Internal Power Connector Replacement

[Connor Angel]

No power plug works for me. At first my battery pack worked fine, but the AC adaptor worked flakey, then I replaced the tip of the AC adaptor and it worked for a while. Then it got flakey again, and so did the battery pack.

I opened it  (sl-5500) up and looked at it closely, and it seems that the connector (pic here http://www.tekprosystems.com/zaurus/internals.htm ) is the problem. It has a silverish layer on the outside (shine a real bright light into it) that conducts good, but once the outer layer wears off, the internal layer is copper, which corrodes easy. The silverish layer isn't even covering everything, just where it connects. Take a look inside back/side of the black box of the power connector, and you will see the (possibly) corroded copper exposed.

No amount of cleaning has done anything. It apparently needs to be replaced. I would prefer a replacement that works like the original inside the unit, but if it hangs out with wires that is no big deal. I always have either the battery pack or ac adaptor connected anyway.

I will probably stop by radio shack and see what they say, but if anyone has any suggestions for where to get replacement parts it would be appreciated.

The main reason I am making this post though is that I read through the titles of every post in this section of the forum, and see nothing related to this. Hasn't this happened to anyone else yet? Have I misdisgnosed the problem?

[Connor Angel]

I guess I should add some more details. As far as I know there have never been any surge/polarity related issues. Holding the cable in certain positions causes it to reliably be  powered or unpowered, and letting the cable dangle causes it to happen randomly.

To test I put the sl-5500 <-> USB cable in, and plugged in a female USB car charger to the cable, but not a cigarette lighter. Then I plugged in the AC adaptor. This causes the car charger's light to turn on when there is power. It is much more reliable than the charge light because it responds faster, and stays on when the charge has finished. A usb hub (again, plugged into the zaurus and nothing else) will also work.

That test is what has me convinced that the internal copper layer of the zaurus's power plug is not conducting as good as the outer layer did before it wore off, and that it is the problem.

[Connor Angel]

Well I stopped by radio shack, no size B power jacks (is size B a radioshack only thing?). All of the ones they had there were designed to be internal too. Not surprising, but dissapointing. I'd really like something designed to be external and all neat with wires coming off it to go into the zaurus and be soldered in. Does that even exist? I'm guessing not likely.

I already changed the tip on the AC adaptor, and there is no reason I can't do the same to the battery pack, so if anyone has any non-"size B" ideas, they are surely welcome. Just any kind of connector that has neat "external looking" male and female parts I can use for the zaurus, ac adaptor, and battery pack.

I could probably get somebody to send me their jack from a broken "parts" zaurus, but i'm afraid it would just happen again. I will be checking back occasionally. I'd be surprised if I am the only person who has experienced this.

[TRIsoft]

Hi Connor Angel,

what you need is the following:

SHARP Part # : QCNCW1339AC0C
Price code: AG
Description: adapter jack (3pin)(HEC3600-010010) [CN802]

Take your YellowPages, look for an authorized SHARP dealer
in your area and ask him to order this part via spare parts
service. A few days later you should get a small bag with a
shiny new connector  

And to answer your other question: No, we remember only
one lonely power connector replacement (that was an SL-6000)
in the last years, so it's not a common problem.

///TRIsoft

Marc Stephan

[Connor Angel]

I was very excited to see this response, but my excitement has been fading. I tried a local sharp dealer, but so far I have only got a broken answering machine or something.

Tried www.partstore.com, not on their web site, but they say to call if you can't find it. They checked a few databases and nothing.

Tried 1-800-be-sharp, apparently they have the part, but it is not a "servicable" part (why not let me be the judge of that?), so it isn't for sale. I bursted out laughing when he gave me the price to fix it. $50 to look at it, $10 for return shipping, and $125 to fix it! Apparently the $50 to look at it can be deducted, but still I would be so much better off buying another off ebay and saving this one for parts.

He said no dealer will sell me this part because sharp won't sell it to them. They only use them internally for repairs.

I am not into hardware any more than I have to, so I don't know this world. Is he just lying to me to get me to send it in? partstore.com apparently doesn't have it, so maybe it is true.

Let me know what you think. I will keep trying to contact that one local dealer, and if you think it will be worth my while I can check other non-local dealers, but I suspect he might be telling the truth. Also, do you know if other zaurus models use the exact same part, or are the location of the solder points and plastic stabilizing pins in different areas?

Thanks a lot for the info you have provided so far. Where did you find it anyway?

[Connor Angel]

OK. Tried another dealer, no luck again so far. Maybe they will call me later but they didn't sound hopeful. I checked out your web page, so it is obvious where you got the info. The repairs part of your web page is still German only, but I assume the part is available to you? If I can't find anyone local to sell me it would you be interested?

It is probably getting late in Germany right now, so I will check back later. Thanks for your post though, I am very optomistic now. Even if I can't order the part from a sharp dealer, it is great to know this isn't a common problem. Somebody out there probably has a spare parts zaurus and no need for that part, and I can probably expect it to last.

[TRIsoft]

Hi Connor Angel,

and again we're speechless about the service department of SHARP US...
Sorry for the untranslated parts of our website but the service and repair
page wouldn't have been of any help for you.

We just checked the spare part numbers for other models and the AC jack
of the SL-5500 is a different one to the parts they use in the SL-6000 and
SL-C series models.

If you're really out of luck to get one locally, contact us via mail
zaurus(at)trisoft.de and we should work something out to help you.

///TRIsoft

Marc Stephan