Hard-modding 30-pin charging socket to 5-pin USB-B

[Mattata]

Hey yall. I'm bored and wanted to take my girlfriend's old Nook HD+ tablet and make it into a rudimentary android-running device, but i wanted to desolder the old 30-pin socket on the inside and replace it with a 5-pin usb type-B socket. However, I'm not sure the best way to go about this. There are a lot of pins that I don't really care about, and i know all i need are 5VDC, D+, D-, ID, and GND. But when there are 5+ GND pins and 2 5VDC pins, how can i find out which ones to use? or can i splice all identical wires together and solder them to one pin of the corresponding type?

 

Could i do some disaster like this? or will i have to trace the wires to find which ones actually matter? Most of the pins (blank and some ground) are meant for the hdmi adapter for it, and that doesnt concern me.

 

 

Thank you in advance for the input

[r4tch3t]

14 minutes ago, Mattata said:

Hey yall. I'm bored and wanted to take my girlfriend's old Nook HD+ tablet and make it into a rudimentary android-running device, but i wanted to desolder the old 30-pin socket on the inside and replace it with a 5-pin usb type-B socket. However, I'm not sure the best way to go about this. There are a lot of pins that I don't really care about, and i know all i need are 5VDC, D+, D-, ID, and GND. But when there are 5+ GND pins and 2 5VDC pins, how can i find out which ones to use? or can i splice all identical wires together and solder them to one pin of the corresponding type?

 

Could i do some disaster like this? or will i have to trace the wires to find which ones actually matter? Most of the pins (blank and some ground) are meant for the hdmi adapter for it, and that doesnt concern me.

 

 

Thank you in advance for the input

I see no issues, should work fine. The duplicate pins are probably there to increase the current capacity. 

[Mattata]

27 minutes ago, r4tch3t said:

I see no issues, should work fine. The duplicate pins are probably there to increase the current capacity. 

Alright, so this shouldn't blow up in my face if i did it just like this correctly?

[r4tch3t]

Just now, Mattata said:

Alright, so this shouldn't blow up in my face if i did it just like this correctly?

From my experience doing the same thing you'll be fine.

[Mattata]

13 minutes ago, r4tch3t said:

From my experience doing the same thing you'll be fine.

Alright. Thank you  Now for the fun part, trying to find the right way to go from the board to the socket. 

now, there are a lot of connections in such a small space, I'm not sure if ill be able to get on a small gauge wire and that small of a solder spot. There is a lot of room for error. Do you have any tips as to the best way to go about this? 

there are some labeled contact points on the bottom of the board, might i be able to connect directly through those, and just send the wires around the back of the board and up to the top where the socket will be?

[r4tch3t]

9 hours ago, Mattata said:

Alright. Thank you  Now for the fun part, trying to find the right way to go from the board to the socket. 

now, there are a lot of connections in such a small space, I'm not sure if ill be able to get on a small gauge wire and that small of a solder spot. There is a lot of room for error. Do you have any tips as to the best way to go about this? 

there are some labeled contact points on the bottom of the board, might i be able to connect directly through those, and just send the wires around the back of the board and up to the top where the socket will be?

Quite possibly. The contact points are test points used in manufacturing. Do you have a multimeter? If so you can test for continuity between those points and the points on the socket.

If you're keen you can remove the socket and replace it with that board (if it can fit.) 

[Mattata]

8 hours ago, r4tch3t said:

Quite possibly. The contact points are test points used in manufacturing. Do you have a multimeter? If so you can test for continuity between those points and the points on the socket.

If you're keen you can remove the socket and replace it with that board (if it can fit.) 

I have a multimeter somewhere, not a reliable one but it should do the job. I will test the points after and see to removing the socket