Hi, on my >6 year old Fairphone 3, three gold contact pins on the main module were broken off (much lower than the other pins). That’s why a new display didn’t work: the connection from the main module to the display module was either unstable / flaky (display flickering) or non-existent (display black), because only the other gold pins had contact.
My solution: I soldered three very little dots where the gold pins were missing!
And after soldering, I removed the sharp peaks of solder, so that the solder pins and gold pins were equally high and the solder pins not too sharp.
Now, the new display is working perfectly!
Don’t be afraid to solder the display pins on your Fairphone 3!
Now my Fairphone 3 can get another 2 years of life.
The only thing I fear: Will the solder pins oxidize (on the surface) and then my display won’t work anymore in some time (because the display module only touches the surface of the solder pins)? I hope not… Let’s see.
You could buy some gold wire from a jewellery suppliers and insert that into the solder at the required height. I would imagine after buying the smallest possible quantity you will have a lifetime’s supply.
Nice work @corny1 !
I appreciate the afford and the confidence in the rpair, I only doubt it will satisfy you for a longer term. Yes, the solder will oxidase and so the display will probably start flickering sooner or later. There is a reason why the pogo pins were placed in the design there.
As long as this works for you, be happy with the success of your repair. I just wouldn´t rely on the device as much as before. As sad as it is, the failure is a fatal one.
Well, if it doesn’t work at some point, I can scratch and solder it again and again. Scratching and soldering should remove the oxidized surface, I guess?
Or I try the solution with gold, but that seems very difficult in my opinion - because the gold pieces would need to be really REALLY tiny and flat (so that all pins have the same height). I don’t have a microscope or anything similar, so positioning and soldering the gold pieces seems almost impossible IMHO.
I have never done SMD soldering!
Another solution: as far as I know, the main module of the FP3 can inofficially still be separated into one part that contains the CPU/eMMC/RAM and another part with the display connector pins, right?
So I could also just look in the Fairphone community for someone whose CPU/eMMC/RAM main module part is broken, but whose other part with the display connector pins is still intact. Then I could switch the other part of the main module.
Yes, it is possible to resolder the joint. Just consider: every time you heat it up it stresses the PCB in this area. At some point it will fail. As long as it goes you can try it.
The hardest part is not to apply solder all around the gold, as tiny as they need to be.
