Reattaching a broken MiniWare cable type-c connector
So, i made an oopsie. I dropped my power bank and as murphy’s law commands it fell right on the cable and snapped the connector clean of the cable. And it is a pretty nice cable, insulated with silicon making it heat resistant and pretty flexible. All useful characteristics for a cable used for a soldering iron. So i attempted (successfully) to fix it.
Tools needed
- Soldering iron: Using a fine conical tip is recommended
- Solder: For the best results use the finest diameter you can find
- Hot glue gun: A glue that hardens when cured is recommended
- Heat shrink tube: Use the size that fits best on the cable
- Desoldering wick: Can be very helpful if you use too much solder
Reattaching the connector
First thing i noticed and worried me is that the connectors pins where not symmetrical, but upon inspecting the small pcb that was on the cable they match perfectly. Thankfully that means no pins where broken and i only had to resolder the plug. Firstly using a utility knife i carefully striped enough from the insulation to reveal the pins on the pcb. Using a fine conical tip and desoldering wick i cleaned the pads and carefully reapplied solder, using fine solder (0.5-0.6) was very helpful in this step.
Before soldering i applied flux paste on the pads and then placed the connector. There are two ways to solder them, using a hot air station or a soldering iron with a fine tip. Not having a hot air station i opted for the soldering iron. If you are going to use a hot air station you might have to further trim the insulation. You will need some form of magnification, i used my phones macro camera and it worked great.
I slowly soldered the pins one by one and added solder when needed. Be careful of overheating, when and if needed let it cool down a bit. Be also careful of bridging, use desoldering wick if needed. After soldering i tested it with a power bank that has short circuit and overcurrent protection just in case and it worked. Now to make it more rigid i used hot glue to fill the gaps, i used a glue that becomes hard when cured. I then added a heat shrink tube to make it look nicer and provide some additional relief. As you can see in the pic bellow it is working perfectly and the soldering iron is able to draw the max current that it needs ~30w.
