Rye wrote:I haven't been able to find a replacement port because there is no number only TYCO brand. It appears as though the joints are under the port and the port has 2 legs soldered to the board. I can't provide a pic right now, but does that sound normal? The components aren't through the board either.
That sounds pretty typical... Most modern electronics things use Surface Mount Device (SMD) construction rather than the older Through Hole method... SMD parts are smaller and cheaper, and work better for robotic assembly. It is possible to do SMD stuff by hand, but it's more painful, especially so the smaller "pitch" or size parts that are being used...
An SMD board just puts the connection pads on the outer layer of the board and the parts are soldered to the pads - works fine electrically and offers many advantages in terms of board design, but the mechanical connection is only as good as the strength of the glue bonding the copper traces to the actual board. So for parts that take strain like connectors, it is very common to have pins or legs that go through the board and solder to the back side just to handle the stress loads.... Often they either aren't connected to anything or only to the "ground" circuitry....
Typical USB connectors will have a metal shell with these "load bearing" legs and the actual electrically active pins under or just out the back of the connector as SMD pads... It is likely that if you can get exact measurements of the shell and those support legs that you can match them w/ comparable connectors from any manufacturer... The contact points in the connector that go to the USB plug are almost certain to go straight to the pads on the board just because that's the easiest way to do it....
Removal is going to be a bit tricky, but basically you want to desolder the support legs and get them free first, and then carefully heat the connector / board just enough to get the contacts to release from the pad. If the contacts are under the connector this can be hard just in terms of reaching them.... I would often suggest carefully destroying the existing connector in order to expose the contact pads.... If this isn't something you have had practice doing, I'd suggest finding someone that does... Many of the independent places that fix cell phones will have the right tools and skills....
I would also be inclined to replace the connector with a strain relieved "pigtail" rather than trying to solder on a new connector... Every time you heat a pad on a PC board you weaken the bond between it and the board.... Putting on a pigtail solves the problem of finding the right replacement connector, and will involve less heating of the board.
ex-Gooserider