Cintiq Companion Plugged In Not Charging Fix

DrHAX

T̶h̶e̶ ̶A̶u̶t̶h̶o̶r̶ The Artist

hey.

My cintiq companion is starting to suffer from the infamous plugged in but not charging issue.

A development corner cutting that results in a very expensive piece of equipment being a bloody paperweight.

The jack design it's self is flimsy and I suspect from its location which is close to the CPU exhaust fan that heat also increases the strain on it.

They use a 3mm mircojack that is the weakest link in the chain. Now I've seen people resoddder these jacks but they quickly fail.

Is there any other styles of ports I could replace this with.

I'm wondering if it would be possible to replace it with an Apple MagSafe 2 replacement port, and use the 65watt charger.

However I do not know what pins would transfer over or if the voltage difference would affect anything magsafe2 charger ='s 20volts at 65watts vs 19v at 65watts.

Any insight or advice would be welcomed.

DrHAX

T̶h̶e̶ ̶A̶u̶t̶h̶o̶r̶ The Artist

I have a busted apple MagSafe 2 charger. That was a thought of converting the cintiq's original plug to MagSafe. This would eliminate many variables.

Any advice on desoddering? Or rather what I need to do to get nice clean contacts.
[doublepost=1501704964,1501704440][/doublepost]Here's a plug somebody wired together that worked before everything failed

Here's a link to the jack that artist used. http://www.mouser.com/Search/m_ProductDetail.aspx?CUI/PJ-014CH-SMT-TR/&qs=WyjlAZoYn50%2bROav5NokEw==

Other people have mentioned a small plate the front of the jack rests against. I wonder if that's like in a phonojack and it tells the system the charger has been plugged in.

DrHAX

T̶h̶e̶ ̶A̶u̶t̶h̶o̶r̶ The Artist

Replacement MagSafe 2 ports cost around 14 dollars which isn't as pricey as I thought. Replacement power supply cables cost 4.99 and seem to have only two cables (one white and one black)

I want to reduce as much strain as humanly possible on the jack and the mono. The barrel jacks fail even with the companion 2 it's a really crappy design.

Also the magsafe would help with portability. There's plenty of room on the cintiq to put one in. There's a lot of blank space that isn't used at all.
[doublepost=1501725966,1501711244][/doublepost]http://www.xodustech.com/projects/asus-zenbook-magsafe

It can be done. Turns out the MagSafe plug is just two wires the centre pin is connected to a 1-wire system board in the plug which controls the led status. Originally mac chargers only work with apples with power management what ever on them. However hacking on the lead to a power brick works

Edit Here's photos of the unit. Something not obviously visible is wrong with the jack. It looks almost like the contacts are corroaded. Even the USB ports look slightly corroraded.

I notice instantly those two holes which I suspect could be used to mount the MagSafe connector too which would then have a simple hole cut in the back of the cover.

This project seems doable. I do wonder if I could just tap into the prexisting contacts on barrel jack keep it where it is and just use wires like the guy did and move the jack elsewhere. Hell I'd mount it anywhere it'd fit as long as I could get a good charge I wouldn't complain.

Last edited: Aug 3, 2017

DrHAX

T̶h̶e̶ ̶A̶u̶t̶h̶o̶r̶ The Artist

Found out doing a tiny bit of research, and price comparison. I got two things coming. a magsafe 2 cord for 7.48 and a magsafe 2 dc in board from a 2013 retina 15inch macbook pro. Which is pretty close to what my fiancee left behind. And apple made the magsafe 2 to be thinner so they could throw into their laptops.

This should work. Instead of replacing the port I might just piggy back the contacts on it. Not exactly 100% what gauge of wire to use for this... Or even the best way of soldering the wires to the preexisting contacts. This should mean I should not have to desolder anything

Last edited: Aug 3, 2017

DrHAX

T̶h̶e̶ ̶A̶u̶t̶h̶o̶r̶ The Artist

success!.png
So i got it fixed. Doing this wasnt hard, but figuring out the final wiring was. All of the people who have repaired theres did not give good information about the wiring. Granted they're all artists lol. So i dont have photos of the process but I took the pictures of the zenbook mod and copied that. i broke open the original cintiq powersupply and replaced the cord. the case is all mangled and busted up, but it works.

I found out the generic MagSafe charger also works! I am so excited the only thing I loose with this mod is the micro sd card slot due to the cords going under it.

Now I have my cintiq with visual suite back!

If anyone finds there way here I fixed this.

Info is here: giogiogio4.deviantart.com/journal/WACOM-Companion-C1-Not-Charging-FIX-735979445

Nice background picture, Inspector Canardo, or?

@Giovanni Loverso and @DrHAX anyone have advice on where to get a replacement 3-in-1 cable for a cintiq 13hd? these goddamn flimsy proprietary design-failures are a ticking time bomb. My fiancee is still able to use the tablet no problem, but it's just a question of time when the cable is going to break. who in their right mind makes a combined cable for power,usb and hdmi??? they should've just installed three ports and make their cable use these, so that when their shitty solution fails, you can still attach normal cables.

EDIT: only one I found on ebay is 64 euros plus 20euros shipping from the US to EU. that's a whopping 84 euros (probably plus tax) for a fucking hdmi/usb cable. there has to be another source for these...

Sadly no. But if can just buy one and that would fix the issue I would do that.

if the cable is the issue tho perhaps it can be cut and resoldered. The 3 in ones are a pain because they were built to be non replaceable one day.

I do know the xbox connect 1 has a 3 in one that was possible to separate because it was literally 3 connections at the end. But the truly 3 in one design is something someone with more knowledge would need to figure out.