Hardware Nintendo 3Ds hardware chage problem (yeah, another one)

[Balallax]

So, the day came, and literally for no reason.
After a while without playing with my 3Ds (old model), the console doesnt charge the battery anymore.
Shows the orange led notification, but the battery do not hold charge.

It happens that I'm a technician and I work with logic board repairs in iPhones, I've checked the fuses on the battery and charger side, both pass the normal voltage which seems to be something like 3,5V from the charger and 3,3V from the battery.

I've swapped the battery with another original and working one (from a 2Ds's of a friend of mine) and still no charge.
The thing is, it still turns on...

I was thinking in (Maybe) a PMIC fault, (maybe again) on the fuel gauge that recognizes the full battery charge being "on" all the time, since if I let the console charging it will eventually turn the orange led off, like it has been charged, but when I try to turn the console on, it stays on for about 3 minutes before the red blinking light appears.
I've searched far and wide for a schematic for this 3Ds but, as everything hardware related to nintendo, its seems to be impossible, at least for now...
I'm really thinking in buying a broken 3Ds just to replace the PMIC on mine (since its unlocked and with almost 30 games installed), It will be a hard time to "copy" this setup on another one, for me its seems to be more easy to repair this one.

Just wanted to know if anyone had any experience with something like that before, logic board repairs, maybe some sort of schematic of even a datasheet for the PMIC on the old 3Ds?

Thanks!

 

[Balallax]

So, A update about this issue:

After searching on the internet for similar problems, I found a video from a spanish technician that tries to describe what is the cause of some battery or charge related problems on youtube

then I started to check for the power rails that come from the charger and from the battery. It seems like the inductor near the fuse from the charger is the cause, since it receives the 4,35V from the charger, but it "oscilated" that voltage on the output, going from 4,35V to 3,3V and then back to 4,35V. This doesnt seem to be normal, so I searched for a new one online, nowhere to be find. Looked on a old board of a DSi I had laying around and found that they're pretty much the same, with the same "arrangement" (near the charger fuse), and replaced it with the one from the DSi, the locations of each one are atached to this post

Well...

So if your 3Ds shows that it is charging (the orange led appears), but the battery percentage doesnt increase, and sometimes after unplugging the charger the led stays on, maybe the problem is that inductor.

If the charger isnt detected, the problem maybe the Fuse

If the charger is detected, the orange led dont stays on after unplugging the charger and the battery dont charge, maybe the problem is at the battery fuse, but that only happens if you intentionally short the battery when connecting it, wich is somewhat a difficult thing to do.

Now my 3Ds charge the battery properlly, maybe I just need to change the battery, since the usage time is low compared to when it was new.

Hope this helps and you learnt something!

Ps.: Sorry for any language mistakes, I'm brazilian

 

[survivorevil]

This happened to mine. I put more voltage through the battery pines and then it died . After that the pmic on the battery area gets way too hot. I already took it off and im waiting on replacing it.

Ill be checking out the inductors you mentioned and keep you updated... Probably the pmic wasnt the issue then...

 

[Balallax]

This happened to mine. I put more voltage through the battery pines and then it died . After that the pmic on the battery area gets way too hot. I already took it off and im waiting on replacing it.

Ill be checking out the inductors you mentioned and keep you updated... Probably the pmic wasnt the issue then...

Any update on this?

Normally, when injecting charge on a power line, the component that gets hot is shorted. But this should be true if your device doesnt turn on in any case.
If the device turns on, maybe the problem isnt the PMIC. Must be some rail that is being filtered by some sort of diode of filter that has burnt out.

you should check the continuity from the battery or charger connector to the rails of the fuses with a multimeter.
Anyway, if you have any update, just reply me, I would be glad to help

 

[survivorevil]

It doesnt turn on at all. I checked fuses and capacitors around and they look normal so Im just waiting ont eh pmic. im trying to decide if ill be buying it or transferring it from another mother board. Ill keep posting

 

[TurdPooCharger]

It doesnt turn on at all. I checked fuses and capacitors around and they look normal so Im just waiting ont eh pmic. im trying to decide if ill be buying it or transferring it from another mother board. Ill keep posting

Did you test the fuses with a multimeter? Visual inspection isn't enough to find which ones are bad.

For the SMD capacitors, a multimeter isn't sensitive enough to test these. I think you need a special tweezers probe or replace them outright.

 

[Balallax]

Did you test the fuses with a multimeter? Visual inspection isn't enough to find which ones are bad.

For the SMD capacitors, a multimeter isn't sensitive enough to test these. I think you need a special tweezers probe or replace them outright.

A good multimeter will do the job. I do tests everyday on iPhone boards with multimeters, there are good cheap tools that can at least test continuity on the fuses using diode mode.

It doesnt turn on at all. I checked fuses and capacitors around and they look normal so Im just waiting ont eh pmic. im trying to decide if ill be buying it or transferring it from another mother board. Ill keep posting

Will keep checking this thread, good luck!

 

[survivorevil]

I checked around and everything seems to be fine. Now im looking for the pmic but they only sell them at batches 5pcs minimum 5dls e/a. You know a place where to get these components by the unit?

 

[Balallax]

I checked around and everything seems to be fine. Now im looking for the pmic but they only sell them at batches 5pcs minimum 5dls e/a. You know a place where to get these components by the unit?

You got stuck on the same position as me when I got the problem. I know from where you're trying to buy, but I think its worth buying a bricked device/ damaged software board from ebay or some site like this to harvest the components.

Besides a "dead" board by bad software, you should have any original component on a 3Ds board.
But to do this you'll need good soldering skills and good equipament.

Will be much more costly if you buy the 5 components, and Im almost sure that the model they sell isnt the same as the board, just a slightly different variant of the same component, since Nintendo make custom ones for their devices...

 

[survivorevil]

Did you have any luck? I was able to get another board and transfer the pmic.

 

[Akumajoh]

I have the Same issue, orange light turns on, but the battery dont charge.

 

[Balallax]

I have the Same issue, orange light turns on, but the battery dont charge.

Try the tips I gave on the second post.

Use a multimeter in voltage mode to check the rails that comes from charger connector and battery connector, check if they are receiving a steady at least 4,35V FROM the charger, and the middle pad on the battery is receiving at least 1,8V. After the battery fuse, when with the battery pluged, on each side of the fuse, you should get 3,3V. If in one of the ends of the fuses the voltage is lower or 0V, this means a burnt fuse. Change it and youre good to go.

diode/ continuity mode to check resistence from ground to Caps around PMIC, check is one or some are "bipping" in each side, this means a shorted rail, which can be the cause.

DONT USE DIODE/ CONTINUITY MODE WITH THE DEVICE ON OR WITH ANY FEED FROM CHARGER OR BATTERY. Otherwise you can short the board.

If you put a charged battery on the console and it turns on, its not the pmic, more likely a feed rail that have a problem on a filter, resistor or fuse.

Did you have any luck? I was able to get another board and transfer the pmic.

My device if fine until today, what about yours?

The pmic swap was enough to bring it back to life?

 

[VicCatarino]

Hello guys, this is my first time here but I had the same problem with the inductor (at least I think it was ) 2/3 years ago with my DSi Xl, and as you did I tried searching for a new inductor but I couldn't find it (especially in Brazil), so I tried removing one for an old dsi I didn't used anymore but I ended up damaging the inductor ( i didn't had experience in soldering, I was 15 years old), so bought some spare dsi parts on a batch and replaced the motherboard.
But now I am checking it again and I want to try to fix my old dsi and one of the DSi Xl that came in the batch, but after searching it again, I still couldn't find the inductor ( the same one marked on the dsi picture above) can someone at leas find the datasheet or the description of it in the digi-key site? I don't have technician experience and I find it really difficult to search those things, so if you can find it, please let me know.
I am Brazilian too so excuse me for any potential typing/grammatical errors .