I replaced the USB connector on my PI.

[oliverjenkins]

Very good thread. Should write up a tutorial for all of us noobs

I've a very basic tutorial on this page, if it helps. Can you let me know if it's clear enough (I wrote it post pub!)

http://oliverjenkins.com/blog/changing- ... aspberrypi

I'm working on another project at the moment, and thinking about doing the same thing. I can write a more detailed series of instructions if that helps.

[lapoltba]

Not sure what you mean? The data pins from the two USB ports connect to 4 separate pins on the LAN9512 hub chip

I'm wondering the same thing....

[plugwash]

Sucking away solder generally only works if either the hole is much larger than the pin or the board is non PTH. On a PTH board with a close fitting hole the small gap between the component leg and the sidewall of the hole will be full of well adhered solder and you will not get it out by sucking.

So really there are only two ways to get a multi-legged component off a PTH board (most boards with 2 layers and all boards with more than two layers).

1: destroy the component (I generally use a pair of large cheap side cutters for this, a dremel seems like overkill to me and likely to cause severe damage if it slips) and then desolder and remove it's legs one at a time.
2: melt the solder round all the legs at once and then pull the component out while it's still hot.

There are a few variants of method 2 possible. The best is probably a solder pot. Hot air can be used but it takes a lot of it to get a big throughhole component out which may damage other components on a cramped board. Finally there are some special alloys with far lower melting points than normal solder that can be used to build up a pool of molten material on the strength of a soldering iron alone.

[Elliott B]

Has anyone measured the pin spacing for this connector? It's narrower than the normal 2.54mm, and it actually looks like the middle two pins are closer together than the outer two. I want to buy a header that fits before desoldering the jacks.

[jbuehl]

Yes, the middle two pins of the USB connector are a bit closer together. I wasn't able to find a header that fit either. What I did was to take a model A RPi with the single USB connector and rotate it up 90 degrees by unsoldering the two tabs on the sides of the shield, but leaving the four USB pins connected. Then I was able to attach a daughter board to the USB connector.

RPi A.JPG (62.68 KiB) Viewed 3324 times

[Elliott B]

Unfortunately I can't do that in my situation. I need to use both USB ports, mounted in 2 different places on the case. This is so weird. Every PCB-mount USB jack I can find online uses either 2.54 or 2mm pitch. Where in the world did they source this component for the Pi?

[Lob0426]

I used 1/10th inch by 1/10th inch header pins. I had to splay the pins out to get them into the board, as the holes are not 1/10th inch centers. I then bent the pins back straight. I then use 1/10th inch connectors. So I have two dongles, one for each USB port.

You can use an 8 pin connector or two 4 pin connectors.

There are pictures on my web site.
http://rich1.dyndns.tv/wordpress/wp-con ... header.jpg

[Elliott B]

@Lob0426 that looks very clean. I'm impressed and surprised that the pins didn't break when doing that. Did you heat them to soften the metal?

[Lob0426]

The pins are brass so they bend easily. I used side cutters to cut away the USB connectors. I then used a de-soldering bulb to clean out the holes after removing the old pins and supports. I splayed the pins laterally to fit them into the boards holes. The plastic base that holds the pins makes it easy to re-align the pins.

[kamilon]

Love it. Great work.

I'm curious though, why didn't you also remove the USB power connector? I'm designing something right now and that was the first thing I did. It saves some space and alleviates the fear of it breaking/disconnecting.

[Lob0426]

I left the power connector to keep open the option of a regular power source. That board has been running back-powered for over a year, and was my web server until lately.

This is an earlier picture of it being hardwired before I switched to header pins


It now has pins and is still in that vesa mount with the hub. For the 512MB boards I just built a short A male to B mini cable and the hub is in its case.

The web server is now 110V, well sort of! I moved the power supply into a case with the 512MB board. and ran a 110V cord into the case. The cord has a Leviton switch inline so I can turn the power to the server off when I need to.

I will be getting a new projects case and next will be the PSU, the hub and the RasPi inside. The 512MB does not have a pin header at this time. when the hub gets inside with it then it will probably be converted to the Dark Side (back-powered)

[esa1966]

Nice post. I think about something similar.
I'll make a expander interface for the PI.
As I must have more power from the Pi USB (I want to use a USB disk and a WiFi to realize a Media player), I think the following :
1) Buy a USB header that I will place on the expander card.
2) Connect the GND and DATA+/- from the existing Pi USB to the new USB. I won't desolder the USB header from the Pi.
3) Use the power (connection +5V 3A) from the expander for the new USB Header.
4) The Pi will be powered through the GPIO connector by the same power supply.
Do you see a problem?

[Lob0426]

Sounds like it should work. Remember that by powering over GPIO that you are bypassing F3 (the polyfuse). Make sure you use something before, or at, your expander card to protect from overvoltage.

I also learned that you need to use a strain relief, when soldering small wire to the board. I had some wire breakage problems even though the board was moved very little. Some hot glue would have prevented these problems.

[jbuehl]

What you are basically doing is building a powered usb hub. I have done that and it works just fine.