Phonak Roger On switch repair guide

On mine, it’s definitely plastic. It’s exactly the same color as the top panel, at least for the dark gray/charcoal version. From pictures, it looks like the champagne one has a champagne-colored switch, too.

Amusingly, I seem to have triggered the gremlins by posting this. The On where I 3d-printed a piece is now misbehaving again in the same way. It probably just came loose. I’ll take it apart again and figure it out this weekend.

The space/hollow does not serve any purpose, looks like during manufacturing process, the plastics mold was pushed from inside to create the round shape button outside. When the mold hardens, the space/hollow was left as it is. It could be left over inventory from some other gadgets.
Using a small amount of rubber glue (at the yellow circle) will keep the rocker switch in place. Sealed the space with a small piece of plastics to keep in alignment.

@CombatWombat said:

The same seller has a few v2s for pretty cheap.

Any link to the items for sale?
Thx

Wow, what a great write up! Thanks. I recently purchased the V2 iN (for parts) it is like new and has 2 licenses installed which is YMMV for $130 shipped. Haven’t had a chance to use it, but hoping it preforms better than V1 in noisy environments. BTW, I used make an offer of $110 they countered $125 plus $5 shipping which I accepted.

Same seller, mine didn’t include a cable which I didn’t need.

Same seller. I have purchased from them in the past with no problems. I received one this week with the on/off problem that started the thread. I guess I will get to take one apart (or at least try )

Update on this: remember I said one was misbehaving again? I assumed the piece I’d glued in had come loose, but it hadn’t. It’s still where it’s supposed to be. The internal switch (the piece circled in red in my original post) will now no longer turn it off when manually flipped to the ‘off’ position. That’s a new development. That definitely was not the case when I fixed it the first time. I’m hoping it’s just a bit of crud stuck in the mechanism (in hindsight, rubber cement may not have been a good choice…), but if so, I’ve had no luck dislodging it. Any thoughts, anyone?

The other one’s still working fine, and for what I paid, I guess I can’t complain. I’ll see how the v2 fares when it arrives.

Well, keeping my fingers crossed. I opened the Roger On as suggested above. When I put it back together, I noticed an ever so small ridge or group of supports on the top and bottom of the case. I put it back together so that the slider was inside this ridge on top and bottom which seems to hold tension against the switch keeping it close to the internal switch. After putting it back together the on/off button is working again. As I said, seems to be fixed, but time will tell for how long.

Hi Raylock1, you have done a wonderful repair job on the Roger On! The rocker switch can be out of alignment when switching on & off frequently. This is very common in the pocket radio in the 60-70’s. The technician sometimes used a small amount of paper glue to keep it in place whereby he can close the cover easily. The reason for the rocker switch to become loose is mainly due to frequent on & off movement. According to Combatwombat, try to use rubber glue if you can buy a small tube. Rubber glue is more lasting and stickier.
Since it is fixed, let’s see how long it will last. Goodluck.

Thanks for your very helpful post. This is slightly off topic but, I wonder if you have come across a Roger USB issue that’s bugging me. I have a Roger ON with the usual TRS/USB C cable. I’m now starting a project which will utilise the Roger as an interface to wireless mic receivers (which have a USB C connector). Now here’s the thing . . . plugging in the original Roger cable causes the Roger to switch normally into streaming mode (ie with music note displayed). However when I plug in any other USB C plug (I’ve tried dozens), the Roger does NOT auto switch to streaming mode. Having dismantled the Roger, you may have seen how the Roger’s USB C port is designed such as to detect a plug insertion.

Theoretically, any USB C plug should cause the same behaviour as with the standard Roger cable. Any idea what’s causing this weird behaviour? I have the feeling I’m missing something really simple!

I’ll share with the forum what I’m up to when I’ve solved this issue.

Further to my previous reply . . . amazing how when you figure out the right search key words, Google gives the answer. In this case plug detection is achieved like this . . .

''USB Type-C connectors have 4 pins for ground, and 4 pins for VBUS. By specifications, all similar pins must be connected together on PCB. Same requirement is for Type-C plug, VBUS pins and GND groups must be tied together when mounted onto PCB".

“However, it is possible to free one of pins (in VBUS or GND group) on mainboard and use it to check whether it is tied to the rest of pins or not. When “mounted plug” (not “raw plug”) is plugged in, the host will be able to detect this.”

In Phonak’s case, they will have used non-standard cable wiring but using the same trick (I think). With the right chip, plug detection can be achieved with standard cables. So I’ll need to get me a cheap eBay Roger to mess with. Meanwhile I’ll use the Roger cable and a kluge of cables, adapters and power supply. Nothing is simple . . .

I don’t think plug detection is the problem, though I’m certainly open to being wrong!

Like Zebras said, the issue here is that most of these cables (audio/headphone to USB) are made to stream audio from the USB end to the headphone end, which is intended to be plugged into a speaker or something. Phonak’s are the other way around, and will stream audio from the headphone end to the USB end. The only source I’ve seen for these is in the UK, and shipping to the US is pricey:

Phonak Roger On USB C to 3.5mm audio convertor lead | Connevans14

Connevans

I don’t know much about this, but I can’t think of a reason those cables would work, while others don’t, if the issue is plug detection. But as an experiment, I’m going to dig out one of the headphone-USB cables that didn’t work with the On, and try to stream audio from my tv to my phone or something. If that can be made to work, then I guess the problem isn’t the cable after all.

If you look at the photo shown (Phonak Roger On USB-C to 3.5mm audio convertor lead.), the 3.5mm audio head had only 2 rubber tiny band. Those with 3 tiny rubber band in the 3.5mm audio head might not be suitable.
Check it out.

@danka said:

the 3.5mm audio head had only 2 rubber tiny band. Those with 3 tiny rubber band in the 3.5mm audio head might not be suitable.

1 band are for mono
2 bands are for stereo
3 bands are for stereo and a mic