The Bose SoundTouch 10 has a good room-filling sound, but it lacks an internal battery. If you have Einhell power tool batteries sitting in your garage, you already have a good power supply. This project turns a static speaker into a rugged, long-range garden radio.

The Motivation: 

Why modify an old Bose SoundTouch 10 for the garden?

• Bluetooth Range Sucks: Standard Bluetooth cuts out the moment you walk away or put the phone in your pocket.
• WLAN Advantage:  I have good Wi-Fi coverage in my garden, so a WLAN-based radio is perfect here. If you take it away from home, you can just run a mobile hotspot from your phone for stable, long-range streaming.
• Cheap and Sustainable: High-quality outdoor Wi-Fi radios are rare and expensive. You can find SoundTouch 10 speakers quite cheaply on the used market now, especially since Bose turned off the backend servers.
• Long-Term Testing: I have had a black prototype of this setup running for over a year now without any issues.

Materials

To build the custom battery mount and handle, you will need:

• Battery: Any 18V Einhell Power X-Change battery.
• Connectors: Metal blade terminals to slide into the Einhell battery slots.
• Fasteners:
  • M4x20 flat-head screws (for securing the main battery holder).
  • 3.5x30 screws (for mounting the handle to the frame).
• A sountouch 10, obviously
• 3D Printed Parts: You can access the CAD files to print the handle and mount and the main case. Do not judge me - the model is an absolute mess, but it works. There is a fiel on Makerworld, but I would recommend to download the files from onshape and slice yourself. On Makerwold I posted Verison 1, this might be slighly short dependent on material shrinking (but for me it worked on the balck verison). 

⚠️ SAFETY NOTE: Einhell Power X-Change batteries are specifically engineered with the Battery Management System (BMS) built directly onto the battery itself. This is a massive safety advantage for DIY projects, as the battery regulates its own cell balancing and protections. However, you must still ensure your step-down converter properly regulates the voltage to the speaker.

Step-by-Step Build: 

1. Open the speaker

To get inside without breaking the plastic tabs, use the iFixit SoundTouch 10 teardown guide. It shows you exactly where the hidden clips are.

Remove the three screws under the front rubber bumper:

Remove the six screws under the fron grill: 

Loosen the two screws on the internal bass channel: 

Remove the three screws holding the main PCB: 

2. Locate the PCB Solder Points:

Look at the PCB where the internal AC power supply connects to the logic board. Find the positive (+) and negative (-) DC input pads where the regulated power enters the amplifier circuit.

⚡ Warning: Stay away from the dashed/hashed area on the PCB. That section handles the high-voltage AC mains power.

I found it easiest to solder the wires directly to the pins shown in the photo. Use standard red for positive and black for negative. Hook it up to a temporary power source first to make sure the board boots before you close it up.

Verify it is working: 

3. Route Wires

You need to get the wires outside the housing. Double check the hole location with the 3D-printed frame: 

Put a good blob of hot glue on the inside of the hole. This seals the acoustic chamber of the speaker back up and acts as strain relief so you don't rip the wires off the PCB if the cable gets tugged.

Half way done!

Alternative: The 3D-printed case is also designed to let wires pass directly through a small hole which is drilled in the factory seams of the speaker shell. By routing the wires through this seam line, you avoid drilling an ugly holes into the middle of the exterior plastic but wires will be visible. Might be better if you want to undo the modification at a later point: 

4. Add a Quick-Disconnect Plug

Optional: Don't permanently wire the 3D-printed...