Develop Bugs

Boost infrared range to 8m

For a while I’ve wanted to use my BA as a universal remote, but the IR emitter was just too weak to be useful. A few days ago I successfully modded my BA and now I can control my TV from 8m away. I decided to post my experiences in case anyone else wants to do the mod.
I had heard the on some HP iPAQs, people have managed to replace a single resistor and got a huge increase in range so I decided to open up my BA and see if there was any resistor that was limiting current to the IR emitter. However, after looking through the datasheet for the BA's IR transceiver module (Agilent HSDL-3201), it became obvious that it was just not designed for consumer IR and I would have to replace it with a transceiver that was designed for consumer IR.
I started looking on the internet for a suitable replacement and after some searching I decided to buy two of these:
http://uk.farnell.com/jsp/search/productdetail.jsp?SKU=1469607
Unfortunately this transceiver is not pin compatible with the existing one in the BA (none of the ones I looked at were), so I decided I would have to glue it on upside down and solder wires to it.
The replacement transceivers arrived a few days ago and I started the mod. After I opened up my BA and removed the backup battery, I started taking out the existing IR transceiver using a soldering iron and pliers. I was a bit too rough and ended up pulling up one of the pads on the PCB. Luckily the pad was the only one not connected to anything.
After I had removed the old IR transceiver, I soldered wires to the pads on the PCB. I then glued the new IR transceiver onto the PCB, upside down, and soldered the wires onto the transceiver.
Here is a wiring diagram showing the IR transceiver positioned upside down on the PCB, with pins facing upwards.
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After I had reassembled my blue angel, I ran the novii remote software and tested it. Success! The software successfully learned all the commands from my original TV remote, and I was able to control my TV from the very back of my living room. I even went into the garden to test it, and I was still able to control my TV up to 8 metres away. The original TV remote control can control the TV from 10 metres away, but I’m not complaining.
I don’t use IrDA, but I tested it anyway to see if it still worked and it did. I was able to send a contact card from my BA to my old nokia phone 1.6m away and I was able to receive a contact card from the nokia phone 1.3m away. I have no idea if that’s an improvement over the old IR module or not since I never used the IrDA before this mod.
If anyone knows of any better software than novii please let me know. I’ve tried to use nevo but I couldn’t get it to work.
I’m sorry I didn’t take any pictures during the mod, but here’s a couple of the finished mod. I know my wiring looks bad, but it works.

I have
one question:
how much battery power it costs?
Did the battery draining much faster while using boosted irda?
By the way very nice idea
I must do something like this in my ba

[Q] Helmet Handsfree Wiring - Nexus One - Plz enlighten me

Hello,
I read this forum for quite a long time but never had a chance to register or post. Please forgive me for coming in with questions.
Okay... I want to connect my Nexus One to my Nolan N-Com Basic Kit, but I can't find a suitable ready-made cable for that.
And then I:
Bought two BlackBerry handsfree (Chinese made - $3.42 each)
Cut them below the microphone/button part
Connect the four cables in it
Pictures speak better than words:
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Okay, and now here's the problem:
If the cables are just separated like that, the sound is weird, low, and ugly
If I short Red and Green : Pause/Play/Ffw/Rew*
If I short Red and Blue : Pause/Play/Ffw/Rew*
If I short Red and Yellow : Pause/Play/Ffw/Rew*
If I short Green and Blue : Dead - No sound
If I short Green and Yellow : Sound's OK, loud enough, but still a bit weird (like either left/right channel is gone/low although both of the speakers works).
If I short Blue and Yellow : Sound's OK, loud enough, but still a bit weird (like either left/right channel is gone/low although both of the speakers works).
* Pause/Play/Ffw/Rew means sometimes it pause/play/fwd/rev the song, can't understand why, and sometimes it's also reboot the phone
I'm now using the Green and Yellow short, because it's the one that sounds better on most songs.
My first question:
What to do to at least make the sound alright? I crack open and look at the original BlackBerry wiring but got confused. There're R-G-B-Y cables going to the button/mic casing (the cables that I use), and then there're G-B-Y-Y going out from the button/mic casing to the earphones.
My second question:
I really want to have the original (Nexus One) handsfree's functionalities. Having buttons in the cable to receive/hangup phone calls and to play/pause/rew/ffw songs. Is there a wiring diagram for Nexus One's Handsfree somewhere?
Thank you.

I have a similar Problem, I bought a 4-pin 3.5 cable, which works perfect with the Computer, but not with my Nexus One. There is sound, but its horrible...
Do you got a solution for your Problems?

Hi,
Yes I ask a guy in a local electronics workshop to do the work for me based on the attached diagram in this post.
hackaday dot com/2010/11/03/patching-into-android-music-control/
So it needs some resistors, switch, etc., which is beyond my expertise.
Good luck!
ps: sorry for the new-user-spam-prevention workaround

yofazza said:
What to do to at least make the sound alright?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not familiar with your hardware but you may have the speakers grounded through the mic+ wire. Is there a screen on your cable? That might be the real 0v connection.
yofazza said:
I crack open and look at the original BlackBerry wiring but got confused. There're R-G-B-Y cables going to the button/mic casing (the cables that I use), and then there're G-B-Y-Y going out from the button/mic casing to the earphones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your description of the wiring suggests to me that:
G and B are left and right speaker+
Y is 0v
R is mic+
HTH.

Like happy jack said, it looks like the green and blue are left and right (+)
Red is mic +
and "Yellow"(looks like copper) is ground (-)
If the cables are just separated like that, the sound is weird, low, and ugly
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It probably is because the pin configuration is different in the nexus one and the helmet.
Try to do this:
If that doesnt work, then you need to do something more advance that I dont know about.
If you want to just make the speakers work, you could just buy an stereo extension (plug with 3 pins to plug with 3 pins), or try to do this:
Solder both the red and yellow cable or just the yellow and dont solder the red one.

Hey guys, thanks for the replies, but I have the problem solved a few months ago by asking a technician to do the work for me based on the attached diagram.
I got the diagram from some blogs. Link is on my previous post, and here's another one:
wisebread [dot] com/build-a-cable-to-control-your-android-phone-while-you-drive
And although the diagram is for a TRS to TRRS conector, it's sufficient for the technician to create a connector cable that basically works like the original N1 handsfree, but without the microphone (because the micropone line is passed along the whole cable to be used by the helmet's microphone).

I got it.
As sotodefonk mentioned, N-Com and the Nexus One have different pin configurations. With the Information from yofazza, I was able to figure out which cables have to be crossed. Now the Sound is good, and the mic works!
Thank you guys!

Soldering advice needed

hi there,
I had spilled water on the top of my galaxy nexus this morning and it wiped out the ear speaker. so i decided to open it up and eventually after some tinkering around I managed to fix it, however, I hadn't realised when lifting the mainboard that the volume switch was soldered onto it, and ended up breaking the connection. you can see it from the picture below. how can I solder this back? its a very small connection. i cant seem to find any videos or guides on how to solder back connections like this.
any help would be grateful, thanks
everything else with the phone is working fine though, but i lost the ability to go to recovery or bootloader
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Can't be done, you broke 2 of the connections from the ribbon itself.
You'll have to either buy a whole new ribbon, or a whole new board with the ribbon already soldered on.

The picture also seems to indicate the pad being lifted from the other board. If that is indeed the case (feel the area of the board for a depression), your repair just got a lot more expensive - you may need to replace the board too.
Below point may be moot given the damage in question, but the actual soldering is best done with a high power but temperature controlled soldering station like the Weller WES51. You also need lead free solder, fresh tip, very steady hand, and quite probably a third hand (a tool that looks like two posable alligator clips, to hold your work piece).

motopig said:
The picture also seems to indicate the pad being lifted from the other board. If that is indeed the case (feel the area of the board for a depression), your repair just got a lot more expensive - you may need to replace the board too.
Below point may be moot given the damage in question, but the actual soldering is best done with a high power but temperature controlled soldering station like the Weller WES51. You also need lead free solder, fresh tip, very steady hand, and quite probably a third hand (a tool that looks like two posable alligator clips, to hold your work piece).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i assume you mean the pads where the connection was? its ok its just that the soldered bits are abit lifted. the board doesn't seem to have any damage.
I've contacted Samsung about this, i hope they get back to me in time. i can still use the phone though, just cant change volume or get any vibrations lol

IINexusII said:
i assume you mean the pads where the connection was? its ok its just that the soldered bits are abit lifted. the board doesn't seem to have any damage.
I've contacted Samsung about this, i hope they get back to me in time. i can still use the phone though, just cant change volume or get any vibrations lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I never said the board need replacement because it isn't working , just that if the copper pad itself was lifted (or worse, torn) from the board, you will never be able to fully fix the connection yourself because you have nothing on the board to complete the circuit with, without going for more drastic measures.
Samsung may very well ask you to send the phone in, then I'm willing to bet that they'll swap the board as well. That is if they don't try to void your warranty.

yeah, so i ended up buying a faulty GN with a broken screen off eBay ill swap my screen with that one and sell mine too as faulty..
sad times, but ill be back

Replacing Stereo Guts With Raspberry Pi

I am pretty tired of this cheap out-of-date Android 4.4 head unit.
I realize I want to take the guts out of the unit and put a Raspberry Pi 3 in it so I can get Android 6 or 7 on the unit. Could anyone push me in the right direction on how this would happen?
Currently I have a Joying rk3066. All I really need is to somehow reuse the the screen however I am unsure how to do that.

Duplicate Post

So I looked into this and this may be easier than I initially figured. You do not need to replace the guts of the head unit with a Pi. There is a much simpler way. I rain into a RP3 case that holds a 7 inch LCD screen.
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The case cost $19.99 and can be found here.
Then there is the LCD screen itself that goes into the case.
That screen is $67.99 and can be found
.
Then you add around $35 for a Raspberry Pi 3 and then that is all. All you need to do is mount it in the vehicle and put android onto the Pi 3. BAM! Instant Upgrade! The Pi 3 has already available to run Android 6 and more recently Android 7.

Hello,
interesting project.
Some questions:
- how to implement air radio, sound amplifier, GPS, handfree control (voice command/vehicule commands)?

I've got one of the official raspberry pi screens and its larger than a double din opening by quite a bit.

fabien_m2002 said:
Hello,
interesting project.
Some questions:
- how to implement air radio, sound amplifier, GPS, handfree control (voice command/vehicule commands)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I read up a little on this. Here is what I found...
GPS...
http://www.mr-lee-catcam.de/pe_cc_i6.htm
FM Radio...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Breakout-Bo...473021?hash=item281656b4fd:g:NlQAAOSwfZhXMtTS
Audio...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/HDMI-to-HDM...r-Converter-/201574747216?hash=item2eeeca8c50
Steering Wheel Control...
https://www.amazon.com/Axxess-ASWC-1-Universal-Steering-Interface/dp/B00B4PJC9K
All this hardware seems incredibly inexpensive.

leonkernan said:
I've got one of the official raspberry pi screens and its larger than a double din opening by quite a bit.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've learned that there are smaller screens you can buy. 7 inch, 5 inch, 3.5 inch, etc. They are pretty inexpensive too.

This seems like a very interesting idea. Here is another one for the GPS - https://www.adafruit.com/products/790 Also, check this out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtzrVj66IOA&t=6s

Several Raspberry Pi head unit projects have been spawned.
Most end up being very custom if they succeed ...some are half-baked and end up orphaned.
Compared to a pre-built head unit, most end up costing more and doing less.
However, the experience of learning through DIY usually ends up being the continual draw to keep on trying.
This looks like one that was a success:
http://engineering-diy.blogspot.com/

This is a good article/tutorial, but a little outdated. It does give you the basic ideas, need something newer though.

tbd2k2 said:
Several Raspberry Pi head unit projects have been spawned.
Most end up being very custom if they succeed ...some are half-baked and end up orphaned.
Compared to a pre-built head unit, most end up costing more and doing less.
However, the experience of learning through DIY usually ends up being the continual draw to keep on trying.
This looks like one that was a success:
http://engineering-diy.blogspot.com/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've seen some of those units with that interface.
I wouldn't mind a regular Android interface, I wouldn't need that UI. Still, a Pi 3 with that setup has potential if you are able to download and use apps off the Play store. That is a huge deal for me and a deal-breaker if unable.

Google search i-carus

Damaged battery terminals on Fire 7" 9th generation

Hi all, I have been lurking for a little while and apologize for my first post being a request for help.
I have been attempting to unlock the bootloader on my Fire 7" 9th gen. I managed to make the tablet unresponsive, so had to disconnect the battery. In doing so, I damaged the terminals on the main board (I didn't realize how delicate those pins are). So I had the idea to remove the pins and solder the battery wires directly onto the board (I know, I know...).
Anyway, I managed to destroy the pads (see picture).
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So I started probing about to see where the non-damaged pads are connected to (as shown above). There are some things that aren't clear to me however.
1) What is the function of that third pad, I suspect it is also the ON trigger, but for a second cell?
2) The two positive pads go to VBAT, are these connected in parallel? Ditto for negative.
3) I can't quite work out from the traces if the labelled pads bypass the components in the photo, or if they are just additional connection points for diagnostics.
4) What is the circuit that these components form? Is it a BIM?
It looks to me as though what I have is a 2 cell battery, with individual positive, negative and control lines for each cell. If this is indeed the case, I'm thinking that I can "repair" my damage by connecting to these labelled pads instead. Of course, if these pads bypass the pictured electronics (a BIM/balance charging circuit?), then this is obviously not safe to do.
Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Well, you see how easy it was to damage them... what makes you think you can repair them?
Repair is much more difficult and tedious than simply unsoldering them.
You need a temperature controlled iron, tools, flux and most the skill level to do so.
You get that by practice and learn from failures.
Not being condescending but after doing this for decades I know how it goes.
Many times you get one shot at repairing it especially when you damage a trace or pad. Damaged plated through holes will need a fine wire inserted to replace the missing connection.
The foil traces and non through hole pads lift up very easily when heated. Multilayered PCBs can be damaged by excessive heat as well. Heat must be controlled, applied fast and accurately. To be soldered metal needs to be clean oxide free and tinned first, this includes fine wire jumpers. A lot of little skills are needed.
Solder tip must be completely tinned with lead based rosin core solder 63/37. Do Not use lead free solder. Wipe tip as needed and always keep it tinned and shiny.
Have extra rosin flux available and desoldering braid. Pad repair kits are available but hard to use and not as good as the original.
A skilled tech may be able to salvage it...

Hi, thanks for your input and advice on dealing with such delicate devices.
I have got another with a broken screen on eBay rather cheap, so I'll take the main board out of that.

Hi, thanks for your input and advice on dealing with such delicate devices.
I have got another with a broken screen on eBay rather cheap, so I'll take the main board out of that.