Database Develop

DIY Fixing dodgy headphone socket

Hey guys,
I think some of us have a problem with our headphone sockets where over time, slight bumps to the connection causes the audio to slightly cut out which can be annoying if you're listening to music with your phone in your pocket through headphones/earphones.
Now I've found a guide to disassemble the phone which i'll leave at the bottom as not to ruin the continuity, but I'm struggling to find a suitable replacement part for the output socket on the phone. You have to remember that the socket also needs metal contacts inside it for the microphone input. I plan to shoot motorola's technical team an email about it but I'm wondering if there are any other people keen on fixing the problem or if they themselves have tried addressing it.
Cheers,
Ed
Disassemble your droid/milestone:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dE81IaQHEHc
Something which is close but not quite what i'm looking for:
http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=PS0133

seems interesting.
I've had to send my phone in twice because of this.
Might have this problem fixed now though as i've gotten angled headphones that are really close to the socket. This way there won't be as much pressure on the socket when i've got the phone in my pocket whilst cycling.

hmm... been a long time since I´ve tinkered with any jack-sockets (last time on one of my bass guitars), but shouldn´t you just be able to -probably more of a temporary fix- bend the contact-latches inside the socket a bit so they press "harder" against the headphone jack when it is plugged in?
that way, they should allow for more movement of the jack (which is the problem you are describing) without losing contact.
the only problem is, repeated usage of the socket will eventually wear the contact latches out again over time...

Through the course of my research I've actually found a really simple and easy quick fix which works really well.
Spray a bit of WD40 into the socket and abrakadabra! it works!

kreat1ve said:
Through the course of my research I've actually found a really simple and easy quick fix which works really well.
Spray a bit of WD40 into the socket and abrakadabra! it works!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Really? Why does this work? Does the WD40 conduct the signal? How often do you need to do this?

kreat1ve said:
Through the course of my research I've actually found a really simple and easy quick fix which works really well.
Spray a bit of WD40 into the socket and abrakadabra! it works!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bad idea. Don't use WD40. It will eat away at the plastic and circuit board. It also will attract dust and dirt. Electrical contact cleaner is a better idea. It's safe for circuit boards and plastics.

mightybrick said:
Bad idea. Don't use WD40. It will eat away at the plastic and circuit board. It also will attract dust and dirt. Electrical contact cleaner is a better idea. It's safe for circuit boards and plastics.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good to know...
Where do we get this stuff? My current milestone is fine...but for how long? My first unit's headphone jack was very bad after a few months.
Sent from my Milestone using Tapatalk

Caz666 said:
Good to know...
Where do we get this stuff? My current milestone is fine...but for how long? My first unit's headphone jack was very bad after a few months.
Sent from my Milestone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Any hardware or electronics store should have it; Radio Shack, Walmart, etc.

kreat1ve said:
Hey guys,
I think some of us have a problem with our headphone sockets where over time, slight bumps to the connection causes the audio to slightly cut out which can be annoying if you're listening to music with your phone in your pocket through headphones/earphones.
Now I've found a guide to disassemble the phone which i'll leave at the bottom as not to ruin the continuity, but I'm struggling to find a suitable replacement part for the output socket on the phone. You have to remember that the socket also needs metal contacts inside it for the microphone input. I plan to shoot motorola's technical team an email about it but I'm wondering if there are any other people keen on fixing the problem or if they themselves have tried addressing it.
Cheers,
Ed
In China, that part (original) is about 2RMB - say $0.30 US - but shipping it will cost far more than that...
The Motorola P/N is 0976622A01, and googling it seems to produce a few hits:
You will need to find the links yourself, since the board prohibited me from postiing them...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

the board is prohibiting links??? or only certain links?
however, i would appreciate some more hints on that disassembly-guide you were pointing at, since i cannot find that, either.

xenosapien213 said:
the board is prohibiting links??? or only certain links?
however, i would appreciate some more hints on that disassembly-guide you were pointing at, since i cannot find that, either.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried the electrical contact cleaner post yet? Someone says WD-40 works (Which is a terrible idea, hence trying electrical contact cleaner). They aren't cheap and it's worth a shot before taking your phone apart!

Thanks! This is great!

xenosapien213 said:
hmm... been a long time since I´ve tinkered with any jack-sockets (last time on one of my bass guitars), but shouldn´t you just be able to -probably more of a temporary fix- bend the contact-latches inside the socket a bit so they press "harder" against the headphone jack when it is plugged in?
that way, they should allow for more movement of the jack (which is the problem you are describing) without losing contact.
the only problem is, repeated usage of the socket will eventually wear the contact latches out again over time...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this may work, but I have found on the portable devices it is normally more the circuit board it is connected to. The solder joint fails and really needs to be re-soldered. The connection is only supported by the solder, not a good thing, but all the electronics manufacturers only care if they last past the initial warranty. Often all it needs is a hit with a low power solder gun to re-flow the joint, other times you need to clean off the old solder, and put on some new. the joint will often look fine to the naked eye, but if you look with magnification you will see the joint has cracks. A friend of mine is an electronics repair geek, and he can see it just by glancing. I need some magnification, funny thing is he wears glasses that are almost an inch thick, so it is more experience at looking at them.

Thanks for the links. My audio jack has been bad for some time and it is only a matter of time until the frustration will drive me to take the phone apart. It is better now I have some instructions for when that time comes
I tried contact cleaner which unfortunatly didn't have any effect. It 'feels' like a bad solder joint but obviously I can't tell for sure until it is apart.

[HARDWARE] Dinc Seamless Wireless Charger stock battery (NO USB STICKING OUT)

>>>>>><<<<<< PDF With All Steps And Images Added For Your Viewing/Downloading Pleasure >>>>>><<<<<<
***If this does not belong here I appologize, and feel free to move this if necessary. I just figured the development community is most likely to take this "upgrade" on***
After seeing that someone used Palm's wireless charger on their non-palm phone; I decided to put one on my Droid Incredible.
***This was done to a completely stock Dinc. I did not use any special back, and the stock back gets to stay on (unlike in the other video that I saw)
Wireless Charging the Droid Incredible
**Disclaimer: This will void your warranty, and if you solder something wrong will probably break your phone. With that said I can in no way be held accountable for anything that occurs while performing this “upgrade” to your phone.
>>>>If anyone knows where I can buy that little void sticker that you will see in a picture below, please let me know! If we can get that sticker then our warranty is not voided by doing this.
Supplies:
1.Palm touchstone charger http://www.shopping.hp.com/product/handheld/categories/palm/4/accessories/FB300AA%23AC3
2.Palm touchstone phone back http://www.shopping.hp.com/store/product/product_detail/FB306AA%23AC3?
3.Micro USB cable
4.Soldering Iron (the finer the tip on this the better)
5.Torx T6 screw driver
6.Safe pry tool (or a small flat head screwdriver)
7.Very tiny insulated wires (I just pulled mine out of a USB cable that I cut up)
8.Electrical Tape
9.[Optional] Multimeter to test that you actually made a good connection
How To (Images are of a higher quality (12mp) so I had to stick them in zip files to get them on here):
1.The palm touchstone phone back has a sticker inside of it that encases the wireless charging receiver, so you need to peel this off. Once it is peeled off it will look like this (without the wires soldered onto it):
(Images can be seen in: Palm Receiver.7z)
2.Remove the battery cover and the battery then unscrew the back from your phone (please view a tare down video for details, there are plenty of them on you tube that I used for a reference.)
1.All you need is a torx t6 screwdriver and a safe pry tool, I used a small flat head screwdriver and it worked just fine. Unscrew the 4 screws around the sides and then carefully pry off every place that the battery cover clips on, as they also hold on the red back.
(Images can be seen in: Dinc Inside.7z)
3.Solder on some wires to the USB connector as shown in the below image without soldering onto the pins next to them. This is difficult and takes some time and patience, since these connectors are very small and close (note the polarity in the image, notated in red).
A.Also it is necessary to place a piece of electrical tape over the components right next to the connector (Green box in the image) as they will short out the power and make it impossible to charge your phone if you do not (I found that out the hard way and went back and fixed it).
B.One final note here is that I had to melt down the red phone backing inside to allow the cables to get past the case. See the green rectangle in the image above for where I had to do that. I just used my soldering iron and melted it down, it makes a pretty nice indention for the wires to fit through.
(Images can be seen in: Dinc USB.7z)
4.Now push out the rubber plug in the red phone backing next to the USB cover (this is encircled in Green in the image from step 2).
A.Run the cables that you just solder on through that so that they are sticking through to the battery compartment on your phone.
B.You can also stick on the palm receiver to the inside of your phone cover (note the direction and placement, as this is necessary to close your cover).
3.Note that I placed electrical tape over the wires. This was necessary to keep them from breaking off of the USB connector since the solder points are so small.
(Images can be seen in: Almost Done.7z)
5.Solder on the wires to the palm charger receiver and you are done. Now you just need to carefully place the wires towards the middle of the phone so that you can close the back of your phone entirely (this is another reason why the wires need to be small).
A.Note the polarity of the connection.
B.Also I put a piece of electrical tape over the connections on the palm charger receiver to protect them (not shown in the image).
(Images can be seen in: Wireless Charger.7z)

Here is a video of the end product and how it works:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOMVJ-vmWpg
Also I just verified that my compass is working without any problems.

This could be truly amazing. I can't wait to see more.

ThugEsquire said:
This could be truly amazing. I can't wait to see more.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its been done with the Evo, but don't know anyone who did it with the Inc.
http://www.goodandevo.net/2010/06/h...rk-with-palm-touchstone-wireless-charger.html

Sounds really nice. Not gonna try it with mine because I'm too scared
Though shouldn't this be in accessories or general?

What are you doing to align the coils? My biggest concern that's kept me from this is the magnets also would mess up the compass sensors readings which I for one actually value.
Wow, you managed to bring me out of my months of silence in posting...

I feel honored that I can get you out of your months of silence
The coil alignment is handled by the magnets inside of the palm touchstone charger itself (the base unit that plugs into the wall). The metal objects that you can see in the "Palm Receiver.7z" file are actually not magnets, but small circular pieces of metal that get pulled towards the charger base when you get them close to each other. So when you have the phone off of the charger, there are no magnets to mess with anything
Also you will notice that there is a piece of metal behind the coil, and that seems to block the inductive signal all together (because I tried to put it on backwards to no avail). Therefore your phone is mostly protected from the inductive transmission.
The only thing that I noticed, is that the touchscreen on the phone is a little weird when it is on the charger, but I see the same side effects when plugging the phone into a "non-htc" charger (before performing this "upgrade"). **I also saw this on my Moto Droid when connecting it to a 1 amp charger, and I have seen this with multiple other touchscreen devices so I think it just has something to do with the frequency of the charger.
Also in case of any concerns: MY PHONE HAS IN NO WAY BEEN DAMAGED BY THIS "UPGRADE"

pianoplayer said:
Sounds really nice. Not gonna try it with mine because I'm too scared
Though shouldn't this be in accessories or general?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yah, it probably should be, and may get moved (which is perfectly fine by me). I put it in here because I am a developer and much more likely to do this, so I figured the development community would be more interested.

ThugEsquire said:
This could be truly amazing. I can't wait to see more.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You mentioned that you can't wait to see more....?
What more would you like to see? I am happy to add to the posts, but just not sure what further details you would like to see.

nevetsvsx said:
Also in case of any concerns: MY PHONE HAS IN NO WAY BEEN DAMAGED BY THIS "UPGRADE"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I trust your method, I just don't trust my shaky hands
BTW there is a multi quote button so you dont have to do a separate post for each reply

I have a rubber case on my Dinc... would I need to remove it for charging?
___________________________________
Yup.... The ones yoe momma told ya about.... Bad Seed Customs!!

I think you will be ok if it is one of those thin (about 1mm thick) rubber cases. Anything thicker than that and you would probably have to install the wireless receiver on the case itself and remove your battery cover all together.
I tested a thin rubber case that I have (no more than 1mm thick I think) that fits a Droid Eris and it charges as long as its flush to the back of my phone.
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App

Wow, this is amazing, very well done. I think this is the first hard mod I've heard of for an Android. I guess gold cards were a sorta gray area.

I've had my Incredible modded to work with a Touchstone since around June of last year. It works great, but I must caution anyone thinking of doing this to be VERY careful. Experience with soldering and a steady hand is a must. One could fairly easily mess up their phone attempting to do this.

Could you do this with a powermat if you wanted to? I have a few laying around I could use.
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App

Paul600k5 said:
Could you do this with a powermat if you wanted to? I have a few laying around I could use.
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sure, if you wanna take apart one of those generic receivers and try to fit it inside your phone!

nevetsvsx said:
You mentioned that you can't wait to see more....?
What more would you like to see? I am happy to add to the posts, but just not sure what further details you would like to see.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What I originally meant was pictures. But now that you've added them and I've seen the glory, this mod is really quite impressive and I'm thrilled you shared it with us. But now that I think about it, could this also do USB wirelessly? That would be pretty amazing.

ThugEsquire said:
What I originally meant was pictures. But now that you've added them and I've seen the glory, this mod is really quite impressive and I'm thrilled you shared it with us. But now that I think about it, could this also do USB wirelessly? That would be pretty amazing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, the transmission of data wirelessly is achieved through modulated EM waves. This is simple inductance: a changing electric field creates a magnetic field, a changing magnetic field generates an electric field, so a current carrying loop placed near another loop of wire will induce current in the other loop. The receiver in the phone is engineered to "create" the "proper" amount current to charge your battery when combined with the base. In theory yes, but not with this equipment.

How does the phone treat a USB cable being plugged in - will it charge ok, and have your data transfer rates been adversely effected? I wouldn't think so, since you're only touching the power...

Mr. Spontaneous said:
How does the phone treat a USB cable being plugged in - will it charge ok, and have your data transfer rates been adversely effected? I wouldn't think so, since you're only touching the power...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have used the USB charger and data transfer cables without any problems at all. Also I have copied some files off of my phone to my PC since the "upgrade" and did not notice any extended times or anything that would remotely make me think something was wrong.
I did not run a speed test before and after to see if anything slowed down, but as you said we are only touching the power pins, so I highly doubt anything has changed.

Home made Stylus for Nook

I've been waiting for week to get my materials to make the home made stylus, finally the most important piece arrived. This took hours to get it to work right. It was a lot easier to get a working stylus for an iPod Touch, but after some tinkering, screaming, sweating and fails I got a pretty good working one. Check out my youtube video (sorry for the bad quality, did on a digital kodak camera very baaad):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujdsEt5zX8I

http://lifehacker.com/5836870/build...n-the-cheap-with-a-ballpoint-pen-and-a-sponge
Here one I read about, don't know if it would work or not though.

I just use a chop stick. Must be hundreds of them floating around my house of different styles, materials, points. Same at work just not so many. I hang on to one for a while, lose/misplace it and it'll take me a day or two to settle on another. No muss no fuss.

Quick question, can you please tell me where you got all the materials?

EverythingNook said:
Quick question, can you please tell me where you got all the materials?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The most important piece, the conductive foam, I got it from ebay. Just search conductive foam, I got a 4" x 4" still have more than half left. I'm thinking that the wire and metal casing are unnecessary, so any pen or pencil casing should do. What I have discovered so far is that the Nook stylus I made requires a large surface, like you see in the video. I wanted it to be really thin at the beginning that's why it didn't work, since the NC screen isn't as responsive as we would all want.
Anyways, the wire I used, I got it from an old coaxial cable (TV cable). Also, I got the idea from this video, which is a lot more instructive than mine...I just wanted to test it in the NC:
http://youtu.be/4YE8rGuLCtU

I think im going to try a sponge before i get conductive foam.

Very nice! Did you tried to slim the tip of conductive foam?
What is the notebook software are you using on the video?

Harlley Sathler said:
Very nice! Did you tried to slim the tip of conductive foam?
What is the notebook software are you using on the video?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
At first I was trying to get the tip to be the thinnest possible, so it would mimic a ball point pen, but apparently the LCD in the NC need a bigger surface to respond to touches. I was able to get a thin version working on an iPod Touch 3G no problem. I'm going to try to make a new following the video that inspired me, I just need a more flexible wire to make it. Anyways, the app I used is called Handrite

I'm not sure why you'd go to the trouble when you can get a stylus for a couple of bucks on Amazon...

Because of curiosity and creativity and inventively spirit?
These are what moves us, geeks, ahead. I did some styli myself and be proud of this.

Crwly said:
I'm not sure why you'd go to the trouble when you can get a stylus for a couple of bucks on Amazon...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most of them dont work very well with the nook.

Crwly said:
I'm not sure why you'd go to the trouble when you can get a stylus for a couple of bucks on Amazon...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This experiment cost me less than 2 bucks, since I used everyday materials around the house. The only thing I had to buy was the foam, which I still have more than half left, maybe for making more or using them for other stuff like transporting cpus xD
Edit: Oh and you might find the foam in everyday electronics too, like HDD casings, tv remotes, etc. So you could get a working (proven to work on NC) stylus for free.

jgaf said:
This experiment cost me less than 2 bucks, since I used everyday materials around the house. The only thing I had to buy was the foam, which I still have more than half left, maybe for making more or using them for other stuff like transporting cpus xD
Edit: Oh and you might find the foam in everyday electronics too, like HDD casings, tv remotes, etc. So you could get a working (proven to work on NC) stylus for free.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where exactly in remotes, like where the battery goes?

EverythingNook said:
Where exactly in remotes, like where the battery goes?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not quite sure I remember reading it somewhere. I have seen some in an external hdd casing, it helps to reduce static
Sent from my NookColor using Tapatalk

mgs526 said:
http://lifehacker.com/5836870/build...n-the-cheap-with-a-ballpoint-pen-and-a-sponge
Here one I read about, don't know if it would work or not though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it works and it was really easy to make

Yesterday I had my Nook sitting open on my desk, and plugged in my phone.
The cord dragged over the screen of the Nook, and the keyboard happened to be open. Everywhere the cord touched it tapped a letter.
I tried it again with the cord plugged in to AC, but not the phone...and nothing.
Plugged the phone back in, and was able to tap keys again using the cord.
Maybe we could get a battery-operated stylus that just runs power down to the tip .
I'm thinking triple-a battery, small insulated wire down to, then acting as, the tip, and simply return up to the other end of the battery.
No clue if this would be bad for the screen or not, but as long as it's a low level of power, can't see why it would be.
We have some very creative people here who have the skills to not only make something like this happen, but regulate the flow of power through the wire from the battery.
My thought is that since the screen isn't so great for a stylus on the Nook, maybe enhancing the tapping power of the stylus would help.
For anyone who has no clue what they are doing but wants to try anyways, DO NOT use exposed wire, and in any event i'm not responsible for what happens with the use/misuse/abuse of this information.
Any thoughts on this?
ETA:
Maybe a small triple-a flashlight would make a good starting base for this project, a lot of them go real cheap anymore. Just do away with the light itself, and replace it with a wire. You get a switch already built in and all that way.

Blue6IX said:
Text...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That was interesting, but I must ask, will a powered stylus perform any better than bought ones or homemade foam ones?

I tried it again with the cord plugged in to AC, but not the phone...and nothing.
Plugged the phone back in, and was able to tap keys again using the cord.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Without the phone, there is no current flow on the cable, and no magnetic field around it, and so, no capacitance distortion.

Harlley Sathler said:
Without the phone, there is no current flow on the cable, and no magnetic field around it, and so, no capacitance distortion.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea, this I didn't know until I found out by accident. I had always just assumed there was, but now know that unless something is drawing power it's in a static state.
GuTsaV said:
That was interesting, but I must ask, will a powered stylus perform any better than bought ones or homemade foam ones?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is the question that I posed. If no one else is curious enough to find out, i'll get around to this eventually.
I have a handful of pen-light flashlights floating around here, it would be a simple matter to replace the led with a wire and find out.
When I find time to solder one in i'll let you know how it goes. My job is taking up way more time then i'd like in my life at the moment, so who knows when that'll be.

Blue6IX said:
I have a handful of pen-light flashlights floating around here, it would be a simple matter to replace the led with a wire and find out.
When I find time to solder one in i'll let you know how it goes. My job is taking up way more time then i'd like in my life at the moment, so who knows when that'll be.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you replace the LED by a wire, you will get a short-circuit on the batteries, what means that even if it works as a stylus, you will get your batteries hot and discharged very quickly.
Not to say that is dangerous if the batteries get hot!
Another way would be apply the Ohm's Law and calculate a resistor to replace the LED, but I don't know if this idea (a powered stylus) would be an energy efficient circuit...

OMG charging cradle not working

So I plugged in my cradle attached to the watch, waiting for the charging sound and flashing battery icon... nothing.
I reckoned the cable might be loose, nope. Maybe the cable is faulty (it's a bit old but longer than the supplied one) Changed it... still no go.
Maybe the charger has developed a fault, swapped it for another Samsung one I have... still no charging.
Must be the watch or cradle, undid the cradle slightly, snapped it back together.. still not charging.
So I took it apart again and only then did I notice the cradle was the wrong way round!!!
How it's possible to do this is a bit of a design flaw. But at least it was down to me and not the hardware. I just thought I would share this dumb story with you in case it happens to you one day

Hi, I did the same thing just on the first day of use - good thing is that by reversing the watch there is no way to spoil anything, so no worries.
There is probably no point in making special "key" just remember which way to put the watch into the cradle.
I wonder how to design the power connector on the watch to allow to use just standard micro-usb cable - I think that it is not so easy, especially if we are talking about IP55 and for future GEAR II - hopefully IP68 - connector must be well protected against water ingress as it will keep the water inside when it gets there...
all rubber plugs and gaskets and so on are useless if we talk about true water tightness.

Magnetic charger - would attaching the charger upside down do anything bad?

Some people have mentionned that attaching the magnetic charger the wrong way could have an ill effect on the phone. Is there any validity to this or is it just people spreading unbased rumors?
The pin holes are different shapes so that you can only properly connect it right side up, but some 3rd party chargers (including mine - the led charger) have the metal pins sticking out slightly beyond the safety holes, so the pins could make contact if I attach it wrong.
From a physics point of view, how is it any different from plugging in a plug into a wall outlet where the orientation of the plug is irrelevent?

it'll make your phone go BOOM, don't do it.

adamk7 said:
From a physics point of view, how is it any different from plugging in a plug into a wall outlet where the orientation of the plug is irrelevent?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
AC vs DC

Iruwen said:
AC vs DC
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Riight, thanks

I'm a little worried about this though.. I could see myself accidently plugging it in wrong. I have the black version of the phone which looks very similar front and back, I feel like it's just a matter of time before I mess up :\ Maybe I'll try to trim the charer pins a bit with a diamond dremel bit..

It just shuts my phone down when I put it the wrong way. Works fine after turning back on.
Sent from my D5803 using XDA Free mobile app

I have the Magnector X charger and the pins are not sticking out. They are slightly below the plastic casing.

I put my Z1 the wrong way in my Brodit car holder (very good phone mount/holder by the way) and it just rebooted. It was no problem then

I also think there is no difference. I don't see any real facts about downside.

Haven't done anything bad with my phone it still charge as good, don't think it would matter at all
Skickat från min LG-V500 via Tapatalk

It messes up the flux capacitor.

Good to see you can quit elementary school and still afford a decent smartphone.

Iruwen said:
Good to see you can quit elementary school and still afford a decent smartphone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you momentarily feel better about yourself after being a condescending ****?
pricey2009 said:
It just shuts my phone down when I put it the wrong way. Works fine after turning back on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good to hear! Still don't feel like purposely testing it though.

Yes I do.