Wacom repairs vs money

Spiffy

My Intuos Pro Large has kicked the bucket, not all is lost though.

I have 2 options, go DIY on this thing (It's only the USB puttering out) or Spend $60 money on freight and inspection and then probably $100+ on repairs. (from what the internet has told me)

It's just the USB mini port has become slightly damaged and It won't connect to my PC anymore, I have a wireless kit so If I can just get power to the tablet I'd be able to charge the battery and all would be fine. There are a few posts online where people have done similar repairs on older models.

My best DIY route though is a make shift charge dock for the battery powered by USB so I won't even have to open the tablet, But I'll have to look at the voltages and all that.

Has anyone faced this problem before?, any recommendations?

Xoliul

DIY is the most fun option and cheapest option, seems like an easy choice. You sound like you're not afraid of a soldering iron so why hesitate?

Spiffy

I'll open it up tomorrow, I haven't seen the guts of the Pro models so I'm a little worried about the size of the solder points.

But I may have a better solution. I just realized universal camera battery chargers exist, If anyone uses one for their Li-Ion batteries (camera, phone, whatever) and can recommend a brand let me know, the trouble is finding one that will go as low as 3.7 volts which is the output for the Wacom wireless battery, I've seen a few but I'm not sure about their quality.

Joost

my USB ports are broken too. I'm planning on selling the tablet anyway as I got a huion that works just as well, but I was thinking of just taking it to a local electronics repair shop. Would they not be able to handle that for a fraction of the cost?

Xoliul

http://www.adafruit.com/product/280
That could work? They have other, cheaper ones too. Seems really easy tbh.

Spiffy

I'm going for something like this, they clamp onto the battery and you can adjust to pins to make contact with the battery.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Universal-Portable-USB-Li-ion-3-6V-Battery-Charger-For-phone-camera-w-Keyring-/141048060178

or

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Mobile-Universal-Battery-Charger-LCD-Indicator-Screen-For-Cell-Phones-USB-Port-T-/311212958272?pt=AU_MobilePhoneAccessories&hash=item4875bce240


I'll probably go for the first one considering I don't trust plugging a cheap piece of 120V Chinese plastic running though a plug adapter onto my 240V wall outlet.

A lot safer to just have it run though a 5V USB.

I might look into some local shops if the battery method doesn't work.

gnoop

I spilled a half of coffee cap on my Intuos3 (around side buttons) and it bricked it. It has its blue diode on but no pen response at all.

Is there a chance to fix it DIY and if it worth bother at all?

Spiffy

It's probably dead but what do you have to loose?, may as well open it up and see what the damage is. If the light is on It could be that coffee has come between the connection of the ribbon cable that connects the touch surface to the circuit board. That's a guess though, I'm not sure if the ribbon cable is removable on that model, it could have burnt out the board or ruined the touch surface, It could be anything.

I doubt Wacom would repair it because it's an older model and it sounds pretty bad, even if they did it wouldn't be at a good price.

It's probably worth it if you come out with a working Tablet and $100+ dollars still in your pocket.

Meloncov

If you're not comfortable soldering, you could likely take it to a computer/phone repair place. They do similar repairs on phones all the time, and it'd likely be cheaper than sending it back to Wacom.

Add3r

I would imagine de-soldering and re-soldering in a new connector should only really cost the time of shipping and the shipping itself for a specific connector that meets specs to replace the one you need. My guess is they are like $0.02 a pop lol.

That being said, could be a fun weekend project. Youtube and a $15 soldering iron, wipe mesh for the iron, and solder kit from you're local store should get you going