About this replacement
Lenovo Vibe Shot / Vibe Max Z90 Series — 3.8V Li-Polymer Replacement Battery (BL246)
This is a 3.8V, 2900mAh Li-Polymer replacement battery for the Lenovo Vibe Shot and Vibe Max Z90 series smartphones. Part number BL246 fits the Vibe Shot, Vibe Max Z90, Z90-3, and Z90-7. Capacity is rated at 11.02Wh and the cell dimensions are 76.50 × 55.63 × 4.04 mm.
- Vibe Shot and Vibe Max Z90 platform fit: The Vibe Shot and Vibe Max Z90 variants share the same battery bay dimensions, connector pinout, and BMS handshake protocol — that's why a single BL246 part number covers all four models. The charge IC on each device reads the same NTC thermistor response from this cell.
- Bench tested on actual hardware: We ran this cell through full charge and discharge cycles on the Vibe Shot platform. The BMS accepted the cell without error flags, the charge IC reached full termination current correctly, and the fuel gauge IC tracked state-of-charge without resetting mid-cycle.
- Fuel gauge recalibration on first use: On first installation, disable fast charging and run one complete discharge-to-charge cycle at standard rate. This lets the fuel gauge IC map the new cell's discharge curve before high-current charging pushes current into an uncalibrated coulomb counter.
Sudden shutdown at 20–30% on the Vibe Shot after a cell swap
A new Li-Polymer cell has a slightly different voltage-versus-capacity curve than the aged cell it replaces. The Vibe Shot's fuel gauge IC still holds the old curve in memory, so it misreads the actual state of charge. When the modem fires a transmit burst or the screen brightness peaks, current draw spikes and the cell voltage drops sharply — crossing the hardware cutoff before the gauge shows zero. One full discharge and recharge cycle at standard rate rewrites the coulomb counter baseline and clears this.
BL246 replacement not accepted by fast charge on first plug-in
Lenovo's charge IC on the Vibe Max Z90 series runs a handshake check on the first charge cycle after a new cell is detected. If the BMS on the replacement cell hasn't completed its first initialisation, the charge IC falls back to standard 5V/1A input and ignores the fast-charge path. This isn't a fault — plug in, let the first cycle complete fully at the standard rate, then unplug and replug. Fast charge negotiation restarts cleanly and should engage within 30 seconds of reconnection.