Google Home Teardown
Duration: 45 minutes
Steps: 11 Steps
Smart home gadgets just got smarter! The Google Home is here to help you manage your smart devices, answer your questions, and support your favorite services—all with a friendly voice. Ready to get your smart setup in top shape? Follow along with these easy steps to keep everything running smoothly. If you need help at any point, you can always schedule a repair to get expert assistance.
Step 1
– Alright, let’s get acquainted with your Home’s features:
– With a sneak peek inside, we’re ready to start this Home project.
– Features include a high-excursion speaker with a 2” driver and dual 2” passive radiators.
– It’s got far-field microphones for voice commands.
– The base is customizable to suit your style.
– Supports 802.11ac Wi-Fi on both 2.4GHz and 5GHz.
– Includes intuitive touch surface controls.
Step 2
A little privacy never hurts, right? If you want to keep things between you and your device, now’s the perfect time to do so.
– No neat smell from this air freshener unit (so far), but we do find a “standby” button for Home’s microphones, along with a status LED.
– The foot features the A/C power port, model number, and various certifications.
– With a diameter of 3.79 inches and a height of 5.62 inches, this rounder, gentler, speaker comes in just over half the height of the Amazon Echo .
Step 3
To stand out from the limited color choices available for the Echo, the Home device features a removable base that attaches magnetically. You can easily switch it out for a fresh new color whenever you feel like it!
– Removing the base reveals our first glimpse of that punchy high-excursion speaker and uncovers a secret micro-USB debug and programming port. To free the four Torx screws hiding deep within the speaker cavity, grab your set of fixed-blade screwdrivers for some extra reach. Once those screws are out, gently lift the top. The lid comes off easily, and with that, the capsule is finally open for inspection. If you need assistance at any point, you can always schedule a repair.
Step 4
– Here’s the little arm that sits between the mute button and its switch on the board. It’s not a telegraph machine, just a simple part with the perfect amount of springy resistance.
– After testing a few signals, it’s time to disconnect a tricky interconnect cable.
– This cable runs from the motherboard to a board tucked up in the lid, likely housing a microphone and LED array.
Step 5
– Let’s get this teardown rolling with some serious heat and our trusty tools—an iOpener and a dental pick, just for fun!
– We’ve got a hefty amount of adhesive bonding this board to the upper case, so be prepared for a bit of a workout.
– With one final tug (and a splash of isopropyl alcohol to melt away all that stubborn glue), the LED board pops off, revealing the true culprit of our challenges: a mountain of adhesive tape.
Tools Used
Step 6
– Here’s the source of our board removal strife: A layer of super sticky adhesive, keeping the capacitive board in contact with the plastic upper case.
– On the backside we find some chips:
– This side of the board also hosts an array of 12 status LEDs.
– Atmel ATSAMD21 32-bit ARM Cortex-M0+ microcontroller
– Two NXP PCA9956BTW LED drivers
– Two InvenSense INMP621 MEMS microphones—will only two be enough compared to the Echo’s seven?
– Ambient Light Sensor
This round green grid you see? It’s one half of a clever array of capacitors—the other half is tucked away in a deeper PCB layer. When you touch the screen, your finger changes the total capacitance at the intersection of a row and column. The controller picks up on that, figures out exactly where you’re touching, and voilà: touchscreen magic! Science is pretty cool, right?
Step 7
Along with being a gatekeeper, this O-ring likely acts as a handy vibration dampener too.
– The flexible o-ring appears to be the secret to getting even further inside this smart speaker. Carefully loosen it up to continue your repair journey.
– Gently pry open the case to reveal a fascinating world of circuit boards and components waiting to be explored.
– This approach seems more repair-friendly than peeling away the stubborn fabric layer from the Echo, making your task a bit easier.
– Behold the motherboard! It’s the heart of the device, ready to be serviced or replaced as needed.
Step 8
– We’ve seen these chips before—quite the comeback kids! Many of them (CPU, flash, and RAM) made an appearance in last year’s Chromecast, proving they’re versatile and ready for action. So, if you’re digging into this repair, just remember: these components are familiar faces in the tech world. Need a hand? You can always schedule a repair with Salvation Repair if things get tricky. Now, let’s keep moving and get your device back in shape!
Step 9
Alternate (completely invented) ideas:
– Here’s what you need to know: The tiny component holding the magnets for the bottom case also keeps a mysterious cable locked inside. Upon closer look, you’ll notice even more mystery — this cable has four contact points, possibly for additional testing or features. The device recognizes the color of its base to help coordinate its style, making it a bit more fun. There’s also a vestigial charging mechanism that hints the Home might have been designed as a portable device at some point. And last but not least, there’s an abandoned easter egg dungeon level meant for teardown engineers to explore. Take your time and enjoy the discovery process—if you need help, you can always schedule a repair.
Step 10
– Let’s gently separate the speaker casing into its two halves….
– ….carefully remove the driver…
– and voila!
– It seems like the Home is powered by a Peerless PLS-50N25AL07-04, which is probably quite similar to the PLS-50N25AL01-08.
– However, based on our multimeter readings and that final ‘-04’, it appears to be a 4 ohm version.
Step 11
A big shoutout to Creative Electron for their amazing X-ray images that help us see inside our devices!
– Dive into the inner workings of your device, where all the magic happens, and let your gadget-loving spirit shine!