wireless charging or other fix for galaxy s3 with bad usb connection?

December 4, 2013 7:52 AM

my galaxy s3's usb charging port is loose with every cord I have, and only works in certain positions, (and charges slowly even then) so I'm looking into alternatives, including Qi charging or repairing the port. Advice needed.

I've already ordered an external charger off of ebay so worse comes to worse, I can charge my battery and place it inside, but I'd love to be able to charge the phone without removing the battery. I'm looking at Qi charging. It seems like, and I hope someone can confirm this, you place a receiver directly in touch with the battery, which would bypass the usb plug, and then place the phone on a charging pad.

I'm curious if there is a charging pad, preferably still fairly powerful and not too expensive, that I can buy that works for both at home and in the car, preferably with magnets/a mount so it doesn't slide off the pad while driving.

Alternatively, if I can repair the usb port (I suspect that the solder has come loose, or possibly there is fuzz in the port (based on a youtube video ) ) I'd love to do that, but I'm not sure how easy that might be, as I haven't soldered. I can potentially get some help with that however.

Thanks for any advice on this problem.

posted by gryftir to Technology (3 answers total)

I just enabled my S3 with Qi, so I can confirm it's possible. Here's the battery insert I used, and here's the charging pad. About $32 total. I have a thin case on my phone, and the insert has caused enough of a bulge that the phone doesn't sit flat on a table anymore -- it tends to spin in circles. I don't notice it anywhere else though. It was ridiculously easy to attach it to the battery.

I only use the pad in my car (I have it set up in a cup holder), but at $20, you can buy 2 pretty easily. There are a number of Qi-enabled car docks (just google "Qi car dock") for around $70-$80, but I haven't tried any of them. If you can swing it, I'd probably still by a cheap charging pad for home just for convenience's sake -- it's pretty neat to not have to plug anything in, and if you're fumbling with the car dock to take it inside with you, that kind of defeats the purpose.
posted by natabat at 8:26 AM on December 4, 2013

natabat, planetesimal.

I'm not horribly concerned by a bulge, if charging works well. It looks like the charger you have works over usb, which was a concern. Thanks for the suggestion.
posted by gryftir at 8:33 AM on December 4, 2013

Re: USB. Yup, I tested it with the same wall chargers I use for my phone, and it's currently plugged into my car charger just like my phone used to be.

I used it just last weekend on a 5-6 hour road trip (round trip, so 2-3 hours at a time) -- I listened to an audio book the whole way and it stayed fully charged. It did get pretty hot, but my phone has done that with regular USB charging in the same situation.
posted by natabat at 10:49 AM on December 4, 2013