Cradle for c600

[Guest Bry]

Having just got a c600 (upgraded from e200) i find i am missing the docking cradle too much.

Does anyone know of any place in the uk selling docking cradles compatible with c600?

many Thanks

[Guest svermilyea]

Having just got a c600 (upgraded from e200) i find i am missing the docking cradle too much.

Does anyone know of any place in the uk selling docking cradles compatible with c600?

many Thanks

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I am using a USB Cradle for an SP3i that I got from Expansesys (http://www.expansys-usa.com/product.asp?code=119926). The mini-usb connector on the bottom of the last three generations of phones has been in the same location.

Works great!

[Guest Bry]

cheers

[Guest]

I surely believe you.

But this cradle looks (and well also is) very bulky :-(

If you previously had an E200 (I owned the generic Qtek 8080) you surely knew the cradle which came with it in the package.

This little and well-designed thing was simply great built very solidly and had a good hold due to a solid metal plate on the bottom.

As I migrated to a Qtek 8300 (generic version of the C600) the plug no longer fit in.

Having two of these cradles - none of which I am using any longer - I decided to open up one some time ago to have a look on how to adapt it for the Qtek 8300.

There is a small printed board inside the cradle to which the proprietary plug is soldered in addition to a few other circuits.

(Remark: These additional circuitry definitely only is there to buffer the voltage from the external charging connector; so you do not necessarily need all this circuitry just for synchronizing and charging via USB.)

Most interestingly the cable is connected to this board via a - believe it - Mini-USB plug !!!!!

What I tried out then:

De-soldered the proprietary plug from the board and brutally destroyed some other circuits on the board using a screw driver in order to gain space.

Fit the phone outside the slit and marked the position of the Mini-USB receptacle on to the slit using a permanent marker.

Copied the marks onto the little board inside the cradle and carefully soldered the Mini-USB plug formerly connected to the board onto the board pointing thru the slit and fitting into the receptacle as good as possible.

The work was done well, however the cradle not yet totally fulfilled its purpose.

I cannot remember it any more, has been too long now, but I was either able to charge the phone or to synchronize it, don't recall which it was.

I was unable to find out the reason why because I didn't find the correct pin out of a USB-to-MiniUSB cable for Smartphone so far.

Maybe the best would simply be to get a USB2MiniUSB cable, which is long enough, destroy the casing of the MiniUSB plug and solder it to the tiny board as I did with the other plug.

Both bare MiniUSB plugs as well as receptacles are very hard to get, just found a distributor in the USA (high transportation fees to EU).

Haven't had enough time since to try that out, but getting a nice-looking and very practical cradle would be worth while it.

Strange that no vendor itself found out that these cradles can be "recycled" and traded again with a new purpose.

Having professional equipment as well as the needed plugs one had to be less "brutal" than I was ;-)

Cheers !

2. I am still waiting for a pair of MiniUSB and receptacle to build myself a small test board allowing me to check the pin-out of one of my working USB cables for this phone

I am using a USB Cradle for an SP3i that I got from Expansesys (http://www.expansys-usa.com/product.asp?code=119926).  The mini-usb connector on the bottom of the last three generations of phones has been in the same location.

Works great!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[Guest]

BTW:

If anyone is interested in photos about the interior of that cradle I could upload them later.