1 Tråd av jonasolof Senaste redigerad av jonasolof (2013-01-26 13:13:14)

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Tråd: Replacement SIM card holder for the AVM6840 LTE ROUTER

This router for the 800 and 2600 LTE bands has a slide in sim card reader which I ruined by inserting an empty micro sim adapter. The frame of the adapter catches on to the contact springs of the reader and the springs are easily destroyed unless one opens the router and uses a special tool to push down all six springs as the card adapter is pulled out.

No such luck for me so I had to mount an alternative card holder, which was attched with double sided scotch underneath the printed circuit board. The trick is to know the order of connection points.

SIM card connectors are aligned as follows, when looking at them from above. Three onn each side:

CLK          I/O    (closest to cut off corner)
RST           -      (not connected on SIM
VCC          GND

Look at the row of connection points below the original sim card holder. You can easily verify that the fifth connection point, counting from the left is ground. The stainless-steel cover is attached in the corners by soldering and can be removed.

The order of connections in the row to the card holder is as follows.

1 I/O
2 CLK
3 -
4 RST
5 GND
6 VCC

which means that 1,3 and 5 connect to the side with the cut off corner and 2,4 and 6 to the opposite side.

The card holder is accessed through a rectangular hole in the bottom cover. The hinged cover sim card holder makes it easy to switch sim cards and also to insert micro sims in adapters.

The log under system tells only if a card is not detected. If it is detected, LTE info gives card data. Which it now does again.

So the 300 EUR router was fixed. I had tried to communicate with AVM support but they obviously did not want to discuss mounting an alternative card holder.

LTE testare på 4G 2600, 1800, 900, 800 med Fritzbox AVM 6890, AVM6840, AVM6842, AVM 6820 och AVM 7590/7490/7390 samt diverse mifis från ZTE och Netgear. Några huaweimodem på hyllan.

2 Svar av Andreas

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Sv: Replacement SIM card holder for the AVM6840 LTE ROUTER

Interesting with mods or in this case its a fix.
I'v hade ppl telling me about the same issue with breaking sim card holders/the small pins get stuck in the micro sim adapter en gets bent when you take in and out the card.

I would like to see what you have done, can you post a picture?

Gillar prylar, 2G/3G/4G, den som har mest prylar när den dör vinner!

Andreas's hemsida

3 Svar av jonasolof Senaste redigerad av jonasolof (2013-01-26 15:31:45)

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Sv: Replacement SIM card holder for the AVM6840 LTE ROUTER

This is the AVM6840 board from above

http://i.imgur.com/0yk5oCO.jpg

Here is the original slide in sim card holder with six connection points. The fifth from the left is ground (GND). The stainless steel cover is soldered at the four corners and has to be lifted away if damaged connector springs are to be removed.

http://i.imgur.com/Y4Jel9Q.jpg

The layout of six connector sim card holders:

http://i.imgur.com/lR1IKKt.jpg

New sim holder with hinged cover mounted on reverse side of circuit board

http://i.imgur.com/miA3qwj.jpg

The sim card including micro sims in adapters can be easily inserted from below

http://i.imgur.com/OlOb5Zs.jpg

The wiring ain't pretty. Soldering was done by a company under a microscope. I had to unsolder two connections which had been mixed up. I also connected sim card holder GND to connector point  GND in position 5. I used a Weller welding station with a 1 mm tip. I doubt that I could have soldered all six connections without shorting the connection points.

http://i.imgur.com/2WMn2uM.jpg

More comments in next post

LTE testare på 4G 2600, 1800, 900, 800 med Fritzbox AVM 6890, AVM6840, AVM6842, AVM 6820 och AVM 7590/7490/7390 samt diverse mifis från ZTE och Netgear. Några huaweimodem på hyllan.

4 Svar av jonasolof Senaste redigerad av jonasolof (2013-01-26 16:25:03)

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Sv: Replacement SIM card holder for the AVM6840 LTE ROUTER

According to this description, the wires between an external sim card holder and the modem should not exceed 8 cm. Please note the small capacitor C1 close to the sim card holder which protects against electrostatic discharge. There appears to be a capacitor for the same purpose on the AVM6840 board if you look at the reverse side between points 6 and 5. So don't be tempted to use another spot for grounding although there are many available on the board.

http://www.datasheet.co.kr/download.php?id=621951

In order to see the pdf schematic, click on the link to the next page and download AL7000 pdf

When mounting a new card holder for the AVM6840 on the reverse side of the board, I'd advise to drill holes through the PCB to make the wires as short as possible. However, since the repair which was done works, I don't try to touch it more since I am well aware of the risk of messing up the six connection points.

Finding the six pin hinged cover SIM card holder was not easy. I was eventually lucky to have a company give me one since they manufacture a device which uses this kind of sim card holder. As can be understood from the above pdf, an  8 pin card holder works just as well. Note that on their drawing, In/out (SIMDATA) is in position 7 down to the left. If you turn that drawing 180 degrees, it coincides with the layout image in my previous post.

A note on card holders damaged by micro sim card adapters. Swedes should use Telia's adapter which costs only SEK 29. Some adapters are more perilous than others. Never put in an empty adapter on a sled.

The Huawei B593 routers also have slot entry sim card readers. I suppose that they can be replaced the same way that I had the AVM router repaired.

The iphone 3 and 3 GS sim card reader is often damaged. The reader can be replaced and spare readers are available but the job needs to be done by an accomplished technician. see you tube videos for this repair.

LTE testare på 4G 2600, 1800, 900, 800 med Fritzbox AVM 6890, AVM6840, AVM6842, AVM 6820 och AVM 7590/7490/7390 samt diverse mifis från ZTE och Netgear. Några huaweimodem på hyllan.

5 Svar av svenix

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Sv: Replacement SIM card holder for the AVM6840 LTE ROUTER

It seems that kind of SIM card holder can be bought on Ebay for $1.59.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/SIM-Card-Slot-C … 2327615e80

6 Svar av jonasolof Senaste redigerad av jonasolof (2013-01-26 17:35:43)

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Sv: Replacement SIM card holder for the AVM6840 LTE ROUTER

Thank's a lot Svenix. I had only found a manufacturer in South Africa and it was not clear if you could buy just one or two. The springs should be gold plated I think. Hopefully these are.

LTE testare på 4G 2600, 1800, 900, 800 med Fritzbox AVM 6890, AVM6840, AVM6842, AVM 6820 och AVM 7590/7490/7390 samt diverse mifis från ZTE och Netgear. Några huaweimodem på hyllan.

7 Svar av Andreas

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Sv: Replacement SIM card holder for the AVM6840 LTE ROUTER

Exactly the B593 i had issue with before, and a cant see any screw's to open the modem, so i dont know if its glued together.

Found two types of sim card holder replacement for blackberry dx.com for about 2 bucks, maybe good to have in mind in the future. smile

http://img.dxcdn.com/productimages/sku_145226_1.jpg

http://img.dxcdn.com/productimages/sku_142455_2.jpg

Gillar prylar, 2G/3G/4G, den som har mest prylar när den dör vinner!

Andreas's hemsida

8 Svar av jonasolof

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Sv: Replacement SIM card holder for the AVM6840 LTE ROUTER

If a repair is needed,it is preferable to use a hinged cover sim card holder since it handles micro sim adapters better

LTE testare på 4G 2600, 1800, 900, 800 med Fritzbox AVM 6890, AVM6840, AVM6842, AVM 6820 och AVM 7590/7490/7390 samt diverse mifis från ZTE och Netgear. Några huaweimodem på hyllan.

9 Svar av jonasolof

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Sv: Replacement SIM card holder for the AVM6840 LTE ROUTER

When using a sim card adapter in the original AVM6840, there can be a problem inserting the sled with the adapter and the micro sim into the slot. The total thickness is sometimes to great and there are small variation in sim card adapter measurements so that some don't fit well in the plastic sled.

The solution is to insert the adapter into the slot witout the sled. In the AVM6840, the sim card holder is not spring loaded as in some other sim slot designs.  If the sim card is inserted until it bottoms in  the slot, 2-3 mm are still visible outside and the card adapter can be extracted with any tool or finger nails or tweezers/pincette

LTE testare på 4G 2600, 1800, 900, 800 med Fritzbox AVM 6890, AVM6840, AVM6842, AVM 6820 och AVM 7590/7490/7390 samt diverse mifis från ZTE och Netgear. Några huaweimodem på hyllan.

10 Svar av jonasolof

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Sv: Replacement SIM card holder for the AVM6840 LTE ROUTER

Instead of putting an internal sim card reader in the router, one can use an external card reader connected with cables

https://www.lteforum.at/mobilfunk/huawe … post-75095

LTE testare på 4G 2600, 1800, 900, 800 med Fritzbox AVM 6890, AVM6840, AVM6842, AVM 6820 och AVM 7590/7490/7390 samt diverse mifis från ZTE och Netgear. Några huaweimodem på hyllan.

11 Svar av jonasolof

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Sv: Replacement SIM card holder for the AVM6840 LTE ROUTER

The repair in this thread was done in 2013. Now in 2017, I made a mistake witn another 6840 and a sim card adapter got stuck. Now I knew that the card reader spring contacts would be destroyed if I pulled the adapter out so I opened the router which is held together with five plastic clips.

I then used a tiny instrument screw driver to push down the spring contacts through the holes in the slot steel cover. I managed to take the micro sim out and could then focus on removing the adapter. The operation succeeded and the router patient survived.

LTE testare på 4G 2600, 1800, 900, 800 med Fritzbox AVM 6890, AVM6840, AVM6842, AVM 6820 och AVM 7590/7490/7390 samt diverse mifis från ZTE och Netgear. Några huaweimodem på hyllan.

12 Svar av g0cr Senaste redigerad av g0cr (2018-07-26 10:37:31)

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Sv: Replacement SIM card holder for the AVM6840 LTE ROUTER

I also broke my sim card adapter in the 6840 LTE by pulling it out without nano sim card inserted.

With simple soldering tool I found it easier to solder the contacts on the bottom side of the PCB.
There are 5 round gold-plated 'soldering' points for 1,2,3,4,6 and the 5th wire you solder on the side of what seems to be a SMD resistor.
These bottom contacts are spaced more widely than the top contacts.

Now it works again. It is not the original card holder; I used a Samsung Galaxy S2 (i9100) Sim Card Holder Reader. (I'm not allowed to add links or photos; I'll try later)

(You can also use (search) "Sim Card Slot Connector Tray Socket" (Plastic Open-Cover Type) which you may find 5 pieces for $1 shipped from China.)

13 Svar av jonasolof

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Sv: Replacement SIM card holder for the AVM6840 LTE ROUTER

Nice. We look forward to photos

LTE testare på 4G 2600, 1800, 900, 800 med Fritzbox AVM 6890, AVM6840, AVM6842, AVM 6820 och AVM 7590/7490/7390 samt diverse mifis från ZTE och Netgear. Några huaweimodem på hyllan.

14 Svar av knulpi

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Sv: Replacement SIM card holder for the AVM6840 LTE ROUTER

I know this is an old post, but for anyone stumbling across, I did a successful repair operation using a nice nano sim tray that had the same pin layout and spacing as the original one. I removed the old one and soldered wires on it, and moved the tray to the bottom of the device. One could directly solder the tray onto the PCB, but a change of the SIM would be harder then (except you make a hole into the housing). The trays I used came from AliExpress. I cannot insert a link here somehow, but search for "nano sim tray 6pin". If someone tells me how I will be allowed to post pictures and links, I will append them.