Qi Charging on a LUMIA 1520 AT&T phone (Solution)

[boscoosco]

Are people all done with this thread, is there some solution I missed?

I tried, but I failed. http://forums.windowscentral.com/nokia-lumia-1520/254121-8.htm#post2490025

If you do what I did, you can charge fine without opening the phone. However I could not get those 3 wires to stay on the phone in a way where the connection was stable. I thought about buying the case and modifying it, but as you can tell from the pictures, I'm terrible at these kinds of projects and making them nice.

I was hoping a different solution would come to light. I don't own this phone so I cannot take it apart It's not worth getting fired over. If you find a way to mod the case I'll gladly send you a paypal donation for pictures/instructions

 

[Lenn0x12]

Has anyone tried this solution with the ATT lumia 1520?

Universal QI Wireless Charging Receiver

I figured the receiver can be hidden behind a case.

 

[Dono Newcomb]

Has anyone tried this solution with the ATT lumia 1520?

Universal QI Wireless Charging Receiver

That looks like it is worth a try, but it looks like it might be a bit inconvenient if it would occupy the slot all the time.

I figured the receiver can be hidden behind a case.

 

[Dono Newcomb]

I tried, but I failed. http://forums.windowscentral.com/nokia-lumia-1520/254121-8.htm#post2490025

If you do what I did, you can charge fine without opening the phone. However I could not get those 3 wires to stay on the phone in a way where the connection was stable. I thought about buying the case and modifying it, but as you can tell from the pictures, I'm terrible at these kinds of projects and making them nice.

I was hoping a different solution would come to light. I don't own this phone so I cannot take it apart It's not worth getting fired over. If you find a way to mod the case I'll gladly send you a paypal donation for pictures/instructions

Its hard to say without buying the incipio case and seeing how they made the connection solid. I would imagine that they use a small board holding three pins and then backed that with a firm spongy cushion of some kind to keep constant pressure against the pin plate while the cover is on (I have seen similar setups on internals on laptops that use pressure connections). If that is the case then you would need to duplicate similar conditions by either re-using the incipio cover or by using a cover that has a rigid shell maybe like this:
Black Rubber Hybrid Kickstand Cover Hard Case for Nokia Lumia 1520 | eBay

 

[myrandex]

Has anyone tried this solution with the ATT lumia 1520?

Universal QI Wireless Charging Receiver

I figured the receiver can be hidden behind a case.

Thought about it, but I have heard negative reactions. Sonartech post something about many times the electronics used in those would be quite cheap and I have heard users complaining about issues with them such as slow charging and over heating. I think what was said is many times the wrong voltage might be fed to the phone. I didn't want to deal with the hassle.

I have located someone local that has a good soldering setup and a magnification area and he and I will tackle this project one of these days.

 

[Valkyrie-MT]

So I just bought all the stuff to do the solartech mod to add Qi charging. I have the coil and charger pad right now and I was thinking. The most intimidating piece of the procedure is the exposing of the contacts on the PMA ribbon. Then I received the inductive coil part and I placed on my charger bare and sure enough it puts out 7V. More than the 5V I would have expected, but I'm sure the phone has some voltage regulator to knock that down to 5V. Then I read in the procedure "AVOID LONG WIRES" but why? At the point of connection, it's just voltage on the line. I don't see why length matters. So, then it dawned on me, well, if length doesn't matter, I can rotate the coil and just connect the contacts that are exposed on the outside but on the edge, inside the phone. And, this is essentially the exact same configuration you would have if you used a snap-on Qi cover. When I get all my kapton tape and torx drivers, I will be doing it this way. Seems like it's easier and lower risk this way.

One question for those in the know. Shouldn't the external contacts be blocked with tape or something? Connecting another cover with this inside, I would think, would be bad.

 

[Peter Savas]

Everyone,

There is a guy in Spain selling the Qi wireless battery cover for the 1520 for between $60-65 plus shipping. His eBay store is here:

items in Original Parts Mobile store on eBay!

He has the current color palette to choose from: black, white, red, yellow, and has told me you should just be able to remove the current battery cover and replace it with one of these to get Qi charging.

pete

 

[MDK22]

Everyone,

There is a guy in Spain selling the Qi wireless battery cover for the 1520 for between $60-65 plus shipping. His eBay store is here:

items in Original Parts Mobile store on eBay!

He has the current color palette to choose from: black, white, red, yellow, and has told me you should just be able to remove the current battery cover and replace it with one of these to get Qi charging.

pete

In a way that makes sense, in the exploded view of the AT&T Lumia 1520 (with the pins on the back, I assume for contact with addon charging case), there is NO connection to subvert / disconnect to remove the case from the innards of the phone. Begs the question, how does the power (obtained from the case) get to the battery. There must be some sort of contact (in the case) or it's (hmmm) induction. Don't know this for sure, what is certain, is ...

viewing the video for taking the Lumia 1520 apart - there is NO connection to disconnect when removing the Lumia 1520 case !

 

[Citizen X]

Everyone,

There is a guy in Spain selling the Qi wireless battery cover for the 1520 for between $60-65 plus shipping. His eBay store is here:

items in Original Parts Mobile store on eBay!

He has the current color palette to choose from: black, white, red, yellow, and has told me you should just be able to remove the current battery cover and replace it with one of these to get Qi charging.

pete

He lied to you. Read the thread. This has been discussed ad nauseam. First post of the thread suggests this "solution." Frankly I wish a separate Sonartech with the real solution was started instead of intermingling it with this fantasy.

In a way that makes sense, in the exploded view of the AT&T Lumia 1520 (with the pins on the back, I assume for contact with addon charging case), there is NO connection to subvert / disconnect to remove the case from the innards of the phone. Begs the question, how does the power (obtained from the case) get to the battery. There must be some sort of contact (in the case) or it's (hmmm) induction. Don't know this for sure, what is certain, is ...

viewing the video for taking the Lumia 1520 apart - there is NO connection to disconnect when removing the Lumia 1520 case !

Read the thread. This has all been explained. You can't just mate the Qi cover to a PMA phone. The Qi cover is missing a bunch of circuitry. It's a totally different setup. Someone already explained how to make use of the Qi cover. It's more expensive and the upside is somewhat unproven.

 

[oditius]

This is sure a lot to do (not to mention voiding the warranty) to get Qi charging on the phone. Seems just easier to just pop on the case (Most will buy one anyway) and then just place it on the charger. So you had 10 Qi chargers laying around, now you have 10 cup mats laying around. I had Qi charging on the 920 with 2 mats, sold the 920 and included the mats too. When I bought the 1520, I just bought the case off ebay for $40 and it came with a PMA mat. Plus there was this guy selling a iPhone3 PMA case and mat for $5. Bought a couple of those, tossed the case and used the mat at work if needed. But with the 1520's huge battery, I never needed it.

 

[joelcottrell]

Seeing as though the Lumia 1520.3 offers Qi charging, does anyone know of a supplier of replacement parts for this model? I assume that if we can get the back cover part for this model, it would be easy to place it on the original 1520 (AT&T branded)?

 

[Citizen X]

Seems just easier to just pop on the case (Most will buy one anyway) and then just place it on the charger.

Well the case is the problem. I personally would have gotten the case and called it a day but the case provides absolutely no protection to the front of the phone. So it makes the phone bulky, destroys the design aesthetic, and doesn't provide protection. I am not going to risk a $200 screen repair just for wireless charging. Honestly even if you butcher the Qi hack at worst you lose your PMA cable. It's not like your phone will stop working.

I haven't gotten the guts to do the Qi hack but I really am leaning in that direction at this stage. After at&t's fire sale on Qi chargers I literally picked up eight of those things for $30. With at&t's new plans I may just ride this 1520 till it dies and use my Qi chargers for years.

Seeing as though the Lumia 1520.3 offers Qi charging, does anyone know of a supplier of replacement parts for this model? I assume that if we can get the back cover part for this model, it would be easy to place it on the original 1520 (AT&T branded)?

I don't know how many times this has to be said READ THE THREAD. THIS WILL NOT WORK.

 

[GrayW0lf]

Seeing as though the Lumia 1520.3 offers Qi charging, does anyone know of a supplier of replacement parts for this model? I assume that if we can get the back cover part for this model, it would be easy to place it on the original 1520 (AT&T branded)?

The problem with the replacement shells for the 1520.3 is this: Although the Qi coil is included on the shell, the circuitry to make it work with the AT&T 1520 is not. Therefore, your only choice is to hack the phone using Sonartech's instructions if you have an AT&T model 1520.

 

[RAP66]

I recently picked up a 1520 as a work phone, and will be doing this mod soon as I get the Qi charger. Thanks to everyone here for this information!

-Rich

-edit- Very easy mod to do... the hardest part was getting the solder to stick to the trace.

 

[Sonartech]

I have some additional information for those people that attempted this modification and failed because they measured a short across positive and negative terminals once they soldered the wires to the PMA flex.

Some background: Many people were sending me PM's asking why their flex would short-out after they soldered the wires on, and several people even included pictures (thanks!). Many people also reported that the Flex "started working fine" after they removed their modification from the PMA flex. After farting around with this for a couple of weeks and dissecting yet ANOTHER flex, I found the problem. Nokia's apparently using two different kinds or revisions of PMA flexes: One with black masking only, and one with a black masking over a thin, dark gray conductive shielding layer. If you don't clean the black paint mask and dark grey conductive layer completely off the area around where you exposed the copper trace, your wire may short out to the conductive paint, which is electrically connected to ground elsewhere on the flex. This can cause your positive connection to short to ground.

The solution is to remove the black paint mask and dark gray conductive layer away from the areas where you dig into the flex to expose the copper. You can either carefully do this by scraping, or you can use a chemical solution and lots of Q-tips to solve it away.

I personally hate scraping, because there's no way to "unscrape" once you go too far, so I looked for a solvent that would work on this mask. I did some tests, and here are the results:

​

Ewww... MEK... Wonderful stuff... Causes cancer, clears up acne, and really flushes the senses... Makes you feel like you're alive and kicking... or not... Breathe these fumes at your own peril.

I recommend that once you scrape down to the copper substrate that you clean/scrape the black/conductive mask away from that area completely to prevent the exposed wire(s) from shorting-out to the gray conductive coating. The orange mylar mask is not conductive, but the gray crud is VERY tenacious and may be hard to see without a scope, so be thorough! It really likes to stay in the gap between traces, so carefully check the gap between (T-) and (+). If you look closely in the full-size image above, you can still see gray conductive material in the gaps between the traces, even on the side I used MEK to clean...

Once you clear the black mask and conductive layer away from the area you dug into, solder your connections and test for any shorts. If your exposed wire connection doesn't touch any of the gray material, you're probably good-to-go. If you see your solder work or exposed wire touching ANY gray coating, clean it away before finishing up.

Don't forget to test your modifications for shorts between (+) and (-), and (+) and (T-). Remember that (-) and (T-) should only be shorted after you solder a connection between the two on the flex.

Good luck!

SonarTech

 

[NoRomBasic]

I have some additional information for those people that attempted this modification and failed because they measured a short across positive and negative terminals once they soldered the wires to the PMA flex.

SonarTech

Nice sleuthing there. I could see it having been a big part of the headaches I ran into when doing my mod and while my "ugly" mod has actually worked flawlessly for me, this is good info for those that will follow...

 

[kennsg]

Read all the way though these post..wow alot of help here. Outstanding Forum for sure..thanks to all that gave input on this.

 

[swootton]

Thanks SonarTech for the great write ups. After you posted the step by step instructions for opening the case I decided I could handle this. I now have the "Unicorn" 1520. Works great on the speaker dock I bought from ATT for my 920.

 

[pararigger]

I for the life of me can't get any solder to stick to the flex cable. I've been using flux, have the iron plenty hot enough and pre tin the wire and still nothing sticks. WTH! Any tips would be appreciated.

 

[Meltdown0]

Sonartech's mod works great. Just finished mine today.


I used 26ga, enameled motor/magnet winding wire to eliminate some bulk.
Also, there is actually (3) three layers to scrape away on the PMA flex. (1) Black mylar mask (2) silver ground layer (3) dark orange polyamide layer! (I originally mistook that for the copper, but it is darker and solder doesn't stick to it!)