Loose Mini Connector?

Question

After having my JeVois and using it lightly for several months, the device began to disconnect when the cable moved. The problem has gotten worse, and now the camera does not connect at all. It still receives power from my computer and has both the green and orange status lights, but I am unable to communicate via `jevois-cmd`, nor can JeVois Inventor and guvcview capture any feed.

I have tried a handful of cables, and so it seems to me the Mini USB port on the JeVois itself has been damaged. Does this diagnosis seem correct? Is there any ways to repair the Mini port?

Answer 1

Yes, this has happened to us, but usually after things like a pretty rough drone crash, so your case may be milder. Usually we get back on track using needle nose pliers to just squeeze the connector in the camera a tiny bit to make it tighter. We do this in the vertical direction (i.e., squeeze the top metal plate to be be closer to the bottom one). Note that the bottom has a "seam" in the middle, so make sure you squeeze both sides of it upwards as opposed to only the left side or right side.

You can see the "seam" in that upside down view of a similar mini-USB socket (not our exact model but close enough): https://dracity.manufacturer.globalsources.com/si/6008800571690/pdtl/Micro-USB-connector/1010699929/Mini-USB-Socket.htm

We use pliers like this: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Stanley-5-in-Needle-Nose-Pliers-84-096/203901935

Comments

Helped quite a bit, but there's still a fair amount of wiggle that can cause the camera to disconnect. I'll probably try some other ways to hold the cable in place.