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+--- Forum: PinePhone Hardware (https://forum.pine64.org/forumdisplay.php?fid=122)
+--- Thread: Battery connector dead (/showthread.php?tid=19717)
Battery connector dead - mdk - 03-01-2025
Just to see if it happened to someone else: I just broke one of the 4 small golden battery connectors ☹
My battery was a Samsung one, it was a tad too big so it was a bit hard to set and remove, maybe it helped weaken the connectors...
I'm not sure there's an easy fix, that's why I'm asking if it happend to someone else.
If it's dead I'll recycle it as a small home server maybe to try Home Assistant or something
RE: Battery connector dead - mdk - 03-01-2025
I tried fixing the broken pin with a drop of solder then slowly shaping it with sandpaper...
I clearly lack years of soldering to achieve this cleanly. I also miss good eyes: it's too small for my eyes...
It was hard not to create a short-circuit, looks like the board right under the + pin is connected to 0V so if the solder drop is a tad too long it easily touch the board creating a short circuit. Added a patch of tape between +5V and the board to ensure they don't touch even after pressing the battery hard against it.
It works!
RE: Battery connector dead - intronaut - 04-22-2025
(03-01-2025, 04:53 PM)mdk Wrote: I tried fixing the broken pin with a drop of solder then slowly shaping it with sandpaper...
I clearly lack years of soldering to achieve this cleanly. I also miss good eyes: it's too small for my eyes...
It was hard not to create a short-circuit, looks like the board right under the + pin is connected to 0V so if the solder drop is a tad too long it easily touch the board creating a short circuit. Added a patch of tape between +5V and the board to ensure they don't touch even after pressing the battery hard against it.
It works!
Hi mdk!
YES, unfortunately, I have recently suffered the same thing, one of the connectors broke off!
Could you maybe please provide any pictures of what the result looks like? Maybe as well as explaining in some detail how you've managed to pull this off?
Thank you!
RE: Battery connector dead - mdk - 11-11-2025
I could try to take pictures for you but it only worked "a bit" and I stopped using my pinephone...
Problem was it was losing power every few minutes/hours, I don't know if it's battery related or pin related but it was not doing it before my pin issue.
In case someone gets the same idea, for the record, I tried switching to a HMD 2660 Flip, but it's buggy as hell and the support is an LLM powered bot that does not understand anything, it often proposes fixes that guides you to menus that does not even exist on that model (typical LLM bullshit).
RE: Battery connector dead - mdk - 12-01-2025
I bought a relacement battery connector (https://pine64.com/product/pinephone-pro-battery-contact-connector/) and replaced it today, it works!
I had to follow https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQ0AW2Dekgg to know how to open zif tabs, also had https://fr.ifixit.com/Tutoriel/Pine64+PinePhone+Motherboard+Replacement/154150?lang=en in a tab to ensure I didn't forgot to disconnect anything.
The replacement job was ugly: my desoldering pump was too big to fit between parts, so I had to break the old one into small pieces to unsolder connection by connection.
Then I put tiny drops of lead on each connections, then placed the new connector, and heated the 4 connections one by one while pressing it to try to have a good connection.
I also tried to apply a bit of lead on the two legs for proper mechanical fixation.
And it works \o/
I don't know if I'll use it as a phone or as a home server though ^^
RE: Battery connector dead - mikeb - 01-15-2026
Dear friends, if you have a broken PinePhone / Pinephone Pro battery connector -
- there are two options that I describe below. These two options are slightly more tricky
than ordering from PINE64, however they are much cheaper and are available worldwide:
(1st of all remove the old connector, this could be done by a soldering iron with a fine tip:
melt through the old connector plastic remains and then remove the pins one-by-one)
1) a male/female pair of JST SH 1.0mm 4-pin connectors:
These connectors are sold for peanuts in 10pcs quantities and look low-profile enough,
perhaps the slimmest out of JST connector family. Therefore you will be able to fit them
into the phone, however you may have to remove a piece of case's plastic to make room
Advantage:
- will be forever available, ensuring that such an approach will work in the future
- need to solder the wires both to a PinePhone motherboard and to a battery
2) a compatible 4-pin battery connector intended for another phone:
They are difficult to find and ensure that they are compatible, since only a few sellers openly
write the mm dimensions of such connectors in addition to what phone they are made for.
inmobile.ir website kindly provides the motherboard photos on top of a graph paper,
letting you to estimate the compatibility without seeing these parts in person, although
unfortunately because of some world events this website seems down at the moment.
However, while this website was still online, I found a few parts that seem suitable:
- Huawei G610
- Huawei G730
- Huawei G700
- Huawei Glory 3C
- Huawei C8815
- Huawei W1
- Huawei G750
- Huawei C8816
it should be compatible and even more resilient than the PinePhone's original:
Advantage:
- no need to do any phone hardware mods like mentioned in 1st post
- are difficult to find and verify compatibility without seeing in person