12 replies to this topic

[webeougher]

Not sure if this is even the right place for it, but I saw an article on Lifehacker that showed how to add in the guts of a powermat case to an iPhone to make it compatible with the wireless charging base. This would be perfect for me for my job, so I was thinking of doing the same thing with my RAZR. My only problem? I can solder, but I have no idea what to solder to what. I purchased a Droid X power mat kit from eBay and stripped the guts out of it, and it does charge the RAZR so long as the USB adapter is plugged in, but I want to connect the charger to a replacement usb port that I ordered along with the MAXX conversion kit, so that a) the phone still looks cosmetically unaltered, and I can still charge via USB if I need to (say, on road trips or whatnot).

Basically, can anyone help me with which pins I need to solder to to make this work? If I can get it up and running, I'll post a step-by-step tutorial (minus the demolition of the Droid X Powermat cover, as I was pretty excited to strip it down and didn't think to take pictures), so that anyone who wants to try it can.

(Incidentally, here's the article on Lifehacker that got me interested in doing it in the first place:

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- warning: video is annoying.)

[damagickid]

here ya go

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Post back so we know if this works.

[MightyMackinac]

Keep us updated on this! I am deeply interested in doing something like this with my RAZR. if you can post pics and videos and such, that would be awesome!

[webeougher]

I'm waiting on my RAZR MAXX conversion kit (supposed to ship on Friday) to get started, as I'd really prefer not to take my phone apart more times than I need to. But I'll take photos along the way (there are already good videos of RAZR assembly/disassembly on ifixit.com). I probably won't be able to video myself doing the soldering, but I'll definitely be sure to get pictures. I can tell you so far that I've stripped all the charging components out of the Droid X replacement battery cover and using the adapter in my RAZR's USB port it does charge wirelessly (unfortunately it's a loose connection, so it cycles between charging and not charging about 30 times per minute (and the Powermat makes a sound each and every time), so I've been sticking with USB charging by and large until I complete the full on mod.

And damagickid - thank you so much! That should help immensely.

[zephyrus14]

I'm really interested in how this will turn out... very intuitive thinking webeougher!

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

[EmericanX]

Very nice! Please do keep us in the loop.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

[webeougher]

The MAXX conversion kit shipped yesterday and should be here by Friday (which was its projected ship date when I ordered because they were out of stock). I should have this baby up and running (or fail miserably) by the end of the weekend, so I'll keep you all updated!

[damagickid]

Any News on this?

[webeougher]

I got my Maxx conversion kit on Friday and blocked out four hours to do this on Sunday (figuring the Maxx conversion was supposed to take around 30 minutes, that would leave me plenty of time to get the wireless charging working properly. Unfortunately, I try to do too many things at once, and when I ordered the Maxx conversion kit (and read the teardown instructions on iFixIt, it never dawned on me that I didn't have a T3 torx to actually get the battery out and/or get at the charging port. I ordered that Sunday and I expect it to arrive either today or tomorrow, so hopefully I'll be able to put up a guide within the next couple of days. I do have photos and text descriptions for the first few steps up to where the T3 was needed.

My apologies on the delay.

[damagickid]

no big deal....you do what you got to do. We have lived without this for awhile we can deal with another few days.

Thanks for the update tho!

[webeougher]

Update: Received the T3 Torx yesterday, went to work last night, got the Maxx upgrade kit installed with no issues, but after struggling with the wireless charging aspect for 2 1/2 hours, I put my phone back together and went to bed. When I solder the guts of the wireless charger to the Micro-USB port, the charging base doesn't recognize the charger anymore; consequently, it doesn't charge. Desolder the connections, and the charging base recognizes the charger again. I did some research today and found another pinout for Motorola USB ports and chargers, and apparently I need to figure out which jumper combination will make it work. I'll keep you posted and throw together a write-up once I'm successful. For now, the phone doesn't look flawless (I haven't used any adhesive to hold it back together, so the little white tabs that make it easier to pull off the plastic that covers the adhesive on the new rear cover are poking out in a couple of spots), but it works fine, so I'm cool with that for another day or so.

[Revanu]

If you post the pinout for motorola usb ports I can make you up a jumper solution.

[legacystar]

i tries doing a wireless charger mod to a razr also. had the same issue with it not charging. from what i can tell the razr itself interferes with the charging coil in some weird way. maybe the razr is leaking some extra RF thatscausing this, but either way it doesn't seem to work.