[TheCLEANSER]

Hello everyone, it seems as though I have accidentally discovered the bad battery or battery drain ROOT cause during a battery swap I performed myself on the Dtek60.

Those of you that are having the battery issues, did you ever notice the phone being unusually warm while web browsing or youtube or streaming radio? Mine has always been very warm - I always thought it was some app running in the background in some kinda loop...

So there is a DIY youtube video which I followed ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...&v=DQVGykagSkg

So I changed the battery via the instructions on the video ...
NOTE - the battery can be the first component to come out after back cover has been removed.
It went well and the new battery was working great... how ever in the next day or 2 I found I was getting really crappy cell service... definitely worse than normal...I never found this phone to have stellar reception...
I thought oh oh I must have dinged some thing while taking the phone apart...
So I watch the video again and right around the 5 minute mark there is mention of a communication cable. I assumed this must have been the "antenna" wire.
So I take the phone apart AGAIN and to my surprise the communication or coaxial cable with a 90 degree connector is in fact in its place.
However upon closer examination with dental tools I see that its loose or flopping around on the pin that it should be tight on. I thought I must have somehow damaged it while taking the phone apart ...
Anyway quick fix I cut some plastic shims out of clear hard plastic used in packaging and set them on top of the connector and put the back cover on the phone so that it would keep downward pressure on the shimms on the connector.

Problem solved .. in fact i've never had such good reception on that phone before.. it can now be used in parts of the house where I couldn't have had a conversation before due to the cutting in and out.....

Later that night I'm now web browsing - I'm a heavy surfer usually opening multiple pages a switching back and for between them while researching products or going through forums....etc etc....
I noticed something very unusual .. the phone is not hot like it usually is...

It dawned on me... that antenna wire has been loose for a really long time.. Im not an electrical engineer but common sense tells me..
the transmitter is trying to send a signal through the coaxial cable down to the antenna.. connection is not optimum .. the transmitter has no where to dissipate the signal so it starts heating up... in fact it might even increase the juice thinking reception is poor causing more heat and battery drain....this vicious cycle perhaps a thousand or more times in the year I've owned the phone is ultimately what wiped out the original battery..
The new battery was to see the exact same fate of the old battery had I not accidentally discovered what's going on.

The phone doesn't heat up anymore and the new battery is lasting really long now...

I have not dropped this phone even once so I am assuming that 90 degree cable connector must have been bunged up some how during the original assembly of the phone...
It just took a while to wear out the battery and wear it out it did... I had to plug that phone 5 times a day...

All good now... hope this can help others.

This is my post on changing the battery,

https://forums.crackberry.com/blackb.../#post13085449

[OTCHRussell]

That's interesting. But I doubt I would be brave enough to take my Dtek60 apart, at least not till I get another phone to replace it!

[TheCLEANSER]

That's interesting. But I doubt I would be brave enough to take my Dtek60 apart, at least not till I get another phone to replace it!

After researching several phones I had the BlackBerry Motion in mind and called ahead to make sure they were in stock Incase my DYI procedure didn't go so well...

If you just use the heat gun on the back and have something thin to pry the back off its quite easy... you'd be surprised...
Just watch the video... don't be intimidated... give it a shot...
You might want to have a new battery on hand...
35 bucks on eBay....

[OTCHRussell]

Thanks. I'm thinking about a motion.

[TheCLEANSER]

Wow not a lot of feed back here considering I prolly solved one of the main issues with this phone......
Clearly this post is a little too much information for the average joe...
Every one likes to vent here on the forums but when it comes to watching a DIY step by step video and using some small screw drivers and an exacto knife ...... its clearly above and beyond most folks abilities...
You have to mentally part with the phone prior to the repair - tell your self this either works or the phone goes in the garbage...be ready to move on......... you'd be surprised at what your capable of....
Just sayin.....
All the parts for that phone can be looked up under Alcatel Idol 4s... cause that is what the Dtek60 really is.....

[tickerguy]

Except the screen. Booger that and you're done.

[mellowjellow]

Fiddling with software is easy than opening stuff when most of the people use their phone as daily driver. Keeping in mind the great service for Dtek provided, it's better to stay away from DIY stuff. One mistake and its over. Atleast for me, I don't have anymore patience to deal with service centres.

[320flyboy320]

How is the back cover secured back in place? Is the adhesive still good to reuse?

[mellowjellow]

I don't think it will good enough as I remember service guy saying that he has stick it by adhesive so use it in a protective case for a day or a two.

[stlabrat]

nicely done. look like either design or MFG forgot the tolerance stack issue. however, TCL should take care of it via recall or repair. User open a phone that not intended to be open is asking for trouble - you might broken EMI and cause leakage that might harmful to your body... (exceeding allowable EMI value). IMHO.

[tickerguy]

Meh; there's no EMI issue on a glass or plastic-back device.

[TheCLEANSER]

How is the back cover secured back in place? Is the adhesive still good to reuse?

Yes the adhesive is still very good - I have taken my back cover off almost a dozen times and it just sticks back on nice and tight...

[TheCLEANSER]

That antenna wire is quite the pain... it some how keeps coming loose.. its snapped on into its socket but is still some how loosing its connection - I can tell right away when the battery starts to drain quickly and top portion of the phone starts to become warm- This is why I have taken the back cover off almost a dozen times now.
I think I finally got a good fix --
I bought some dielectric grease from canadian tire $5.99 and 5 minute epoxy $4.99 (super glue would also work)
Using my dental tools ( a sewing needle would work as well ) I pulled the antenna wire out and put some of the grease in the socket and reconnected it-the die electric grease is used to enhance the connection. Snap the antenna wire back into its socket,
Then I coated the area with the epoxy so that it would lock everything in place...
Seems to working good now....
I know this is getting to be a little too much work for a phone...lol............ and above a lot of people's heads too..... The way I see it - even if I accidentally damage some thing........the phone is junk anyway-------- what have I got to loose.....
By taking this risk I at the very least became a little wiser... and I have not had to buy a new phone.....

[tickerguy]

Those little connectors, especially the RF ones, are REALLY easy to damage the locking mechanism on... then they don't lock any more.

Just remember that none of the connectors in a cellphone are designed to be mated and unmated more than 2 or 3 times; 90% of the units are mated exactly once. None of them are designed or rated to be disconnected and reconnected more than a couple of times. Treat them that way and you'll do reasonably well.

[vincent caracciolo]

Wow not a lot of feed back here considering I prolly solved one of the main issues with this phone......
Clearly this post is a little too much information for the average joe...
Every one likes to vent here on the forums but when it comes to watching a DIY step by step video and using some small screw drivers and an exacto knife ...... its clearly above and beyond most folks abilities...
You have to mentally part with the phone prior to the repair - tell your self this either works or the phone goes in the garbage...be ready to move on......... you'd be surprised at what your capable of....
Just sayin.....
All the parts for that phone can be looked up under Alcatel Idol 4s... cause that is what the Dtek60 really is.....

Thanks for the post. I'm going to give it a shot

[Jake2826]

Thank you so much for sharing this.

[vincent caracciolo]

Nice find cleanser. Thanks for sharing makes sense to me. Ordered a new battery on Ebay and will giving it a go. Still under warranty but I will do it myself.

[320flyboy320]

Nice find cleanser. Thanks for sharing makes sense to me. Ordered a new battery on Ebay and will giving it a go. Still under warranty but I will do it myself.

Thinking of doing the same, which battery did you order, do you have a link?

[vincent caracciolo]

https://m.ebay.ca/itm/Alcatel-Onetou...IAAOSwl9RaLWQD

[320flyboy320]

https://m.ebay.ca/itm/Alcatel-Onetou...IAAOSwl9RaLWQD

Thanks for the link, and if you could let us know how it works out.

[scrapmetal58]

Any ideas on getting a guaranteed new battery from a reputable source?

[vincent caracciolo]

Thanks for the link, and if you could let us know how it works out.

Got the battery. Changed it using instructions and video above. Took about 30 min. All is great so far. Had no issue with antenna. It was secure so I left it alone. 4 days so far and lasting all day on a single charge

[marcati]

Got my battery changed within 10 minutes.

Now let's see how the new battery performs!

Thanks for the post!! :-)

[320flyboy320]

Got my battery changed within 10 minutes.

Now let's see how the new battery performs!

Thanks for the post!! :-)

Where did you get the battery from?

[conite]

Where did you get the battery from?

https://www.batterycanada.com/tlp030f1.asp