I was using an old Moto G2 until recently. As the charging port became warped, a few times I've decided to have a fiddle around with a pin or toothpick to get it back into position and connect properly with the charger.
While tired last night, I tried to use the edge of a pair of tweezers. This went badly and I've totally mashed the inside of the port.
I've already ordered a replacement handset so I'm not exactly heartbroken, but it would be nice to have a go at fixing it and keeping it as a spare handset.
Have any of you lads ever replaced something this fiddly before? Aside from using smaller tools (I'm thinking of a watchmakers screwdriver etc.) how do I avoid hamfisting it?
You'll need a fair bit of stuff to do the job - at a minimum, you'll need a temperature-controlled soldering station, fine tweezers, a roll of fine leaded solder, liquid flux, desoldering wick and Kapton tape. Desoldering a MicroUSB port is a faff if you don't own a hot air station, but it is manageable if you use ChipQuik. An OptiVisor is pretty much mandatory unless you've got good eyesight.
It's almost certainly not worth attempting unless you intend to do other repairs or get into electronics as a hobby. The bare minimum of tools and supplies will cost you about £50. You don't need a great deal of manual dexterity to do SMT rework, but you do need to understand the right technique - if you just have a crack at it without knowing exactly what you're doing, you'll just butcher the board.
This video is a detailed tutorial on basic SMT rework. It uses a Galaxy S3 for demonstration, but the principles are exactly the same on a Moto G2.
Usually the USB port is on a dedicated daughterboard. If that's the case, replace the whole thing; it'll be much easier.
If you have to replace the port itsself, you'll need some Helping Hands, tweezers, small needle nosed pliers, a very fine tipped soldering iron, a fine solder sucker, and a steady hand.
As you can see from the photo you posted, micro USB ports tend to be held in by the 4 metal prongs for stability, and these are usually soldered in. You can also see that the 5 pins are incredibly close together, and are surface-mount (i.e. meant to be done by machine).
You'll need to start by desoldering everything (and a solder sucker is indispensable for this; if anyone tells you to use wick, punch them in the face). You may have to use the pliers to work the metal stability arms free, and then carefully lift the port out. Make sure all the solder is off -- if you damage the pads, you've fucked the job.
Putting it back on is where the fun begins. If the tip if your iron is not thin enough, you'll find soldering the surface mount pads impossible, and even if it is it's going to be frustrating as fuck -- if you accidentally bridge them, you'll have to have another go, and each time that happens (and it will) you increase the risk of damaging your board.
Watch some videos, but I'd recommend seeing if you can just replace the whole daughterboard (if it has one).
Thanks both for these detailed replies, but knowing what the work entails I'm afraid my initial reaction is "fuck that". I'll keep the posts saved in case I ever end up with £50 and a Sunday with nothing else to do, but this really doesn't sound worth the stress.
Any tips for avoiding that initial warping to the charging port on the new handset? I just went with a straight upgrade to the Moto G5S Plus.
You definitely won't regret that. I have one and considering the price it's really impressive, it really punches above its weight with features and general build quality.
Just wait until you have to change a USB-C socket. 30 tiny pins, mostly invisible under the metalwork. Sure, they're nice for customers, but they're the spawn of beelzebub when it comes to rework.
>>26445 Fortunately, I'm not in the phone repair game - but I suspect I could do that. Combination of BGA / CSP putting on / taking-off machine and vapour phase reflow oven, and it'd be not much worse than usual.
It's actually quite a nice piece of design. I'm a little surprised they didn't flood the volume inside with something heat conductive and water repelling, just to piss repairers off more.
It broke, as in it was fucked, it didn't break as in the screen cracked or anything. Basically it sat in clean (as in clean as bog water can be) toilet water for less than a second before I pulled it out. There was no physical damage to the phone, but the touch screen instantly stopped working. The fact that the fucking useless piece of shite doesn't have a removable battery meant that I couldn't turn it off and the bag of rice trick didn't really pan out. Did a charge-back on my credit card for the fuck of it.
Interesting. Mine is definitely splash proof, and drop-in-sink-with-tap-running proof, I have the earlier model with removable battery (same one as the bucket video).
Maybe the newer ones aren't for whatever daft reason.
I'm extremely happy with it. It's an upgrade in every way, very few slow moments with apps, storage space fits every app I need and then some, and I really like the metal case. There's some smart UI upgrades that I'm quite fond of, too.
It was a good purchase, I'm hoping I can keep it in sound working order for as long as possible.
This is a properly good product. I'd advise anyone to keep in mind length when you're buying, as the first one was too short. It doesn't hurt to have a spare I suppose. It's saved my MicroUSB connector from big "rips" of the charger out of the port several times already -- and I realise now I must have been tiredly mashing the poor thing every time I came home from work to put in on charge.
To be honest, I think it really should a standard on these phones, considering it's such a delicate part of the phone.
>To be honest, I think it really should a standard on these phones, considering it's such a delicate part of the phone.
Unfortunately, they're technically illegal until 2025. Apple hold a patent on magnetic power connectors and will not grant a license to anyone else. Chinese cable manufacturers don't care, but phone manufacturers won't go near it because they'll be sued into the dark ages.
The Qi wireless charging standard is reasonably well-established and is now available on most flagship phones. I expect that mid-range phones will have wireless charging within the next couple of years. It's not as fast as wired charging, but it's a much neater solution.
I much prefer plugged-in quick charge to Qi. I don't want another peripheral I need to charge with, and with quick charge I only need to plug in for about half an hour a day.
Though I'd enjoy a magnetic, vertical Qi mount for my car.
>>26601 > I'm extremely happy with it. It's an upgrade in every way, very few slow moments with apps, storage space fits every app I need and then some, and I really like the metal case. There's some smart UI upgrades that I'm quite fond of, too.
Very nice lad. I got the cunts at Motorola to fix the damn thing under warranty (luckily it wasn't water damage just some wire or board needing "an adjustment", whatever that means (I'm assuming a wire came loose or something) which at least vouches for the water-proofness of the thing).
Now, all I need to do is find the time to move all my stuff back onto the phone that the bastards nice technicians factory reset back to infinity from this awful, awful "Lenovo K6 Vibe" that I bought in the interim. Honestly everything that could be wrong with a phone is wrong with this one despite the quite respectable specs (32gb internal storage, 3gb ram).
