About this replacement
Zebra WS50 / WR50 Series — 3.8V Li-ion Replacement Battery (BT-000446B)
This is a 3.8V, 1300mAh Li-ion cell built to the BT-000446B spec for the Zebra WS50, WR50, and WS5001 wearable mobile computers. These wrist-worn units run hands-free barcode scanning and wireless data collection in retail pick lines and warehouse floors. Voltage and connector match the original pack exactly.
- WS50, WR50, WS5001 shared platform: All three models run the same 3.8V power rail and use an identical BMS handshake at the battery connector. One cell covers the full range without modification or adapter.
- Bench tested on actual hardware: We cycled this pack through combined scan-trigger and wireless radio loads. The BMS held stable through repeated inrush events at both the 2D imager and the Wi-Fi radio, and cell voltage recovered cleanly between bursts.
- First-shift pre-charge on wrist-worn units: After installing a fresh pack, seat the WS50 in its charging cradle and run a full charge cycle before the first pick shift. Scan-trigger inrush current peaks sharply when the cell starts near minimum, and a fully charged cell prevents a false BMS trip on the first trigger pull of the day.
Cradle showing a charging error on a new BT-000446B pack
Charging errors on a fresh pack are almost always a contact resistance problem, not a cell fault. The WS50 cradle reads battery state through the same gold-plated contacts it uses to charge, and any oxidation or debris on those pads raises resistance enough to trigger an error flag. Wipe the contacts on both the battery and the cradle slot with a dry cloth, reseat the pack firmly, and the error clears in most cases. If it persists, check cradle contact spring tension — a worn spring can drop contact pressure below the threshold the dock needs to register a valid pack.
Scanner losing wireless connection during rapid scan bursts
On the WS50, the 2D imager and the Wi-Fi radio draw simultaneously during a fast scan burst — the imager fires, the radio transmits the data, and both inrush events overlap in under a second. If the cell voltage sags below roughly 3.4V under that combined load, the radio drops its association before it can recover. This is most common on an aged original cell that can no longer hold voltage under dual load, but it can also happen on a new pack that was installed without a prior full charge. Charge the replacement to 100% before the shift and the sag stays above the radio's minimum operating threshold.