I’m in love with our baby monitor. For the last 21 months of my son’s life, it’s been totally reliable and has given me peace of mind at each nap and bedtime.
So you can imagine my surprise when my husband and I were awoken at 4:30am to the sound of our baby monitor alerting us that the battery was low– when it was still plugged into the charger! In our groggy, still-asleep state, we couldn’t figure out why our charger had stopped working, but once we finally woke up we immediately figured out the problem.
The power cord had frayed, probably from moving the charger back and forth for daily naps, to the point that it almost completely detached itself from the plug. I immediately started “googling” how to replace the charger, but I was surprised by the lack of information available on the Motorola website for ordering a replacement charger. Luckily, an employee at Radio Shack was able to help us out.
In case you’re not as lucky to find a helpful employee, I wanted to share the two items you’ll need to replace the charger for your own Motorola unit:
(You can print off the image above and bring it to your local store.)
- You’ll need an AC-to-DC Power Adapter that has a 6 volt output and 500mA supply. As you can see in the picture above, the adapter we found has a range of voltage output, including 6. It also has a 1A supply, which covers the need for the 500mA supply. (It’s okay if you go over the amount you need, you just can’t go under.)
- You’ll also need the Adapter Tip “A”. This is the tip that fits into the baby monitor– very important! It’s also FREE when you buy that adapter.
Once you have these two items, there are only two more important steps to charging your monitor.
- You need to set the AC-to-DC adapter to the “6 volts” setting, using the slider on the front of the charger.
- You’ll also need to insert the adapter tip using the correct polarity needed for your monitor. Instructions for this are on the box for the charger, but I almost missed it. For the MBP36, the “+” sign needed to face towards the “tip” label on the charger cord, as pictured above.
That’s it! Overall, this fix cost us less than $20 and was available immediately, which is important when you’re used to watching your baby sleep whenever you want. I don’t know how my parents did it with only audio monitors.
I hope this will help any fellow parents who find themselves in the same situation!
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This act thing just happened to us. At 1:30am! Thank you for the insights.
You are a wonderful person for posting this! I have the exact same problem with our power cord and thanks to you I can fix it!
Thanks so much!
Happy to help! 🙂
Thanks! Off to Radio Shack tomorrow!?
Thank you so much for this post!! Stopped me from having a complete panic and thinking that I’d have to buy a new monitor. Our cable had frayed in exactly the same place. All back and working for a bargain £11.99. Thank you!!
I’m so glad it helped! (I actually had a new monitor in my shopping cart before I discovered this solution– thank goodness there was a cheaper option!)
Thank you sooo much for posting this. I actually found your post because someone else mentioned it in their review of another item on Amazon. I was about to buy something on there but the reviews were not so good. So glad I found your post. Went into radio shack with your site up on my phone. Got the stuff and out of the door in about 2 minutes. Works perfectly with my monitor. Thank you thank you!!!
I tried what you have suggested. However, I am at an impasse.
The tip “A” doesn’t fit into the baby moniter.
It is the exact same one you posted above.
The port that takes power seems to be shaped like a Samsung charger. And not this adapter tip.
What part of the monitor does the adapter tip “A” go into?
James, it should look very similar to the original charger you are replacing. The tip “A” (with the yellow tip) goes into the round hole towards the bottom of the left side of the monitor. It’s below the “AV OUT” hole.
The original charger I am replacing has a tip in the shape of a standard Samsung charger. It plugs into the monitor in the a lot above the “AV Out” hole.
The tip “A” with the yellow ring is much too small to go into the “AV Out” hole.
I tried the other tips, the one that got was tip “H” but it did not work.
I’m sorry for being difficult. I just spent $20 on it and wanna make it work. Not sure if I have a faulty device or bought a faulty charging unit.
I may try to buy one more and be sure I have polarity right before trying it. I’m not sure if that’s where I may have screwed up, so it’s possible I just need to start over.
The people at Radio Shack are very helpful, so I suggest you bring in the monitor to make sure you get the right adapter. It sounds like your model is different than mine, because I don’t have a hole above the “AV OUT” slot. If you have the original charger that came with the monitor, that would probably help them find a matching tip.
Thank you. That’s what I’ll do!
Hi there – thanks for this! Been through the same issue myself, with a frayed cord. Feel lost without the monitor working properly! I’m from Australia so we have different stores, however I found the 6V / 1A Supply. The plug came with a range of approximately 8 plug types. There is only one which is the right width to fit. And it seems to charge it when it’s plugged in. However, I’ve noticed the metal part of the plug is 2-3 millimetres longer than the original plug. And therefore it doesn’t go all the way into the monitor. However it still seems to work when it’s plugged in. Do you have this issue? Do you think it’s ok to use?
Another thing I’m concerned about is that once I take the plug out of the monitor, the battery shelf life seems so much shorter than it ever did before. I used to get approx 2hours of battery life. Now I barely get 45 mins – 1 hr. is this the same as yours?
Thanks!
Farrah
I’m struggling because I think I have a slightly older version of this monitor and I can’t seem to find the right adapter replacement either…. why doesn’t motorola sell them? I’m puzzled…any who…mine is an mbp18 bu. Needs 6v dc/500mA will an option like yours still do the trick?
Great solution so excusemy question but did you try contacting the company? We they unhelpful?
They were very helpful and offered a replacement for my monitor, which was delivered within a matter of days (different issue but still)
And NO I am not affiliated with them…
Thank you so much you saved us a lot of time web searching etc. My daughter had the same monitor and problem with the cord not charging.. They love this monitor too. I went to radio Shack and got exactly what you suggested and now it works perfectly . They had thought they would have to buy a whole new monitor. So thanks again for saving the day! Ps as a grandma in the old days when monitors weren’t available we had to get up and down all day to check on the kids lol
Thank you for taking the time to post a blog about this. It came right up on my googling last night when our monitor quit charging after 3 years.
My husband went to Radio Shack this morning and your blog saved us hundreds of dollars by *not* having to buy a new monitor. Thank you!!
Thank you so much for posting this! We had the exact issue you describe and your post saved us so much time driving around or searching.
Thank you for the text. Having the same cord issue. Just showed your words to the staff at the eletronic store and they took me directly to the needed adaptador.
Thank you for posting this!!! I went to Radio Shack yesterday with your instructions. My Motorola monitor is as good as new!
Super helpful! Thank you so much for sharing this
Great post but I tried a Motorola charger for an old cell phone that I had and it also works!!!
Im so glad i came across this… thanks so
Much saved me from buying a new one
Thank you! Ours stopped working too, so I’ll be going to Radio Shack tomorrow!
Does the adaptor plug into the “Av out” slot? Or where the normal charger would plug in?
Thank you! This was exactly what we needed. I’m so relieved it’s working again.
Thank you! This is exactly what’s happened to ours.
Thank you so much for this! It was exactly what we needed! We were ready to just buy a new monitor but this saved us a ton of money. Our city’s radio shack closed down but I was able to order the adapter and tip online and got it the day after it shipped. Thanks so much again!!
I have this exact same monitor and have always charged it using the port that is the same as cell phone charging ports. My original charger had this type of end, not the round one, like pictured above. Unless mine is a newer version I can’t see how they would switch the charging mechanism. Instead of going through all of these steps, you could just use a phone charger that has the same charging port end. Just about every Android uses this style. The charging port on our monitor went bad all together, so I’m stuck trying to find a new internal port piece or buying a new monitor.
After an hour of getting no where with motorola and no customer service to help with baby monitors (only online with a case number), I was losing my mind. Then came across your post. I called radio shack immediately, they had the parts and I had a restored peice of mind! Thank you so much! !
I have been struggling to fix our baby monitor and I came across your blog! I had the exact same thing happen to the exact same monitor. I purchased the cord at Best Buy but quickly chalked it up to not working. I came across your blog and tried what you did! And it worked!!!!!!!!! The polarity and voltage settings fixed it. Thank you SO much!!
Thank you for this!! 🙂