Refurbishing Adafruit boards?

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DrCyanide
 
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Joined: Wed Sep 08, 2021 10:11 am

Refurbishing Adafruit boards?

Post by DrCyanide »

(I emailed support, and they recommended I try posting on the forums instead)

I ordered the Macropad (https://www.adafruit.com/product/5128), and my young daughters loved the bright neopixels and how they changed colors under the keys. I thought they were being careful enough with it, but it looks like the USB-C connector broke from the board/cable moving around a lot. In hindsight, the thicker USB-C cable I was using is less flexible and probably put extra strain on the connector. Oh well, it's the growing pains of fostering a love of tech at a young age.

The connector isn't sheered off, but it wiggles up and down, and I think the data/power pins in the back broke. There were a few times where I could hold the connector in just the right spot to power up the board, but it's not a usable solution.

I don't have the tools to replace the USB-C connector myself, but I don't want to just throw it away, since everything else on the board seemed perfectly fine while I was tinkering with it. Is there any way to refurbish the board? Even if I don't get this exact board back, it'd be a shame to send an otherwise perfect board to the landfill. I've had it for less than a week, so (other than the obvious issue) it's in perfect condition.

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: Refurbishing Adafruit boards?

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

We are not set up for that type of rework. But it should be repairable in a few minutes by anyone with the right equipment. You might check with a local maker/hacker-space to see if anyone there would be willing to fix it for you.

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