About this replacement
Brother MW-260 MPrint Portable Printer — 7.4V Li-ion Replacement Battery (BT-200)
This is a 7.4V, 1200mAh Li-ion replacement battery for the Brother MW-260 and MW-260A MPrint portable printers. It replaces OEM part number BT-200. When the original cell degrades, print jobs stall, Bluetooth drops, and paper feed torque drops — a fresh cell restores normal operation.
- MW-260 and MW-260A compatibility: Both models run the same 7.4V rail, use the same BT-200 connector footprint, and share an identical BMS handshake sequence — one cell covers both.
- Bench tested on actual hardware: We ran this cell through the MW-260 charge cycle and confirmed the BMS accepted it without fault codes. Thermal head draw and paper feed motor current both registered within spec across multiple print sequences.
- First-deploy print sequence: After installing, charge fully, then print five test receipts before putting the unit back into service. The paper feed motor draws a short high-current pulse on each job — running a few cycles lets the BMS log the current profile for this cell and prevents false low-battery cutoffs during the first real deployment.
Why the MW-260 refuses to print after sitting unused for weeks
Li-ion cells self-discharge at roughly 1–2% per week. After a month on a shelf, the MW-260's BMS may read the pack voltage as below the minimum motor-drive threshold — typically around 6.8V — and block the print command entirely. The printer may power on and show a ready state, but no job will execute. Put the unit on charge for at least two hours before testing; if it still won't print, check that terminal voltage has recovered above 7.0V before drawing conclusions about the cell.
Bluetooth dropping mid-print job on the MW-260
The MW-260's Bluetooth radio and thermal print head both draw current simultaneously during a job. When the cell is worn or partially charged, that combined load drags pack voltage below the radio's operating floor, and the connection drops before the job finishes. The phone or tablet reads this as a pairing error, not a battery issue. Charge to full and retest — if the drop still occurs only during printing and not during idle pairing, the cell can no longer sustain peak load and replacement is the fix.