Beats Pill - broken USB connector

[redwire]

I have a broken micro USB charger connector on a Beats Pill 2.0 Portable Bluetooth Speaker.

Took it apart and it's crappy product. The USB connector is on a small daughterboard and the pads lifted off from torque on the connector. The PCB copper peels off if you do the slightest rework- it's a really cheap build.

What do people suggest to fix this? I don't have much luck with micro USB repairs.

I thought I could find a replacement connector and solder fine wires to it, glue it like crazy.... or
I could lay out a PCB and make a new daughter board using a decent through-hole USB connector.

The USB connector is a bit odd ball because it is through-hole at the front and SMT at the back and pins ~7.5mm apart.

[diif]

Re: Beats Pill - broken USB connector

I repaired a tablet a couple of weeks ago, one pad left the rest had been ripped off.
I worked out where the traces went with a multimeter, then used wire from an ide cable to replace the pads and make the connection then the micro usb socket went on top.
I do use a stereo microscope to make things easy and I have bought a couple of bags of assorted micro usb sockets.

[japlytic]

Re: Beats Pill - broken USB connector

On the daughterboard are two small diodes (D300 and D301), which are most likely for USB data bus ESD protection - if one side (most likely the anode) is connected to ground, check for a trace between the other side (most likely cathode) of the the diodes and the USB connector.
If this is correct, the repair is viable, but it can be tricky soldering wires to the USB Micro-B connector - some desoldering wick is helpful.

[stj]

Re: Beats Pill - broken USB connector

ebay has mini and micro usb sockets on small pcb's - i use them sometimes.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/272041590226

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/142108537186

[diif]

Re: Beats Pill - broken USB connector

As japlytic says, you can see the two diodes and what was left of the traces.

It really helps being able to see the work easily. Jobs that were once slow and a struggle became so much easier with a stereo microscope but I imagine even one of those cheap magnifiers or USB microscopes would help greatly.

Use flux and the pins will solder much easier. I soldered the wires first to the diodes as i positioned them so they lay in the bottom where the pads used to be. Wiggling the excess with tweezers to snap off the excess. The micro USB socket then went on the top and the final missing trace just bridged with a bit of solder.

[predator0357]

Re: Beats Pill - broken USB connector

Hello everybody,
I have the same prob with the usb, but i manage to find where everything is going. I ordered from Ebay what early some1 said,
P.S
Will post pics:-)