Fairphone 3 - USB-C Bottom Module Repair
Sep 23, 2023
After many years of usage, my Fairphone 3 USB-C port was not working anymore. The cable was falling out of the connector, data transfers were often interrupted and in the end, charging was first limited to slow charging and eventually became completely impossible.
I wanted to purchase a new bottom module for a while but unfortunately, it was sold out for a very long time without any indication of when or if it would be available again.
One day, or to be more precise one late night, my phone would not charge at all anymore. Since, in my mind, everything was last already anyway I decided to remove the bottom module from my phone and try to repair the module itself instead of replacing it.
Intended Audience
The described repair requires advanced tools to perform. Namely good soldering equipment and a microscope. The parts are all very small and easy to damage. Prior experience is definitely required.
It is not meant as a tutorial but as an inspiration for people who already have the required knowledge and access to tools to perform this repair. If this is not you, maybe you will be able to find a repair shop near you that can perform this repair for you.
Opening The Bottom Module
The bottom module can be easily opened by removing two small screws (Torx 4) and gently loosening two metal clips. On the PCB itself, there is not much to see. Besides the connector, there are only a couple of passive components.
Dust
Even though I regularly tried to clean the connector from the outside with a needle and tweezers, seeing it open showed that those past attempts had failed. The bottom of the connector was filled with fibers from my pants. Now that the connector is not hidden behind plastic it was fairly easy to get in there and remove it all.
I estimated that between 0.5 - 1mm of the connector was completely filled with dust and dirt. Before cleaning it, sometimes the cable was falling out of the connector almost by itself while the phone was just lying on the table. After cleaning, it is possible again to hang the phone on the cable and it is holding strong.
Connector Wear
The connector itself looks still very good. There are no signs of significant wear on the contracts or the housing of the connector.
Cracked Solder Joints
Unfortunately, my microscope has no camera port. Therefore, I was not able to really capture the problem in a picture. I tried my best to photograph it through the microscope and you can see the result in the picture below:
Looking at all the solder joints of the USB-C connector under the microscope it was immediately obvious why it was not charging anymore. Most of the signal pin's solder joints had micro tears in them.
I resoldered every single pin of the connector. Additionally, it looked like there was just a minimal amount of corrosion on the board. Before assembling it back together I cleaned the whole board with isopropanol.
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The Result
After reassembling the bottom module and consequentially the rest of the phone everything is working again.
The phone is fast-charging again and the connector holds firmly.
All in all this repair was easy to perform and enabled me to continue using my phone instead of looking for a replacement because the bottom module was not in stock.
Some Pictures
The connector solder joints before resoldering.
The PCB front side after resoldering and cleaning
The PCB back side after resoldering and cleaning
