Not my best day. My intention was to swap out a v3 for a v4. It was night, and I couldn’t see the orientation of the micro-USB connection. To be fair I was thinking these cams had a USB-C (fully reversable). Well, I guess in my haste to try and cram the cable into the camera connector I was successful. Well, until the camera didn’t power on. When I brought it inside to look at it in the light, I saw that I bent a pin and rendered the camera useless.
I saw another post about a similar issue with a v3 that involved cutting the cable and splicing in a pigtail connector.
I wondered if I could cut back the female connector shell (camera side) and replace it and here’s what I did. Numbers are referenced in pic below.
(1) I used a utility knife to cut a line all the way around the casing, and two lines on one side leading to the end of the connector.
(2) Then using a small screwdriver, I pried up a bit of the plastic, then (3) pealed back that bit of plastic back to the perpendicular cut I made around the casing, finally continued (4) pealing around the connector.
(5) Discovered I needed to cut back further to get to the end of the connector, I repeated steps 2 through 4.
(6) Using cuticle scissors I nipped away at the connector and underlying cable sleeve until I had exposed all the wires.
I found what appears to be the exact connector with a different casing on Amazon. I don’t need 50 of them, but I couldn’t find a smaller quantity, and the price is decent.
Anyway, I took a lot of pictures and created this collage for anyone making the same mistake and wants a challenge.
In the pic showing the connector on the tape measure, it is a view of the narrower side of the connector, and the wire I labeled as being Brown appears Pink in brighter light, so it may appear as one or the other for you.
[Edit] I’ll update the finished repair when I get the connector(s) in and solder on the new one.
