FP1 Not charging

[Jacob]

Hello,

My phone is not charging, there seemed to be a problem near the socket/ port because if I moved the battery connector to certain position it would charge, but after some days, trying this would show battery graphic on screen but only charge to 1%.

I left if for a week or so and today took phone apart to see if there was any obvious damage/ corroding, hoping perhaps a clean may fix problem. Now I do not even get a battery screen graphic when plugged in - dead it seems.

There are no F1 mother boards in stock, but even if there were I want to back up - I am wondering if I could buy a charged F1 battery?

Any ideas?

Thanks

[urs_lesse]

A better (cheaper) solution would be to buy a universal charger that can charge a battery with a 5.3 cm width.

[Stefan]

A new battery won’t solve your initial issue (broken USB connector). You will have to contact a local repair shop.

[Alfi1966]

Hello Jacob,

Since USB ports on phones are prone to a lot of stress it can happen that the legs of the connector come loose from the circuit board. If this happens on an FP1(U), changes are that the solder pads are teared off the circuit board. This can be fixed by running wires to the closest connected components. If lucky the pads are still ok and the legs of the connector can be resoldered. There’s a but however… The proximity sensor is located very close to the USB connector and therefor you will need a nano soldering iron to fix it. This is a specialistic job and cannot be carried out by unexperienced people. I have done this repair (both methods) on a number of occassions so if you want to prolong the life of your fairphone (that what’s the whole idea around the concept anyway), get in contact with me via a personal message. I would be happy to fix it for you. In the meantime, do not connect a charger anymore and certainly so not wiggle it as it only makes things worse, I am located in the Netherlands b.t.w.

Regards,

Alfi

[Jacob]

Hello Alfi,

Thanks for the excellent advise, and yes I agree, I would like to fix it. I am in London, so there is no chance of taken you up on your offer I am afraid. But now I know what what is needed, I will try and locate someone who knows what they are doing.

I have done soldering to change a few capacitors on my PC monitor, but that used a regular gun.

Jacob

[Stefan]

There is no London repair shop on our list yet, so it would be great if you find one!

[Jacob]

That may be an incentive for someone to become one? Queensway computer market is near me, I will enquire there this week.

[Alfi1966]

Good luck!