Modded xoom dock (usb host)

[bigdave240]

so i just modded my xoom standard dock to include usb in what do you guys think
It wasnt hard it took about 30 minutes but i should mention the audio port on the stand doesnt work any more
all you have to do is open it up using by unscrewing it from under the grip pad on the bottom
then switch the usb cable with the micro usb cable already attatched to the dock make a hole on bottom half of dock
put everything back together and your done

Has anyone tried adding a hdmi connector as well?

 

[ShadowsRayne]

Thank you... Love it

 

[haus]

Has anyone tried adding a hdmi connector as well?

That would be hard, since there's no HDMI connector in the dock to begin with. You'd have to cut a hole, get the connector to stick through, and match it up exactly since it is so close to the USB connector. And at that point you'd be seriously crowding the inside of the dock (there isn't much room in there).

 

[Complex Pants]

Have you tried thus with a USB mouse yet?

 

[NewAge]

Thanks for this guide. It showed me how easy this is and I have been wanting this for awhile. I did screw my cable up when sperating the plastic trying to make it bend 90 degrees to fit, so it was no ones fault but mine. I ordered another 90 angle micro usb otg cable and a standard one from China. Should be here in a month! But once I get them it will be a breeze to get it done.

And to the poster above. Using a mouse is the primary reason I am doing this. All the BT mice seem to have a problem whith the BT keyboard. With the otg cable and root I can use a mouse, swap external thumb drives and hard drives and a ton of other stuff and not have to take the Xoom out of the cradle.

 

[Prod1702]

think i might give this a try.

 

[Almighty1]

I have a question, with the MicroUSB cable, how do you figure out which wire goes to which pin after you cut the header off?

 

[jbecerril]

I have a question, with the MicroUSB cable, how do you figure out which wire goes to which pin after you cut the header off?

it was all color coded for me so i just cut both cables and spliced them together according to color

 

[blkswanpres]

This is how it should have been made in the first place!

 

[person65278]

will try this after work tonight

 

[jbecerril]

will try this after work tonight

let us know how it goes

 

[brwilkins]

Thought I'd add to this thread with my own pics. I took jbecerril's suggestion and didn't bother splicing the original wire; thought it would be better to leave everything intact in case the mod didn't work, etc. Also I didn't want USB host, so I just put in a plain USB cable so when the Xoom is docked, it is automatically connected to my PC.

In a nutshell:

1. Pull off rubber bottom gently (save it)
2. Remove plastic liner covering screw holes (too sticky to re-use and not necessary)
3. 6 x Torx T6 gets the bottom off
4. [pic 1] Couple more screws get the USB holder off the inside (remove the metal bracket and pop the USB connector out from the other side)
5. [pic 2] Using a utility knife, remove the plastic sheeting around the microUSB side of your least-favorite cable (the one you're OK destroying to make this work). This was the hardest part, since mine had hot glue around where the wires are soldered to the microUSB port. But you need the wires to bend at a 90-degree angle right where the solder points are so you can fit the dock back together. Make sure it fits into the slot on the dock and goes in as far as the original. Leave the old wire and bracket inside for future use. I taped the 2 bracket screws together and left them inside as well so I don't lose them. There is room inside the dock for all this stuff if you put it together carefully.
6. [pic 3] Drill a hole in the back of the dock (I routed it out of the top edge so I could slip the USB cable through as it was going together and didn't have to cut the cable and re-splice later).
7. Dremel the metal prongs on the microUSB male connector so it slides in and out of the Xoom easily (both sides).
7b. [pic 4] This is how the new cable fits in the dock with the wires coming out at 90 degrees. Doesn't look pretty, but you don't see it from the outside and it works.
8. Put the dock back together carefully (test the cable first, then test again with only one T6 screw so you know everything works).
9. [pic 5] Carefully re-stick the rubber bottom.

Note: the audio connector does not work since the cable has been disconnected. I care more about USB connectivity than audio-out.

This is useful. Thanks for the info.

 

[Sardo_Numspa]

thanks for the guide, im going to modify my hub this week.

 

[VZW-Tony]

Thanks for the inside pics

 

[Zomeguy]

Thanks for the info was thinking of doing this for a while and was suprised it didn't have a usb connection.

 

[pwnzored]

Thanks

 

[Almighty1]

it was all color coded for me so i just cut both cables and spliced them together according to color

I ran into a little problem, I bought a USB to Micro USB cable from Staples and basically attempted to strip the rubber housing except the wires broke off the MicroUSB connector after I tried to get rid of the glue like material that was between the boot and the wires.

Anyways, the dock's USB has the following wires:

Red, White, Green, Yellow, Black, Brown which is 6 pins.

The Micro USB cable has the following:

Red, White, Green, Black, and a bare copper standed with black at the end

This seems to be 5 pins so while I know what to do with the Red, White, Green, Black, what do I do with the Brown and Yellow and I looked at the Micro USB connectors on the connector side and it seems like there are only 5 contacts, not 6. From what I read about the Micro USB wiring, pin 4 and 5 are supposed to be connected.

I also have my friends HD Dock and it seems just like the standard dock, the Micro USB is soldered to the circuit board with hot glue on top of all the wires. It would seem that if one replaces the MicroUSB, then it would basically disconnect the audio or the speakers in this case, can the signal for each wire actually go to both the circuit board and also to the computer via USB since I thought USB is bi-directional and basically unless it's a hub, it can only connect to one device which is probably why both docks are nothing more than chargers + audio pass-thru as the HD Speaker dock just routes the audio to speakers instead of a line level audio output. For the standard dock, one would be better off with just a folio case and just connecting to the ports directly. Even the HDMI on the HD Dock is not connected to the circuit board, it's nothing more than a HDMI connector on the dock side and then a HDMI cable to another jack in the back as it's just a male Mini-HDMI to female Mini-HDMI cable.

 

[pseudonim]

Thanks - appreciated!

 

[murray]

Nice. I'm definitely going to try this soon

Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk

 

[simonf]

Cheers...Great mod