I have a piece of equipment that uses a 14-pin cable to connect the
front panel LCD to the mainboard, using a flat ribbon cable of this type:

https://media.digikey.com/Photos/Molex/0982660435.jpg

With friction-fit contacts on the end. The original has degraded over 35
years and gotten brittle and the "pins" have started to lift. However
all the 14-pin ribbon cables I can straightforwardly pull up of this
type have a very narrow pitch and overall width, and are no good for
this application it's more like something you'd use in a modern laptop.

I don't know the exact pitch for the pins on the OEM cable but the
14-pin ribbon cable itself is the better part of 2 inches wide. Anyone
still sell a cable like this?

On 4/14/2021 9:11 AM, bitrex wrote:
I have a piece of equipment that uses a 14-pin cable to connect the
front panel LCD to the mainboard, using a flat ribbon cable of this type:

https://media.digikey.com/Photos/Molex/0982660435.jpg

With friction-fit contacts on the end. The original has degraded over 35
years and gotten brittle and the "pins" have started to lift. However
all the 14-pin ribbon cables I can straightforwardly pull up of this
type have a very narrow pitch and overall width, and are no good for
this application it's more like something you'd use in a modern laptop.

I don't know the exact pitch for the pins on the OEM cable but the
14-pin ribbon cable itself is the better part of 2 inches wide. Anyone
still sell a cable like this?

As a better example pic of the type of cable I'm talking about:

https://img.diytrade.com/cdimg/206111/13471868/0/1279073718/2_54_pitch_flat_ribbon_cable_FFC_fpc.jpg

Thrive.cn seems to be a wholesaler...

https://www.alibaba.com/product-deta...4a132477ovxS15

Those are "automotive" ribbon cables. Anyone here remember Peugeot? Infamous for using these beasts for everything. They are not compatible with road salt, as they found out.

Linked is a possible source.

Peter Wieck
Melrose Park, PA

On 4/14/2021 9:47 AM, Peter W. wrote:
https://www.alibaba.com/product-deta...4a132477ovxS15

Those are "automotive" ribbon cables. Anyone here remember Peugeot? Infamous for using these beasts for everything. They are not compatible with road salt, as they found out.

Linked is a possible source.

Peter Wieck
Melrose Park, PA


Thanks, I didn't know the proper name for the type.

I could probably retrofit to take a 14 pin IDC-type cable but the female
headers for the ribbon cable both come out of their respective boards at
right angles soldered in to plated-thru holes, so it seems like an
annoying mod to do unless anyone's got a better idea for that than
yanking those out and fitting daughterboards with male pins in their place.