I have a tablet that is on its last legs, but I want to keep it going for as long as possible, its held together with gaffa tape, speakers failed, and it only has sound by Bluetooth to a speaker, replaced the usb port before, battery replaced with another salvaged one, camera died, and I reversed the forward camera and drilled a hole in the case for it, I cant turn it off without unsoldering the battery leads, and the on button is a bent zip tie super glued in place !

I think its funny keeping it going , I'm getting my value out of it , I only use it as an internet access, and it stays on the arm of my sofa.

Now the USB charging port has died again, replacing it is beyond my capabilities, so I would like to know if I can solder a USB cable direct to the port or the PCB ?

 

Now the USB charging port has died again, replacing it is beyond my capabilities, so I would like to know if I can solder a USB cable direct to the port or the PCB ?

If you can solder the cable directly to the PCB, you can replace the connector. If you don't care about a data connection, you might find it lightly easier to solder just the cable, but the footprint of the micro USB connector is quite small, so the wires would have to be quite small.

If you really want to keep it going, I think you'd be best off replacing the connector, which requires some special techniques well within your reach if you invest the time and a little money.

 

Which contacts on the USB are the charging ones ?

 

Which contacts on the USB are the charging ones ?

Pins 1 and 5, see http://pinouts.ru/PortableDevices/micro_usb_pinout.shtml