Tutorial How to USB-C mod your PW2/PW3

[hanakomisa]

Hello all!

I've recently successfully modded my PW2 and PW3 (kinda, the PW3 suffered some damage due to my own fault) to have USB-C charging and USB syncing.

I'm gonna go over how I installed it, what I used to do the install, and what to look out for specifically.


First off, you would need to have decent microsoldering skills, and preferably also good skills with doing hot air rework. I definitely did not have that and damaged all the pads, but that didn't matter as I was tapping the signal from the USB chip anyway.

Secondly, you would obviously need a USB-C female receptacle board. I went for this one specifically as it had the 5.1k CC pulldown resistors, making it work with USB-C chargers.



Note: There's also a USB-C receptable (part number MC002) designed to wire directly into the MicroUSB footprint. If you didn't damage your pads like I did, this is also an option although they are more expensive. Make sure you get the one that says MC002 instead of FMC002 (G will be on the left side).


Additionally, the tools I also used:
Pinecil V2 with the default B2 tip
60/40 leaded solder (Cimco DIN 8516)
UV solder mask (Relife RL-UVH902G)
Flux (Relife RL-422-IM)
Solder Braid
Solder Sucker (Relife RL-084 Pro)
30AWG and 36AWG wires
File set / MaAnt D2 grinding pen


Here's a wiring diagram for you from the chip that's right above the USB port.




Let's get into the actual mod.

First of all, you might want to use some UV curable solder mask to mask off the bottom side of the USB-C board, so that it doesn't potentially short something out, this is how it looked like for me.



Afterwards, remove your Micro USB port as you see fit. No images here as I did the removal some weeks ago and ruined all the pads.

This is roughly how it'll go on the Paperwhite's board:



I used 30AWG for the 5V line, tapped off of the capacitor(?), and 36AWG for the D-/D+, and ignored the OTG connector as the breakout board did not have it, and it's only used for the audio dongle anyhow.



From here, I carefully lined the USB-C board up to where the Micro USB port was, and then tacked in a corner with some solder, adjust until it looks good and solder in the rest of the anchors and wires.



Once all this is done, double check your wiring, make sure there aren't any shorts (or otherwise you may damage the USB functionality. Don't ask me how I know.) Then put it back together enough to test the functionality.



That went well (for the PW2), now you will have to modify the rear shell of the device to fit the USB port. This is how mine looks like. Just a lot of careful filing and trying until it fits.



Once it is all done, just put it back together like how you normally would, and voila, USB-C modded kindle!

This is how it looks like on my PW2 and PW3.