On Fri, 19 Nov 2004 00:27:34 GMT, (Jason D.) put
finger to keyboard and composed:

Here are the same photos with better processing:
http://members.optusnet.com.au/~fzabkar/pcb_trace.jpg (33KB)
http://members.optusnet.com.au/~fzabkar/flex_lead.jpg (19KB)
http://members.optusnet.com.au/~fzabkar/flex_lead2.jpg (17KB)
http://members.optusnet.com.au/~fzabkar/label.jpg (13KB)
http://members.optusnet.com.au/~fzabkar/instruments.jpg (13KB)

Cheers,

Wizard

I wonder if Scotch 9703 conductive tape may be a viable solution for
repairing broken flex leads?


- Franc Zabkar

That special tape will work! Key is clean both real good. Careful on
that flex cable, it is made of conductive paint printed on clear
plastic sheet. Many chemicals will attack that paint. This is same
kind of flex circuit with this printed on conductive paint.

Otherwise, there is room on PCB to drill two holes and use two thick
(say .050" to .100") strips of aluminum and screws & nuts, one thin
rubber strip from your junk stuff to pad the flex so both flex and
circuit board is squeezed together. Much better design IHMO!!

I had the same idea as you until closer examination of the flex lead
revealed that not all the conductive traces were intact. Maybe I can
shorten the lead, but it seems too short already. Of course this
presumes that I can obtain 3M tape 9703 in service quantities.

What type of display panel? LCD?

I don't know whether the display is an LCD because I've never seen it
working and I haven't removed it from the cluster. However, all the
other automotive displays I've seen have been vacuum fluorescent
types. In any case, I don't have the unit with me.


- Franc Zabkar
--
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