On Mon, 15 Nov 2004 13:47:24 GMT, (Gerard Bok) put
finger to keyboard and composed:

On Mon, 15 Nov 2004 14:53:39 +1100, Franc Zabkar
wrote:

I've been given a Mercedes-Benz instrument cluster where a flex cable
has come adrift due to mishandling. The PCB is microcontroller based
and interfaces with an odometer via a flex cable. The other gauges
connect via long pins. AFAICS, the flex cable is attached with some
kind of glue - there are no clamps, no screws, no rubber strain
relief. The traces have a very fine pitch, and the cable is almost too
short to work on. The PCB is single sided, so I could probably drill
two holes

Are you very sure ?
'Very fine pitch' and 'single sided PCB' sound like a
contradiction to me. (Or as a euphemism for 'multi layer :-)

There are no thru-holes. All components are smt. The mechanic says an
instrument specialist told him that these flex cables are known to
separate in normal use, probably due to heat and vibration. He claims
these units are irreparable.

Here is a photo of the PCB:
http://members.optusnet.com.au/~fzabkar/pcb_trace.jpg

The connection point is above and between the two lamps. The traces go
directly to a microcontroller. Note that there are numerous test
points which look like thru-holes, but I believe these could be for
bed-of-nails testing (???).


- Franc Zabkar
--
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