About this replacement
Mackie FreePlay Portable PA System — 7.4V Li-ion Replacement Battery (J22622)
This is a 7.4V, 6800mAh (50.32Wh) Li-ion replacement battery for the Mackie FreePlay and FreePlay Portable PA system. It fits the original J22622 battery position directly. When the stock cell degrades and the speaker stops holding a charge, this is the part that brings it back.
- FreePlay and FreePlay Portable PA compatibility: Both units share the same 7.4V two-cell Li-ion pack, connector pinout, and BMS communication protocol — so one part number covers the whole FreePlay range. The voltage rail feeds both the Class D amplifier and the Bluetooth radio simultaneously.
- Bench tested on actual hardware: We ran this pack through charge and discharge cycles on a FreePlay unit, monitoring BMS handshake, cutoff voltage, and cell balance. Both cells tracked within 20mV of each other under sustained combined audio and radio draw.
- First-charge protocol for the FreePlay: After fitting this battery, run one full charge cycle before use — the FreePlay's internal battery gauge recalibrates on the first complete charge-to-full cycle, so the on-device LED indicator reports state-of-charge accurately from the start.
Why the FreePlay cuts out under combined Bluetooth and amplifier load
The FreePlay draws from the same 7.4V pack for both the Bluetooth radio and the Class D amplifier. At high volume, the amplifier pull spikes sharply — and if the cell is aged or deeply discharged, voltage sags below the BMS cutoff threshold. The BMS interprets this as a fault condition and disconnects output to protect the cells. Fitting a fresh cell with full capacity eliminates the sag that triggers this behaviour.
FreePlay shows full charge on LED but cuts off after a short time
This happens when a new or long-stored battery arrives at storage voltage — around 3.7V per cell — and the on-device gauge hasn't yet calibrated to the new pack. The LED reads the surface charge, not the true state of charge. Run one complete charge cycle from flat to full before heavy use. After that first cycle, the gauge reads correctly and the symptom disappears.