I have a Fossil “The Brain” watch. It is a digital watch (understatement) with a back that attaches with four screws. So I changed my own battery.
On the back of the battery was a sticker that says (color as written), “After installing a battery, short-circuit the AC terminal and the battery (+) surface with tweezers.”
What in the world could the AC terminal be, and can you imagine why they want you to short it out?
After I changed the battery (without shorting anything out), all functions worked perfectly on the display, but the alarms are no longer audible. I do not know if we’ve got a cause/effect thing going here but it’s worth mentioning.
Pretty wild watch. Has context sensitive help–push the help button and you get text scroll across the bottom telling what each button does. I bought it for snorkeling because it’s waterproof.
My guess is AC stands for All Clear, and is probably a reset needed to restore normal functionality after changing the battery. The terminal is probably little more than a gold-plated circle on the inside assembly someplace near the battery. The piezo transducer for the alarm is normally on the back and contact is made through usually one, but sometimes two small spring terminals. Make sure you didn’t dislodge one.
Just do the AC. Household tweezers might be too big. the AC that you’re looking for is usually a small, shallow hole similar to the “reset” hole on the backs of very small electronics. You may need to use a paperclip or even a small pair of scissors (Be careful!) - use your imagination.
Performing an AC is common when changing batteries in gadget watches like yours and those Casios that have a thousand different funtions. It’s perfectly normal and will not hurt your watch. I would recommend that you don’t leave any irreplaceable data in the watch when you do it - just in case.
Also, when you close it back up, make sure that your little rubber gasket is lined up exactly. Your watch is not waterproof. It is water resistant and that little piece of rubber is the only thing keeping it that way.
…either that , ot it used to be sealed, in which case only a jewellers is supposed to change over batteries.
brought my BF watch in a few weeks ago, and cost me €8. Took them onluy 5 mins to do.