A few months ago the USB port on my Authentic iMax B6 mini failed.
They are VERY prone to failure due to the design and if yours hasn’t yet, don’t hold your breath.
The design is poor and the USB port in on a small, flexible section of PC board that protrudes from the main board making the act of installing and removing the USB cable risky because it can’t help but flex that small section of PC board causing the USB solder connections to weaken and eventually separate.
But, there is a cure if you are do soldering or care to give it a try.
This same process basically will work on any USB port, whether it’s the MC3000, a cell phone or whatever.
Today I finally got around to re-flowing the port and it’s working again now. I used a Zeny 862D+ soldering station (cheap) but honestly, all you need is a good very fine tipped soldering iron, some desoldering wick, a good flux and a good 63/37 flux paste.
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Here is the location of the USB port once you get the iMax opened up.
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Here is the flexible section of PC board the USB port is mounted on. This is just plain bad design. Think diving board…boing boing…
In this photo I’ve removed the port from the board. The space is tight and to get a good reflow when re-attaching the port, it’s best to just remove it
so you can clean and inspect the pads so that it goes on easier. Trying to repair the broken solder joints without doing this is iffy.
I could’nt get the connects to reflow without removing and cleaning the pads on the board and the port itself.
Here, the pads are all cleaned up are ready for the port to be reinstalled.
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Here’s the USB port sitting on top of the LCD display right before I re-installed it. Yep, it’s a tiny bugger.
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I used MG Chemicals Solder/Flux paste MG Chemicals Solder Paste
And for cleaning up the pads I used MG Chelicals No Clean Flux Paste MG Chemicals No Clean Flux Paste
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And here’s the re-flowed port back in service and working again.
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To prevent this from happening again, I made this USB cable retainer/support that holds it in securely and does not allow it to wiggle up or down at all.
I do not remove the USB cable from the unit unless absolutely necessary.
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If you have a device with a broken USB port, give fixing it a try. If I can do it, ANYONE can.
I actually learned from YouTube watching SMD Soldering videos.
This is fantastic, bet you were starting to wonder if this was worth doing and posting … ha ha
You read my mind and I can not really believe I have found you, I was just needing to do this myself with some micro usb’s so this is super great,
Have a camera I need to do which will be tricky and a few others but being able to get an advance look at what I’m in for is really awesome, thanks for taking the time, I appreciate your work…!
Thanks T18
True…I had demoted that B6 mini to non-critical use because of that and was gonna experiment with it. But now that the USB port is fixed I guess I’ll keep using it.
Take your time and watch some Youtube videos. You can do it.
I was logged off but that is a really good idea and I hadn’t thought about that, like in do I need to be removing that USB cord at all, no I don’t, so hard wired would be perfect for my desk camera setup where that micro USB had finally taken enough and gave up on me, so now I have to take out the card to upload pics and then remove the battery and use a stand alone charger so sort of a pain but the cam still works fine for what I need to do with it so hard wire will be the solution and then my others will be replacements like the OP, Thanks… that is what makes this group so darn great… ideas, lots of great ideas from great people around the world, can’t get any better than that IMHO… thank you…
Those micro-USB sockets are a weak point wherever they are used, and they must be treated gently. It’s one of that main failure points in dashcams which see lots of bumps and vibration. More often than not, the only thing holding them in place is a minuscule amount of barely-flowed solder where the socket shell didn’t quite get warmed enough to bond properly; it moves and the other connections break. It’s really a poor design but it’s just something we have to live with since they’re everywhere now.
So true. I’m about to repair the USB port on my Samsung Galaxy next.
Some devices have helped this situation by having 4 soldering points on the port, one at each corner, so that it is more stable. Some only have 2 and those are very prone to failure.
