December 2009 Archives
Tue Dec 8 15:48:13 CST 2009
Super high-tech BlackBerry charger
I got a BlackBerry 8350i from ebay to use with a Boost Mobile prepaid plan. Boost (as
prepaid plans are in general) is much, much cheaper than the
alternatives when you don't talk on the phone a lot. And (slow)
unlimited wireless internet is only 35 cents a day which works out to
a little over $10/month.
But anyway, my used BlackBerry turned out to have a broken USB port. It was mounted entirely with cold solder joints and fell right off like it wasn't even soldered on when I first tried to charge it up.
Most people would avail themselves of the return policy, but I'm not most people.
I needed to get updated firmware to get SMS and GPS to work, so I soldered some wires on, clipped them to a USB cable, and that worked flawlessly, to my surprise.
That let me charge it up, too. So then I had a phone with a full charge, upgraded firmware, working everything, except it does me no good just sitting on my desk tethered to a bunch of flimsy wires. I clipped off all the wires and ordered a replacement USB port as well as a cradle charger, and all was well until the battery died. Which it pretty much did the next day.
So last night I came up with this:
Two nails driven through a block of wood connected to USB +5V and ground. Works like a charm.
But anyway, my used BlackBerry turned out to have a broken USB port. It was mounted entirely with cold solder joints and fell right off like it wasn't even soldered on when I first tried to charge it up.
Most people would avail themselves of the return policy, but I'm not most people.
I needed to get updated firmware to get SMS and GPS to work, so I soldered some wires on, clipped them to a USB cable, and that worked flawlessly, to my surprise.
That let me charge it up, too. So then I had a phone with a full charge, upgraded firmware, working everything, except it does me no good just sitting on my desk tethered to a bunch of flimsy wires. I clipped off all the wires and ordered a replacement USB port as well as a cradle charger, and all was well until the battery died. Which it pretty much did the next day.
So last night I came up with this:
Two nails driven through a block of wood connected to USB +5V and ground. Works like a charm.