Jasjar fun and soldering EDIT IT'S ALIVE

[Guest awarner (MVP)]

After using the jasjar on holiday I managed to bust the usb port for the second time :D

Only problem I have now is it has ripped the tracks from the board so while I can see the connections with a microscope, I now need to find a very fine tipped soldering iron nib.

The fun is going to be to connect some fly leads to the usb and then find decent points on the board to solder them to.

Gutted to say the least, especially as it was the main device I use for TomTom.

[Guest Confucious]

I was lucky when I did something similar with the O2 Exec I bought off eBay.

I sent it to O2's repairers and was expecting a bill for about £150 but as they couldn't repair it within 7 days they sent me a brand new replacement at no cost!

Maybe you could send yours to them then burn down their workshop so they can't repair in 7 days?

Just a thought....

[Guest Monolithix]

USB is dodgy on my JJ too actually! Might have to crack it open myself ;p

[Guest awarner (MVP)]

The first time I had to solder it the main four fixing points needed reconnecting as the socket was loose.

This time it was due to the phone falling out of the holder while the charger was plugged into it.

What I need to do is find a standalone battery charger, at least that will get me by in the short term.

[Guest Confucious]

Charger will be in post soon!

[Guest awarner (MVP)]

Nice one thanks :D

[Guest Alex (nedge2k)]

I've had my Exec since they came out and luckily mine's fine! Seems to be a common problem though...

I'd love to strip it down and use it as an in-car media player / sat nav tho :D

Ash, I'm sure you'd know if this was possible, can the keyboard/screen ribbons be extended? Would love to mount the kb under the steering column, the screen in the dash and have the main hardware hidden away somewhere with the sim slot, power and volume buttons relocated in easy reach.

[Guest Confucious]

The Athena's screen is perfect for GPS but the Universals keyboard was better - I wonder if you could combine the two....

[Guest awarner (MVP)]

Well I dug out my microscope from storage and found the smallest sodering bit I had which was still too big for the job in hand.

Anyway because of the track damage and limited equipment I thought I would give it a go. After much frustration and trial and error I eventually gave up trying to get the data pins repaired so thought I would concentrate on the power pins only.

As the power pins are number 1 & 5 I managed to get them soldered back onto the tracks.

So (and probably a short term repair) the JasJar is sort of back from the dead and is able to charge again :D

Cheers to Confucious for getting me out back up and running for the past week with a desk charger, I'm sure I will will eventually need it again when the USB connector finally dies.

[Guest awarner (MVP)]

Ash, I'm sure you'd know if this was possible, can the keyboard/screen ribbons be extended?

Technically anything is possible all depends on the skill of the person, it would also depend on the length of run of the cable.

probably not worth attempting tbh.

[Guest Confucious]

Glad you got it charging again Ash - you're a braver (and more skilful) man than me!

[Guest awarner (MVP)]

And now it's sometimes charging :D

Time to take a trip to Maplin or RS to see what wire and solder tips I can buy.