USB External Hard Drive.. USB connector broken

[JonathanAnon]

Hi friends,

I have an external USB hard drive that isnt working any more. It belongs to a friend of mine. If I fix it back in place it seems to work but the whole connector comes off the board if I dont press it down...



Can I just use regular glue to fix it in position?

thanks,

[3d0]

Re: USB External Hard Drive.. USB connector broken

I don't think regular glue would hold it in place for too long. Try and solder it a little better, and watch out, too much heat will damage the traces on the board.
After soldering it, maybe hot glue is the best solution.

[trebo]

Re: USB External Hard Drive.. USB connector broken

it looks like a chunk of the board came off with it, is that correct???

[selldoor]

Re: USB External Hard Drive.. USB connector broken

I would get it to where it works then epoxy the whole thing down.
Also suggest to your friend to get a usb extender cable that he can leave plugged in
and just plug stuff in and out of the extension. Should take the pressure of it unless
he trips over it of course!!

[13919]

Re: USB External Hard Drive.. USB connector broken

Popping in with a quick question. With a power supply powered up will voltage be the same on both termanels of a capacitor ?? The glue will not conduct electricity so it will have to be soldered.Use as little heat as possible and work fast to prevent delamination on the board. I use a really hot iron and get in and out fast on this type of repair.

[selldoor]

Re: USB External Hard Drive.. USB connector broken

Popping in with a quick question. With a power supply powered up will voltage be the same on both termanels of a capacitor ?? The glue will not conduct electricity so it will have to be soldered.Use as little heat as possible and work fast to prevent delamination on the board. I use a really hot iron and get in and out fast on this type of repair.

??? The glue is only to hold it in place AFTER it is soldered.

Dont understand your question - voltage on a capacitor is usually taken across the legs or joints, not from ground.

[multimeter]

Re: USB External Hard Drive.. USB connector broken

Popping in with a quick question. With a power supply powered up will voltage be the same on both termanels of a capacitor ?? The glue will not conduct electricity so it will have to be soldered.Use as little heat as possible and work fast to prevent delamination on the board. I use a really hot iron and get in and out fast on this type of repair.

yes,if you have the polarity the right way on your probes + to + -to- you would read say 16v if you reversed the probe leads you would read -16v. -to+-to+

[JonathanAnon]

Re: USB External Hard Drive.. USB connector broken

Hi guys,

thanks for the responses.. Just to clear up a few questions.. Below I have drawn a black line where the circuit is broken. .. That whole section pretty much lifts off the main circuit board.



As you will see, the solder joints are all fully on the broken part of the board and as such cannot be used to fix the broken section back in place.

I hot glued it back in position yesterday, and the blue led on the PCB came on. BUT it was not detected by the PC. The power pins seem to be making a connection but not the data pins (the two centre pins below)



I'm gonna have one more go at glueing it in position and then throw it in the bin..

[Uniballer]

Re: USB External Hard Drive.. USB connector broken

If you really want it to work, glue down the part that breaks off with epoxy, or something like that to provide real strength. Do not put the adhesive near the traces you need to fix. When your adhesive has cured, scrape the solder mask off the broken traces with an X-Acto knife or dental pick, and bridge the traces back together with solder. With skill and a little luck it will probably work.

[selldoor]

Re: USB External Hard Drive.. USB connector broken

Are there components on the back of the board or can you put a thin plate on the back to help strengthen. Perhaps solder wires onto the data pins first if they are difficult to get to.

[JonathanAnon]

Re: USB External Hard Drive.. USB connector broken

Selldoor and Uniballer, both excellent suggestions guys..

I'm gonna try to solder the pins directly to the first component on the board, bypassing the broken tracks. I'll then fix the rest of the broken section in position with the glue..



It's a tough one cos it's so small, but I've never used the hot glue on a board before so it's good experience.

[selldoor]

Re: USB External Hard Drive.. USB connector broken

im not sure about hotglue- not sure it will give the "no movement "required.

Also - perhaps clean off any flux/ finger grease etc off the metal with Isopropyl
before trying to glue.

[kc8adu]

Re: USB External Hard Drive.. USB connector broken

the ground plane is torn away.
nothing you do now will last.i would hardwire a usb cable to it and call it good.
at least to recover the data.
then use for non critical work.