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ok here it goes....i thought about sharing this story about what i done during a boring physics lesson at school, it sounds quite dangerous, but luckily i am still alive to tell your guyz out there.
I was bored during class when the teacher was explaining facts about an electric socket. The teacher told us many facts about an electrical socket that gives an output of 240 volts and 0.5 amps. And then he said that 0.1 amp can kill someone. Without realizing or caring about what he said, i was dared by my friends to shove a pair of scissors into the socket and turn it on. Once i did it, the whole classroom lights suddenly blew out, and all electrical appliances that run on mains switched off. Sparks then came out of the socket holes and I was laughing.
Luckilly the teacher didnt see me or anyone else appart from my friends. After the physics lesson, everyone said that the whole of the 4th floor had a blackout. And dats the point where i laughed hard
I still dont know why i did that in the first place, although i know it was a stupid thing to do and i could have got myself killed. But all i really know is that i blew up many fuse,
it's described at walking on the edge of committing a darvin
Well, I'm not sure if your teacher is mistaken or you've just remembered it wrongly, but a 0.5A on a 240V is not sufficient to power many things. E.g., the total power of a 240V 0.5A is 120W, that's slightly higher than an old fashion 100W lightbulb. The max plug in UK (which I believe is so in HK) is 13A, that is more than 3000W, which then can be used to power stuff like an iron/heater, which goes around 2000W.
Pluging in the scissors to the socket short circuit it and hence creating a flux high current, blowing/triggering any safety fuse along the way. Since you said the entire floor was blackout, it seems that it only blown/triggered 1 major fuse. Unlikely it will cause multiple blown/triggered fuses.
On the 0.1A killing a person issue, if you consider a person's resistance is 2MOhm (which I think is higher than that), it would take a relatively large 20MV (that is 2x10^7) voltage across, which you can't easily get (if not impossible, consider a high tension cable is probably around 1MV). If you were to get that kind of voltage, the power across would be 0.1x0.1x2MOhm = 20,000W, which would definitely kill someone. Consider the amount shown, I bet it takes less than 0.1A to kill someone. To put into perspective, a Taser gun has a peak (not constant) voltage of 50,000V, which is (consider the 2MOhm assumption) 0.025A.
FYI, in most cases of electric shock cases, the fatal part is usually the duration of the electric shock (i.e. small continuous current flowing, cooking you for 30 minutes) or hurting yourself after a shock (i.e. knock yourself onto the solid ground after a shock).
Anyone fall asleep yet? anyway, whatever you do, don't mess with electricity. Respect it.
p/s: Sorry for the lengthy lecture above.. "occupation sickness".
Alan Chan said:
I still dont know why i did that in the first place, although i know it was a stupid thing to do and i could have got myself killed. But all i really know is that i blew up many fuse,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You might want to lay off the pipe. As you can see, there is no good that can come from it.
16 Volts AC straight through the heart can be fatal.
AC requires about 60 mA to cause fibrillation, DC needs 500 mA for the same result. Fibrillation is not always fatal....
get new friends
mikechannon said:
Jees it'll be a merciful release.
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Click to collapse
I have a heart condition and I can assure you from personal experience that fibrillations are far from mercyful
wow, i never knew you guys would be so passionate about what i did. I thought u guyz would growl at me for my stupidity.
Hanmin, you can be my next physics teacher for giving me a very comprehensive lecture , your lecture was easilly understood compared to my crappy science teacher
and yes ultraprimeomega, i think i may need new friends for the sake of my safety and education
Anyone here watching "Myth busters"?
They did a whole episode on throwing electric appliances in to bathtub and measuring the current across the "heart" of a dummy to see if dropping a hairdryer or toaster in the bath can really kill you.
I didn't see that Mythbuster. I guess it should be confirmed? Although there are lost of circumstances influencing the outcome:
-use pure H2O, it hardly conducts
-use non-ionic bath oil (good for the skin too)
-a decent Residual-current device would cut off power before you can even notice it
-a decent low amp fast fuse could be a life saver
-high ionic bath salt makes the water much more conductive than your body
-place the tub on rubber, use PVC water supply and drain pipes
they had to mess with the fuses to get enough current to kill the gel doll before they went off
Rudegar said:
they had to mess with the fuses to get enough current to kill the gel doll before they went off
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Click to collapse
oh, right, a gel doll again... very nice material for ballistics, although I believe they should put bones in it for realistic results.
Arteries, veins and nerves are full of ions giving excellent conductive paths through our body, I doubt if they simulated those in the gel.
I got kicked out of woodwork when i was 13 for tying a pupils tie round a lathe and threatening to turn it on, because he had made a better baseball bat than me, unfortunatly, for him, my friend hit the power button and nearly killed him, we promptly got suspended and moved into sewing as a punishment, with a teacher from hell. My friend who i wont name decided to wire up some gold thread to the mains socket and complained to her(teacher) that the machine was faulty, needless to say when she touched the machine she was electrocuted along with my friend, who was promptly expelled, and i was giving a severe caning, in those days we had no trip switches so the only thing that saved them both was the thin gold thread that blew as well.
Moral of the story is dont mess with electrics, or hang around with nutcases
Maggy said:
oh, right, a gel doll again... very nice material for ballistics, although I believe they should put bones in it for realistic results.
Arteries, veins and nerves are full of ions giving excellent conductive paths through our body, I doubt if they simulated those in the gel.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With an heavy insulation on the outer body part (i.e. skin = not very good conductor), not even a gold wire inside the body matters. Further, I suspect that the water and the bathtub plays an important part as well.
First, consider that you throwing an electrical appliance into the water, chances are, the 'Neutral' line will be in the water (together with the dangerous 'Live'). Any current from the live line will eventually find the shortest path to the neutral line, leaving the rest (i.e. probably you) untouched.
Then, consider that the current is increased, hence requiring not only the shortest path to the neutral, but a lot of paths to the neutral as well. As with the Faraday cage theory, electric current will tend to go around an object (i.e. electrons repelling each other), especially a better conducting one (i.e. a car protecting the driver from a lighting strike). As such, in terms of choice, if the current require additional path to go to the neutral, chances are, it will rather go via the water (better conductor, I think) or the steel bath tub (i.e. like the body of a car), than your body.
Hanmin, your whole story sounds fair enough... for laymen.
First of all you're mixing up AC, DC and static behaviour.
Faraday created spectacular shows using extremely high static charges, indeed comparable to a car hit by lightning. If you want to conduct an experiment with a metal bath tub filled with nice warm water and any bath soap, salt or oil struck from the side by lightning, I volunteer to step in.
So, our PC's have metal housing, you'd say, so they're a Faraday cage? Right? Wrong. I've had a computer company near the Dutch coast where thunder and lightning are regular events. I could tell when repairs would come in the next day. Phone, Lan and power wires go straight into the metal cage without making contact with the cage itself. Lightning doesn't even have to strike these wires directly, induction can be fatal for your equipment.
Edison called AC "the killer current" and refused to sell AC. AC can not "flow away" to neutral, it wants to go to earth/ground. As long as the fuse doesn't blow, it delivers as much energy as it can. In a bath tub it will not behave like lightning trying to find the shortest way, but like a cloud, spearding as fast as it can. Remember electrons all have the same negative load so they push each other away. And they are LIGHTning fast.
That's why it's also not a good idea to use a standard vacuum cleaner to clean your PC on the inside: the motor will create a cloud of electrons trying to find a way to ground. The free electrons can move much faster through the cloud of static charged dust particles toward your PCB than the slow air stream moves to the vacuum.
The surface of the dry skin is indeed a bad conductor. But even good enough for ECG using leads with suction cups or stickers. And ECG measures very faint electrical pulses in the heart, even with leads on the hands or feet.
Most people believe that water is a good conductor. But in fact pure water is an almost perfect isolator. And even tap water in most Western societies is so pure that you can hardly split it into hydrogen and oxigen using a fairly safe 12 V DC set up, not without first adding a hand full of salt. Current needs ions to move through a liquid, our bodies are full of ions, tap water has much less.
Niiccceee.. good that my explaination has someone to read it in details. I'm so worried that my stuff will get everyone to sleep. Anyway...
You are right that the induction from a lighting can toast your phone, lan and power line. However, as these lines are not long and straight enough anywhere near the PC, the fatal induction is actually caused by somewhere along the way to your company (e.g. from the phone exchange, along the telephone pole/underground, to your company). Your PC will be safe from lightling if it is disconnection from possible external induction source (e.g. the phone line to the outside world). I'm happy to put myself inside the PC case (if it is big enough) for a lighting strike
Some history lesson for all. Edison called the AC the killer current mainly because of the business competition between the DC and AC business. As Edison has spent a lot of money and effort just to change the public point of view on the safety of electricity, and just as the business is getting some money... this Tesla (I think) guy made AC electricity and business is good (costrofit ratio), due to the fact that AC has a certain edge on long distance transfer (I'll omit the details on this). Hence, Edison is trying very very hard to make AC look dangerous, by killing innocent animals (in some cases, virtually just cook it), and eventually, co-invented the electric chair.
In the view of the danger of DC current, it is a false impression of most people thinking that DC current is safe, mainly because the DC current we normally exposed to are low voltage DC current (e.g. batteries and phone charger). However, in strict AC/DC defination, a lighting strike is a DC current. And, I think a Taser gun uses DC too (you would certainly need to use some form of capasitor to store enough voltage for a shock, using regular batteries), unless the battery use is exceptionally designed for it.
Anyone has a Taser to confirm this? Does it gives out a buzzing sound from low to high frequency when armed some AA batteries operated cameras with powerful flash will have the same buzzing noise, indicating that the capacitor is charging, ready for the flash).
As for your statement of "AC can not 'flow away' to neutral, it wants to go to
earth/ground.", I'm not sure if you really meant "can not", or "not only". Anyway, all AC electric stuff, electrons goes between live/neutral, and does not require the earth/ground to be functional (not safely, at least).
If you remember some electric circuit theory, if caes where you have two parallel line (AC or DC), with one line much lower resistance (i.e. shorter distance between live and neutral) compared to the other (longer distance to 'ground' where 'ground' is not designed to pair with live), majority of the current will go through the lower resistance route and hence current that goes through the high resistance route maybe very well harmless. HOWEVER, there are cases where the current in through the high resistance route is harmful, that are in the cases where the current going through the low resistance route is excessive high. Example, the low:high resistance current ratio may be 100:1. If it takes (say) 1A to be fatal, the other route will need to have 100A (which will have all fuses nuked - e.g. my house has a main fuse of about 80A for both the heater and the cooker). That's what mentioned on my post above around the "consider that the current is increased..." section. And, as for the case with extreme high current, apply the Faraday thing mentioned on your first paragraph.
Take the Taser gun for example. If you were read the user manual, there is a minimal distance requirement between you and the target, due the the fact that the probes triangular trajectory path. Being too close to the target, will cause the probes to be too closely attached, not giving enough muscle area to 'disable' the target. The electron will not spread around (like clouds) through all the muscle, just the shortest route to the other probe (there may be current through other muscles, but too small to be noticeable).
Where in the Western societies are you in now? US? Nice... in the UK, you are/not so lucky, as you dont get very much pure water over the tap. UK is on hardwater, which seemingly adding mineral to the diet, probably in such situation, protect us from electrocution? If you were to be 1+ hours around London, take a bit of tap water, leave it on any surface and leave it for it to evaporate. At the end of the day, you'll get a pile of white powder. Yes, it is this bad.
As for the ECG issue, it goes the same with the low-vs-high resistance route. I'm sure it wont work underwater (dirty water?). However, still, it is a better conductor than many things.
Taser guns use electronics related to those modern tiny switched power adapters. The result in both cases is indeed DC. The physics of the lightning path are very complex, lightning can fork out to lots of places being hit by one strike but in general you're right that DC/static tries to find a short route.
In one of my first messages in this thread I mentioned what DC it takes to kill, so yes, I'm well aware that there is no such thing as "safe electricity".
If you short a capacitor or battery, current flows in one direction, from high potential to low potential till both potentials are equal.
AC doesn't come in batteries or capacitors, it comes from a generator constantly pulling the potential from above neutral to below neutral, 50 or 60 times a second. If you would short circuit the generator itself it would continue to produce electricity as long as it hasn't killed itself. There is no flowing away till both potentials are equal.
I'm a retired computer engineer, but I still do remember Ohm's law, thank you.
In case of the bath tub it means:
we have a fixed voltage (U) of 110 or 220V, depends where you live
we can measure resistance (I) from the device that drops into the water to the feet of the tub, to the tap, to the drain
U=I.R in this case U=I1.R1+I2.R2...InRn
With an 80A fuse, the radio falling on the feet, the tap behind the back and the drain and two tub feet straight under it it seems likely that about 2/3 of 80A, well lets say 50A will strike you, 50 x 110 = 5500W
That should boil the egg if not electrocute it
I WOULD SAY YOU WOULD GET A GREAT SHOCK FROM A TOASTER IN A BATH. If you took a mains plug and put two springs on the live and neutral and inserted this into a bath of water it would generate heat, i know i have boiled a cup of water for tea by this method. so if the electricity didnt kill you you will be boiled like an egg
yeah in some situations i see myth busters as more intertainment then real science
like when they had a rather small boat as an example of titanic pulling people down when it went down
a such a small raft cant compare to titanic in ways of down pull
but they are ok fun
but if they bust a myth dont mean a 100% bust in my book
Maggy said:
...
we have a fixed voltage (U) of 110 or 220V, depends where you live we can measure resistance (I) from the device that drops into the water to the feet of the tub, to the tap, to the drain
U=I.R in this case U=I1.R1+I2.R2...InRn
With an 80A fuse, the radio falling on the feet, the tap behind the back and the drain and two tub feet straight under it it seems likely that about 2/3 of 80A, well lets say 50A will strike you, 50 x 110 = 5500W That should boil the egg if not electrocute it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Equations, I like! For the case you've calculated above, you consider that the full 80A is flowing. And weirdly, you seemingly considering that 2/3 flowing through a human body. Lets look at this, at the 50A you mentioned (yes, you are right, 5500W will cook you very well). Consider the worst case of U at 240V, your body will have to have (U/I = R) a resistance of 4.8Ohm, which is weirdly small, dont you think?
As with scousemartin's boil an egg, you will have to consider the large amount of water in the bath tub as oppose to the amount of water you use in boiling the egg (e.g. it would take really long for the water to boil) And, even IF the water has similar rate in raise of temperature, I'm sure the person involved will be pretty quick to jump out of the water (when a toaster hit the tub) before it gets boiling.
I guess some of you may interested to mod your kaiser screen to tilt almost 90 degree, then you can use it on your car without any holder.
Here's a guidance document i pull together.
Remember, do it only on your own risk.
Enjoy!
Too scary for my taste.
Thanks! That's looks a little intimidating.
So basically is the only reason it tilts more is because the two plastic pieces are cut? What would happen if those two pieces were cut totally?
Thanks again.
A prediction...
Very cool mod, but I predict a large number of bricks on this one...
As a hardware design engineer professionally, I would have to recommend against this mod unless you are a technician and have access to the facilities.
If you are dead set on doing this mod, please take the time to prepare your environment - at the minimum, get an ESD strap and make sure you're properly grounded. Ideally, a strap and a mat are called for.
This is an ESD nightmare waiting to happen. Doing this on your kitchen table or coffee table - especially at this time of year, is literally Russian Roulette as to whether you will discharge 30K volts or so into the PCB and totally brick the device.
As a rule of thumb, if you don't know what ESD is, you probably shouldn't even consider this mod, or any other that involves opening up the device and exposing the PCB.
Just my 2 cents. Caveat Emptor, etc. etc.
Regards,
Jeff
nice..
i was thinking of something along the same thoughts, as it tilts, why have a holder!! just drive safe (as always)
exept, im still waiting for mine..
Wow! Nice Hardware mod tonychen! Just posting to register my shock and awe! Great writeup too!
@trick420: As can be seen, like Hermes, most sensitive electronics components are in a metal Faraday cage so this isn't as dangerous as it looks from an electronic standpoint. It's always a good idea to use a grounding strap however.
All those plastic tabs are gonna be a real bear to work with though. The TyTN only had a few but the Kaiser appears to be riddled with them.
trick420 said:
Very cool mod, but I predict a large number of bricks on this one...
As a hardware design engineer professionally, I would have to recommend against this mod unless you are a technician and have access to the facilities.
If you are dead set on doing this mod, please take the time to prepare your environment - at the minimum, get an ESD strap and make sure you're properly grounded. Ideally, a strap and a mat are called for.
This is an ESD nightmare waiting to happen. Doing this on your kitchen table or coffee table - especially at this time of year, is literally Russian Roulette as to whether you will discharge 30K volts or so into the PCB and totally brick the device.
As a rule of thumb, if you don't know what ESD is, you probably shouldn't even consider this mod, or any other that involves opening up the device and exposing the PCB.
Just my 2 cents. Caveat Emptor, etc. etc.
Regards,
Jeff
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm pretty sure everyone knows what electro-static discharge is.
so there are two bits of plastic going around the hinges that are stopping the display from tilting fully? like a tendon or do these bits of plastic go up against something to stop motion?
Yes you are right!
The ESD strap i guess is not available to most people except hardware engineers. The simplest way to discharge the static electricity is to wet your hands with a wet towel.
trick420 said:
Very cool mod, but I predict a large number of bricks on this one...
As a hardware design engineer professionally, I would have to recommend against this mod unless you are a technician and have access to the facilities.
If you are dead set on doing this mod, please take the time to prepare your environment - at the minimum, get an ESD strap and make sure you're properly grounded. Ideally, a strap and a mat are called for.
This is an ESD nightmare waiting to happen. Doing this on your kitchen table or coffee table - especially at this time of year, is literally Russian Roulette as to whether you will discharge 30K volts or so into the PCB and totally brick the device.
As a rule of thumb, if you don't know what ESD is, you probably shouldn't even consider this mod, or any other that involves opening up the device and exposing the PCB.
Just my 2 cents. Caveat Emptor, etc. etc.
Regards,
Jeff
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The plastic needs to be cut as it stop the two metal blocks to tilt up more. If you cut it totally, you still get the same result, so i don't see to much reason for doing that.
juiceppc said:
Thanks! That's looks a little intimidating.
So basically is the only reason it tilts more is because the two plastic pieces are cut? What would happen if those two pieces were cut totally?
Thanks again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Uploaded the guide to a mirror:
http://rapidshare.com/files/73519908/Kaiser_Screen_Mod.pdf
This is a great GUIDE!!!!
Thanks Tonychen.
Nadavi.
Not to be a killjoy but people should be aware that the plastic strips are there to prevent over extension of the thin ribbon cables connecting the display to the body.
You may not actually part these immediately but constant over extension will cause them to fail early.
Learnt my lesson years ago on a Nokia 9210i (stop that cursing there will you!!! someone had to buy them!) Smiles.
very intimidating but too scary for me. i would rather not break my $500 dollar phones just so i can see the screen go a couple more degrees more
just done it and its ace
slight idea change tho because its next to no use haveing it at 90 degree angle unless in car, not cutting away plastic compleatly makes it a little stiffer and will only be able to make the screen angle to 90 by choice so you shudnt break anything as you wont do it all the time. just a thought.
very nice mod.
this is going to be off topic though. " is there anyway we could tighten the hinge? mine is getting loose already.
Just a thought but isnt it alot easier to rest the back underside of the phone on a small object. this will tilt it forward and make the screen visible in the same way... You could use a small velcro patch to secure it to the said object which in turn could secure to the dashboard etc in the same manner. Alot less scary to do and you wont run the risk of damaging your phone.....
Pretty cool, but idk about messing w/ the structural integrity.
I always thought ESD was a myth. I've been working on computing hardware for almost a decade, and I do take the necessary precautions when working on new/mission critical equipment. But 90% of the time I am working on refitting relatively old workstations/servers where my boss has basically told me he doesn't really care if these items make it back into active service or not, so stuff like that I always go commando on, and I've never had a single piece of equipemnt go spontaniously DOA on me while handling it. (i.e. every single item of equipment I've retired due to DOA was reported as DOA before I touched it...)
Oh, and I have a mini tesla coil in my cube... j/k
Here is my tesla, got bored a couple weeks ago and made one, its like my fifth one.
tonychen said:
I guess some of you may interested to mod your kaiser screen to tilt almost 90 degree, then you can use it on your car without any holder.
Here's a guidance document i pull together.
Remember, do it only on your own risk.
Enjoy!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Who's daring enough to try this on the new Touch Pro 2?
My Alltel Touch Diamond stopped vibrating. Since I did not get it from Alltel directly...they will not replace it even though it is only 3 months old. Contacted HTC as well as PCD and no help there. Is there anyway I can fix this myself?
TIA
Go to eBay and search for 'htc diamond vibrator'. There are around $45. I never use the ringer so not having vibrate mode is killing me too.
possiblility
the ebay "vibrators" for diamond are for the gsm versions, not the cdma. note that they are laid completely differently. here's a pic of cdma (ripped from someone who knows)
ftp://ppcgeeks.com/Diamond/Users/snovvman/DSCF2199.JPG
now, in my case, kind of neat. if you open the case up that far (four screws on inside, that's all), you'll notice that the vibrator motor can be detached from mainboard relatively easy through the two pin (black/red) header. you can test the vibrator motor with like some AAA 1.5V battery or something. in my case it worked, so drats, that means that the driver could be blown.
however, i looked real closely, above the header are discrete components, like a tantalum capacitor (surface mount), super tiny, and something that didn't make sense--a cold solder blob over one land pad (but not the other, ... perhaps there was one at manufacture time and it fell out??)
anyways, htc apparently intended for either an inductor or a short (0 ohm resistor) at that land pattern. sometimes they cheat and just manufacture it as with a blob of solder. in this case part of the blob fell out. hence, no connection to the vibrator motor header.
i put blob in and i was in business.
note that these are super tiny. DO NOT ATTEMPT without sufficient tools (magnifying jig, really fine tip soldering iron)
...
OF COURSE before you do ANY of this, try a hard reset first.
Thanks! I almost wasted $45.
pictures
Could you take some pictures of the areas you soldered? Im also trying to fix mine.
Also, to test the vibrator, did you just take two wires and put it on each end?
Sorry for bringing back to life this old threat but this appear to be a very common issue among diam500 owners and nobody knew what to do apart from swap it (if it still in warranty which by 3rd quarter 2010 i really doubt someone still has it)
i googled around lots of forums and this was the only one with a real answer surprisingly this was also the one with the less replies... i confirm what chnhnm said THERE IS A 0 OHM RESISTOR THAT FELL OFF(perhaps caused by the vibration itself and real poor quality soldering from htc in this specific resistor) when i gutted my diamond the resistor was still there sticked to the vibrating motor connector in the mainboard i tested it with a multimeter and confirmed it is a "0 ohm one" real tiny color black)
once again as chnhnm said i just put blob in and it worked like a charm
so there is a relatively easy fix here (if u have the tools and some soldering skills) i strongly recommend you to try this as your last resort
will post some pics later
im uploading a picture of it before i applied the blob (the resistor is missing) this is the best one i could get i hope u cant see it
elamodelmerol said:
im uploading a picture of it before i applied the blob (the resistor is missing) this is the best one i could get i hope u cant see it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for this! I will do this soon when I get a soldering iron.
Ok, I tried doing this, but it is hard to solder it. Everytime I try to put the blob there, the solder attaches to the iron and doesn't stick to the connection on the board.
Can I get some help on how to keep it on the connection instead of melting and sticking to my iron?
sorry for the late reply...
well i don't really know how to solder either but i have learnt something by just giving it a try(and a few youtube videos xD) ...this is how i did it.
first off make sure the surface is clean wipe it if needed with acetone(don't flood the board) and a cotton swab (that will remove the grease and dirt it may have)
be careful not to apply to much solder on the iron tip...just use a little bit more almost nothing than the needed to coat the tip...
do not overheat ur iron that will cause the metal to oxidize quicker (oxide prevent the metals from joining) unplug the iron as soon as it is hot enough to melt the solder
use some soldering flux be careful not to add too much just enough to cover that tiny area (u can use a needle) this cleans even more the area and prevents the metal oxidation
now u just need a steady hand and eagle like vision
even after following this directions i still find it hard to achieve for a noob like me maybe i just got lucky...xD
if you are out of luck maybe u can buy one of this conductive ink pens and that way u just have to draw fine line or should i say a dot. Or u can try using a pencil (graphite is a relative good conductor) but that didn't work for me...
Good Luck Mate
So a few of you have seen me mention that my cell signal suddenly became awful after a few days of use, and at first I thought it might be related to flashing CSCs or a 950F ROM but ruled that out since Odining back to full stock didn't have any effect.
I became convinced that something must be loose with the internal antenna wires, and also observed that the signal seemed to be a little better on hot days and a little worse on cold days.
Well after watching a couple YouTube videos of how to pull the back off this thing I fired up the microwave oven with a rice-filled sock for heat and..... it didn't help. BUT! a hair dryer worked wonders, and very quickly. I only had to heat up a small section and use a little blue plastic prying tool in my ifixit kit to really easily get the back of the phone off.
Next, I pulled the plastic pieces off the circuit boards to get to the antenna connectors, fully expecting something to be loose. Sadly I was mistaken. both wires ends were securely snapped down, but I disconnected and reconnected "just in case". I decided to do a real battery pull discharge while I was in here since it couldn't hurt.
-------
Not to be foiled, I decided to fire the phone up naked and just fiddle with the connectors to see if somehow they were still involved.
I was right - sort of. If I apply pressure in certain angles on this connector, the LTE strength will go up to about -82 dBa from bouncing between -98 to -125 dBa - and as a reference point my Note 5 in the same position sits at -82 or -83 dBa
Now I just need to decide on the best way to fix it, I think it might just be bad solder joints on the socket on the circuit board since it appears to be temperature-dependent (on hot days everything expands to make slightly better connections, cold days the parts contract and the connection gap becomes worse). Any other 950N owners experienced this?
Also does anyone know if those antenna connector sockets are surface mount, or if they go through the board completely?
Kalm_Traveler said:
So a few of you have seen me mention that my cell signal suddenly became awful after a few days of use, and at first I thought it might be related to flashing CSCs or a 950F ROM but ruled that out since Odining back to full stock didn't have any effect.
I became convinced that something must be loose with the internal antenna wires, and also observed that the signal seemed to be a little better on hot days and a little worse on cold days.
Well after watching a couple YouTube videos of how to pull the back off this thing I fired up the microwave oven with a rice-filled sock for heat and..... it didn't help. BUT! a hair dryer worked wonders, and very quickly. I only had to heat up a small section and use a little blue plastic prying tool in my ifixit kit to really easily get the back of the phone off.
Next, I pulled the plastic pieces off the circuit boards to get to the antenna connectors, fully expecting something to be loose. Sadly I was mistaken. both wires ends were securely snapped down, but I disconnected and reconnected "just in case". I decided to do a real battery pull discharge while I was in here since it couldn't hurt.
-------
Not to be foiled, I decided to fire the phone up naked and just fiddle with the connectors to see if somehow they were still involved.
I was right - sort of. If I apply pressure in certain angles on this connector, the LTE strength will go up to about -82 dBa from bouncing between -98 to -125 dBa - and as a reference point my Note 5 in the same position sits at -82 or -83 dBa
Now I just need to decide on the best way to fix it, I think it might just be bad solder joints on the socket on the circuit board since it appears to be temperature-dependent (on hot days everything expands to make slightly better connections, cold days the parts contract and the connection gap becomes worse). Any other 950N owners experienced this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I commend you for doing what you are doing. Kudo's as they as say here in America.
Just out of interest, I am aware that Samsung doesn't support foreign devices for warranty. But would they support a foreign device for out of warranty work?
Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
Limeybastard said:
I commend you for doing what you are doing. Kudo's as they as say here in America.
Just out of interest, I am aware that Samsung doesn't support foreign devices for warranty. But would they support a foreign device for out of warranty work?
Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why would they not? They will be charging you.
Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk
vadimo said:
Why would they not? They will be charging you.
Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know that's why I asked the question.
Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
vadimo said:
Why would they not? They will be charging you.
Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Limeybastard said:
I don't know that's why I asked the question.
Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My best guess is that they might not because they would claim that they don't have the parts or training to service a foreign variant. On the plus side, it's nice to see that the internal layout is identical to the Snapdragon version so I didn't have to do any guess work.
No experience myself but I have seen online numerous times that they will not even if you pay. Lots of manufacturer's do this, it not just with phones. Like Seiko watches for example, you purchase a Seiko say for the Japanese market, Seiko USA will not touch it.
shouren04 said:
No experience myself but I have seen online numerous times that they will not even if you pay. Lots of manufacturer's do this, it not just with phones. Like Seiko watches for example, you purchase a Seiko say for the Japanese market, Seiko USA will not touch it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah it's unfortunate since you know they have access to the schematics, repair data etc but refuse to take your money.
As far as my phone goes, I tried reflowing the solder on that antenna connector but it didn't seem to make any difference, and now I can't get the signal to improve back to normal at all (even applying pressure as I did originally).
Funny thing is that my 3G HSPA and HSPA+ (that T-Mobile calls 4g) signals are just fine. If I turn off LTE, it drops to "4G" and aside from being slower than functioning LTE everything works fine. My guess is either something is faulty with that bottom circuit board, LTE modem which is on the main circuit board, or the LTE radio amplifier chip (also on the main circuit board). Once I can get a new replacement USB board I'll swap it out and see if that helps. If not, I'm kind of SOL because if it's something on the main board I would likely just need to get a new phone (can't imagine how expensive a 256gb internal storage board would be brand new but for the price I would feel safer just buying an entire phone).
Really wish there was some way to get Samsung Korea to repair it for me but I don't speak Korean well enough to have that kind of discussion yet, and who knows if they would even agree to it.
Kalm_Traveler said:
Yeah it's unfortunate since you know they have access to the schematics, repair data etc but refuse to take your money.
As far as my phone goes, I tried reflowing the solder on that antenna connector but it didn't seem to make any difference, and now I can't get the signal to improve back to normal at all (even applying pressure as I did originally).
Funny thing is that my 3G HSPA and HSPA+ (that T-Mobile calls 4g) signals are just fine. If I turn off LTE, it drops to "4G" and aside from being slower than functioning LTE everything works fine. My guess is either something is faulty with that bottom circuit board, LTE modem which is on the main circuit board, or the LTE radio amplifier chip (also on the main circuit board). Once I can get a new replacement USB board I'll swap it out and see if that helps. If not, I'm kind of SOL because if it's something on the main board I would likely just need to get a new phone (can't imagine how expensive a 256gb internal storage board would be brand new but for the price I would feel safer just buying an entire phone).
Really wish there was some way to get Samsung Korea to repair it for me but I don't speak Korean well enough to have that kind of discussion yet, and who knows if they would even agree to it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hear but unfortunately sometimes they really don't have access to repair info & techs that are trained for non domestic market models. Samsung USA may actually not have easy access to Samsung Korea info & parts although I'm sure someone high up on the ladder could get it.
I used to work in electronic depot repair. One of our customers was Sony VAIO, we were one of their authorized repair centers. Not easy to get that kind of relationship as Sony is very secretive, well all OEMs are very protective about internal engineering info. We could get most info for all their laptops & worked with their engineering team. However when we started working on Sony Playstations, Sony Entertainment would not give us the time of day even though we were an authorized provider for Sony VAIO.
I know the case is a bit different but big corporations have regions or different divisions that won't or can not easily work with each other other than on a corporate level even though they are all part of the same parent company.
I'm sure there are lots of people at Samsung Korea that speak english. Whether or not they will help you or if you can get in contact with the right people is the issue. Worth a try. I'm sure parts will be available on ebay someday but probably not for a while.
shouren04 said:
I hear but unfortunately sometimes they really don't have access to repair info & techs that are trained for non domestic market models. Samsung USA may actually not have easy access to Samsung Korea info & parts although I'm sure someone high up on the ladder could get it.
I used to work in electronic depot repair. One of our customers was Sony VAIO, we were one of their authorized repair centers. Not easy to get that kind of relationship as Sony is very secretive, well all OEMs are very protective about internal engineering info. We could get most info for all their laptops & worked with their engineering team. However when we started working on Sony Playstations, Sony Entertainment would not give us the time of day even though we were an authorized provider for Sony VAIO.
I know the case is a bit different but big corporations have regions or different divisions that won't or can not easily work with each other other than on a corporate level even though they are all part of the same parent company.
I'm sure there are lots of people at Samsung Korea that speak english. Whether or not they will help you or if you can get in contact with the right people is the issue. Worth a try. I'm sure parts will be available on ebay someday but probably not for a while.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Very good points. I'm even more sure it is just something faulty with that board. Heated it up for a few minutes with a blow dryer before reassembling the phone again and now my LTE signal is just stable low instead of jumping between low and unusable. Also comparing it to the one from ifixit's USA model Note 8 teardown, they revised it a few days after mine was made, possibly to address whatever caused mine to go bad after a few days of use. The only change I can see is the placement of two chips on the antenna connector side.
Since I can't find parts yet I may just keep trying to fix this one but it's good to know that the usb boards are dirt cheap, for other Samsung models it looks like they go for $5 to $10 on eBay new. Of course if the problem is a break in one of the circuits inside the pcb i can't really fix that (assuming I could even see it, everything on this board is so tiny I need a magnifying glass to work on it).
Kalm_Traveler said:
Very good points. I'm even more sure it is just something faulty with that board. Heated it up for a few minutes with a blow dryer before reassembling the phone again and now my LTE signal is just stable low instead of jumping between low and unusable. Also comparing it to the one from ifixit's USA model Note 8 teardown, they revised it a few days after mine was made, possibly to address whatever caused mine to go bad after a few days of use. The only change I can see is the placement of two chips on the antenna connector side.
Since I can't find parts yet I may just keep trying to fix this one but it's good to know that the usb boards are dirt cheap, for other Samsung models it looks like they go for $5 to $10 on eBay new. Of course if the problem is a break in one of the circuits inside the pcb i can't really fix that (assuming I could even see it, everything on this board is so tiny I need a magnifying glass to work on it).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, it's incredible how small they are able to make things these days. I can relate as I have worked on stuff that small also.
Oh so it it looks like they revised the board? Maybe they just added better filtering? Hopefully it'll be available soon. It could very well be a bad solder joint or defective PCB. The PCB is so thin & can easily get damage by flexing. And all that crap lead free solder they use these days.
I wonder if the parts they sell on ebay are OEM parts? Whatever, as long as they work. They sure do look OEM though. On my N5 the USB port stopped working. It doesn't have any notice physical damage but it doesn't work. Sometimes if I plug in a cable a gear vr screen will pop up. Won't ever fast charge, sometimes it will cahrge normal, & can't transfer data.
I bought a replacement USB port for $5 on ebay along with a replacement back cover in case I broke it. But the damn board also has the front touch screen buttons by the home button. So to install I basically have to disassemble the entire phone, front screen and all. Ah I don't feel like doing all that. Maybe someday but for what, I have this N8 now.
shouren04 said:
Yeah, it's incredible how small they are able to make things these days. I can relate as I have worked on stuff that small also.
Oh so it it looks like they revised the board? Maybe they just added better filtering? Hopefully it'll be available soon. It could very well be a bad solder joint or defective PCB. The PCB is so thin & can easily get damage by flexing. And all that crap lead free solder they use these days.
I wonder if the parts they sell on ebay are OEM parts? Whatever, as long as they work. They sure do look OEM though. On my N5 the USB port stopped working. It doesn't have any notice physical damage but it doesn't work. Sometimes if I plug in a cable a gear vr screen will pop up. Won't ever fast charge, sometimes it will cahrge normal, & can't transfer data.
I bought a replacement USB port for $5 on ebay along with a replacement back cover in case I broke it. But the damn board also has the front touch screen buttons by the home button. So to install I basically have to disassemble the entire phone, front screen and all. Ah I don't feel like doing all that. Maybe someday but for what, I have this N8 now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oddly my Note 5 still works just fine... The main reason I wanted to upgrade is that the battery life is definitely not what it used to be.
Fortunately with the Note 8 most of the goodies are accessible once you remove the pain in the butt rear glass but i figured out that a hair dryer, suction cup and thin plastic pry tool makes the job relatively easy. For the time being I'm just keeping the case on so I don't have to pull the glass off again (granted this means not being able to use the fingerprint sensor)
Kalm_Traveler said:
Oddly my Note 5 still works just fine... The main reason I wanted to upgrade is that the battery life is definitely not what it used to be.
Fortunately with the Note 8 most of the goodies are accessible once you remove the pain in the butt rear glass but i figured out that a hair dryer, suction cup and thin plastic pry tool makes the job relatively easy. For the time being I'm just keeping the case on so I don't have to pull the glass off again (granted this means not being able to use the fingerprint sensor)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see, I also purchased a replacement battery for my N5 at the same time. I didn'tbget an aftermarket one though, I got one from a teardown. It was cheap too, under $10. I've been using wireless to charge it. At one point I thought the battery was going bad. It wouldnxt charge past 86%. For a week or so. Then mysteriously it started charging to 100% fine & still does.
I still use it at home for browsing when my N8 is charging wireless. I'm trying to avoid using the USB whenever I can now since my N5 USB port crapped out on me. Odd, this is the first phone I've ever had to have tbe USB port go bad on me. I'm pretty good with taking care of my phones. Hopefully when I open it up it might just be a loose flex cable or something.
Kalm_Traveler said:
Yeah it's unfortunate since you know they have access to the schematics, repair data etc but refuse to take your money.
As far as my phone goes, I tried reflowing the solder on that antenna connector but it didn't seem to make any difference, and now I can't get the signal to improve back to normal at all (even applying pressure as I did originally).
Funny thing is that my 3G HSPA and HSPA+ (that T-Mobile calls 4g) signals are just fine. If I turn off LTE, it drops to "4G" and aside from being slower than functioning LTE everything works fine. My guess is either something is faulty with that bottom circuit board, LTE modem which is on the main circuit board, or the LTE radio amplifier chip (also on the main circuit board). Once I can get a new replacement USB board I'll swap it out and see if that helps. If not, I'm kind of SOL because if it's something on the main board I would likely just need to get a new phone (can't imagine how expensive a 256gb internal storage board would be brand new but for the price I would feel safer just buying an entire phone).
Really wish there was some way to get Samsung Korea to repair it for me but I don't speak Korean well enough to have that kind of discussion yet, and who knows if they would even agree to it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have same problem my 4g 3g works fine but no 2g signal at all my operator 2g frequency is pgsm 900mhz.. I checked with other operators 2g working fine on 1800mhz... It's dual sim phone. Changing slot doesn't help either... So what's the possible cause...? My phone is in warranty but service center is 250 kms away.
there is a possibility you touching the connections could be amplifying the signal. Did you insulate yourself to disprove this?
bonerp said:
there is a possibility you touching the connections could be amplifying the signal. Did you insulate yourself to disprove this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Possibly, but since it was affecting only when I applied pressure in a specific angle I don't think I was acting as an antenna. Also, since heating up half of it with a hair dryer seems to have stabilized the connection a bit (it sits around -90 dBA where it was bouncing between that and -130 prior) it seems very likely that something with the board itself is flawed. I'm going to put just the usb / antenna board in the oven tonight to try and reflow all the solder and see if that will fix the connection issue since I can't yet buy a new replacement piece.
anyone's phone last until now without charging port problems, or anyone changed their port and does the problems return? I'm considering if it is worth to replace the port
I have exactly the same question.
xdaxdap said:
I have exactly the same question.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
end up selling the device as the charging port i bought from aliexpress got no stock and grab myself a lenovo legion y70
The charge port issue isn't actually the charge port, but somewhere on the main board. I've tried fixing close to a dozen boot looping on charger RP2's in the last year or 2, and didn't matter if it was a charge port out of a working one, it still had the issue after swapping
TechX1991 said:
The charge port issue isn't actually the charge port, but somewhere on the main board. I've tried fixing close to a dozen boot looping on charger RP2's in the last year or 2, and didn't matter if it was a charge port out of a working one, it still had the issue after swapping
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what more is needed to discover the flaw? im holding onto my first razer phone 2 because i still believe and i choose to believe anything can be fixed one way or another
Titanricky8 said:
what more is needed to discover the flaw? im holding onto my first razer phone 2 because i still believe and i choose to believe anything can be fixed one way or another
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Gotta figure out what and where the issue lies on the main board. What tiny component is going bad causing it to not charge
TechX1991 said:
Gotta figure out what and where the issue lies on the main board. What tiny component is going bad causing it to not charge
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i assume its like finding a needle in a haystack furthermore different for each phone
Titanricky8 said:
i assume its like finding a needle in a haystack furthermore different for each phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not exactly. If you have a thermal camera, you could hook up the phone with the back off and look for the component that's gettin hotter than everything else
I have a Razer Phone 2 that I'm refurbing for a client, and the USB-C port was in bad shape, so not only no data transfer, but she could only be charged via wireless. No worries though, at least in the case of this specific Razer 2, the problem was the flex cable that attaches the female type-c pin housing to the daughter-board. My theory, again, at least for this specific Razer 2, is because the 2 screws securing the port had come loose, the port was not secured, and was driven deeper inside the chassis when the owner went to plug it in. Since said flex is pretty wimpy, the movement back and forth probably fatigued the traces and the coating of the ribbon, more than likely damaging/breaking several traces.
My solution ended up being similar to the 2017 Retina MacBook Pro ‘Flexgate’ issue, where a very poor design choice created an LCD flex that had a spring/tension/rolling mechanism, which would pull out/extended the flex cable to accommodate the MB being opened, and retract to its resting position when closed. Unfortunately, the short length of the flex, along with a lack of robustness, meant that every opening and closing caused more and more fatigue, and eventually traces became severed and/or shorted out. This manifests as a 'stage light effect' that gets worse the further you open the lid, or in some cases, the 'stage light' effect is absent, however opening the lid past ~45 degrees causes the screen to shut off.
Apple did correct this the following year by replacing the flex with one 6mm longer that was more rigid than the previous year’s problematic flex. However, before the replacements were available (the 6mm extended flex worked a treat to fix the 2017’s issues, and it saved SO MUCH MONEY! A $10 flex cable as opposed to a ~$500 top housing assembly! So a $150 repair, as it is kinda labor intensive, not to mention if you’re not careful you’ll damage the LCD while removing it), a solution was needed to prevent clients from having to pay the ~$500 for a new display (which, OF CORSE, Apple refused to sell the LCD panel by itself (which are made by 2 suppliers, LG Display & Samsung Display, and Apple’s manufacturing contracts prevent both companies from selling any panels as replacement parts. Sometimes they’ll be a few here and there, but it’s rare), forcing people to buy the entire top case, which, of corse, STILL HAD THE PROBLEMATIC FLEX CABLE, meaning that the replacements would also eventually fail.
The solution to both the Razer 2 & 2017 MBP Retina's flex woes is to cut the offending flex just below where the fatigue is visible, or in the case of my client's Razer 2, where a visible kink was. Since the flex has 2mm or so of slack, you can then scrape (or VERY CAREFULLY use a fine tip soldering iron) to expose the tips of the traces, and using nanowire, bridge the two halves together with low-temp solder after aligning and stacking them, with one overlapping by ~0.25mm. Shielded nanowire isn't a common thing most people who don't do repair have laying around, so a workaround is to use twisted copper wire, which you then can un-twist, giving you very thin strands that are perfect for this. Just MAKE SURE THAT YOU EITHER APPLY SOME LIQUID ELECTRICAL TAPE OR UV CURABLE LIQUID INSULATION, since the strands wont be individually insulated or shielded. You should do this regardless of the type of nanowire you use, not only to prevent potential shorts, but also to reinforce the flex just in case it gets moved around again. This will make it more resistant to kinking up and/or breaking if it does experience any movement/bending. Louis Rossman of Rossman Repair Group has a great video that goes through the flex bridge technique in extreme detail.
One more interesting thing. I originally had ordered a replacement daughter-board/USB-C port from a 3rd party that I knew was used, but worth a shot. Unfortunately, it took about 2 months to arrive, so I got impatient and did the flex repair described above. After it eventually arrived, I installed it to see if it worked but found it was also defective . . but for a different reason than the one in my client's Razer 2. The control chip on the board (a 40-pin QFP, pin arrangement=12x8x12x8) needed to be removed, cleaned, and reinstalled, and voila, she lived again! I noticed some people saying their device was really hot by the port, and bad solder joints can create poor connections to their respective pads, and poor connections can cause increased resistance, which creates heat. Also, I think that specific charger control chip also has a pass-through for the mic that's on the board, so if your port AND mic are both not working or working intermittently, that might be the cause. I could be mistaken about the pass-through, I need to look at the data sheet again, as it's been a minute since I worked on said Razer 2, as the owner was out of the country for months on business. I actually finished refurbing it about 6 months or so ago.
I recorded the entire process, replacing the display assembly, battery, removing the old (and IMHO inferior) thermal putty and replacing it with Thermal Grizzly’s Kryonaut (reducing thermals by ~10C under load), and have EXTREMELY DETAILED footage of the repair from my USB microscope. I've been kinda lazy with editing it, but I just finished editing another refurb (an EVGA 660 Ti SC that needed a complete refurb, along with replacing 2 cooked MOSFETs. It has sentimental value to the owner, so yeah, a VERY COOL GPU that’s back at 100%), so I'm gonna start on the Razer 2 refurb video tomorrow. I’ll post a link here as soon as I upload it to YT and it’s published.
BTW, the fact that the charge ports are so hard to find new is kinda strange, and maybe suggest a much smaller production run of the Razer 2 than I had originally presumed. I repair devices every day, and my parts distributor can usually get ANYTHING, the guy and his business are amazing. He was able to get me an OEM display assembly and a brand-new sealed replacement OEM battery no problem. When it came to the charge port though, he couldn't find any new units, which is strange, especially since the battery was available as a newer, sealed replacement part. Charge ports and batteries are parts that usually get an additional limited production run for replacement part/repair purposes, since batteries will definitely need to be replaced after a few years, and charge ports USUALLY need to be replaced, unless a person is EXTREMELY GENTLE when they plug & unplug their devices. Unfortunately, all I've been able to find for charge port & mic daughter-boards are pulls from devices, and ya never know what a part has been through when it's not new.
Anyway, the guy who owns the Razer 2 just got back from the UK. and asked me to flash TWRP, LineageOS, etc., and when I opened the Razer 2 forum home page, this was the first thread I saw.
Hopefully this info can help someone out. Maybe someone can get something out of my experience with this specific device and part. And as I mentioned above, as soon as I post the refurb video on YT I'll post a link here. I think that’ll help out, if not because of the same issue, then maybe it can help rule out the issues I ran into.
Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.
Need4Sneed said:
I have a Razer Phone 2 that I'm refurbing for a client, and the USB-C port was in bad shape, so not only no data transfer, but she could only be charged via wireless. No worries though, at least in the case of this specific Razer 2, the problem was the flex cable that attaches the female type-c pin housing to the daughter-board. My theory, again, at least for this specific Razer 2, is because the 2 screws securing the port had come loose, the port was not secured, and was driven deeper inside the chassis when the owner went to plug it in. Since said flex is pretty wimpy, the movement back and forth probably fatigued the traces and the coating of the ribbon, more than likely damaging/breaking several traces.
My solution ended up being similar to the 2017 Retina MacBook Pro ‘Flexgate’ issue, where a very poor design choice created an LCD flex that had a spring/tension/rolling mechanism, which would pull out/extended the flex cable to accommodate the MB being opened, and retract to its resting position when closed. Unfortunately, the short length of the flex, along with a lack of robustness, meant that every opening and closing caused more and more fatigue, and eventually traces became severed and/or shorted out. This manifests as a 'stage light effect' that gets worse the further you open the lid, or in some cases, the 'stage light' effect is absent, however opening the lid past ~45 degrees causes the screen to shut off.
Apple did correct this the following year by replacing the flex with one 6mm longer that was more rigid than the previous year’s problematic flex. However, before the replacements were available (the 6mm extended flex worked a treat to fix the 2017’s issues, and it saved SO MUCH MONEY! A $10 flex cable as opposed to a ~$500 top housing assembly! So a $150 repair, as it is kinda labor intensive, not to mention if you’re not careful you’ll damage the LCD while removing it), a solution was needed to prevent clients from having to pay the ~$500 for a new display (which, OF CORSE, Apple refused to sell the LCD panel by itself (which are made by 2 suppliers, LG Display & Samsung Display, and Apple’s manufacturing contracts prevent both companies from selling any panels as replacement parts. Sometimes they’ll be a few here and there, but it’s rare), forcing people to buy the entire top case, which, of corse, STILL HAD THE PROBLEMATIC FLEX CABLE, meaning that the replacements would also eventually fail.
The solution to both the Razer 2 & 2017 MBP Retina's flex woes is to cut the offending flex just below where the fatigue is visible, or in the case of my client's Razer 2, where a visible kink was. Since the flex has 2mm or so of slack, you can then scrape (or VERY CAREFULLY use a fine tip soldering iron) to expose the tips of the traces, and using nanowire, bridge the two halves together with low-temp solder after aligning and stacking them, with one overlapping by ~0.25mm. Shielded nanowire isn't a common thing most people who don't do repair have laying around, so a workaround is to use twisted copper wire, which you then can un-twist, giving you very thin strands that are perfect for this. Just MAKE SURE THAT YOU EITHER APPLY SOME LIQUID ELECTRICAL TAPE OR UV CURABLE LIQUID INSULATION, since the strands wont be individually insulated or shielded. You should do this regardless of the type of nanowire you use, not only to prevent potential shorts, but also to reinforce the flex just in case it gets moved around again. This will make it more resistant to kinking up and/or breaking if it does experience any movement/bending. Louis Rossman of Rossman Repair Group has a great video that goes through the flex bridge technique in extreme detail.
One more interesting thing. I originally had ordered a replacement daughter-board/USB-C port from a 3rd party that I knew was used, but worth a shot. Unfortunately, it took about 2 months to arrive, so I got impatient and did the flex repair described above. After it eventually arrived, I installed it to see if it worked but found it was also defective . . but for a different reason than the one in my client's Razer 2. The control chip on the board (a 40-pin QFP, pin arrangement=12x8x12x8) needed to be removed, cleaned, and reinstalled, and voila, she lived again! I noticed some people saying their device was really hot by the port, and bad solder joints can create poor connections to their respective pads, and poor connections can cause increased resistance, which creates heat. Also, I think that specific charger control chip also has a pass-through for the mic that's on the board, so if your port AND mic are both not working or working intermittently, that might be the cause. I could be mistaken about the pass-through, I need to look at the data sheet again, as it's been a minute since I worked on said Razer 2, as the owner was out of the country for months on business. I actually finished refurbing it about 6 months or so ago.
I recorded the entire process, replacing the display assembly, battery, removing the old (and IMHO inferior) thermal putty and replacing it with Thermal Grizzly’s Kryonaut (reducing thermals by ~10C under load), and have EXTREMELY DETAILED footage of the repair from my USB microscope. I've been kinda lazy with editing it, but I just finished editing another refurb (an EVGA 660 Ti SC that needed a complete refurb, along with replacing 2 cooked MOSFETs. It has sentimental value to the owner, so yeah, a VERY COOL GPU that’s back at 100%), so I'm gonna start on the Razer 2 refurb video tomorrow. I’ll post a link here as soon as I upload it to YT and it’s published.
BTW, the fact that the charge ports are so hard to find new is kinda strange, and maybe suggest a much smaller production run of the Razer 2 than I had originally presumed. I repair devices every day, and my parts distributor can usually get ANYTHING, the guy and his business are amazing. He was able to get me an OEM display assembly and a brand-new sealed replacement OEM battery no problem. When it came to the charge port though, he couldn't find any new units, which is strange, especially since the battery was available as a newer, sealed replacement part. Charge ports and batteries are parts that usually get an additional limited production run for replacement part/repair purposes, since batteries will definitely need to be replaced after a few years, and charge ports USUALLY need to be replaced, unless a person is EXTREMELY GENTLE when they plug & unplug their devices. Unfortunately, all I've been able to find for charge port & mic daughter-boards are pulls from devices, and ya never know what a part has been through when it's not new.
Anyway, the guy who owns the Razer 2 just got back from the UK. and asked me to flash TWRP, LineageOS, etc., and when I opened the Razer 2 forum home page, this was the first thread I saw.
Hopefully this info can help someone out. Maybe someone can get something out of my experience with this specific device and part. And as I mentioned above, as soon as I post the refurb video on YT I'll post a link here. I think that’ll help out, if not because of the same issue, then maybe it can help rule out the issues I ran into.
Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
NIce so what your saying is spare phone is the way to go unless you can bridge a flex cable. You think working ones ought to re-enforce the working cable? If so clear resin a conformal coating like what did you use tape to harden the cable? Still use mine from time to time and have done lets say a few rebuilds to make it extra pretty.