[GUIDE] Galaxy Nexus MOD/Palm Touchstone-No soldering on phone!!

Re: [GUIDE] Galaxy Nexus MOD/Palm Touchstone-No soldering on phon

Thanks for posting your experience.

Yohanseki, are you getting AC rate in the car?
 
Re: [GUIDE] Galaxy Nexus MOD/Palm Touchstone-No soldering on phon

Little FYI. I was able to do this mod on a Galaxy S3 the other day. Since the phone is already set up to work with an inductive charging system that will be released in the future, no modifications were made to the phone. Simply set up the back cover and your done. Pretty easy, I should have taken a picture. LOL
 
Re: [GUIDE] Galaxy Nexus MOD/Palm Touchstone-No soldering on phon

I would still like to hear from anyone else getting the AC charging rate, especially in their car.
 
Re: [GUIDE] Galaxy Nexus MOD/Palm Touchstone-No soldering on phon

I tried fastcharge, but don't use it anymore. It's a little faster, but still won't keep up with GPS if you keep the screen on. So I just plug it in on longer trips.
 
Re: [GUIDE] Galaxy Nexus MOD/Palm Touchstone-No soldering on phon

Ohiomoto, do you have the franco.kernel updater installed?

I am not getting any charging at all with that installed.
 
Re: [GUIDE] Galaxy Nexus MOD/Palm Touchstone-No soldering on phon

I was using Codename and it had fast charge built in. Not sure what kernel they were using. I just flashed Jelly Belly yesterday (very nice) and it's not even an option with that ROM.
 
Re: [GUIDE] Galaxy Nexus MOD/Palm Touchstone-No soldering on phon

Ohiomoto, do you have the franco.kernel updater installed?

I am not getting any charging at all with that installed.

Just the updater? If franco kernel is installed and updater isn't, it works? I currently have milestone4 and updater installed and the phone will only charge with an ac cordset connected.
 
Re: [GUIDE] Galaxy Nexus MOD/Palm Touchstone-No soldering on phon

I just did this mod today, very nice! I soldered everything and have perfect connections. The problem was after I turned on fast charge with my trinity kernel. It charged at the AC rate for maybe 20 mins or so and then stopped. I tried different touchstones and wall chargers. My guess is it burned out the palm pre coil. I'm gonna measure voltage tomorrow and swap coils if need be. I will follow up and post my results. If AC charging mods are destroying the coils, the masses must be informed! :p

--edit-- To follow up, my problem was I wasn't using the Palm usb charger at home when it wasn't working. I came to work this morning (where I left the Palm USB charger) expecting to measure the voltage at the output of the pre coil but when I tested it just for kicks with the all "OE" setup, it works just fine (at the USB rate of course). With all the problems folks are having with AC charging, I think I'll just leave those kernel options alone.
 
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Re: [GUIDE] Galaxy Nexus MOD/Palm Touchstone-No soldering on phon

Just for reference: I have a GSM GN with extended battery and I did this mod with a Seidio Surface case. The coil and magnets are in the Seidio, not my battery door. So, I have two "copper contact" points. One inside the battery door like the OP, and another outside the battery door to the Seidio case. So yes, I have 1/4" of copper tape outside my phone, but I never remove it from the case so it doesn't bother me. I used plenty of foam tape to ensure solid connections and soldered on the coil and on my pogo pins for reliable connections. Super pumped on this mod and I'll have touchstones EVERYWHERE now cause they're so cheap :cool:
 
Re: [GUIDE] Galaxy Nexus MOD/Palm Touchstone-No soldering on phon

More updates- I've since removed my Seidio Surface case and re did the mod to follow the OP. I really like how much magnetism there is without a case. Even though I had my coil/magnets in the case before, maybe it's the thickness of the case vs the battery cover or the weight, but 8 magnets in the batter cover slams the phone to the touchstone lol. It's pretty awesome! I feel confident I could modify some sort of touchstone/car mount now. Pretty sure it would still fall off without some sort of bottom support, but that's about all that's needed. Very nice!

Oh, just for kicks I'm going to be testing the AC charging mod with my Trinity Kernel. We'll see how long it lasts. Hopefully I don't fry a coil, but if I do I have extras :-)
 
Re: [GUIDE] Galaxy Nexus MOD/Palm Touchstone-No soldering on phon

... but 8 magnets in the batter cover slams the phone to the touchstone lol. It's pretty awesome! I feel confident I could modify some sort of touchstone/car mount now. Pretty sure it would still fall off without some sort of bottom support...
Pretty sure you won't need the bottom support with the 8 magnet set up.
 
Re: [GUIDE] Galaxy Nexus MOD/Palm Touchstone-No soldering on phon

Pretty sure you won't need the bottom support with the 8 magnet set up.

Well, with some of the rough expansion joints on the hwy's where I live there can be some hard hits in my VW. It kinda depends on how much of an angle I can get on my touchstone but you're right, there is a serious magnetic pull with 8 magnets. I'll follow up with pics of my car mount when that gets done (gonna be a while).

On a side note, my fast charge Trinity kernel is doing fantastic. Been charging consistently at AC rates varying from 450 to 850mAh depending on battery level. That's the same reports I get from using a 2A wall charger so I'm happy with that. This will keep up with GPS and charge in the car no problem :) Now to just take apart the wife's HTC sensation to do the same mod. That's gonna be WAY harder!!!
 
Re: [GUIDE] Galaxy Nexus MOD/Palm Touchstone-No soldering on phon

True about the angle. Mine is probably around 45-50 degrees so it's not hanging vertical. That said, the expansion joints, pot holes and patchwork in the Cleveland/Akron OH area are about as bad as I've seen anywhere. Making matters worse is I lowered my car and put 19" wheels on it. I've hit stuff hard enough to bend a rim, but my phone has never fallen off the Touchstone. (Yes, lowering and plus sizing wheels in my area is stupid. LOL)
 
Re: [GUIDE] Galaxy Nexus MOD/Palm Touchstone-No soldering on phon

Well, I put the Touchstone in the wifes Maxima to take it for some test driving. It holds just fine at a pretty close to 90 degree angle. Probably like 75-80 degrees. The only snafu is when you hit bumps, turn sharply etc, there is a slight disconnect of the charging due to the change in position of the coil. So, the screen comes on, saying not charging, and a few seconds later goes back to charging. A little annoying, but I could deal with that for the cord free convenience. Ideally, I'd like to fab something with little side arms and a little support base underneath that you could just set your phone on to see if that keeps continuous charging going. All in all, works well. I didn't get to see if it was going at AC rates or not though.

On a side note- and I know I'm in the wrong section but this is the biggest thread on the net- my GSM with extended battery cover just does not want to fit the extended battery and the coil with 8 magnets, doesn't even want to fit with 4 magnets. I've slimmed everything down and it still bulges. I can remove one of the 8 magnets that is directly pushing on the battery for a better (not great) fit, but then the pull of the magnets pops a couple case clips out when I remove the phone from the touchstone. Sucks. I need to find magnets that are half the thickness of those recommended in the OP. I could dremel down the back of the case slightly for some recessed areas for the magnets, but there's not a lot of material there to begin with. I've removed the black palm sticker completely for more room and still too tight. Not that the extended battery is a deal breaker when I'm surrounded by touchstones, but I like the extra 250 mAh of storage :(
 
Re: [GUIDE] Galaxy Nexus MOD/Palm Touchstone-No soldering on phon

Yesterday my son and I modded both of our Galaxy Nexus. Excellent instructions, big kudos to ohiomoto and all the contributors. I would highly recommend you get the HP TouchPad Power Adapter FB341AA, this is a proper USB 2A charer with the D+ and D- pins shorted. These have been available directly from HP for $5.00.
 
Re: [GUIDE] Galaxy Nexus MOD/Palm Touchstone-No soldering on phon

does anyone know if taking the phone apart tears any tamper seals that void the warranty... I did not see any on the screws, wasnt sure if there were any hidden....
thanx
Danny
 
Re: [GUIDE] Galaxy Nexus MOD/Palm Touchstone-No soldering on phon

does anyone know if taking the phone apart tears any tamper seals that void the warranty... I did not see any on the screws, wasnt sure if there were any hidden....
thanx
Danny

That can be detected digitally also. A small quartz power source like in a watch and a simple circuit could keep for years.