Is it possible to replace the hugely unreliable USB Kindle power jack with a simple 2 wire jack? The connection is non-intuitive as the USB jack goes to 5 different connections. I would think you could - it's only a 5 volt charging circuit. Or you can send it away and for $100 they'll replace the same USB jack. Just wondering. Thanx.

 

As long as you have physical room for the re-engineered part, why not ??
It sounds as tho' your current USB jack has to provide for more than the + & - of the power circuit...
If that is the case, you may be SOL...

I am not impressed with these MFGRS, [ dual meaning ] that insist on wave-soldering all, but not going back to beef up the solder on the power jack to strengthen it...

 

It's like car manufacturing. The kind of problems where you have to remove the entire dashboard to replace a speedometer cable or cut a hole in the wheel well to replace a spark plug. The engineers don't have to repair their products, they only have to make them as cheap as possible.

 

Like when they moved to transverse mount engines in order to save space but they put the spark plugs on the far side of the engine. In order to change the spark plugs you either had to reach way over a hot engine or you had to drop the engine.

 

There are only 2 wires off the charger, +5 and ground. ( I cut the plug off). Searching around the Web it seems that you can't just bridge the connections together, but no information on where to connect. I guess it can be done but trying to follow the traces is driving me nuts especially when I have to get out in the garden. I'll keep trying. Thanx.

 

The usb plug has a link inside it so you cant use other chargers, like nokia just meter out the pins on the plug.

 

This is what the connections of the USB on the Kindle look like. The jack is on the opposite side along with 2 smd devices. It was right under the "DISPOSE" on the battery between the wires. (The red one is mine) - playing around. Ground is pretty obvious, where the metal tabs were. The 5 solders are where it connected it simply seperated from everything. I may just play around with it - it can't get more broken.

 

If you input 5v into those wires does it charge the battery and run the kindle, whats the voltage on the battery when its charging?

 

Is it possible to replace the hugely unreliable USB Kindle power jack with a simple 2 wire jack? The connection is non-intuitive as the USB jack goes to 5 different connections. I would think you could - it's only a 5 volt charging circuit. Or you can send it away and for $100 they'll replace the same USB jack. Just wondering. Thanx.

What Kindle are you talking about? The USB cable typically does more than supply power; it also is a data cable, allowing access to your content as a PC drive, allowing upload of content from Amazon, etc...

Any replacement jack would have to provide the same functionality, so I would not expect a 2-wire jack to be sufficient.

There are many references to your problem, with repair guides, that can be found with Google.

 

Like when they moved to transverse mount engines in order to save space but they put the spark plugs on the far side of the engine. In order to change the spark plugs you either had to reach way over a hot engine or you had to drop the engine.

Infuriating !!! In My wifes '05 Grand Prix, you have to remove the top-front mount bones, disconnect the cat converter, then roll the engine forward on the end-mounts, to the limit of all other connecting tubes / wiring, to gain access to the rear plugs.
On the other side of that coin, check out an '06 Dodge Dakota 2 WD 6 cyl 6 speed... EVERYthing under that hood is remarkably accessable.

Some of them < snip >< snip >< snip >< snip > engineers should be horsewhipped, and made to do some maintenance on their abortions...

 

You have to remember that a large part of the income for the auto manufacturers come from the dealer maintenance. By designing so the average person must take their vehicles to the shop, the income stream is increased. The same goes for proprietary parts.

 

Lots and lots of proprietary parts. An MPU and a serial number for every lamp, so they can force you to pay $100 for a 5 watt LED. Hooray for $2 microprocessors. At that price, you can have dozens in your next car.