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What you need

This teardown is not a repair guide. To repair your Ember Mug, use our service manual.

  1. Ember Mug Destructive Teardown, Attempted Opening with a Pipe Wrench: step 1, image 1 of 2 Ember Mug Destructive Teardown, Attempted Opening with a Pipe Wrench: step 1, image 2 of 2
    • With a burnt spot on the bottom that gave my pipe wrench a place to anchor, I tried opening it using the wrench.

    • No luck at all; it simply would not turn left or right in any amount whatsoever regardless of how much muscle I put into it.

    • This could possibly be caused by the melted plastic from the microwave.

  2. Ember Mug Destructive Teardown, Brute Force Opening: step 2, image 1 of 3 Ember Mug Destructive Teardown, Brute Force Opening: step 2, image 2 of 3 Ember Mug Destructive Teardown, Brute Force Opening: step 2, image 3 of 3
    • With no success whatsoever using the pipe wrench, it was time to go barbarian on the mug.

    • Jammed a screwdriver into the existing weakened burnt spot and made myself a pry hole.

    • After much grunting and cursing, the bottom piece finally gave way.

    • Note in the last picture that there's a ribbon cable I've obviously torn off that's supposed to connect the bottom of the mug to the rest of it.

  3. Ember Mug Destructive Teardown, Examination of the Retention Mechanism: step 3, image 1 of 2 Ember Mug Destructive Teardown, Examination of the Retention Mechanism: step 3, image 2 of 2
    • So here we see the hooks that hold the base in place, marked with red arrows.

    • Obviously it would only take a very small degree of turning to get the clips to release.

    • I am suspicious of this little finger pointed out in green. Due to the condition of my mug, I am unable to tell if this is a locking mechanism or just some sort of guide pin.

    • If it is a locking mechanism, then it has been deliberately designed so that the mug cannot be opened again once assembled. I sincerely hope that isn't the case, but I can't tell either way for sure.

  4. Ember Mug Destructive Teardown, Careful Once It's Open!: step 4, image 1 of 3 Ember Mug Destructive Teardown, Careful Once It's Open!: step 4, image 2 of 3 Ember Mug Destructive Teardown, Careful Once It's Open!: step 4, image 3 of 3
    • I've positioned the broken flex cable approximately where it should be on the mug's bottom assembly.

    • As you can see, there's very little room to maneuver, meaning it's going to be really easy to break that cable like I did when you open the mug.

  5. Ember Mug Destructive Teardown, Remove the Bottom Screws: step 5, image 1 of 3 Ember Mug Destructive Teardown, Remove the Bottom Screws: step 5, image 2 of 3 Ember Mug Destructive Teardown, Remove the Bottom Screws: step 5, image 3 of 3
    • Four 7.5 mm Torx T6 screws secure the circuit board/ battery assembly to the base.

    • Remove the shield.

  6. Ember Mug Destructive Teardown, Unplug the Ribbon Cable: step 6, image 1 of 3 Ember Mug Destructive Teardown, Unplug the Ribbon Cable: step 6, image 2 of 3 Ember Mug Destructive Teardown, Unplug the Ribbon Cable: step 6, image 3 of 3
    • Were the ribbon cable intact, this is where it would be connected at this point.

    • Here's what it looks like when it's unplugged.

    • I taped the connector onto the broken end of the cable to show you what it should look like.

  7. Ember Mug Destructive Teardown, Here's the Battery: step 7, image 1 of 1
    • Here we get our first good look at the battery itself. Given the shape and size, I'm guessing two 18650 batteries wired together with a BMS, but we'll see.

  8. Ember Mug Destructive Teardown, Battery/Circuit Board Assembly: step 8, image 1 of 3 Ember Mug Destructive Teardown, Battery/Circuit Board Assembly: step 8, image 2 of 3 Ember Mug Destructive Teardown, Battery/Circuit Board Assembly: step 8, image 3 of 3
    • At this point these two components should just lift out; in my case they had to be pried out due to heat damage.

    • Likewise, the battery should be free now, but mine was fused to the circuit board.

    • One person noted that the battery is glued down to the circuit board; you couldn't tell it from mine, but I have no reason to doubt that.

  9. Ember Mug Destructive Teardown, A Look at the Base Itself: step 9, image 1 of 2 Ember Mug Destructive Teardown, A Look at the Base Itself: step 9, image 2 of 2
    • Here we see the contacts for the copper rings on the bottom that transfer power to the mug.

    • You can see the pin that activates the button on the bottom of the circuit board.

  10. Ember Mug Destructive Teardown, Unplug the Battery: step 10, image 1 of 2 Ember Mug Destructive Teardown, Unplug the Battery: step 10, image 2 of 2
    • Right about now you should be unplugging the battery from the circuit board. Unfortunately on mine the socket is melted to the connector so they cannot be separated.

    • I was forced to tear the connector off the circuit board to separate them. You can see here where it goes.

  11. Ember Mug Destructive Teardown, Let's Tear Down the Battery!: step 11, image 1 of 2 Ember Mug Destructive Teardown, Let's Tear Down the Battery!: step 11, image 2 of 2
    • Here's what we find after removing the plastic jacket. Yep, as we figured, a couple of 18650's!

    • As if we needed any more proof, it's spelled out right there on the battery itself.

  12. Ember Mug Destructive Teardown: step 12, image 1 of 2 Ember Mug Destructive Teardown: step 12, image 2 of 2
    • Flipping the battery over, we see a piece of tape over what is obviously the BMS. Let's look.

    • Yep, sure enough, there it is with connectors going to the batteries plainly visible.

  13. Ember Mug Destructive Teardown: step 13, image 1 of 2 Ember Mug Destructive Teardown: step 13, image 2 of 2
    • Here we see the BMS connectors on the ends of the battery. These batteries are connected in series; here we see one positive and one negative lead going to the BMS.

    • And here is the other end where the two batteries are connected together to make a series circuit. It's also fed back to the BMS for charging purposes so each battery can be charged separately.

  14. Ember Mug Destructive Teardown, Back to the Rest of the Mug: step 14, image 1 of 1
    • Let's see what else we can take apart, shall we?

    • The rubber seal that keeps water out of the mug and coincidently makes it very difficult to open the mug just lifts right out.

  15. Ember Mug Destructive Teardown: step 15, image 1 of 2 Ember Mug Destructive Teardown: step 15, image 2 of 2
    • As it turns out, the metal shields separating the heating element from the battery just lift out once the seal has been removed.

  16. Ember Mug Destructive Teardown: step 16, image 1 of 1
    • Finally, the insulation material over the heating element also just lifts out.

    • I have to note that had I not torn the ribbon cable, the mug itself would have been salvageable assuming a replacement bottom could be obtained, but as it is, there's really nothing that can be saved on this mug.

    • Like my daddy used to tell me, if you can't serve as a good example, then generally you can be held up as a bad example!

Jerry Wheeler

Member since: 03/21/22

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9 Comments

Fascinating read! Thank you for your documentation!

David - Reply

Great documenting. I too did a teardown and have made a replacement bottom from my 3D printer. You are welcome to the STL file. I printed one from PETG filament that matches with the hold down tabs.

Alan Kirk - Reply

Very cool; I haven't gotten into 3D printing yet, but have been watching the industry as it evolves with some fascination.

If you want to share your file with the community, you can go to the Edit tab of the device page and add it as a document; that would be cool to have available for everyone.

Editing Ember Mug - iFixit

Jerry Wheeler -

Have you uploaded the STL to any of the online repositories? I am extremely interested in getting my hands on a new bottom.

Max -

I'm curious how you handled the metal contact rings on the base. Are you planning on reusing the originals or do you have something else in mind?

Jerry Wheeler -

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