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I broke a few pins in the HDMI connector on my Raspberry Pi. I plan on removing the connector and soldering on a new connector.

Does anyone know the appropriate connector to purchase? It seems like the connectors may vary a bit depending on manufacturer (the HDMI port looks a bit different in pictures of different Raspberry Pis). Because of this I imagine the part is somewhat standard.

I believe I need a SMT female right angle HDMI port, but I am not sure about the exact spacing of the through hole portions of the connector and want to make sure the one I purchase is physically compatible with the Pi's circuit board.

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    I searched a little and came up empty handed. I guess the most straight forward option is to de-solder the current connector and do some measurements, with a caliper, on that one and compare those measurements with the available connectors on RS/Element14/Digikey.
    – ikku
    Dec 3, 2012 at 6:15
  • You could dig out whatever schematics there are and see if there's a type code for the connector. Layout images should have a precise footprint, if those are available.
    – XTL
    Dec 3, 2012 at 7:01
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    Are you sure it wouldn't be cheaper to purchase a new Raspberry Pi?
    – earthmeLon
    Dec 3, 2012 at 20:43
  • It would have been cheaper once I factor in the cost of the new soldering station I bought! But the SMT connector itself is a very cheap part ($1 or so).
    – radengr
    Dec 5, 2012 at 0:40

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The part is pretty standard. I'm pretty sure (though admittedly not 100%) that an SMT connector like this one will work just fine. There isn't really variation among HDMI connectors, unless you are using them for different mounting positions.

I've looked at the HDMI module and the CAD drawing, and the surface contact positions match up. There are actually no through-hole connections used for the HDMI connector, just 4 SMT solder points (along with the HDMI pin solder points).

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  • My chip quik just arrived, but the SMT connector is still on order. I appreciate all the help. I will post back in a few weeks once I get a chance to try replacing it.
    – radengr
    Dec 5, 2012 at 0:39
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After the helpful responses from John and ikku I bought a pair of "HDMI Female Jack 19pin Connectors 180 Degree" from ebay. It was just a few dollars.

I also picked up a new temperature controlled soldering Iron and a ChipQuik low temp solder SMT replacement kit.

The instructions for the kit were to cover the connections with flux, apply the low temp solder, and remove the part. I had a bit of trouble because of the four pieces of the HDMI connector that went through the board for structural support. I ended up clipping those, removing the jack, and then removing the four remaining pices.

Afterwards I cleaned the area with alcohol and then soldering the new jack on. The flux that came with the ChipQuik (seems like really nice stuff, but I don't have a lot of experiance with flux) was very helpful in removing the solder bridges accross the 19-pins on the jack. Afterwards I cleaned again with alcohol.

I booted it and it almost worked... the hdmi was fuzzy and dropping in and out. I hit each of the 19-pins once more with my solding iron and new everything seems to be working well.

The takeways:

  1. The jack seems like a standard part
  2. Good flux was key. I think the low temp solder helped, but I might have been able to do this without it. It certainly didn't hurt so I am glad I bought it.
  3. The temperature controlled solding iron made a big difference. Not sure I could have done this with a cheap iron like I've used before.

Thank you for all the help!

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