[Nexus 4 General] Archao:
It's been a long time since I've been around these parts, I recently repaired my old Nexus 4 for a friend and he's managed to completely kill the new battery a grand total of 4 different times over the course of a month! The first three times I was able to get it to show that it was charging after a little while, but this most recent time things didn't go that smoothly; instead I was handed a device that will not take any charge from the microusb port at all and without the availability of an external battery charger that left me with only one option.

I'd like to start off by saying that I'm writing this because I haven't found any write-ups detailing this method for the LG BL-T5, I'll start off with the disclaimer because there's always a few that want to play the blame game.

DISCAIMER: I'M NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE, PHYSICAL OR OTHERWISE, TO ANY PERSON OR DEVICE USED IN THIS PROCEEDURE INCLUDING THE BATTERY, AND YOURSELF! THIS IS POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS AND SHOULD NOT BE ATTEMPTED BY THOSE WHO DON'T HAVE AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE PRINCIPLES OF ELECTRICITY. YOU ARE CHOOSING TO ATTEMPT THIS OF YOUR OWN FREE WILL, AND YOU ALONE ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY PROBLEMS OR INJURIES FROM PERFORMING THIS PROCEEDURE.

Ignore the tape, I've already completed this project and placed the tape to keep it from geting wonky in my drawer!

TOOLS AND SUPPLIES:

THIN-BLADED POCKET KNIFE

TWEEZER WITH FLAT ENDS

SIM REMOVAL TOOL, PAPERCLIP, OR T-PIN

T5 SCREWDRIVER

PRYING TOOLS

00 PHILLIPS HEAD SCREWDRIVER

SPARE USB CABLE THAT YOU DO NOT MIND DESTROYING

PROPERLY SPEC'D CHARGING BRICK​

We're going to start with the basics:

1. Remove the SIM Card Tray from the device.

2. Remove the two T5 screws from the bottom of the device.

3. Use the Prying Tools to remove the back cover.

4. Remove the 00 phillips screws that hold the battery connector in place.

5. Very carefully remove the battery, do not damage the wrap or bend the battery!

6. Move all that stuff to the side except for the battery!

Now onto the things you probably haven't done before:

1. Grab the spare USB cable and cut it in half, you're going to be using the end with the USB Type A male connector.

2. Strip the bare end of the cable, leave yourself enough room to strip the smaller wires within as well.

3. You should see four color coded wires: red, black, green, and white; you only need the red (+) and black (-) wires as these supply voltage.

4. Clip the green and white wires off if you'd like, they're just data (+/-) wires.

5. Strip the ends of the red and black wires, then twist each one tight to keep them nice and neat.

6. Bend about half of each exposed wire over and clamp together all the way around with your tweezers until they're nice, neat, and compact.

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Okay, now onto the part where things could go wrong:

1. Do you notice the writing on the underside of the battery connector? V- T H V+ [voltage-, data +, data -, voltage+]

2. This is just like jumping a vehicle battery, the black wire is negative and the red wire is positive. Black goes to V- and Red goes to V+.

3. DON'T MIX THESE FOUR PORTS UP, FOR REAL, DO NOT MIX THESE PORTS UP!

4. Slide the black wire into v- and the red wire into v+, then use something thin to ensure there's good connection to the contacts.

5. MAKE SURE THAT THE EXPOSED WIRES DO NOT COME INTO CONTACT WITH ANY OTHER METALS BESIDES THE CONTACTS!

6. When you're sure that you have everything wired right and that there's good contact, plug the usb cable into a wall adapter.

7. Let the battery charge for roughly 10-15 minutes, do not attempt a full charge with this method; this is to give it just enough juice to boot.

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Okay, this is the part where you help prevent forest fires:

1. Frequently check the wall adapter for heat above it's normal operating temperature, no hotter than it usually gets!

2. Check the battery for heat frequently, and DO NOT LEAVE THE BATTERY UNATTENDED!

3. Be ready to unplug the wall adapter if it or the battery starts to get too hot, electrical burning smells are an early warning as well.

Once the battery has charged for 10-15 minutes it can be reinstalled, and the Nexus 4 reassembled; the device should start as normal with a long hold of the power button. The battery should have about a 10% charge and you should ideally plug the normal charging cable in immediately after booting the device. Hopefully this helps at least one of you out!

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