About this replacement
LG GizmoGadget / VC200 — 3.8V Li-Polymer Replacement Battery (BL-S5)
This is a 3.8V, 490mAh Li-Polymer cell replacing the OEM BL-S5 battery in the LG GizmoGadget and VC200 smartwatch. It restores power to the watch's time display, notifications, fitness tracking, and wireless connectivity. Dimensions are 29.00 × 27.90 × 5.36mm — confirm your original cell matches before fitting.
- GizmoGadget and VC200 compatibility: Both models share the BL-S5 form factor, the same 3.8V nominal rail, and the same flex connector pinout. The BMS on both platforms communicates over a standard 1-wire protocol — this cell's protection circuit responds correctly to that handshake.
- Bench tested on actual hardware: We cycled this cell through charge and discharge on a GizmoGadget unit. The BMS accepted the cell without fault codes, and the protection circuit tripped at the correct low-voltage threshold before the cell reached damaging depth of discharge.
- Fuel gauge reset after swap: After fitting this cell, place the watch on its charger immediately and charge to 100% before powering on. The fuel gauge IC on this platform loses its reference point when the cell is removed — without a full charge cycle from near-zero, the gauge will report inaccurate state-of-charge from the first boot.
Why the GizmoGadget's always-on display accelerates cell wear
The VC200 platform keeps the display active for quick-glance time checks, which draws current continuously rather than in short bursts. Combined with background BLE polling for phone notifications, the average quiescent draw on this 490mAh cell is higher than on watches with gesture-wake displays. Over months of use, that constant low-level drain accelerates capacity fade. Turning off always-on display in the watch settings is the single most effective way to extend cell life.
Watch not pairing with the GizmoWatch app after battery replacement
Removing the battery cuts power to the BLE stack entirely, which wipes the active pairing session stored in RAM. The phone retains a stale Bluetooth entry that no longer matches the watch's re-initialised address state. On the phone, go to Bluetooth settings, forget the GizmoGadget device, then restart the LG GizmoWatch app and run a fresh pair. The watch should appear as a new device within 30 seconds of entering pairing mode.