10/16/2024
How broken is too broken?
A while back, I had a customer whose battery connector was broken and ripped off, removing three functional pads and damaging the traces. Most places would consider it too broken to repair and quote a board replacement. This being a newer laptop, a replacement board would cost in the area of $700. I was able to use magnet wire to create new traces from the VIAs and use UV-cure solder mask to adhere everything in place. There were no replacement connectors available at the time, but was able to reuse the broken one. Instead of charging her for a replacement board, she was only charged for one hour of labor - saving $625.