Charging Cradle No Longer Charging

Agent. · Apr 17, 2014

Before I begin, if there is already a thread outlining this particular problem, I apologize in advance.

Yesterday my Truesmart was in the charging cradle sitting on my desk, not realizing it, I accidentally opened a draw which pulled on the USB cable, dragging my Truesmart off of the desk and onto the floor. My truesmart fell about 2 feet and is fine, but the charging cradle will no longer charge it. I would assume that something broke in the cradle when it fell, which justifies the pathetic quality of it, although there is no visual damage on the cradle and when shaken nothing rattles around inside of the cradle.

My question is what should I do now? I am almost certain that it is the cradle that is the problem and not the Truesmart or the USB as the watch will still turn on and the USB will charge other devices. I have tried different power sources and different USBs and I only have one cradle. Is there anything I should troubleshoot in order to try and get the cradle working? Or is is possible that the problem is with the watch?

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

trent999 · Apr 18, 2014

The spring contacts in the cradle may have gotten smushed in a bit by the impact. Try prying them up gently with like a needle.

Otherwise, the solders connecting the microUSB connector inside the cradle might have failed. They have been reported to be of poor quality on another owner's cradle with cold solders. Try resoldering them if probing them shows them not good connections anymore.

Thirdly, maybe your USB cable itself was damaged in the drop. Test it too.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

Agent. · Apr 18, 2014

I tried what you suggested with the needle and it didn't make any difference, they seem to be at the right position anyway.

I have a feeling it might be the solders, as it is possible that the sudden shock of the microUSB inside of the port caused something to break. Unfortunately I do not have any knowledge of soldering nor the equipment to do it. I wouldn't know how to open up the cradle without breaking it anyway.

I already tested the USB cable, it charges anything else, and I have tried other USBs with the Truesmart to make sure that it is infact the cradle.

I have sent Magan (may or may not have spelt her name right) two emails and have received no response.

rhineymac · Apr 18, 2014

Asking omate for another cradle is useless. Omate is focusing on shipping units not cradles. I know this because my cradle stopped working also. The solder on the female USB plug had failed. I took it into a local electronic repair shop and they resoldered a new plug on. They also asked me what doll or store I pitched the charger at.

Jarocks · Apr 18, 2014

I've been thinking of replacing the spring contacts with actual pogo pins. It's silly that the charger doesn't utilize them to begin with.

Sent from my GT-N5110 using Tapatalk

Agent. · Apr 18, 2014

rhineymac said:
Asking omate for another cradle is useless. Omate is focusing on shipping units not cradles. I know this because my cradle stopped working also. The solder on the female USB plug had failed. I took it into a local electronic repair shop and they resoldered a new plug on. They also asked me what doll or store I pitched the charger at.

I am aware but I figured it was worth a shot since my order was missing a keychain that I was told would ship "soon".

I might look into taking it into a shop, how much did it cost you to do that? And I didn't understand your last sentence.

trent999 · Apr 18, 2014

He mistyped "dollar store".

Apparently they have such cheap budget shops up in Canada too. I get my colored USB cables from them, they say, " Made in China" on them and generally last a couple of weeks.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

SkyHawkTech · Apr 18, 2014

Have you had the back of the watch off? If so loosen all 4 screws then tighten the 2 where the charge pins are first - then tighten the other end, where the buttons and camera is, last. I had an issue where the watch would not charge after reinstalling the back. I think the internal contact pins barley contact the flexible plastic copper pads. I originally crisscrossed tightened the screws and it wouldn't charge. If I have to install the back cover again I will most likely add a thin layer of something underneath the cable pad to help close the gap and provide a more solid contact for the internal pins. I could visibly see where there was maybe 2 out of the 4 pins making adequate contact.

rhineymac · Apr 18, 2014

Oops yes I ment dollar store. It didn't cost me much. $10 but the guy told me that it wouldn't last long, which it didn't, it stopped charging my ts today. He told me that its cheap, pure and simple. I was suppose to receive a spare that I paid for. When I asked about it I was told they won't ship it until after all KS and preorders were shipped. Omates way of telling me that I'm SOL

Agent. · Apr 20, 2014

rhineymac said:
Oops yes I ment dollar store. It didn't cost me much. $10 but the guy told me that it wouldn't last long, which it didn't, it stopped charging my ts today. He told me that its cheap, pure and simple. I was suppose to receive a spare that I paid for. When I asked about it I was told they won't ship it until after all KS and preorders were shipped. Omates way of telling me that I'm SOL

I realized you meant dollar store shortly after posting lol, unfortunately I have even seen nicer chargers at the dollar store. $10 isn't bad but I guess at that price it makes sense to get a new charger if possible. I love how I am fortunate to have a semi-working watch but can't even use it because I don't have a working charger. Thanks for all of your help Omate -.-

SkyHawkTech said:
Have you had the back of the watch off? If so loosen all 4 screws then tighten the 2 where the charge pins are first - then tighten the other end, where the buttons and camera is, last. I had an issue where the watch would not charge after reinstalling the back. I think the internal contact pins barley contact the flexible plastic copper pads. I originally crisscrossed tightened the screws and it wouldn't charge. If I have to install the back cover again I will most likely add a thin layer of something underneath the cable pad to help close the gap and provide a more solid contact for the internal pins. I could visibly see where there was maybe 2 out of the 4 pins making adequate contact.

I had the back off of the watch once, after putting it back on it worked fine up until I dropped it. The watch will turn on, it just won't charge. I will try your suggestion anyway when I have my watch around though. The assembly of the watch is disgustingly poor, there is what looks like dried glue seeping out of the SIM slot of my watch. Very lucky to have no issues with buttons or pin contact and etc.

rhineymac · Apr 21, 2014

Agent. said:
I realized you meant dollar store shortly after posting lol, unfortunately I have even seen nicer chargers at the dollar store. $10 isn't bad but I guess at that price it makes sense to get a new charger if possible. I love how I am fortunate to have a semi-working watch but can't even use it because I don't have a working charger. Thanks for all of your help Omate -.-

I had the back off of the watch once, after putting it back on it worked fine up until I dropped it. The watch will turn on, it just won't charge. I will try your suggestion anyway when I have my watch around though. The assembly of the watch is disgustingly poor, there is what looks like dried glue seeping out of the SIM slot of my watch. Very lucky to have no issues with buttons or pin contact and etc.

the problem ive had with the charger is the female usb port. its very loose. i wonder if we will ever see the xtra things we paid for, xtra chargers, tshirts sd cards. its bad enough that the watch is a mess, but to have a propriatiery charger is just icing on the cake. theres not way of fixing it. well there is,but it only lasted a week. the guy who fixed mine laughed at me and told me you get what u pay for. This is only partly true, the charger was $5 but isnt worth $1

trent999 · Apr 21, 2014

You could make a charger with a dollar store USB charging cable you cut up to expose the +5 and gnd wires, then tape them to the right pins on the back of the watch, carefully.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

Agent. · Apr 21, 2014

rhineymac said:
the problem ive had with the charger is the female usb port. its very loose. i wonder if we will ever see the xtra things we paid for, xtra chargers, tshirts sd cards. its bad enough that the watch is a mess, but to have a propriatiery charger is just icing on the cake. theres not way of fixing it. well there is,but it only lasted a week. the guy who fixed mine laughed at me and told me you get what u pay for. This is only partly true, the charger was $5 but isnt worth $1

I'm pretty sure mine is the female USB port too, as my watch was plugged in when it fell so I assume the shock of the male USB caused it to break. Your guess is as good as mine as to if they ever plan on actually fulfilling their promises, they have done a pretty crummy job thus far. The charger is absolute junk, at least if we had the charging cable they initially promised we might be able to work with it a bit more.

trent999 said:
You could make a charger with a dollar store USB charging cable you cut up to expose the +5 and gnd wires, then tape them to the right pins on the back of the watch, carefully.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

That isn't a bad idea for a temporary fix but the fact that it even comes down to doing something like that is absurd in my opinion, the charger should have been done and ready while they were dealing with all of the other BS issues.

trent999 · Apr 21, 2014

Well, remember that for most owners the charging cradle they received works fine. It is not that poorly designed - mostly failures reported have been due to shoddy assembly. Similarly careless assembly has been reported on the watch itself in various areas.

I got my extra charger I ordered via Kickstarter, included in the package, but have never tested it nor needed to. I also figured out a way to charge the spare battery with an Anker universal charger, just in case. That charger came free with a couple of VGNexus batteries I bought from Amazon.

You might have better luck with the USB port repair staying fixed if you support its attachment to the board, such as it is, with an application of SuperGlue prior to resoldering the connections.
Holding a cable connector in place via only the contact solders would always be a bad design though.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

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Charging Cradle No Longer Charging

Agent.

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Agent.

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Jarocks

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Agent.

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trent999

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rhineymac

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