Hardware Screwed up pretty bad! Microfuse? N3DSXL

democracy

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so i was in the process of i installing he usb nand mod, dod even get a chancto start really. I (for some unknown reason) accidently powered the system on with the battery connection reversed. Now the unit will not power on at all. I can get the oragnge charging light come on biefly before going out with or without the battery in the unit. Hoping i may just be able to either replace a fuse somewhere or bridge the connection.

Any help would be greatly apreciated, i dont even know where to look for the microfuse... :(

Edit; i found this;
https://gbatemp.net/threads/3ds-xl-fuse-repair.375187/

Kyohack suggests its my battery thats the issue. Anyone think this is possiable?

Can someone tell me if the 3dsxl can power on and be used without a battery? Just trying to troubleshoot

Update, i chae ked the battery and it is putting out power, guess the issue is a little more serious
 
Last edited by democracy,

AmandaRose

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My first thought would have been that the battery was fried but that does not seem to be the case. Hopefully it is something simple like the fuse but I am guessing it's probably a lot worse than that. What I don't get is if you were doing the USB mod why was the battery anywhere near the 3ds at that time seems logical to disconnect the battery and to put it out the way during the whole process.
 
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gamesquest1

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get a picture of the board the battery plugs into, if the n3DS follows the gba-3ds trend the fuse will probably be marked as either F1 or F2, you can simply bridge it for testing purposes, but as a long term fix its not really recommended as you will have no protection if anything else F's up down the line.....but to test it or while your waiting on a fuse it should be fine to just bridge it, just keep the battery away from the console until you have the back on so you cant hook it up wrong
 
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democracy

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Yup, feeling like a pretty big idiot!!

I have someone else helping me too, I showed them a picture of the opposite side of the battery board, they pointed out what they believe the fuse was and I removed it and bridge connection but no dice.

I can buy a new battery board but I think I may just give up now and cut my loss. What is the chance that its isolated to the battery board do you guys think?

Thing is a battery board will cost me 60.00
 

democracy

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get a picture of the board the battery plugs into, if the n3DS follows the gba-3ds trend the fuse will probably be marked as either F1 or F2, you can simply bridge it for testing purposes, but as a long term fix its not really recommended as you will have no protection if anything else F's up down the line.....but to test it or while your waiting on a fuse it should be fine to just bridge it, just keep the battery away from the console until you have the back on so you cant hook it up wrong
The new 3ds xl motherboard is completely clean of any identifiable markings make the fuse to identify difficult.
 

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The N3DS and N3DSXL have separate power boards. At worst, you'll just have to replace the power board.

I looked at some images of the boards, and here's the most likely fuse locations:

2f87dcde65.jpg

9d7fe2e73a.jpg

Check if there's any resistance on the current passing through them. If it's higher than around 0.1Ohms, it's either a dead fuse, or a resistor, but that's pretty unlikely. If there's no current passing through it at all, it's for sure a dead fuse. No idea what their ratings are though, so I don't know what you'd have to replace them with.

EDIT: I did some readings with my multimeter, and it seems the Li-ion battery in the N3DSXL outputs at 4.2v, with 3.5 microamps at a full charge. For the power board, it would likely need a 3.8-4.5 microamp fuse. Looks like a 1206 SMD package to me, so I'd replace it with that.
 
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Just3DS

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When you connect AC adapter do you see any led when you try to power it on?

Also since you said you can see charging light coming on breifly with or without battery it seems like the battery isn't detected at all (similar to DS lite which had a fuse for battery).
So you would have to get a multimeter and measure the voltage first on battery and then trace voltage near battery connector while holding battery correctly in place, without AC connected. There should some component nearby (may or may not be marked as F2, etc) after which the voltage might not be passing through at all. I can't help much as I never explored N3DS circuit before.
 
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democracy

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The N3DS and N3DSXL have separate power boards. At worst, you'll just have to replace the power board.

I looked at some images of the boards, and here's the most likely fuse locations:

2f87dcde65.jpg

9d7fe2e73a.jpg

Check if there's any resistance on the current passing through them. If it's higher than around 0.1Ohms, it's either a dead fuse, or a resistor, but that's pretty unlikely. If there's no current passing through it at all, it's for sure a dead fuse. No idea what their ratings are though, so I don't know what you'd have to replace them with.

EDIT: I did some readings with my multimeter, and it seems the Li-ion battery in the N3DSXL outputs at 4.2v, with 3.5 microamps at a full charge. For the power board, it would likely need a 3.8-4.5 microamp fuse. Looks like a 1206 SMD package to me, so I'd replace it with that.
The fuse you identified, I ha e removed it and bridged it (tried to) result is the same, orange light on briefly then off. No blue light at all. Even with the bridge and fuse removed, I get the same result.
 

democracy

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So I bought a new battery board;
http://m.ebay.com.au/itm/2015-New-V...Battery-Board-N3DSXL-/221800247656?nav=SEARCH

Knowing my luck as of late, I am not too optimistic that this will fix my problem but its worth trying to fix my n3ds. If it doesn't work I can always buy another motherboard which for some reason seem to be more readily available then the battery boards

Did I mention I also put the wrong size screw (long size) into the battery case which went strait through and left a nice marking on the motherboard? Luckly for me (???) Where the screw came through and made contact with the main board seemed to be vacant of any circuit or pathways just the standard green finish got damaged, is that important?

Are you guys laughing at me by now? :(
 

democracy

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You'd think someone who isn't really familiar with the innards of a gadget would be doubly careful when tinkering with it.


Lol Mr bean!
I usually am careful. This is the second project I have taken on in the precense of my 1 year old son who is teething badly atm and I'm quickly discoveries that future projects should be put on hold

Thanks all for the suggestions and help
 
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Gadorach

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The fuse you identified, I ha e removed it and bridged it (tried to) result is the same, orange light on briefly then off. No blue light at all. Even with the bridge and fuse removed, I get the same result.
Oi Oi, you should never just remove a component before you test it. Did you even check them with a multimeter? Which fuse did you operate on anyway? There is two that I identified after all. For future reference, you should use a thin wire to connect the two sides of the fuse to bypass it. Removing the component before you test it is not the way to go. You could have removed an important component that you had no identification for, and therefore could not replace it or have it replaced.
 

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Good news today for me, I replaced the power board with one I ordered from the usa and the unit powers back on again and is functional :)))

The bad news, it only works when plugged into the wall, red light is on by power light and if I unplug it from the wall the notification light blinks red as well then powers off. It's been charging for an hour now no change. Guess I damaged there battery too with my me bean skills,, you guys think battery replacement would fix the charge issue? Also the home screen reports battery has no charge.

Thanks again to ask who tried to help. Pretty distressing for me breaking my N3DS
 

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Update; 3ds wont power on today, Hoping it due to a damaged battery, I'm still waiting on battery replacement. I tested the current 3ds battery and its only pitting out 2.46 v so I guess that's the issue. Wondering if it be that the 3ds is no longer sending power to the battery, am I safe to check the battery connector on the battery board while the charger is pluged in?
 
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democracy

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Update: I tested the battery connectors non the 3ds itself while plunged into ac, it outputs 2.03-2.04 is that normal? Is my new battery board okay?
 

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