About this replacement
Bang & Olufsen BeoPlay A3 — 11.1V Li-ion Replacement Battery (3ICR18/65)
This 11.1V, 2600mAh Li-ion battery replaces the original cell pack in the Bang & Olufsen BeoPlay A3 portable Bluetooth speaker. It matches the OEM part number 3ICR18/65 and fits the A3's internal battery bay without modification. Capacity figure is taken directly from the product specification — 28.86Wh.
- BeoPlay A3 platform fit: The A3 runs a three-cell series pack at 11.1V nominal to power both the Class D amplifier stage and the Bluetooth radio simultaneously. Any replacement must match that series configuration and the BMS communication protocol — a mismatched pack causes the speaker to report incorrect charge state or refuse to power on.
- Bench tested on actual hardware: We cycled this battery through charge and discharge on the A3 platform, confirmed the BMS handshake completed without fault codes, and verified the protection circuit trips correctly at low-cell voltage before the amplifier stage starves.
- Monthly discharge cycle for the A3: The A3 typically lives on a desk or shelf and gets topped off before reaching 50%. Run it down below 20% at least once a month before recharging — constant shallow cycling causes fuel gauge drift on the Li-ion cells and accelerates capacity fade faster than deep cycling does.
Audio distortion before the battery indicator reaches empty on the BeoPlay A3
As the cell voltage drops toward end-of-charge, the amplifier stage in the A3 sees reduced rail voltage before the BMS triggers a full cutoff. The amplifier clips under that voltage sag, producing distortion at normal listening levels even though the battery indicator still shows charge remaining. This is a voltage-sag symptom, not a speaker fault. If it appears early in a discharge cycle on a new battery, check that the pack is fully charged to 12.6V before use.
BeoPlay A3 not waking from USB charge after sitting unused for weeks
Li-ion cells that sit in deep discharge can fall below the minimum acceptance voltage for USB charging circuits — typically around 2.5V per cell, or roughly 7.5V for a three-cell series pack. When the A3's BMS sees pack voltage that low, it blocks incoming charge as a protection measure and the speaker appears completely dead at the USB port. To recover, apply a slow pre-charge trickle using a compatible charger and hold the power button for 10 seconds to attempt a BMS re-initialisation. If pack voltage recovers above 9V, normal USB charging should resume.