Touchstone Mod for the S3

[halenono]

Just joined androidcentral. The GS3 is my first android. I was nursing a Sprint Palm Pre- since launch up until I got the GS3.

I did this mod, too. Just to echo some of the thoughts (took me a couple tries to get it to work). I used copper tape (from my stained glass supplies, not sure where else you can get it), one continuous strip for each contact, folded over on itself at the coil contact and then double bent to form a 90 degree turn with the adhesive still down. I had to put a little "shim" of folded electrical tape over the connections at the coil to makes sure they were making good contact.

I had some issues with getting a contact with the recessed terminals on the phone. The solution I came up with was to use a couple of tiny copper springs that sit over the contacts and push onto the foil tape. I got the springs from an old Tyco slot car set. They are extra tiny (lost a couple in the process of getting them on), but once I got them on, it worked flawlessly. It will be a bit of a trick to not lose them if I need to open the back, but I'll just be careful.

No soldering at all on any parts, so the phone is easily reset to stock. A small bump on the back to show me it's there, and I can use my Pre's Touchstones for my new phone!

Sorry I didn't take any pics when I was assembling it, but they would look very similar to what has already been posted.

 

[rinkeedink]

This mod is working great for me at home and in the car.

NO SOLDERING here either. I also cannibalized the wires from an old USB charger, which are even black and red color coded, nice. I did a little test last night and got over 20% charge in 30 minutes.

Try a Cut Out for Touchstone with a TPC Case;
I want to protect my phone at all times, and use a clear TPC case. The touchstone will actually charge through this TPC S case from ebay, but it could more easily slide off the touchstone. Using my car dock, I had to take the phone in or out of the case. No more! I traced and made a cutout for the touchstone with a sharpie and exacto knife so that I can keep the case on while charging. Ok, my cutting wasn't super neat, but it works great. This has the added benefits of the case cutout creating a lip for the touchstone to rest on that makes it painfree to find a positive contact point for charging and doesn't require as much magnetic attraction to keep the touchstone in place. This especially helps in a vertical mount position as in my car. See the pics!

Shot at 2012-08-03[/IMG]



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

 

[johnj2803]

After more than a few weeks I have been charging exclusively using the touchstone it has held up.

I was sporting a carbon fiber skin on my s3 for most of the time. It looked ugly so I changed it to a transparent one. I noticed that my s3 holds on to the touchstone a lot more!

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S3 using Tapatalk2

 

[johnj2803]

I wondering the new back cover for the wireless dock of Samsung will work with the touchstone?

 

[Fisack23]

Finally got mine working - I was trying to do it un-soldered (since I've never really soldered before), but I finally broke down and broke out the soldering gun. Here's a few things that I have discovered:

1 - The best wire I have found is a single copper wire from telephone strand. I tried using the wire from an old pair of earbuds, but those are woven strands and for some reason wouldn't carry the current (5.5). The only thing that worked for me was the bigger single strand.

2 - If possible, solder the wire to the coil leads BEFORE attaching it to the back of your S3. The reason for this is that you need a lot of heat to get a good connection, and it started to warp/melt my S3 back. I caught it in time, but that could have been a problem!

3 - I did not solder the wires to the phone connectors itself (the ones in the back), because I want to be able to get the back on and off to change SD cards, batteries, etc. I put a ball of solder on the end of the wires so that they would make a solid connection.

4 - Use some electrical tape to hold things in place - once the back is on, there shouldn't be much room to wiggle, but before I got the back on there was a lot of play and it kept making one of the solder connections to the coil come loose.

If you want pictures I could try to take some - I am just reluctant to take it apart now that I have it working!

 

[rinkeedink]

FWIW, I had no significant trouble using stranded copper wire from an old USB charging cable WITHOUT SOLDERING .

I just had to ball up the ends of each wire into a little tight nodule that would fit in the charging port recesses on the back of the S3 and run the wires to the terminals on the inductive coil from the Pre. It just took a bit of fenagling and patience taping the balled up wire ends down tightly on the Pre terminals. I even added a few extra layers of electrical tape on the top of the Pre terminals to create a shim so the back would press against the S3 body, ensuring a tight connection on that end. With a large enough nodule in the S3 terminals, and the rest of the wires tightly taped down, there is no concern about losing a connection when the back is in place, and soldering is not needed.

If you think about it, it make sense that soldering wouldnt be required because the inductive backs for the Pre are removable and work only by contact, as do the terminals on the S3.

 

[mc_gusto]

No it's not - they are flipped on the pixi to match the polarity on the galaxy s3 contact points (top to top and bottom to bottom). If you use a Pre back you have to connect the top to the bottom and the bottom one to the top.

ack, both of you are confusing me whether its flipped or not on the pixi. i have like 3 pixi touchstone covers. If i do the reverse polarity by mistake will i mess up my s3??

 

[Shadowcat]

And FYI no solder was used and it's maintained connection, instantly, and every single time in the past 3 days of me doing this mod. Thanks to those who determined this was possible and posting links to helpful videos/tutorials of similar projects on different phones. Here are some pics of my finished install (the gap between the touchpoints on the phone itself appear to be closer than they really are):

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Ok, I'm a little late jumping on this bandwagon, but I've decided to try and do this mod today. I just had one question (if you're still even checking this thread!) about that first picture that you posted - you said you did no soldering, so I'm assuming that the copper that's on the GS3 body is copper tape. What'd you do there exactly? Push some copper tape down around the connectors to make it a more protuberant connector? I haven't the first clue how to solder something (although the link Jonathan posted was very informative), I don't have or want to buy a soldering iron, and I'm really hoping I can make this work without having to do any of that. Are you still finding that your connection is maintaining and it's charging well without soldering? Thanks!

 

[Uncle Louie]

ack, both of you are confusing me whether its flipped or not on the pixi. i have like 3 pixi touchstone covers. If i do the reverse polarity by mistake will i mess up my s3??

No, it just won't charge.

Just try them first; if it doesn't work just flip them. On the S3, the top it positive and the bottom is negative for sure, so the only guessing is on the back; mine might very well have been a fluke.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Android Central Forums

 

[bulls96]

I wondering the new back cover for the wireless dock of Samsung will work with the touchstone?

It will not

 

[bimmer007]

Ok, I'm a little late jumping on this bandwagon, but I've decided to try and do this mod today. I just had one question (if you're still even checking this thread!) about that first picture that you posted - you said you did no soldering, so I'm assuming that the copper that's on the GS3 body is copper tape. What'd you do there exactly? Push some copper tape down around the connectors to make it a more protuberant connector? I haven't the first clue how to solder something (although the link Jonathan posted was very informative), I don't have or want to buy a soldering iron, and I'm really hoping I can make this work without having to do any of that. Are you still finding that your connection is maintaining and it's charging well without soldering? Thanks!

I hope you've figured it out but if not, I'll try to explain the best I can...

1. Cut two small thin strips (maybe about the width of 2 matchsticks and about double the length) of copper tape, one for positive and one for negative.
2. Fold over 1 small square's worth at the end of each piece of tape so you have a section of shiny tape on the very end of the adhesive side
3. Position the shiny square over the coil's touchpoint and press down firmly and let the adhesive side keep this in place
4. Tape down the rest of the tape to the cover and route it to your marked spots on the cover where the phone's touchpoints are aligned
5. Be sure to leave the excess tape as you'll need to fold it over making multiple "squares" to have an elevated touchpoint to press into the phones contact points
6. Do just that, fold over the end of the tape and position the "layered square" and tape it down in the spot it needs to be
7. Use electrical tape to cover up the copper tape and leave the touchpoints showing
8. Cut 2 more small pieces of copper tape that you can fold over and bunch up and "strategically shove" them into the two small sockets on the phone that houses the contact points
9. (Optional) Install free apps Plug In Launcher (set it to launch "Desk Clock" once a charge is detected) and Caffeine (to keep the screen on once a charge is detected) from the Play Store


I've removed my back cover numerous times and it's worked flawlessly every single time still without solder. It never fails to start charging immediately upon placing the device on any of my 6 touchstones, yes six...

 

[bimmer007]

ack, both of you are confusing me whether its flipped or not on the pixi. i have like 3 pixi touchstone covers. If i do the reverse polarity by mistake will i mess up my s3??

My first attempt of doing this installation was with a Pre induction coil and the polarity was flipped (provided that I put it into the S3 cover in the same orientation as was in the Pre cover). I got it to work for a day and then soldered the wires. In soldering the wires - I messed up that coil and ordered the Pixi back cover instead. I read online that is was thinner than the Pre's and also the contact points are opposite the Pre's meaning you don't have to overlap/criss cross/route wires to match the S3. I installed the Pixi in the same orientation and used copper tape this time and the polarity lined up to the S3. As in my above post, I've been using this for awhile now with no hiccups.

Just curious though - please do post your results and the polarity that you ended up getting to work...

 

[bulls96]

One problem I have is that the phone says it is charging but looking at the percentage it really is discharging very slowly.

Any ideas why? Loose contact?

- Sent from my Samsung Galaxy SIII using Tapatalk

 

[Uncle Louie]

One problem I have is that the phone says it is charging but looking at the percentage it really is discharging very slowly.

Any ideas why? Loose contact?

- Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S3 using Tapatalk

Any luck?

 

[bulls96]

Finally got it to work using small thin copper wires instead of the copper tape. Made a little loop at the end of the copper wire to make sure the contacts stick. Still have some connectivity issues but mainly related to positioning relative to the touchstone.

- Sent from my Samsung Galaxy SIII using Tapatalk

 

[kryptonite_2448]

I was wondering if anybody who has done this has had any of the following problems:

1. It seems when I charge it, it doesn't charge nearly as fast as if I just plugged it in. I remember reading somewhere (I believe it was on the GNex forum) that they had to make a custom kernel in order to charge via the TouchStone correctly (and not think its USB charging)

2. Just recently I have been woken by the sound of my phone as though its just been placed on the charger. When I go to bed at night obviously it charges to 100%, but I'm woke up in the morning by a constant beeping. Any clue? I just rebooted my phone as it just started. It had been awhile... can't seem to figure out the odd behavior.

Other than that the mod is working great!! I missed it dearly from my webOS days. I soldered a Pre back inside the cover and then made hooks out of the cord so they stay and place and put a little bit of electrical tape... no problems getting a charge yet!

 

[navinag]

I did mine a few weeks ago...I soldered it..was a piece of cake...ended up soldering it after trying the take method. Tape method worked for a bit but then I had to constantly mess with it. I have noticed that it charges slower than when plugged in via usb...but other than that..works great...

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2

 

[astrokidd]

Did mod to s3 AT&T with pixi back. Any suggestion on keeping bulge to a minimum?

 

[Uncle Louie]

Did mod to s3 AT&T with pixi back. Any suggestion on keeping bulge to a minimum?

How did you do your mod? Here's mine...



Sent from my SPH-L710 using Android Central Forums

 

[astrokidd]

That looks awesome, mine is still work in progress. I have not taped down yet. Still moving around to minimize bulge.