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

[ohiomoto]

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

Interesting setup! I'm adding this to post #3. Please update your post with pictures if you can.

 

[ohiomoto]

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

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.

I like this idea. And I like it better if you are willing to do it first! LOL

 

[chessmaster24]

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

Does anybody have success with NFC with the coil on? I ordered NFC tags with all the other stuff, and with the N52 magnets, I can't seem to get it to work, but if I take two of them off it works?

 

[bike2deth]

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

Does anybody have success with NFC with the coil on? I ordered NFC tags with all the other stuff, and with the N52 magnets, I can't seem to get it to work, but if I take two of them off it works?

Yes, my NFC works.
The magnets mess with the compass, but so far all other systems are go.

EDIT:
To clarify, my NFC works for google wallet purchases. I have not tested phone to phone, or with nfc tags. My guess is that those who are having problems with the NFC tags, have them placed directly on the touchstone. The coil is bullseyed right over the tag, probably causing a lot of interferece. A coil of copper makes a great Faraday cage. For that reason, I placed my coil high, so there is enough space underneath the coil for NFC to communicate. Remember, the NFC antenna is in the battery.

 

[barchamb]

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

Does anybody have success with NFC with the coil on? I ordered NFC tags with all the other stuff, and with the N52 magnets, I can't seem to get it to work, but if I take two of them off it works?

My NFC tags came in today, and I definitely have an issue. I stuck one of the tags on the touchstone. If I pull the USB plug out so the touchstone is not powered, and then set my phone on the touchstone, it works every time. The phone plays a tone and the URL that I programmed on the tag pops right up. Every time.

As soon as I plug the USB cord back in, then set the phone on the touchstone, sometimes it plays a tone, but it's a different tone, and the URL never comes up. If I leave the phone on the touchstone with the USB plugged in, then pull out the USB, the tone plays and the URL comes up.

So, for me at least, the magnetic field generated by the touchstone seems to interfere with NFC. The coil in the battery door doesn't interfere with NFC, as I can put my phone on tags away from the touchstone (or with the touchstone unplugged) and it works every time.

Perhaps it's the placement of the coil in the battery door? If I moved it around, perhaps I could get it to work?

 

[chessmaster24]

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

I'm not sure if the coil *helps* with NFC, because I don't have it in, and even my normal NFC tags won't work, just with the magnets in, standard or extended battery.

 

[ellesshoo]

My NFC tags came in today, and I definitely have an issue. I stuck one of the tags on the touchstone. If I pull the USB plug out so the touchstone is not powered, and then set my phone on the touchstone, it works every time. The phone plays a tone and the URL that I programmed on the tag pops right up. Every time.

As soon as I plug the USB cord back in, then set the phone on the touchstone, sometimes it plays a tone, but it's a different tone, and the URL never comes up. If I leave the phone on the touchstone with the USB plugged in, then pull out the USB, the tone plays and the URL comes up.

So, for me at least, the magnetic field generated by the touchstone seems to interfere with NFC. The coil in the battery door doesn't interfere with NFC, as I can put my phone on tags away from the touchstone (or with the touchstone unplugged) and it works every time.

Perhaps it's the placement of the coil in the battery door? If I moved it around, perhaps I could get it to work?

NFC tags do not work on or in very close proximity of metallic surfaces or even "thinly coated" metallic surfaces. They do make tags that are shielded that can be used near metal but unless the tags were advertised as such they probably aren't of that variety. Maybe the cause of your issue.

 

[chessmaster24]

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

NFC tags do not work on or in very close proximity of metallic surfaces or even "thinly coated" metallic surfaces. They do make tags that are shielded that can be used near metal but unless the tags were advertised as such they probably aren't of that variety. Maybe the cause of your issue.

It seems I have to hold my phone an exact height above the tag. Very exact.

 

[anon(5101585)]

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

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?

I'm really not thrilled with the idea of the extended battery door, but will consider it. My question however is, is there a GSM version of the extended door? It looks like you can pick the VZW one up cheap on eBay but I don't want a VZW door.

 

[barchamb]

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

NFC tags do not work on or in very close proximity of metallic surfaces or even "thinly coated" metallic surfaces. They do make tags that are shielded that can be used near metal but unless the tags were advertised as such they probably aren't of that variety. Maybe the cause of your issue.

I would tend to agree with you, but if I turn the power off to the touchstone, the tag works every time, even though it's stuck to the metal touchstone. As soon as I power the touchstone, the tag fails. So, I have to believe the magnetic field is interfering, not the metal in the touchstone. I'll order some of the shielded tags to confirm...

 

[Rickhuizinga]

My question however is, is there a GSM version of the extended door?

Yep, I ordered mine here: https://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-...582&mpre=http://www.ebay.com/itm/320847372918

There is another seller as well, but they are both located in Korea where the extended battery is standard.

 

[Rickhuizinga]

I completed this mod yesterday and although I'm not sure, my battery run time seems shorter.

Can anyone else comment on their battery life since making this mod?

 

[eventnick]

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

I completed this mod yesterday and although I'm not sure, my battery run time seems shorter.

Can anyone else comment on their battery life since making this mod?

That's not even in the realm of possible. Unless you did something very very wrong.

 

[eventnick]

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

Also I wanted to add to the folks complaining about a delay after putting the phone on the touchstone and before it indicates charging. The phone beings to draw current immediately in my testing... it is simply the software that is slow to report it. It does begin charging right away.

 

[eventnick]

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

Fair enough.



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.

I thought about this for a while. First, if you are streaming over 3G with bluetooth it's not terribly unlikely that you are taking out as much as you are putting in (~400mA) .. on 4G it's without a doubt. So a gradual decline might be expected.

I tested a few of those market apps that estimate current based on battery size and voltage readings but they are woefully inaccurate. They would allow you to distinguish 400mA from 1000mA but that's about it. And there is no way to read current directly from the OS (at-least not into user space from what I've heard).

The only ways I can think of to measure current conveniently for you is with a multimeter. I saw yours, it doesn't look capable of a direct current measurement. What you can do however, is add a resistor with a known, but small, value in series with the phone's coil side. This is referred to as a current sensing resistor. You read the voltage across the resistor and since you know its resistance value and now its voltage drop- you can solve for I in V=IR. How 'simple' that is though to set up for you .. I don't know.

I can offer you a 3rd option. This might be the best. I can run my phone's battery down tomorrow all the way to the point where the phone shuts down. Then I will turn it on, put it in airplane mode, and start to charge it with the screen off on the touchstone. This is important because the two biggest drains are things using the radios and the screen. I will turn the screen on every 1/2 hour just for a second to record the charge percentage. If you're willing to do the same we can verify how similar our charging rates are.

I don't have any better ideas at the moment.

 

[chessmaster24]

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

I'm really not thrilled with the idea of the extended battery door, but will consider it. My question however is, is there a GSM version of the extended door? It looks like you can pick the VZW one up cheap on eBay but I don't want a VZW door.

From what I've been told the GSM doors won't fit on the LTE Nexus.

 

[Rickhuizinga]

That's not even in the realm of possible. Unless you did something very very wrong.

Why not? Current from the battery could flow back through the coil when the phone is not on the Touchstone dock unless there was a diode somewhere in the circuitry to prevent this.

Are you certain some type of discharge prevention circuitry is present?

 

[eventnick]

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

Why not? Current from the battery could flow back through the coil when the phone is not on the Touchstone dock unless there was a diode somewhere in the circuitry to prevent this.

Are you certain some type of discharge prevention circuitry is present?

I see your concern. However, I am certain that is not the case. You could verify this, by removing the coil from the circuit, by removing one connection to it, and then measuring the voltage between the 2 pogo pins. You should see 0V across them.

 

[anon(5101585)]

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

From what I've been told the GSM doors won't fit on the LTE Nexus.

I have a GSM Nexus, which is why I didn't want a VZW door.

 

[chessmaster24]

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

I got it working, took forever to get the phone open, though (then I forgot to put the lock button back on). Even on GummyNex it takes about 10 second for it to start. It still won't recognize NFC tags though.