Charging problems / tilted position in order to charge

You can get the spare part from Farnell, but unless you are a soldering pro you will not be able to attach it yourself.

See my post above for more.

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Yes I have read that and wanted to try to buy one and then try a repair shop. Our do they normally have a suitable connector?

I would contact the repair shop first. Some repair shops like the ones in Berlin (and probably Zwickau as well) have the connector on stock now.

The one in Vienna uses a generic Samsung USB connector, which works just as well, for example.

Okay thanks everyone. I hope this will work out because I hadn’t planned to get another phone…

Don’t worry, this is standard procedure for many repair shops. It has worked out for me, although I had to take it to my local repair shop three times because they had difficulties. I have a FP1 though, it might be that my USB connector was even more worn than a FP1U’s… :stuck_out_tongue:

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just came back from my repair store and they told be the motherboard has broken! so they can’t replace the connector. now I’m only worried about my data. does anybody here know if the berlin repair stores can save them?? I have already bought a new phone but wanted to repair my FP1 - now I’m not sure if that can be managed at all. this sucks.

Even if your FP is beyond rescue, don’t just throw it away … there are many FP1 owners who would love to buy the display if it’s in good condition.

Depends on how broken the motherboard is. If they’re saying it’s broken around the USB port, but the phone is able to boot, then you could use someone else’s FP1 or a universal charger (examples) to charge the battery, and then copy files over bluetooth or via wifi.
If the board is completely dead, I’m not sure whether there are repair shops that can directly access the memory chips on the board - this could become very tricky (and expensive).

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the display has a crack, too, but this would not bother me

yes, that’s what they said, that the board is broken in the place where the connector sits. but i hope the good people at the berlin klinik will know about these tricks?

If the board is able to boot and can somehow connect to the outside world (wifi/bluetooth/SD card), then I’d imagine any decent repair place should be able to get at most of the data for you without too much hassle.

danke für den tipp mit dem universalcharger - das werde ich tun :slight_smile:

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Hi everyone,

I’ve been having exactly the same issues - fairphone 1, failing to charge unless one of my chargers is held in a very specific position - even then it sometimes does not transfer charge even though it says it is connected. So I was wondering:

  • Has anyone experimented with a contactless charger that doesnt need cables at all?

  • And if so, does anyone know if there are any/what kind of contactless chargers are compatible with this battery/phone?

Thanks for your help,
Pete

Unfortunately those chargers require a foil-like adapter inside the phone that leads to (read: requires) the USB port.

Hi there,

I purchased my FP1 two years ago but I am giving it up now - just like any other damn phone on the market I will have to purchase another one because it cant be repaired. And I have tried, yes I did:

First of all: I LOVE the idea. Not love like any presidential candidate loves anyone and anything but really the idea moved me and amongst all the great things fairphone stands for I find the idea to keep your phone as long as possible an honorable one. I have had uncountable phones in my life and it is simply not good. So I bought the FP1. With the special cover.

In the meantime I had a few questions to the customer support over the years and it seems that you (fairphone guys) have significantly improved in this area. From super long waiting times to fast answering and reminder and follow up mails. My battery died - exchanged. My cover and back had issues - changed. But now the most annoying part - I cant charge my phone anymore if the cable is not held steadily at a certain angle, a problem everyone has encountered in his life I am sure, this damn part cannot be exchanged. Because you dont know if it will ever be produced. The tipp to go to a good cell phone repair service didnt help. I have literally 5 cell phone repair services around my street, no one seems to be able. Now I tried long time to ignore the problem but in fact even if I plug it in it only charges in 30% of the cases which makes it impossible to use it. And that is too much. I have used the FP even though it is an inferior product (I have an iPhone as company phone so it is not very fair to compare though) that is not very fast, not super smart in its functions (from superuser to the inbuilt browser that cannot even detect a mobile version of a page in around 80% of the time) and not very applicable for my use cases (I run a lot, the bluetooth connection always breaks, I have switched to my company phone).

So…what should I do? Even though the idea is great and it is better to invest in a FP than in a regular phone I am quite frankly pissed that the life time is 2,5years for an inferior product. I dont want to hear the 3 “reason whys” from your website repeated. The products promise didnt come true and I honestly dont know what to do. Supporting the idea even though reality doesnt hold up to it seems equally wrong. For the same price as a FP2 I could get a better phone that also lasts 2,5 years. Sorry for my rant I just had very high hopes but looking at my phone which says it is charging but somehow didnt make it over 7% over night (again in 30% the cases it charges completely) I cannot use it. SUCKS!

Best regards,
kajetan

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This is a community forum and you cannot address the Fairphone team here. For that you have to send your rant to Fairphone support.

I don’t know where you live, but most of these repair shops are confirmed to be able to repair your USB connector:

I myself had the Vienna one repair my USB connector, which took them three tries, hut eventually works well. I can continue to charge my phone now. I hope you can find one that is more professional than “the five around your corner”.

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I think I had similar thoughts when my USB connector broke.

I went to three repair stores - the third finally took my device and repaired it.

Yep, I totally agree. Having a soldering iron is one thing, but actually being capable to use it properly and these days often on tiny, miny smd parts with almost no space between is something quite different.
Someone might simply fry your super thin multi-layer pcb or turn a large part of it info one solid solder block.

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I feel your pain! I am having the same problem. So annoyed too, as I wholeheartedly support ‘the idea’… my phone is only about 18 months old and my connection is the same. I have read this a few times on here too, which means its a fault with their product, not just a one off.

I have been persevering for months, trying to angle it in any direction so the little red light comes on saying its charging… but sometimes it just drains the battery. Its very poor.

If, like some of your responses suggest, that another repair store could fix it…then why are FP not recalling these ones and welding the connection back on, or whatever these other guys are doing?! Its so disappointing. :frowning:

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