) and clean the contacts where the cables born because i saw sulphate.
This photo shows where I soldered the negative wire on the QC15 headphones and it worked.
The power light on my Bose QC15 headphones went out after many hours of use of an AAA battery. I just figured it was time to change the battery. I had a difficult time removing the battery and finally had to pull it out with needle nose pliers. When I put in a new battery, the power light would not come on. After reading some posts here, I tried to clean the battery casing with a dry Q tip, then water, and then 40% ethanol without success. Then I rubbed the casing thoroughly with the eraser of a new no. 2 pencil, blew out the interior with a compressed air canister and presto!, the power light came on.
The suggestion to use the #2 pencil with alcohol did the trick for me when I had no power after removing the corroded battery. The suggestions here saved me hundreds! Thanks to all.
Same on mine - check the contact points!
I had the exact same problem with my Bose QC15s. I was on a transatlantic flight and I changed the battery only to find out that the headphones would not power up. I thought it was the battery and changed at least 3 batteries. I then read this very valuable post, went downstairs to the kitchen and poured some turpentine at the end of an earbud. I then swivelled it along the positive terminal contact point to remove some dirt. And Voila!! Now they work perfectly. Thank you all so much.
Mine failed too! Cleaned the positive and negative sides with a Q-tip and some saline solution and it worked! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!
Thank you all for this post!!! I have the QuietComfort 15 and after I saw that my last battery leaked inside, I thought it was a goner. I tried what most people posted here (vinegar, normal saline, and pencil eraser), but what worked for me was a q-tip dipped in rubbing alcohol. I cleaned both positive and negative terminals, and dried them with a power duster (compressed gas duster).. about to give up hope and BOOM - it WORKED!!! Thank you all, this thread has made my day (and saved me $$$)!!!
The cleaning of the positive & negative contact points in the battery compartment fixed my Bose headphones.
Here’s a close up of the circuit board indicating where the negative power wire is located.
I had a problem with my bose 2 not working. It turned out to be my iPad was not getting a good connection. FYI, check the source first.
I have a pair of QC-2. Considering the problems I had with those,those headphones one flaky wire . My issues went a lot deeper. Oh the wire issue reared its ugly head but my big issue was the material they used for the ear cup swivels and mounts. It is so brittle just putting them on your head, you should be well medicated prior to trying this. During a listening session my right ear cup just dropped and hung by the wire by my chin. I repaired this issue only to have it happen to the left. after a few repeats of this issue, I went surfing on this issue. WOW i found a blog containing Very Angry Customers, having the same issue. Also Bose gave the same solution,your headset + $100.00 and the would send you another of the same model. This also meant that the new set had the same genetic flaw. I hope your seeing a pattern here. Well i was not spending any more money for something that was to be superior to other brands, which is why you. purchased them in the first place. So using the God given Grey Matter that sets on my shoulders. I salvaged all that i could and redesigned all of the head gear minus the swivels which was part of the problem. And while I had the patient open I rewired the cup to cup section. I also rewired the cord with something a little more able than the spaghetti they used. Now the only reason I put so much time in this is that I love the sound of these gems. The most important item here is the ear cups and they still worked perfect. Call it a labor of Love.
How to fix a wiggly battery? When it clicks in the headphone it stops the bass and noise cancelling. Driving me mad.
Thank you very much for posting ! saved time, money and unnecessary hassle
Thank you all for sharing these tips; yes, this also resolved my problem: the wire connecting the negative pole of the battery was torn, i.e. as it was attached to the spring on the battery compartment door and yes, it’s a DESIGN FAILURE to have this tiny and very weak wire soldered to the end-point on the door. Of course, it broke as per the ‘paper-clip repeated bending’ analogy shared above already. I don’t have soldering equipment at home, so had to improvise to fix as follows: 1/ Very gently peel the wire-casing to expose the metal wire inside, I had to remove the door to more easily reach this tiny wire 2/ Make a ‘cap’ with aluminium foil to cover the battery’s negative pole: this cap should reach half-way through the battery, such that when it’s in place it can make contact with the exposed wire 3/ Re-attach the door and close it, to ensure the exposed wire touches the aluminium cap, you should keep inserting extra bits of aluminium folds until the closed-door presses the wire against the aluminium cap that covers the batter. It brought my headset back to life! It works. Just need aluminium foil. I will complain to Bose about this, too, very predictable failure point.
