Introduction: Samsung Epic 4g Inductive Charger
Welcome everyone to my first instructable!
I have had this burning desire to get my new Epic to inductively charge.... I have scoured the web and have found nothing... So I figured I had insurance and the worst that could happen is I would have a fancy paperweight... :D
But lets get to it.
Items that will be needed are:
One Soldering Iron with a very small tip
Favorite solder
One Palm touchstone charging kit
speaker coil wire
Small Philips screwdriver
Small standard screwdriver or dental pick
Step 1: The Teardown
This is a simple step.... Tear it down!!! :D
There are 7 screws on the back of the phone. Take them out and then start lifting the rear cover off. (Don't forget to take the SD card out) There are no hidden screws or any void stickers. I found this is where a small dental pick or small standard screwdriver works wonders!
After you have the back cover off there are two ribbon cables that connect the screen, keyboard, and front speakers. Just simply lift them off from the side opposite to the cable. Now the motherboard should lift right out of the case.
Step 2: The Modification
Okay. So now you have a motherboard and empty shell in your hands.
On the mother board the camera circuit simply attaches the same way the ribbon cables do. Just pull it off of the motherboard. I didn't remove the audio connector but to remove it simply pull up on the black part opposite to the insertion point.
At this point you can either lay the board on a static mat or grab your favorite pair of second hands and get busy.... :D
Step 3: The Soldering
This is the crucial point.... If you mess up here you can cause irreversible damage to your phone.... So please please please!!! Take your time and watch your heat!!! Do not hold your soldering iron on the board for to long!!! You can really shoot yourself in the foot...
This is rather straight forward and very small...
The two outer prongs of the micro USB connector are your power. What I did was melt a LITTLE bit of solder onto the end of my wires. I then came in with snipers and cut it in half... You really want as little here as possible... As you can see on my I had WAY to much even on my finished product and just decided it wasn't worth the risk to try and fix.
Okay... Now that your heart is racing... Double check your solder/wires are not touching other leads... This is simple... Just grab a razor and run it between your soldered leads and the stock ones.... If it goes with no problem you are set. If not... Well prepare to be in for some fun.... (I had to re-solder the left one three times....)
Step 4: Reassembly
Okay... So now we want to simply reverse the steps we did to disassemble... Put the board back into the case with the camera and audio attached. Watch where you run the wires and visualize the case closing in on top of it.... The attached pictures are my routing but you can do it whichever way you would like... :D
After getting the case back on I noticed that it was pinching the wires and I was not a fan of it so I took it apart again and cut a small piece out right where the battery leads are. You can choose another spot if you think it will be better.
Step 5: Inductive Coil
I decided to use a Palm induction kit because it was all over the internet and being used by a lot of different modders for other phone models. I paid 30 bucks for the kit (touchstone and backing plate) and found it for about the same or cheaper on Amazon. Just remember that you will need a Palm desktop charger... I tried it with a BB and a Motorola charger and they all would start charging and then stop... So I would really suggest a Palm charger..
If you didn't mark or remember which wire is which don't worry. As long as you have a multimeter just plug a charger into the phone and test which one is positive and which is negative.
I am doing this instructable after first doing this so I do not have any pictures of pulling the coil off of the old backing... But it is simply like a sticker... Pick a corner pull it up and pull it off... There are two layers the black layer you can see and a silver layer underneath it.
After you have it off just put the back of your phone on the touchstone charger and find a spot where it feels like it fits well. I originally had mine almost at the bottom but decided that I liked it up a bit more.
You can add a bit of superglue to make sure it goes no where but I found the left over glue from pulling it off worked great.
After you have it mounted place the backing plate on the touchstone and check which lead is positive and which is negative. Then solder you connections accordingly. I didn't put anything over them but if you want feel free to place some electrical tape over it and you are all set.
Step 6: Final Product
Well congrats!!!! If all went well you now have an inductively charged Epic 4g! I have had it now for over a week testing it out and I LOVE IT!!!! It is so convenient to just place your phone on the dock pick some music to listen to and walk away! :D Or play some Pandora/Slacker and come back 4 hours later and your battery is fully charged! :D
The phone does say USB connected when you place it on the charger. I just click charging or ignore it and it does just fine. I noticed that it charges just as fast as if I plug it into the wall so there is no degradation in charging performance while using this.
Enjoy and please let me know how yours turns out!! :D