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

[Mburris]

Re: [GUIDE] Galaxy Nexus MOD for Palm Touchstone without solderin

Yes it will fit under the standard cover.

RE: GSM Gnex

First off, great tutorial ohiomoto. I've already ordered all the parts to do two phones and have 4 docks.

That being said, I have a GSM Galaxy Nexus and I'm not too sure how well this will fit under the standard cover that comes with the GSM version.

For a test I cut a very thin piece of plastic (From the side of one of those "impossible to open without scissors" packages) and was unable to close the back cover all the way with it underneath.

There might be a good amount of sanding to get the back cover thin enough to accommodate.

In the end what I may do is attach the inductive coil to a silicon sleeve and use the pogo dock pins for the connection.

 

[barchamb]

Re: [GUIDE] Galaxy Nexus MOD for Palm Touchstone without solderin

I don't think its your coil. I have applied power to the contacts using pogo pins as well and the delay is the same. I have a GSM nexus running AOKP (4.0.3 based). I tried the contacts on my wife's totally stock LTE nexus and it charges instantly. I put my GSM nexus back to stock and it charged instantly. I rerooted and flashed AOKP again and again a delay before charging. I think the delay may be software based.

Good point. I'm unlocked and rooted, but I have not flashed any custom ROMS or kernels yet, so I'm still running stock 4.0.2, which charges immediately. I'll have to flash something with 4.0.3 or 4.0.4 and see what happens and report back...

 

[ScooberJake]

Re: [GUIDE] Galaxy Nexus MOD for Palm Touchstone without solderin

I don't think its your coil. I have applied power to the contacts using pogo pins as well and the delay is the same. I have a GSM nexus running AOKP (4.0.3 based). I tried the contacts on my wife's totally stock LTE nexus and it charges instantly. I put my GSM nexus back to stock and it charged instantly. I rerooted and flashed AOKP again and again a delay before charging. I think the delay may be software based.

Ah, good find. That may be it. I'm rooted and running CNA 1.3.3 and it takes about 10 seconds for me.

 

[CBMC]

I don't think its your coil. I have applied power to the contacts using pogo pins as well and the delay is the same. I have a GSM nexus running AOKP (4.0.3 based). I tried the contacts on my wife's totally stock LTE nexus and it charges instantly. I put my GSM nexus back to stock and it charged instantly. I rerooted and flashed AOKP again and again a delay before charging. I think the delay may be software based.

Good find. I didn't even think about software. Oh well. I guess I wasted $3.80 on an extra coil.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

 

[mikemck]

Re: [GUIDE] Galaxy Nexus MOD for Palm Touchstone without solderin

barchamb, please do post about what you do with the NFC things!

 

[ohiomoto]

Re: [GUIDE] Galaxy Nexus MOD for Palm Touchstone without solderin

I don't think its your coil. I have applied power to the contacts using pogo pins as well and the delay is the same. I have a GSM nexus running AOKP (4.0.3 based). I tried the contacts on my wife's totally stock LTE nexus and it charges instantly. I put my GSM nexus back to stock and it charged instantly. I rerooted and flashed AOKP again and again a delay before charging. I think the delay may be software based.

Codename here too. You may be on to something!

 

[ohiomoto]

Re: [GUIDE] Galaxy Nexus MOD for Palm Touchstone without solderin

RE: GSM Gnex

First off, great tutorial ohiomoto. I've already ordered all the parts to do two phones and have 4 docks.

That being said, I have a GSM Galaxy Nexus and I'm not too sure how well this will fit under the standard cover that comes with the GSM version.

For a test I cut a very thin piece of plastic (From the side of one of those "impossible to open without scissors" packages) and was unable to close the back cover all the way with it underneath.

There might be a good amount of sanding to get the back cover thin enough to accommodate.

In the end what I may do is attach the inductive coil to a silicon sleeve and use the pogo dock pins for the connection.

You may be surprised. There isn't any room under the CDMA cover either, but the covers are pretty flexible. When you put the magnets iand the cover is snapped into place it creates most of the space needed for the coil. Give it a try and see what happens.

 

[barchamb]

Re: [GUIDE] Galaxy Nexus MOD for Palm Touchstone without solderin

Good point. I'm unlocked and rooted, but I have not flashed any custom ROMS or kernels yet, so I'm still running stock 4.0.2, which charges immediately. I'll have to flash something with 4.0.3 or 4.0.4 and see what happens and report back...

Yep. I just installed AOKP Milestone 3 (which is 4.0.3), and sure enough, it takes 10 seconds for me to start charging now. Boo. So, now the question is, do I want to stay on the ROM for the awesome extras it has and deal with 10 second charging, or go back to 4.0.2 just so it charges immediately? I think I'll stay with the ROM. Question is, should I stay on AOKP or go to Codename?

 

[eventnick]

Re: [GUIDE] Galaxy Nexus MOD for Palm Touchstone without solderin

Ok so theres 23 pages of crap here that I am not going to read through, so apologies if this is redundant. But I performed this modificiation and I have some technical data to report.

I tested several different configurations:

1. inductive coil inside the phone under battery cover
2. inductive coil inside the phone under the battery cover inside a diztronic rubber case
3. finally inductive coil outside of phone inside diztronic case.

Bottom line, the touchstone powered with its 1A charger or even a 3rd party 700mA charger charges the GNex the exact same. The field it generates is more than strong enough to penetrate a rubber case and the battery cover with no loss in charging current.

Measured charging current, consistent across all trials: 430mA. The GNex simply does not want any larger than that though the pogo pins in this configuration.


So feel free use whatever configuration you want but do not expect to see a charge rate greater than 430mA.

I chose to put the coil on the inside of the case allowing me to use several Neodymium N52 Magnets to very securely hold the Nexus to the Touchstone. The standard battery cover would not close when I had inside the phone.

 

[anon(5101585)]

Re: [GUIDE] Galaxy Nexus MOD for Palm Touchstone without solderin

Well, I just tried getting this started on my GSM GN... using the magnets in the OP, got those and the coil in, tested the cover... top and bottom snap in, but sides are bulging out...

 

[ohiomoto]

Re: [GUIDE] Galaxy Nexus MOD for Palm Touchstone without solderin

You have to press the sides in with a little force, but they should hold. You could also try flipping the magnets so that they are closer to the coil. This should give you a little more flex at the edges of the cover.

 

[LabRat]

Re: [GUIDE] Galaxy Nexus MOD for Palm Touchstone without solderin

Ok so theres 23 pages of crap here that I am not going to read through, so apologies if this is redundant. But I performed this modificiation and I have some technical data to report.

I tested several different configurations:

1. inductive coil inside the phone under battery cover
2. inductive coil inside the phone under the battery cover inside a diztronic rubber case
3. finally inductive coil outside of phone inside diztronic case.

Bottom line, the touchstone powered with its 1A charger or even a 3rd party 700mA charger charges the GNex the exact same. The field it generates is more than strong enough to penetrate a rubber case and the battery cover with no loss in charging current.

Measured charging current, consistent across all trials: 430mA. The GNex simply does not want any larger than that though the pogo pins in this configuration.


So feel free use whatever configuration you want but do not expect to see a charge rate greater than 430mA.

I chose to put the coil on the inside of the case allowing me to use several Neodymium N52 Magnets to very securely hold the Nexus to the Touchstone. The standard battery cover would not close when I had inside the phone.

One thing that I have been wondering about is if you plug in a USB cable that has the data pins shorted into the phone while it is on the Touchstone, will that allow the battery to accept more current?

 

[ohiomoto]

Re: [GUIDE] Galaxy Nexus MOD for Palm Touchstone without solderin

I was wondering the same thing. I've seen a touchstone mod that uses the USB port that did that. I also wonder if the second ground (middle pogo pin) might also have an effect on how the GN handles current.

 

[anon(5101585)]

Re: [GUIDE] Galaxy Nexus MOD for Palm Touchstone without solderin

You have to press the sides in with a little force, but they should hold. You could also try flipping the magnets so that they are closer to the coil. This should give you a little more flex at the edges of the cover.

I'm definitely giving it some force, got one side in, but the other just will not hold. That bottom piece of the coil is pretty thick.

 

[Rickhuizinga]

Re: [GUIDE] Galaxy Nexus MOD for Palm Touchstone without solderin

I'm definitely giving it some force, got one side in, but the other just will not hold. That bottom piece of the coil is pretty thick.

I just finished applying this mod to my GSM GNex with standard battery cover and am finding that although the cover does just barely snap in to place, there is a slight bulge near the coil and a gap between the edge of the cover and the plastic frame.

I've decided to order the extended cover because the poor fit the standard cover is bothering me.

 

[dano272]

Re: [GUIDE] Galaxy Nexus MOD for Palm Touchstone without solderin

I've decided to order the extended cover because the poor fit the standard cover is bothering me.

This is what I ended up doing. Using the extended cover with the standard battery. Super tight with no pressure to pop off. The extended battery did fit but if I handled the phone even a bit rough the modded back cover would pop off.

To the discussion of the amps versus volts. What would be the easiest way to test my current?

 

[bike2deth]

Re: [GUIDE] Galaxy Nexus MOD for Palm Touchstone without solderin

Just wanted to chime in with another success story
My configuration is:
-charging coil outside the phone, on the inside of a diztronic case.
-Copper tape traces to the edge of the case
-I extended the pogo contacts with copper tape, scratched a small hole in the tape through to the pogo contact, and put a small bit of solder on the copper tape. This makes the tape function as a solder pad, and there should be minimal solder on the pin itself. Should be very easy to reverse if needed.

Connection is pretty bombproof so far, and I love the convenience of this mod. Mine does charge pretty slowly this way, but with Pandora streaming bluetooth audio, and GPS navigation running, I get a percent charge every 4 or 5 minutes. Good enough for car trips.

NFC still works perfectly with the coil mounted as high as possible in the case.
The compass is severely impacted, but I can take the case off whenever I need an accurate compass.

Thanks for the instructions and all the feedback on this thread. If anyone is nervous about this, remember, it is an open source phone, hack it

EDIT:
Added some pictures and procedures

Materials:
Palm touchstone and Pre battery back
Electrical tape (clear tape used in the pictures below for illustration purposes)
Copper tape with conductive adhesive (it really does make this go easier to get conductive adhesive type.)
Eyeglass screwdriver
Solder and soldering iron

1. Removed the palm coil per ohiomoto's instructions
2. Placed stronger magnets inside the diztronic case, and aligned them by placing the diztronic case on the touchstone. Taped magnets in place
3. Used a multimeter to align the coil onto the inside of the case, finding the spot where I saw a consistent 5.6 volts. Taped the coil in place
4. Soldered 2 pieces of copper tape to the leads on the coil. Attached additional tape pieces to direct current to either side of the pogo pin cutout in the side of the case. Put electrical tape over the copper tape on the back of the case. Leave the side of the case untaped.
Fig1

Fig2

5. Attached 2 pieces of copper tape over the top and bottom pogo pin connector. I angled these diagonally to meet up with the copper tape on the inside of the case.
Fig3

6. Place phone in case
7. To test, I used a eyeglass screwdriver to press the tape into the pogo pin connector as much as possible. At this point, hopefully the phone will charge. Mine was fine like this for a couple days, but the connection would start to get flaky. Pressing the tape into the pogo connector again usually establishes a good connection again.
8. If step 7 tests positive, and you are happy with the results, a couple drops of solder over the pogo pin connectors will make the connection to the phone much more stable. Use the eyeglass screwdriver to etch away some of the copper tape over the pogo pin connector. You should see the gold connector underneath. Put a tiny ammount of solder on this hole, connecting the pogo connector with the top layer of the copper tape. Do this for both top and bottom pins. Fig3 above is the final result.

NOTES:
-The adhesive backed tape seems to have plenty of contact when attached to other pieces of tape, but the surface area of the pogo connectors is not enough to provide a stable connection
-I added additional magnets on top of the magnets in step 2, to increase its adherence to the mount. Your magnets may be stronger. Mine were cheap 1/32" thick neodynium magnets I found on amazon. Pretty powerful, but the weight of the phone and the case was a little much. Doubling the magnets makes it stronger.
-Figures above are taped with clear packing tape. I have since retaped everything with electrical tape.
-I know ohiomoto's instructions were for a no solder installation. My instructions do not require soldering, but it is advised unless you want to constantly repair the connections. Do what I did, try it for a few days without solder to see if the charge speed and convenience works for you. Then solder only if you see that it is necessary. You can try this out without cracking your phone open.

Once again, thank you, ohiomoto, for putting your instructions up. I am glad to see so much feedback from the community.

 

[eventnick]

One thing that I have been wondering about is if you plug in a USB cable that has the data pins shorted into the phone while it is on the Touchstone, will that allow the battery to accept more current?

I was wondering the same thing. I've seen a touchstone mod that uses the USB port that did that. I also wonder if the second ground (middle pogo pin) might also have an effect on how the GN handles current.

I also wondered that to myself. That is a common thing that many oems have done with their charging schemes in the past. I do not think it is the touchstone that is limiting the current though- I think its the Nexus. I can't help but wonder if that is the purpose of the 3rd pin. I may try grounding both of those pins...hopefully nothing bad will happen. I will report back either way if I feel ballsy enough to try it. Actually, I'm still within 30 days, I may add the insurance and then do it haha. Kidding, of course.

 

[eventnick]

To the discussion of the amps versus volts. What would be the easiest way to test my current?

Sorry, this is one of those things where if you have to ask, you shouldn't try it. You need a firm understanding of basic electrical knowledge obtained by learning and doing measurements on things you can't damage like a bunch of resistors. I would very strongly advise you not to learn this on your $600 cell phone... if you connect things the wrong way you can short your phone. Your first lesson is V=IR and as such I=V/R and in the case that you short something I=V/R=5V/.0000001= NotSomethingYourPhoneWillLike Amps. Do not do that to your phone. Instead, refer to my post a few posts above yours: no matter your configuration the Nexus draws 430 mA - no more, no less.

 

[dano272]

Re: [GUIDE] Galaxy Nexus MOD for Palm Touchstone without solderin

Sorry, this is one of those things where if you have to ask, you shouldn't try it.

Fair enough.

Instead, refer to my post a few posts above yours: no matter your configuration the Nexus draws 430 mA - no more, no less.

Maybe you can chime in then on my issue - which is that I am charging but am not seeing the same results as others here in regards to charging rate. With bluetooth streaming audio, 3G on in a good reception area, and screen off - I'm getting power drain even while on the charger. I've tested the voltage at the pogo pins while charging in the car and seems to be getting juice (I posted a pic of my results earlier in this thread). With phone idle - my setup will charge the phone to full. That is why I asked the question about testing current. Any thoughts or tips? I am running AOKP build 23 with included kernel.