SM Power Connector Broke

[Mathos]

I'm sure it is nigh impossible to tell what I'm talking about based on the title, but I'm not exactly sure how to explain this doohickey. It's extremely small and is supposed to be secured to the half of the player that contains the actual hard drive. It is what holds the battery wiring when the palyer is functional.

Does this part need to be soldered or is it just held in place by an industrial adhesive? Any tips would be great.

[CrowdAds]

[XJ3F3Y]

uhh... picture?

[BobbyRS]

It sounds like you are referring to the white battery port the battery connector plugs into on the mainboard; like the one below?



It's a little hard to see, but does it look like the white port the battery connector plug into in the lower right corner of the mainboard here? You should be able to see the actual ZVM port here in this video.

If so, then yes, it should be connected to the mainboard. If not, then the ZVM won't be able to run off of battery power or be able to charge the battery.

[Mathos]

Yes, that's what I'm referring to. So would this require that I send my Zen away to Creative or do you think it's a small enough thing that I could just describe it to someone more well-versed in electronics in general to handle?

Thanks for the help!

[BobbyRS]

Yeah, that is the power port the battery plugs into and it is usually soldered to the mainboard.

Either one really. Depending on how bad it is, if you know someone that knows how to solder, then they may be able to fix it for you. If not, sending it to Creative for repair would be a good idea.

[Tw0-TimE]

A sad tale involving a home made crank USB charger, while in development, turned about 20V in reverse into my Poor ZenM30.
The final usb crank flashlight did end up making a nifty charger... but put my zen into critical condition.
A long story short(er):
Cranking reverse polarity caused the battery to (apparently) drain VERY fast.
Zen became unresponsive
Tried all kinds of "hold this button and...", "press reset while..." to no avail.
After disassembling, disconnecting, and reconnecting battery. Tuneski (my zen) came back to life with 3/4 battery.
I listened to some tunes then noticed that charging (via USB -- my only option) was not charging at all. I ripped as much as i could back to disk before the battery completely died.
Ordered a new battery. Link
Arrived, connected and plugged in (usb) to charge.
It's been charging for 4 days now (with a few disconnects) originally from the back of a Wii (where i usually charged), now a laptop.
Blue LED blinks at typical 'charging' frequency
Zen will not turn on (blinks five times.... read that this indicated battery power was too low to initialize)
Disassembled... Voltage across battery is ~3.75 (as it should be, i believe) and steady
Disassembled further (all the way to the LCD screen) and couldn't find any torched/burned circuitry.
Put it all back together and am still charging from the 5V usb port on my laptop... still blinking....




With that being said... does anyone have any suggestions for what to try next? Should i leave it charging for 2 weeks?

Is there a way to hook the hard disk up apart from the zen and recover the rest of my collection? That would be also helpful..

[jacfalcon]

I'm having the same problem. But I know nowone who is good at soldering, and my warrenty ended... any advice?!?!?!

[BobbyRS]

Well, it may seem like a good time to learn or:

If not, sending it to Creative for repair would be a good idea.

[BobbyRS]

Mainboards with integrated charging circuits usually have a diode across the DC input and a SMD fuse installed for reverse polarity protection. When polarity is reversed, the diode becomes forward based which causes a short and draws enough current to blow the fuse; protecting the rest of the circuit. It now sounds like you have a blown diode/fuse that is preventing it from charging the battery. Worse case (and judging from the amount of voltage you say was reversed) the charging circuit itself may be ruined. If the ICC is ruined, you will need a new mainboard from Creative unless you know how to work with SMD circuits. If it is just a fuse, you may be able to desolder and remove it with some needle nose pliers and solder a new one in place. Now I've seen a few times with some poor quality PCB's that when the diode goes to short out to cause the fuse to blow, the copper traces on the PCB are so small they vaporize the power trace before the fuse can blow. If this is the case, a new mainboard will be needed; sorry. Trying to track down reverse polarity damage can be real hard.

Check out this pic:



Good luck!

[jacfalcon]

Originally Posted by BobbyRS

Well, it may seem like a good time to learn or...

Well, I asked creative to fix something (which I would pay them for) and they refused (it was to replace my harddrive which broke).

How do I learn to solder good? lol... I have a soldering gun but its big tipped, where do I find an affordable one with a fine tip?

UPDATE: I used an epoxie to secure the box, then I'm going to try using a heated dental tool (lol) to solder them together. I was thinking of trying to stick something skinny down between the solder joints so they dont short. What do oyu guys think so far?

[BobbyRS]

Well now you are talking about a different issue to tell Creative. Plus Creative will repair any of their devices when contacted for repair. Warranty and the severity of the problem are big factors in the repair costs. You should at least contact them again to see what they say.<O</O
<O</O

So, you can either:<O</O
<O</O

1. Contact and send to Creative for repair.<O</O
<O</O

Returning your Zen to Creative for warranty service.
Creative Warranty Returns FAQ. <O</O
<O</O

2. Find an as-is ZVM somewhere (EBay maybe) and do a mainboard swap.<O</O
<O</O

3. Fix yourself<O</O
<O</O

How do I learn to solder good? lol...

<O</O
<O</O

By practicing. I would suggest practicing on other devices/parts before trying on your ZVM for the first time. Working with SMT can be a little tricky.

Here are some good soldering guides:

<OGuide1</O
<OGuide2</O
<OGuide3</O
<O....and don't forget this one</O
<O</O

It may be likely that you need a new SM power connector if there aren't enough of the SM solder pins exposed to re-solder. Did they break off when the connector came off? You could consider not using a connector at all (cut the plug off from the battery wires) and just solder the wires (matched up) directly to the PCB. <O</O
<O</O

I have a soldering gun but its big tipped

<O</O
<O</O

You will definitely need a small tip for soldering SMD's.<O</O
<O</O

I would recommend getting the following:
<O</O
1. A temperature-regulated soldering iron with a small tip. <O</O
2. Paste flux. <O</O
3. A flux dispenser, in bottle or pen form. <O</O
4. Tweezers, to hold the components while soldering them. <O</O
5. Solderwick, to clean up excess solder.<O</O
6. I also like to use a magnifying lens and microscope.
<O</O

A brief rundown of the steps to take:
<O</O
1. Apply some paste flux (thin coat) to the SMT pads on the PCB. <O</O
2. Place the SM power connector on the SMT pads. Carefully align the pins to where they are supposed to line up. <O</O
3. Clean the tip of your solder iron with a wet sponge. <O</O
4. Now tack pin 1 in place. <O</O
5. Repeat for the other corner pin. <O</O
6. Recheck the alignment of all the pins. They should all be centered as close as they can be. <O</O
7. Heat each pin (second or two) using the solder reflowed on the board to mount the part. <O</O
8. Check to see if there is a solder bridge anywhere.<O</O

See attachments for more info. So.... practice and be patient. Good luck!<O</O

[mpmohan]

Hi,

BobbyRS deserves a medal ! Have one on me !!

Cheers,
MPM