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My Touchstone charging case hack [UPDATE: Not Recommended]

IMPORTANT UPDATE: After a month of running this, I have concluded that the Palm components are not compatible with this phone. I was getting frequent reboots and eventually some instability of my phone. A couple of times my phone went temporarily dead and would not revive until I plugged it into the wall. I'm leaving this up in case others want to try it, but be aware you may be asking for trouble.
Lots of people have hacked the Palm Touchstone inductive charging setup for their phones, but I've seen nothing specific for the One XL. I used this thread by android94301 to get started. It's good for background and applies for the One X up until he starts putting it in the SIII back. Go and read the OP, as I won't repeat much of it.
I used the charging case approach because I did not want to open up my phone or make any permanent modifications to it. I wanted something simple, removable, and non-destructive. I used a TPU case because a) it's flexible enough to accomodate the charging coil and b) it's what I had. Plenty of other cases ought to work.
I would not advise attempting this project unless you're pretty handy with a soldering iron. You have to solder all the parts together or your won't get a good connection, and it's hard enough even then.
The Touchstone base will not work with a phone charging cord or the USB port in your computer because it needs more than 0.5A. It will, however, work with a tablet charger--at least it worked with my Nexus 7 charger--so if you've got a spare, you can save a few bucks and use that.
What you'll need:
-a charging back from a Pre or Pixi--I used the Pixi; be aware the Pre coil has the polarity reversed.
-a soldering iron
-some thin wire. I used two different colors to keep the polarity straight.
-some method of keeping the leads in contact with the pogo connectors.
-a multimeter to check your work. You'll want to repeatedly check whether you're getting 5V from the charging coil, because it needs to be aligned correctly with the base.
-a utility knife, wire cutters, and small needle nosed pliers
1. Start by carefully removing the coil assembly from the back. Peel the tape off, and keep the silver tape--you'll need it later. Using a sharp knife, very carefully pry the coil up from the adhesive. Pry out the four metal discs (be careful here--the Pixi back is quite flimsy, and I ended up punching the precision screwdriver I was using through the back and into my finger).
2. Once you've got everything free, place the case on the base and arrange the coil and discs so everything is in position. Check voltage with your multimeter. (Note: I ended up reversing the arrangement of the coil in the final version--it doesn't make a difference which way it goes.)
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3. On the copper tape attached to the coil, you'll see two square contacts. Solder a wire to each one. On the Pixi, the contact at the end is + and the other one is -. Note that in this photo, red is + and black is -.
4. This should take you 10 minutes, tops. Now comes the tough part. By far the hardest part of this hack was getting a good connection with the pogo contacts. I came up with a workable approach, but you may want to try something else. Whatever it is, it needs to keep pressure on the leads to keep them in contact. Simply taping the leads to the contacts does not work, however.
What you see here is a piece of circuit board cut from an old 2.5" SATA hard drive adapter. I used it to fabricate a little pogo pin board by removing all but two of the connecters with my soldering iron. I pushed the remaining two through the board a bit further after melting the solder, then soldered the leads to the pins. You may note that the wires are reversed from the previous photo--this is because I accidentally soldered them in the wrong arrangement on the board, and immediately after this realization, the black wire broke off the coil. So I just unsoldered the red one and reattached them so the board would get the correct polarity. Again, check your work throughout this process to be sure you're getting a charge at the final connection.
5. Tape or hot glue everything into place. I taped my pogo board directly onto my phone just to make it easier.
This isn't quite the final product. I'm going to move it to an opaque case, and I'm going to try shaving down the pins on the pogo board because it's a bit thicker than I'd like. Still, it all works.

hmm, your images are broken.
Or they require a dropbox account I guess.

qberty said:
hmm, your images are broken.
Or they require a dropbox account I guess.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm, that sucks.
That might explain why no one replied lol.

I've done the same thing ( buy a touchstone and a pre back)
I've gotten to the stage that the circuit board is removed from the phone back and I've soldered on 2 wires.
I'm having real difficulty trying to get a reliable connection to the pogo pins as they are so small and in a stupid place!
Would really like to see your photos to give me some inspiration but I can't. Any ideas?
Sent from my HTC One X using xda app-developers app

tinytom21 said:
I've done the same thing ( buy a touchstone and a pre back)
I've gotten to the stage that the circuit board is removed from the phone back and I've soldered on 2 wires.
I'm having real difficulty trying to get a reliable connection to the pogo pins as they are so small and in a stupid place!
Would really like to see your photos to give me some inspiration but I can't. Any ideas?
Sent from my HTC One X using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm going to try to fix the links. I thought they were working because I can see them fine, but that's probably because I'm logged into Dropbox.
Edit: I think they're fixed. Someone let me know if they're still broken.

Their fixed, I can see them clearly. A question on inductive charging... It's wireless charging right but what is it charging from? In the last picture I don't see a pad or anything

WhatTheAndroid? said:
It's wireless charging right but what is it charging from? In the last picture I don't see a pad or anything
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Touchstone base. It's actually quite small. Maybe 2" round and 1" high. Not much bigger than the coil in the first pic.

Someone who knows what there doing should make some of these and sell em.
Sent from my One X using xda app-developers app

dustinhayes93 said:
Someone who knows what there doing should make some of these and sell em.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It wouldn't be that hard. You can get pins that are designed for pogo contacts for next to nothing, and building a little contact board for them wouldn't be complicated. I just went with what I had because I didn't feel like waiting on another parts order.

Update:
After a week or so on this thing, I'm mostly happy but I have noticed one interesting thing. It charges fine up to around 90-05%, but it simply won't charge to full. Once it gets over 90% or so, it starts waking up every few minutes but never gets to 100%.
I think what may be going on is that the chip controlling the voltage from the induction coil is not completely optimized for this phone (which should hardly be surprising). So when it goes to trickle charge as it gets close to being full, the chip gets confused and stops the current, then kicks it back on when the phone keeps drawing on it. This causes the phone to wake up as the charges goes off and back on again. This cycle keeps repeating, thus preventing it from ever reaching full charge.
It's not a big deal for me as the difference between 100% and 95% is not that significant. Still, if you like everything to work perfectly, this may not be the mod for you.

iElvis said:
Update:
After a week or so on this thing, I'm mostly happy but I have noticed one interesting thing. It charges fine up to around 90-05%, but it simply won't charge to full. Once it gets over 90% or so, it starts waking up every few minutes but never gets to 100%.
I think what may be going on is that the chip controlling the voltage from the induction coil is not completely optimized for this phone (which should hardly be surprising). So when it goes to trickle charge as it gets close to being full, the chip gets confused and stops the current, then kicks it back on when the phone keeps drawing on it. This causes the phone to wake up as the charges goes off and back on again. This cycle keeps repeating, thus preventing it from ever reaching full charge.
It's not a big deal for me as the difference between 100% and 95% is not that significant. Still, if you like everything to work perfectly, this may not be the mod for you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you see the phone flipping between charging and not charging? I wonder if that's what I was seeing when I tried it on my phone. I was always nearly fully charged. I wasn't sure if it was my phone being picky or if there was something wrong with the charger. Same thing happens in my car charger too.

Valohtar said:
Do you see the phone flipping between charging and not charging? I wonder if that's what I was seeing when I tried it on my phone. I was always nearly fully charged. I wasn't sure if it was my phone being picky or if there was something wrong with the charger. Same thing happens in my car charger too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't watched it closely enough. It just seems to wake up repeatedly while sitting next to me on my desk.

Okay no worries, I'll try it again when the battery is a bit lower and see if it responds.

So no dice on the low battery test. I guess my phone is just picky

I tried this afternoon. In fact, it rebooted when I left it on the battery screen to see what would happen. I've had this happen more than once, and I'm starting to suspect the mod is responsible. It only happens when the phone gets up to 95% or so.
I would be careful about that car charger, if it seems to be inducing issues. At least two people I know of have had their phones hard brick while on their car charger.

Ok i purchased all the necessary items, but my Coil is different from the one you have in the pics.
take a look,
so i am a bit confused.
anyone able to help

rinnycoop121 said:
Ok i purchased all the necessary items, but my Coil is different from the one you have in the pics.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is that a Pre back? Looks like the power contacts are those two metal squares on the right.

Hi i'm sorry but it looks like the images are broken again. Can you maybe email them to me/pm or something? Really want to try this out...

This seems fairly straightforward
However, did you consider putting the coil in the actual One XL body? I have no idea how thick the coil and/or controlboard is, so I have no idea if that would even fit remotely.
It would also solve the pogopin problem, as there are some pads you can solder to (where the pogopin board is) inside the casing.
I just hate cases

piotrus22 said:
Hi i'm sorry but it looks like the images are broken again. Can you maybe email them to me/pm or something? Really want to try this out...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm, I checked on another computer that's not connected to Dropbox and they're still there. Might be on your end. Anyone else not seeing them?

[Q] front button issue and confusion

Forgive if this has been mentioned, it is difficult to sift old threads from my phone.
Mine has had the issue of front 5 buttons not working. The strange issue is that they do work when I reboot, until the phone sleeps. Then they do nothing. it makes me wonder how it can be hardware related. Tried restoring to stock and it comes back
The symptom seems software but my inner helpdesk says a full restore points to hardware. Thoughts? Replacing that flex cable would be a pain (I did open her up to check for loose cables)

any thoughts at all?

This has now turned into when i slide the screen open, the screen shuts off. Please any help?

matttrick said:
This has now turned into when i slide the screen open, the screen shuts off. Please any help?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That sounds like a failing slide flex cable. They typically run under $20 on eBay. If you decide to do the work yourself, just be careful and take it slow when separating the housing from the LCD. HTC used a ton of double sided tape to attach the LCD. I'd recommend reviewing the ifixsmartphone repair guide. The have some great shots of the interior of the phone.
Also watch a couple of YouTube videos showing the dis-assembly process. This video from Repairs Universe shows the process pretty well. Note the cables at 6:52 in the video.
On the top, the left cable is a part of the slide flex cable and it contains your front facing camera, light and proximity sensor and speaker.
The center cable is for the digitizer. Twist or flex this too much and you can ruin your digitizer.
The right cable is the LCD cable.
On the bottom you have the other end of your slide flex cable with the front buttons and trackpad.

[Q] Help. My tf300 is dead

1. I dropped the tablet from approximately 50cm above a hard surface.
2. Initially, I thought it was no big deal, so I proceed to try turning it on.
3. Something was odd; the tablet did not boot at all. It's NOT stuck on Asus logo. All I can see was black screen, completely unresponsive.
4. So I tried to hold power for 30sec, reset, hold reset for 30sec... nothing worked. :crying:
5. I figured, 'something must have gone wrong with the hardware when it dropped'.
6. Thus, I opened the tablet & carefully tried to find out what went wrong. (And I really hope I didn't break it even more in the process...)
7. And here I am stuck with no more idea.
WHAT I FOUND OUT:
LED indicator flashes twice when I press power or when I connect charger. Edit: It only flashes twice if I have charger connected. Nothing happens if it's disconnected from charger.
PC does not recognize tf300.
I have no warranty.
Please help me. Thank you!

Aqueouss said:
1. I dropped the tablet from approximately 50cm above a hard surface.
2. Initially, I thought it was no big deal, so I proceed to try turning it on.
3. Something was odd; the tablet did not boot at all. It's NOT stuck on Asus logo. All I can see was black screen, completely unresponsive.
4. So I tried to hold power for 30sec, reset, hold reset for 30sec... nothing worked. :crying:
5. I figured, 'something must have gone wrong with the hardware when it dropped'.
6. Thus, I opened the tablet & carefully tried to find out what went wrong. (And I really hope I didn't break it even more in the process...)
7. And here I am stuck with no more idea.
WHAT I FOUND OUT:
LED indicator flashes twice when I press power or when I connect charger. Edit: It only flashes twice if I have charger connected. Nothing happens if it's disconnected from charger.
PC does not recognize tf300.
I have no warranty.
Please help me. Thank you!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not much to go from, but it sounds like the battery is disconnected.
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF300T using Tapatalk 2

elesbb said:
Not much to go from, but it sounds like the battery is disconnected.
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF300T using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you. I thought about that, too. But I cannot do anything because I have no idea which connector is which...
Can you anybody tell me where the disconnection might be? (location of battery related port?)

Aqueouss said:
Thank you. I thought about that, too. But I cannot do anything because I have no idea which connector is which...
Can you anybody tell me where the disconnection might be? (location of battery related port?)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here is a couple of things you can do, it already does not work so what the hell, it can't get any worse. Drink two shots of Grey Goose and check out these links.
http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Disassembling+Asus+tf300+Tablet/11794/1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_JRLd7lPv8
Good Luck!!
Erik

ricco333 said:
Here is a couple of things you can do, it already does not work so what the hell, it can't get any worse. Drink two shots of Grey Goose and check out these links.
Good Luck!!
Erik
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you, I fixed it!
I simply disconnected the battery connector and reconnected it, and everything magically started working again :victory:

I seem to have the same issue
elesbb said:
Not much to go from, but it sounds like the battery is disconnected.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ricco333 said:
Here is a couple of things you can do, it already does not work so what the hell, it can't get any worse. Drink two shots of Grey Goose and check out these links.
links removed
Good Luck!!
Erik
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Aqueouss said:
Thank you, I fixed it!
I simply disconnected the battery connector and reconnected it, and everything magically started working again :victory:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi guys, I am having a similar problem. My device won't turn on unless the charger is connected. The battery display says 94% but if I unplug it, it immediately shuts off. It is like using a laptop with no battery connected, being powered by the charger only. I think it might be the same case as the OP here?
Well, looking at the photo tutorial and the video, I am still unsure about the exact location of the battery connector. Could you point it out more clearly for me? My tablet is out of warranty and I'd like to give it a shot at DIY, but taking the least possible risks.
Thanks!!

rmvieira said:
Hi guys, I am having a similar problem. My device won't turn on unless the charger is connected. The battery display says 94% but if I unplug it, it immediately shuts off. It is like using a laptop with no battery connected, being powered by the charger only. I think it might be the same case as the OP here?
Well, looking at the photo tutorial and the video, I am still unsure about the exact location of the battery connector. Could you point it out more clearly for me? My tablet is out of warranty and I'd like to give it a shot at DIY, but taking the least possible risks.
Thanks!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's located underneath the copper shield. You need to lift it off to see. The connector is visible in plain sight. Just follow the wires coming out of the battery. But if you're still under warranty and don't want to break the seal, you can resort to Asus customer service.

graphdarnell said:
It's located underneath the copper shield. You need to lift it off to see. The connector is visible in plain sight. Just follow the wires coming out of the battery. But if you're still under warranty and don't want to break the seal, you can resort to Asus customer service.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I will take a look at it tonight as it is just outside the warranty period
Hopefully this will solve the problem. I will post back when I try.

graphdarnell said:
It's located underneath the copper shield. You need to lift it off to see. The connector is visible in plain sight. Just follow the wires coming out of the battery. But if you're still under warranty and don't want to break the seal, you can resort to Asus customer service.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I tried disconnecting and re-connecting the battery connector, but it didn't work. To make things worth, the touch screen is no longer working. I am getting desperate... Can you point me in the right direction for, at least, getting the screen to work again?

rmvieira said:
Well I tried disconnecting and re-connecting the battery connector, but it didn't work. To make things worth, the touch screen is no longer working. I am getting desperate... Can you point me in the right direction for, at least, getting the screen to work again?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, don't panic just yet. Try to remember if you'd done anything (flashing, loading or playing around with software) or anything had happened (tab drop etc...) before the tab started acting up. AFAIK, the TS board doesn't fail that often, but is fragile and thus prone to physical damage, especially the connectors and cables. The least movement in the wrong direction would wreck it. Pushing the cables in at the wrong angle would bend the pins beyond repair, to give you an idea. And you should've disconnected the battery or turned the service mode switch off before even touching anything.
At this point, my guess is either the battery is dead (not charging)*, or some weird software is screwing up the reading. Apparently, the main circuitry is intact since you can turn the tab on with the charger attached. If you can access recovery, and assuming you have CWM (TWRP requires touch), you can try wiping the battery stats.
Regarding the touch screen, there are a few possibilities. Check the surface of the mainboard if there's anything that's burned. Check the cables to make sure you did not displace any of them while pulling or pushing the battery connector. If you reconnect the cable or boards make they are seated correctly. Don't pull on the amber ribbons coming out of the digitizer. Last time I checked, the green part pasted to the face of the touchscreen can detach with the force you use to peel a protective screen off your tab. I kid you not. Above all, do not force a cable in, do not snap them in. They should slide in easy if you do it at the right angle. If nothing is damaged, I wouldn't worry too much about it now.
If you have access to a keyboard, you can go into the /etc/firmware/touch/ folder to see what's in there. This only shows the correct info if you're on stock rom. Then note the model of the touchscreen printed on the white sticker on the ribbons.
Again, turn the service switch off first.
* not charging could be caused by the battery itself or the chip controlling it on the mainboard. But we want to examine the obvious first.

wow this trend really old.
...just rediscovered my old asus transformer n upgraded it android 7 and gave it to my niece...
lonq story short she dropped it. and now the device dead. I opened it and reconnected the battery and still the screen looks dead.
when I connect it to the laptop, windows detects it and even shows it's charging
... did I miss something or? everything looked connected when I opened it
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[Q] Help screen not responding

Hey guys i hated my tf300 untill i put a custom ROM(hydro) on it.I have loved it ever since...unfortunately i dropped it and now the screen just doesnt respond anymore..screen still looks perfect no crack or scratch..i have tried full reset and everything i can....should i get i new digitizer??
will that fix it please help..

rchremi said:
Hey guys i hated my tf300 untill i put a custom ROM(hydro) on it.I have loved it ever since...unfortunately i dropped it and now the screen just doesnt respond anymore..screen still looks perfect no crack or scratch..i have tried full reset and everything i can....should i get i new digitizer??
will that fix it please help..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cracks are not always visible. But if they're not there, I'd suggest you open the back case and try to reseat the ribbon cables at the touchscreen PCB. While at it, check the flat silver cable connecting that board to the mainboard also. Make sure nothing is jarred loose by the drop.

graphdarnell said:
Cracks are not always visible. But if they're not there, I'd suggest you open the back case and try to reseat the ribbon cables at the touchscreen PCB. While at it, check the flat silver cable connecting that board to the mainboard also. Make sure nothing is jarred loose by the drop.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanx for responding...i did exactly what you said ..i disconnected both cables (silver and brown) and put them back..more than half of the screen started working, the other part was just dead and those parts didnt work even when i tilted the screen.. like 5 minutes later the entire screen is dead again......do you think its the digitizer?

rchremi said:
thanx for responding...i did exactly what you said ..i disconnected both cables (silver and brown) and put them back..more than half of the screen started working, the other part was just dead and those parts didnt work even when i tilted the screen.. like 5 minutes later the entire screen is dead again......do you think its the digitizer?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry for the late reply. I've run into this problem before. When you have a digitizer that works for a few minutes then stops as the tab warms up, (1) more likely than not, there's a crack somewhere or a tear on the ribbons, visible or not, or (2) the new screen boycotting the old firmware. No new screen points to faulty hardware. However, it doesn't hurt to eliminate possible software causes.
The best test I can think of at this point would be to first check the physical connections again (check the connectors and ribbon ends under a magnifying glass, make sure they aren't damaged, bent or stripped), then re-flash the firmware following instructions in another thread, then turn on "show touches" in settings. If you still see "ghost touches" after a few minutes, the digitizer is likely ass-kicked by the drop.
I've had a digitizer on a TF act "leisurely" because of a crack across the width of the bordering black strip that couldn't be detected with the naked eye because it severed the circuit on just the underside. The surface was totally smooth. As the crack spread, it became obvious.
If I had access to your glass, I could've tested for you. Too bad.

[Q]Tablet not turning on after digitizer replacement

So I broke my digitizer glass a few weeks ago. I ordered a new digitizer off ebay... I made sure I ordered the correct version (it was the "no model version" or whatever). Installed it which was really annoying because of all the nasty glue.
Now I can't get the tablet to turn on at all. Before at least the LCD was functional. The red charging light comes on when I plug in the charger but that's it.
Any way I accidentally broke a cable or something when I was taking it apart? I checked it all and everything seems fine... I really don't know what to do.
Assuming I can't get it fixed, think I could sell the broken tablet for anything?
Thanks!

zaner123 said:
So I broke my digitizer glass a few weeks ago. I ordered a new digitizer off ebay... I made sure I ordered the correct version (it was the "no model version" or whatever). Installed it which was really annoying because of all the nasty glue.
Now I can't get the tablet to turn on at all. Before at least the LCD was functional. The red charging light comes on when I plug in the charger but that's it.
Any way I accidentally broke a cable or something when I was taking it apart? I checked it all and everything seems fine... I really don't know what to do.
Assuming I can't get it fixed, think I could sell the broken tablet for anything?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Of course you can resell the tab in its current state. Quickly or slowly depending on the asking price. But before doing that, you should check one more time. The fastest way is plug it to a TV monitor via the micro HDMI port. If it comes on, at least you know the system is working except for the video. Past that, there can only be two possibilities. (1) Bad lcd: something might have happened when you pried it off the broken digitizer; and/or (2) the video cable is bad, or improperly connected - by that, I mean you need to make sure it fits all the way in at both ends (mainboard & LCD). Check connection with a magnifying glass, You won't believe how many times people forget to reconnect the cable or connect it wrong. Lastly, if you did turn the service switch off, make sure it's turned on again. Good luck.

LCD to Mainboard connection...can it be connected "wrong"? Or simply not as snug as it should be?
Also, what is the service switch?

zaner123 said:
LCD to Mainboard connection...can it be connected "wrong"? Or simply not as snug as it should be?
Also, what is the service switch?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here's the link to the relevant thread. Search for the necessary information within it. The cable that goes from LCD to mainboard is labeled: "MB" end goes to mainboard. The service switch is located at the top of the mainboard looking from the back, to the left of the power button ribbon (top right corner of tab), and is labeled "on"/"off". You should turn it off before doing anything. It cuts off all current to the boards and prevents accidental shortcircuitings. If you don't and mess around with the digitizer board, you might burn a fuse that controls the dig's operations. But this is for later. Go to the thread and browse it.