How to replace the damaged charging circuit, for tablets with a dead

or blown charging-circuit!
A simple workaround for Dropad A8 (and similar) users, that were so clever to void their warranty.
Disclaimer:
I'm not responsible for any damae, that is caused by followin this uide.
If you drop some solder on your main board, it's your own bad luck.
Damaed !ithium cells can be danerous. "here are enouh stories on the internet, that
show you burnt cars, tables, toys etc. #ost of those batteries were bier than the one in
the Dropad, but even the small cell in the dropad has enouh power, to let a wire melt if
you cause a short. $o please take care, work in a safe environment (no colors, asoline,
paper or other stuff, that easily catches fire around you).
"his workaround uses this charer from %Deal&'treme()
http)**www.deale'treme.com*p*replacement+,+,mm+-+.mm+dc+8+/v+.a+power+adapter+
supply+.00+-/0v+-+flat+pin+plu+1118/
If D2 chanes their website and the link doesn't work, search at D2 for %$34.1118/(
It will work for devices with a blown or dead charin circuit. It does not repair a damaed
(dead or blown) battery cell or a bad protection board. "he charer will not be able to
chare a bad cell.
I tested this on a Dropad A8, with a perfectly working charer circuit, and there are some
problems)
as lon as the connection from the power plu to the (workin5) charin circuit e'ists, the
battery tries to chare itself5
"he tablet will still work, but even when the tablet is shut down, it still drains the battery
(pretty fast5).
This simple solution should work, if the charging circuit inside the Dropad is blown
up, and it might work if the circuit only works on low power
If your tablet only chares very slow, try out this solution first, before you try the second or
third uide. I tested it on my Dropad, and nothin was damaed...
6harin the battery with the Deal&'treme+charer, while the tablet is runnin, did not
work for my tablet5 I was able to chare my battery, with the D2+charer connected to the
battery directly. 4sin the tablets power plu only worked when the tablet was shut down,
but that miht be, because my charin circuit did the 7ob.
If your circuit is dead or blown, the charer will be able to power the tablet, but you will not
see the %charin( status in Android. 8ou will see the battery voltae risin, but the system
will have no connection to the charer.
"he uide was written for a Dropad A8, but should also work for any of those china tablets
with a %9,/: battery(.
I bouht the D2+charer to cure my curiousity. I wanted to know, if it really is a !iIon+
charer for a -+cell+pack, because I didn't find any of those charers on other websites..
!ou"ll need:
..)
"he D2 charer)
http)**www.deale'treme.com*p*replacement+,+,mm+-+.mm+dc+8+/v+.a+power+adapter+
supply+.00+-/0v+-+flat+pin+plu+1118/
"his charer has a %4$( wall connector, but your oriinal power supply for the tablet uses
that two, so you miht have the riht adaptor you need for your wall outlet.
-.)
a solderin iron with a ood, clean tip
;.)
solder wire
"he followin is not absolutely necessary, but recommended)
/.) a multimeter, to check voltaes and polarities (very recommended55)
,.) a %helpin hand(, like this
It doesn't need to be from D2, but it helps holdin small pieces, while you need your both
hands, to solder a wire to a small board (for e'ample the charer board).
<or me the manifyin lass was very helpful too...
1.) a %desolderin vacuum pump( or %solderin remover wick(, or both, like this)
it helps, removin solder blobs.
8ou will need the wick, if you want * need to disconnect the power plus %positive( le from
the board5
#irst some theory:
8ou may ask) =>hy do I need a special charer?%
Answer) >hile charin, !ithium batteries, both !i+Ion and !i+@o, behave very different to
Ai6d or Ai#h batteries. "herefor it's not possible to chare them with a usual charer or
even a power supply, it will damae them.
At
http)**batteryuniversity.com*learn*article*charinBlithiumBionBbatteries
you find more information about it.
If you compare their %<iure .( with my chart, measured while charin the .,00mAh
Dropad battery in the Dropad
you will see, it looks e'actly the same, only my chart was taken with the two cells 9,/:
Dropad battery, not from a sinle ;,9: cell. "herefor the voltae scale is double.
"he '+a'is is the time it took to chare the dischared battery to full, or what the dropad
calls full.
!eft y+a'is is the battery voltae, riht y+a'is is the current from the circuit to the battery
"he straiht vertical line is my estimate, where the circuit switched from CccC+state to CcvC+
state.
"he red*reen raph shows the voltae, combined with the !&D color, the black is the
current.
8ou can see the battery voltae is oin up from 9,.: in the beinnin, to D8,-: after D.E
min. Durin that time, the circuit delivered constant D.000mA to the battery. %<aster(
circuits do this until a hiher voltae of D8,;+8,;,: is reached, like that charin will take
less time because in the %cv(+state the current drops much faster.
After that the charer switches to CcvC+state) it holds the charin voltae %constant(, and
the current will o down, until the battery is fully chared (D8,;:). It did this until the
current had dropped to D.90mA. "he capacity ratin says, the charin current should o
down to 0,0;6, here it is 0,.. ' .,00mA, so /,mA would be better, but also take another
D-0 minutes.
At
http)**batteryuniversity.com*learn*article*charinBlithiumBionBbatteries
%"able -( you can see, that you loose some battery capacity, if you don't chare up to /,-:.
"he problem with our battery is, the cells are connected in series. Fecause of the
behaviour of lithium cells, you can not simply chare a - cells pack to 8,/:5 If the cells are
slihtly different, 8,/: miht cause one cell to be at only /,.: and the other already at
/,;: (overchared5), or even worse. "his will not instantly damae that cell, but at least it
miht cause a shorter cell lifetime.
"herefor the battery has a protection circuit built in, that will shut down the charin, if a
cell voltae reaches D/,;:. Also it seems, the manufacturer took a lower (safer) voltae of
8,;:, to call it Cfully charedC, and stop the charin process.
The Deal$%treme charger:
$ince .9
th
Guly -0.., D2 has this %power supply(, the one we will use here)
http)**www.deale'treme.com*p*replacement+,+,mm+-+.mm+dc+8+/v+.a+power+adapter+supply+.00+-/0v+-+flat+pin+plu+1118/
>hen I first read the %8,/:(, I wondered, and had a closer look. It says %!i+Ion charer( on
it's sticker5
I ordered it and tested)
this really is a charer, with all needed built in circuits, to correctly chare a - cell !ithium
battery pack5 I tested it's charin behaviour, and it's a perfect replacement for a damaed
circuit in the tablets, it does the %66*6:( charin.
"he %66*6:( switchin point is at 8,0:, this is nice, because it will chare a bit %softer( than
the oriinal circuit, but it will take a little bit loner (maybe .0 minutes, not much more5).
As it's not able to detect the sinle cells voltae, it will need a workin protection circuit in
the battery pack, to protect the sinle cells from overcharin (7ust like the oriinal circuit5)
.
"he plu on this charer does not fit the tablets plu, so we will e'chane it with the
oriinal connector.
Hne last thin, about the =battery status%)
In this chart you can see, how my dropad displays the battery status, compared to the
battery voltae, it was taken after a %battery calibration( (useless, didn't chane anythin5)
.
"he '+a'is is the time it took to dischare the battery until dropad shut off,it was runnin for
9 hours.
I did this with the display, wifi and the battery app runnin the whole time. !ike this, the
current drawn from the battery should be nearly constant. "he chare of the battery will o
down from .00I to 0I over the time, 7ust like the black dotted diaonal line. Fut the
battery app displays the chare like the blue curve, very hih all the time. At C;00 minsC is
a point, where the app says ,0I, but in reality the battery only has D;0I runtime left, this
is a 19I error5
8ou can also see, the - cell battery voltae is not oin down straiht from ma' to min, it's
also a curve. <or lithium batteries this is normal, they start at ma' voltae, and o down
fast in some minutes. "hen, for a lon time, the voltae oes down slower, until they reach
D9,/:, their nominal voltae. After that point, the voltae aain drops very fast, until the
battery is called empty.
Fecause of this behaviour you can not say C,0I voltae J ,0I chareC. "he battery
status tries to do some correction, you can see it is a bit different to the voltae curve, but
it is still much too hih, it should be like the black diaonal.
>orst point is the 9,;,:*;0I status at D;E0 minutes, there was only EI runtime left.
A battery status of ;0I is an empty battery, not more. 4sually, in K*6 toys, the lithium
batteries are only dischared to D9,/: (;,9: per cell), the nominal voltae of the pack.
Discharin it to a lower state stresses the cell and causes shorter battery lifetime.
!ater, when charin your battery, you may use this chart as a %reference( for your chare
status.
The mod begins, e%change the connecting wire&plug:
<irst, we open the oriinal tablet's power supply, to use it's connector)
Hpen the Dropad's oriinal power supply)
After completely opened, you can see the two output wires, connected to the board.
"he ne't picture shows my Dropad's power supply, so be aware, different tablets may
have a different board layout.
"he Dropad's power supply has one wire marked with a white line alon the wire. "hat is
the %neative( wire, that oes to the outer sleeve of the plu.
Hn this picture you can see a markin for the two wire connections)
on the left it says %+D6( oin to the outer plu's sleeve, riht is %LD6(
Also) If you later want to reassemble this power supply, have a look at the small wire loop
in the middle of the board5 8ou need to put the wire back to the small ap in the board,
otherwise the board will not fit to the housin5

Desolder the two wires from the board
If your wires don't have the %neative( markin, look at the board to find out, witch wire is
%+( and mark it. If you have a multimeter, you may also check the neative wire after
desolderin.
'pen the D(-charger:
)ull out the board from the housing
Hn this picture you see the two solder connections to the output wire.
"he top left connection is the =neative% and oes to the outer sleeve of the plu,
the bottom riht is =positive% and oes to the inner sleeve of the plu.
>hen I first opened my D2+charer, the two wires were not connected to the board5 "he
wires were stuck to the holes, and there were solder blobs at the end of the wires, but they
were not connected to the board5
Also, at the riht side of the picture, you can see a bi solder blob. "here was a short
piece of wire in it, and it nearly touched the solder point on it's riht site.
It seems, these charers really passed the =chinese M6%, they only forot, to put the =M6%
sticker on it ...!H!
Nave a look at your boards solderin, compare it with my picture. If anythin looks strane,
and you are not sure, if it's ok, take a picture and post it at slatedroid. I will try to help.
Desolder the wires from the D(-charger *use the +acuum pump to remo+e the
solder,, and solder the wires of the tablets charger plug like this:
)ut the board back to the housing of the D(-charger.
"ake care to place the board between the two uide rails on each side of the housin,
otherwise the !&D will not fit to it's hole...
6lose the housin like you opened it, put the screw in it's place.
!ou should check your work with a multimeter *if possible,:
after you put the charger to a wall outlet, you should measure -,.--,/0 on the plug,
outer slee+e of the plug has to be negati+e!
1onnections inside the tablet:
"hese photos are taken from a Dropad's inner life, but I think the layout will be like this one
for most of the chinese tablets.
#irst, desolder the battery connection, and
23)'4T56T7: insulate both battery wires!
2t is recommended, to take the battery out of the tablet!

In the upper riht corner you see the microphone, below is the power connector.
"he two silver surfces are connected to the outer sleeve of the plu (neative, round), the
very small piece of metal (small picture, left arrow), is connected to the inner sleeve
(positive).
>e need to connect these two to the battery connection.
I found two places, where solderin a wire is very easy)
Oround (neative, outer sleeve of plu)) is found at the solder point between the yellow %!(
shaped surface and the %$dcard( holder,
positive (inner sleeve of plu) is connected to the first three 7oints in the straiht row of the
main board connector (if you solder the wire to the first 7oint only, you don't risk to solder to
the number /).
"he other ends of the wires are soldered directly to the battery connection.
"he wires I used are a bit too thick, the wires to the battery have the riht siPe.
Also, don't place the wires on top of the main board like in my picture (this was only for the
picture5). !ike this, you will not be able to close the tablet's back without sQueePin the
wires5
<ind a way around the main board.
8older the battery connection 1lose the tablet
That"s it for the inside!
3y Dropad connected to the D(-charger
Nere you see my Dropad connected to the D2+charer.
Fecause my charer circuit inside the tablet still works, I have a %red and reen( !&D at
the same time.
"he tablet works, and charin is possible when the tablet is shut down.
2f your charger circuit inside the tablet is completely dead, you should see a green
light and the battery +oltage rising!
2f you tried this simple7 solution, you also ha+e a green and red7 9$D, and you
want to use the original power connector, you will need to disable the connection
from the power plug to the main board! That solution will be discribed in the second
guide! 2t is much more difficult and not recommended :etter wait for the third part
of the guide, that uses a secondary plug for the charger connection
1onclusion:
I hope, everythin is workin as e'pected? If not, wait for the ne't two uides...
>hen you did all this and the charin works, there still will be some thins to keep in
mind)
..)
"he D2+charer has an indicator !&D on it's top)
it shows %red( while the charin voltae is below 8./:, and red when the voltae is more
than 8,/:.
"he ma'imum voltae for a !ithium battery should not be more than 8,/:, so
disconnecting the charger when the light turns green is recommended
3y charer didn't stop charin, the voltae rised to 8,,: and more, this is bad for the
battery5
-.)
If the protection kicks in because the battery voltae is more than 8,/: (tablet switches off
or doesn't start), it can be resetted by disconnectin the charer, wait some time, and
reconnect it for a short moment
If it doesn't work, you may have to wait some hours, and try aain.
;.)
Don't trust chinese electronics5
>hen you connect your charer to the battery, don't leave it unattended. All charer
manuals tell you this, because, if they fail, you're in trouble. Don't leave the battery
connected to the charer, when charin is done. Don't leave the house, when the battery
is connected to the charer. If you have to o away, disconnect the charer.
>e all had our bad e'periences with the chinese stuff, so you know, chinese crap is
une'pensive, but miht be a trap...
;ust to let you know, who you are going to trust
that"s me:
>ell, no comment, e'cept)
)rost!
!H!