This is a CSR Portable Internet Radio Wifi / FM, also known as Novodio
Mutant M-wavio MIG-PIR-1
Koolertron GD-WIFM09
Sovos SVWFPIR
Bought October ish 2011
It ports all traffic through the CSR tuner website, which slows everything down
Current version of firmware is 5.1
To get into it, remove the knob carefully. Then lever off the front panel from the right side (speaker on the left) which is held on with very sticky tape. There are 2 tabs that lock the panel to the LED strip in the middle. The back comes off with the 4 screws revealed beneath the front panel. The pcb is held on with 4 screws. Speaker and battery unplug. Battery replacement looks straight forward when the time comes.
Today, mine stopped working. It acquired IP, then tried to get the default radio station, but failed, normally resulting in an auto-reset. After I took it apart, I tried spray ice to localise the fault. All psu rails marked 1v8 and 3v3 were fine. The 2 large silver caps are about 1.6V, small tant is across the battery at 3.7V. Running off mains didn't help.
Checked firmware revision, which didn't work at first as it hadn't made contact with the http://csr.vtuner.com website, but once it did, it told me I was up to date. Current is 1.5, my backup version is 'invalid' which I take to mean there is no backup.
The built in li-on charger seems to operate in a similar way to the ubiquitous TP4056 and the led flashes when the battery is disconnected. The radio takes about 150mA from the battery during normal operation and about 50uA when off. A fairly flat lion battery was fed 360mA, so maybe the charge limit is low. It does take about 8 hours to fully charge. It's stamped 5.55Wh which is about 1.5Ah. A similar size replacement is a Samsung EB504465VU. A bit longer than the original. Contains cut off circuitry below 3V.
Theoretical battery life is 1500/150 = 10 hours
Battery indicator
empty 3.55
1/4 3.67
1/2 3.77
3/4 3.91
full 4.02
won't turn on below 3.45V
shuts off below 3.37V
Capacity of the battery tested at about 3/4 capacity May 2016 ie ~ 5 years old, giving about 8 hours use.
Battery is 60 x 40 x ~5.5mm thick, but the case back is flared a good 1mm more
Update 18/9/16 - New battery. Physically larger, but the same capacity. There are plenty this kind of size. This is a T18287 which is fitted to a Galaxy S2, plus some others. At 5.55Wh/3.7V, it's 1.5Ah, but you see it advertised as 1750mAh.
25/11/20
Battery barely lasting 2 days.
Battery changed to a 2600mAh Samsung one glued to the outside. Dated 2016.
Update 11/8/22
Radio stopped working 2 days ago.
CSR57E6 Bluetooth Stereo Audio Chip
29lv3200b 32 Megabit (4096K x 8-bit / 2048K x 16-bit) Flash Memory Boot Sector Flash Memory
CY7C1041 512K x 8 Static RAM
CSR UF1050B UniFi-1 first generation single-chip Wi-Fi solution
The csr.vtuner site is not responding. As there are no open ports I can't even begin to hack this.
I suppose I could trap the site and divert it to one of mine but life is too short. I think this radio goes to the recyclers!
I did try to trap the calls, but wireshark cant get my wireless card to go promiscuous!
Tried ycast, which had a similar URL ie *.vtuner.com Local DNS worked fine but radio kept crashing when I changed the DNS away from the gateway addy.
I own ONE of those. The problem that I have is that the IS HARD TO CHANGE STATIOS because the "knob" always SKIPS the same with the Volumen control knob.
ReplyDeleteIt is hard to change stations and hard to increase or decrease the volumen. What can I do to find a solution to this? Thank you!
I have the mutant one, same problem but still my favorite device for internet radio. Still running on original battery in 2021
ReplyDeleteI have had Sovos SVWFPIR Wi Fi Internet / Fm radio since 2011, but now it will not connect to my router. It come up with error network down you have too many presets. But when I try to delete it says ok but does not delete presets.I have tried inserting the reset pin and pressing but apart from turning the radio off it does nothing and stays in the same state. I have not got the instruction manual now so I do not know the correct procedure for a reset, so maybe doing it wrong. I love this excellent little radio it has given so much entertainment over the years so I am reluctant to throw it away and it does work on Fm RDS, can anybody help me on how I reset the radio or any information on how to get an instruction manual without the extortionate monthly charges of the download copied manual sites, being a registered disabled OAP I cannot afford those charges. I do hope someone can guide me in the correct direction. Regards Trevor.
ReplyDeleteI too own the Mutant M-Wavio. When I attempted to access http://csr.vtuner.com the connection timed out so it looks like curtains for my device. I emailed support and haven't heard back.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the teardown photos and analysis. Great work!
Kurt
I too contacted support a while back and I've not heard anything either. It's disgraceful that vtuner are committing a load to products to the scrap heap.
DeleteI have bought my replacement radio and it does not rely on vtuner.
Which radio did you buy? I haven't seen much in a similar form factor as the M-Wavio.
ReplyDeleteI never liked the sound from the CSR radio which distorted the higher frequencies (probably aliasing problems) I finally bought this radio https://baronnies-projects.blogspot.com/2022/09/denver-radio-ir-135s.html which is significantly bigger but sounds good. It can also be accessed directly from your network which means you can add your own streams directly.
ReplyDelete