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Discuss

Ultra slim micro USB cable for wall mounted tablet

Jonathan D. 7 years ago in Browsers Tablets Phones updated by Terry (ActionTiles) (Co-Founder) 4 years ago 22

Does anyone know if a thin micro USB cable, such as those used on Qi wireless charging receivers, exists? (see photo). On the Qi charger it connects directly to a charging pad. What I would be looking for would be one that ends in a USB connector. Is this even possible?


I feel like this  would be an ideal solution for a wall mounted tablet without a big case to hide the cord. I know there are low profile cables, but they still would stick out farther than I'd prefer. This cable/ribbon would be almost flush with the side of a tablet and wrap around the back to go into a recessed outlet with a charging block or a USB/outlet.

Image 1117


Not sure if you ever found a solution on this.  I was searching and didn't find anything, but I did buy one of these Qi receivers from Amazon for $7, peeled it apart and desoldered the connector at the end of the wire.  Just 2 solder points.  I think soldered them to another USB wire (+5v and Ground) and stuck it behind my kindle.  Nearly invisible and perfect.

I did the same thing... The beauty of this being that these can be had on ebay for anywhere from $2 - $6... If you can solder, it's a really easy hack... just need to be sure you order the correct connector orientation... Narrow side up or down... 

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I've been searching for a solution for awhile and found this in another thread: https://community.smartthings.com/t/dashboard-theming-custom-css-and-mounting-hardware-ideas/11222/2150


It's just like dtb3 said, buy a flat qi charging cable (link in thread) and solder two points. I've been avoiding soldering or wiring a new electrical box in the hopes of finding the perfect 180-degree microusb adapter, but everything I find is clunky. Looks like soldering is the best clean looking option for a naked mounted tablet.

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I use this one:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075DDSYMZ


It isn't perfectly flush though.  Here's a pic of how it sits.

I used that cable at first, but the micro USB plug on it is much bigger than the picture would lead you to believe.  It doesn't go into the charging socket very far (so a lot of it sticks out), but the bigger problem is that on my Kindle Fire HD10, the 90 bend part of the connector was so long that it was hitting the wall and pushing my tablet out (and putting strain on the charging port).  I finally saw that somebody (apparently well known on Facebook) was selling Kindle Fire frames along with charging cables on a ST Facebook Group, so I bought one of those.  It worked perfectly for my Fire HD8s, but for the 10, the cable was too short, so I had to buy an extension.  It's been a learning process, but it finally worked out.  To make a long story short, that cable is not as small/compact as it seems.  :)

Do you have a link to that group / tablet frame? The cable I bought from alibaba literally disintegrated in the fire's usb port and I just spent an hour chipping it out with a needle. I would gladly pay for a quality cable to not have to do that again.

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Yup, that's the one.  I would have provided a link and recommended by name, but wasn't sure what the rules were as far as that goes on this forum.  It's a bit pricey, but it is a nice frame and Bob includes the cable (which is impossible to find elsewhere) and shipping.  Definitely worth it IMHO.  Just an FYI: If you have a Fire HD10 and find that your cable isn't quite long enough to reach the outlet (my recessed box isn't centered in the back of my tablet), these extensions worked great for me.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00UMZN47Y/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Thanks Terry, will do.


On a site note - I very much appreciate all the work you and team do to make ActionTiles. I could not manage without it. Even having to take my tablet down off the wall every other day to charge is worth it because of how awesome and convenient AT is. Keep up the great work!

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Thanks a million for the compliments, Russell! 🤗 


If you use Facebook, we super appreciate an endorsement in the form of a 5-Star rating and few words of review post to https://www.facebook.com/ActionTiles/reviews 


... Terry.


this link is dead and i found this thread searching for this kind of a solution.  does this product still exist? I am looking for options for mounting tablets on my walls nicely.

Thank you for this link!  I have been struggling with my Fire8 battery draining the past couple months .  I don't know what happened but it pulls lot more current (500ma) than it used to.  Year ago I had bought a couple of the qi receivers, carefully cut the cable, exposed the copper and soldered some wires to it.  Tried chopping into the other one of these last week and still won't keep Fire 8 charged.  Just ordered MakesByMike, hopefully it does the job!!

Yep.  that's the same one I used....though a different length  See the pic above to see how it actually sits in the plug.  It's not quite "flush".


Make sure the microusb orientation is correct. You don’t want the ribbon cable to come out instead of back underneath the tablet. 


I bought a different cable from aliexpress, found in the thread I linked. Yeah I’ll have to solder but it was only 1.83$ and much more flush than the one from amazon.

so what did you do?  buy the wireless charging adapter and solder it to a new USB wire?

I pealed it apart, unsoldered the flat cable from the small pc board, cut the micro connector off of one of the 100 usb cables I had and soldered it up. 

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Nice.  I'm not much of a solder-er, but maybe that would be a good project to learn.