Help Antenna repair that dramatically improves battery life?

[Dr_Gibberish]

I am posting this question because a possible fix for battery life problems was addressed deep in a thread in the Sprint user Community and had gotten little response. (Here is the original thread: Samsung Moment:Battery Life )

In summary, a user reported that he had terrible battery life (2-3 hours) on his Moment and brought it to a store in Wichita KS where the tech opened the phone, re-soldered the antenna lead and put it back together in less than 20 minutes. Apparently this resulted in a dramatic increase in battery life (60% left after 12 hours of use). He posted the location of the store, and I independently looked them up on the Sprint store locator, called them and spoke to one of their repair techs. She confirmed that that they had performed the repair on multilple Samsung Moments and that it had largely resolved the battery life issues. She also told me that any tech at a Sprint corporate repair center should be able to find this fix on their "CE Website" - as it is a "known issue" with the phone.

I called two different repair centers here in CA and neither had heard of this repair, and both said they do not do repairs that require soldering. (They only replace modular components that can be plugged and unplugged inside the phone.) One thought he had heard about this "CE Website" but said it was not something they used or had access to. I have also googled this and searched at multiple Moment user forums and found not a word about this issue.

SO, has anyone else HAD this repair or even HEARD of it?

Does anyone near Wichita KS want to go to the store on North Rock Road and get it done and report back?

I have been on forums for this phone just about daily since I got it in November and this is the very first time I have heard of this despite reading hundreds of posts about battery life. If this fix really works it seems worth looking into...

 

[kiddk1]

this is new to me, just called my local sprint repair facility and they said they have never heard of this and that opening this phone for repairs is not authorized by samsung and will void the warranty.

 

[Dr_Gibberish]

As I said above, I got the same response at my local Sprint store, but the facility I spoke to in Kansas is a Sprint corporate repair center and they said they have done this many times. I just don't know what to make of it. Also, I dont think it can void the warranty if one of their repair people is doing it...

 

[cosine83]

I would say that the tech in question is a bit more of an experienced tech as opposed to a desk jockey "tech" that replaces screens and batteries. I don't think I've ever seen a soldering iron at a tech's workbench at any Sprint repair center I've been to.

Also, I'm willing to bet that the CE Website is an internal-only website for Sprint CE employees. CE probably means cellular engineer or computer engineer (that's my work title). I'll give the repair centers in my area a call after work and see if they do this kind of repair.

And yeah, I don't see how it would void the warranty for Sprint, an authorized repair agent, to open up the phone and re-solder the antenna lead. It probably results in better battery life because the antenna is getting better reception thus requiring less juice being pumped into it for better signal. The Moment will send more power to the antenna when it's in a low signal area so that it can attempt to get a better signal which drastically reduces battery life.

 

[Dr_Gibberish]

Thanks for the input, cosine. I think the CE wesbite IS something internal from the way she described it. I should also note that my interest in this partly stems from the fact that the terrible battery life on my phone is clealry in part dependent on cell signal. I just fully recharged my phone at work where I have very low signal and it was down to 50% in 2 hours with no active use. It also gets very hot at work. At home, a similar decline takes twice as long. It makes me wonder if, even where the signal is good, a poor antenna connection is making the phone work harder than it needs to.

 

[kiddk1]

if anyone can get the rep in kansas to give us a how to I would do this myself

 

[ramiss]

if anyone can get the rep in kansas to give us a how to I would do this myself

Agree!

 

[Keo]

Hell, I'd ship my phone to them from D.C just to have the repair done.

 

[Deleted User]

I'm not sure how this would work to fix battery life. I suppose if the antenna had a bad connection then the PA could be ramped up to compensate, and thus draining power. The solder on my antennas looks fine though...

 

[StuntHard]

I work for a repair center and have not heard of that fix in any way and is not listed as a known issue in e-ticket

 

[foundchris]

I'm on my second Moment - Sprint swapped me out when I complained about poor signal quality at the house. It didn't get any better with the second one. Sitting at my desk at home my Moment would drop calls or not connect at all, when my wife's phone (non-smart Samsung phone) and my old Palm Centro used to work just fine. After reading a few posts tonight about this mysterious repair I opened up the case and found a small white wire running next to the battery compartment that was connected at one end but not the other. At the disconnected end was a connector and a connecting pin on the circuit board, they just weren't touching - I snapped the connector on, screwed everything back together, and now I can make calls from my desk. Amazing.

Now I wonder if my previous Moment didn't have the same problem - just a disconnected wire that probably was never connected at the factory.

 

[kiddk1]

I'm on my second Moment - Sprint swapped me out when I complained about poor signal quality at the house. It didn't get any better with the second one. Sitting at my desk at home my Moment would drop calls or not connect at all, when my wife's phone (non-smart Samsung phone) and my old Palm Centro used to work just fine. After reading a few posts tonight about this mysterious repair I opened up the case and found a small white wire running next to the battery compartment that was connected at one end but not the other. At the disconnected end was a connector and a connecting pin on the circuit board, they just weren't touching - I snapped the connector on, screwed everything back together, and now I can make calls from my desk. Amazing.

Now I wonder if my previous Moment didn't have the same problem - just a disconnected wire that probably was never connected at the factory.

can you post pics please

 

[ShepsCrook]

Ok, just for some clarification. Yes, fixing an antenna in this case CAN increase battery life. Why? Because the phone is struggling more when there's low signal to try to obtain a decent signal. A lot of times if you're in an area where there's little to no signal, the phone will continue to scan and scan and scan for signals. I've had two phones that were the same when I use to travel. Both batteries were fully charged when I got on an airplane for a business trip. I had one phone in my backpack that I forgot to turn off, and one in my pocket which was turned off. Upon arriving the phone that was left on had been searching for a signal in the sky's for the entire flight which drained its battery. These phones could easily last all day of medium use, but a couple hour flight killed it's battery. It's just that the phone works harder while searching for a signal, thus the reason why the phone is warm also. Increasing the antenna's capabilities means it doesn't struggle as much to obtain a good signal.

 

[latinmaxima]

Yes pics please!

 

[Keo]

Yeah, I'd like to see a pic too.

 

[Zumaki]

Now I wonder if my previous Moment didn't have the same problem - just a disconnected wire that probably was never connected at the factory.

Wow.

 

[krzyglu]

got picture from http://dejaviews.org/howto/moment/

I disconnected on my phone and got no signal put back and got a signal i could see it comming loose if dropped. it is a white wire like a wifi connecter wire that goes from the main board down pass the battery and connected to a smaller board at the rear speaker. Where it sayd one more down there is the wire.

 

[edp]

i wanted to try this. but the bottom left screw on my phone was on really tight, and when trying to unscrew it, i wore down the screw head to the point where my screwdriver no longer works on it. does anyone have any suggestions?

 

[wallacesh954rr]

beat me to it, but here are more pics, are the things in pic 3 the things they're talking about soldering?

 

[DrBoris]

i wanted to try this. but the bottom left screw on my phone was on really tight, and when trying to unscrew it, i wore down the screw head to the point where my screwdriver no longer works on it. does anyone have any suggestions?

If you dont have a easy out set and if the screw is large enough you can take a dremel and score a - to get a flat blade to fit. Lastly you can mill/grind/drill away the head to remove the cover and use some pliers to twist out the rest of the thread.

 

[gmjlopez]

So I took off the cover and checked that wire. It was still connected. Did the repair center permanently solder that wire on? Has anyone soldered this connection. It looks very risky and my soldering iron tip isn't very fine. Just curious to what other members have done.

 

[gmjlopez]

On another note, has anyone tried the antenna boosters that go inside the cover? Do they work, or is it just a gimmick. I almost want to try it cause they are so cheap and if they work it will help me big time. My signal bounces around so much in the same spot. It drains the battery a lot.

 

[spot08]

i just did this fix on my moment went realy well just took my time and was very carefull with my soldering iron i'll let everyone know if it helps the battery life

 

[foundchris]

I haven't noticed any improvement in battery life since reconnecting that wire, but the signal quality is definitely better. I drive all over the place, sometimes through some pretty poor signal areas, so my phone is always dead by the end of the day if I don't put it on the car charger some.

In the picture that krzyglu posted above, the white wire on the right side where it says "one more down there" is the wire that I'm talking about. The snap-on connection above the battery bay (circled in the picture) was not connected properly, just hanging loose. After connecting that I can now use my phone in the house and it works, most of the time. Still not great but good enough that I'm not going back to Sprint for a different phone.

 

[wallacesh954rr]

i dunno if soldering the white wire would help if its connected already, they seem pretty snug. what i did was get some really fine wire (like the individual wires inside a mini-usb cable) and soldered them to the ends of the contacts in the pics i posted above. not on the actual contact, but the side that doesnt have the board on it, i added some length to the flat metal "grid" the contacts touch, it seemed to help reception a little bit (reception sucks in my apt) but after doing this i can make a call anywhere in my apt without dropping or cutting out. i dont know if what i did has anything to do with it, or if those things are even antennas lol, but i was bored and wanted to solder something