Ribbon Cable

[sparkymark]

just a quickie

where does the ribbon cable go between the lcd and the base unit. I.e. will you see it or will it be hidden from view?

 

[mali]

Inb4 speculation fills this thread. I'm interested in an answer from the devs, too. We know where it comes out of the bottom part of the case, but the rest is still unknown. Please answer

 

[CoMiKe]

Don't forget about the speaker cables, too.

If I'm not mistaken, the cables go inside the hinge.

 

[Squidge]

It would be very unprofessional to have the delicate ribbon cable exposed, so I would guess it's all internal.

 

[mali]

The speaker cables aren't separate, their traces are included in the ribbon.
Btw. I don't know if it was mentioned earlier, sometime ago I've recognized, that there was another ribbon design revision. It was made narrower.

It would be very unprofessional to have the delicate ribbon cable exposed, so I would guess it's all internal.

If you want it to be all internal, it would have to be fed through the hinge tubule. The FDM picture of the bottom case part plus keymat shows an opening for the ribbon outside the hinge. The question is now, will the ribbon be visible from outside while open/close or from the inside. In a tablet MOD thread was speculation, that the visible part of the ribbin could be protected by an additional sheet of plastic.

 

[fusion_power]

I've also seen the opening slit in the Prototype Case but I hope, the ribbon goes completely through the Hinge, which should be possible. It's going from the PCB into the left Hinge Base (where the SD LEDs are) then the ribbon is rolled sideways through the hinge of the LID and ends at the LCD onto the Lid. I came to this conclusion because the ribbon cable middle part is sloped and it would make sense to roll the entire cable through the Hinge. This way, the cable would be completely invisible AND more durable because the rolled cable prevents the cable from too much bending.
The only question is if there is enough Room into the Hinge for a rolled ribbon cable AND a stable structure (metal bolt/tube) to make the hinge durable. MWeston could clear this for us I'm pretty sure. ^_^

 

[pelrun]

I do hope it's internal; those flat-flexible-cables are a real bitch to repair or replace if they break - which is much more likely if they're external.

That said, I pulled my (clamshell/tablet) zaurus apart to fix it one day, and the wiring to the LCD was surprisingly simple in it's configuration. fusion_power is essentially correct in that it is loosely coiled before a right-angle turn that passes through the hinge; a second hinge just repeats the maneuver. When the hinge turns, the cable section through the hinge stays fixed, whilst the coil tightens/loosens slightly. It never gets close to a tight bend at any point.

If I was insane I might be seriously tempted to mod my Pandora in the same way...

 

[joa]

I wondered this a while ago and figured no one was really sure. Be cool to hear what the official word is on this?

 

[mali]

I've also seen the opening slit in the Prototype Case but I hope, the ribbon goes completely through the Hinge, which should be possible. It's going from the PCB into the left Hinge Base (where the SD LEDs are) then the ribbon is rolled sideways through the hinge of the LID and ends at the LCD onto the Lid. I came to this conclusion because the ribbon cable middle part is sloped and it would make sense to roll the entire cable through the Hinge. This way, the cable would be completely invisible AND more durable because the rolled cable prevents the cable from too much bending.
The only question is if there is enough Room into the Hinge for a rolled ribbon cable AND a stable structure (metal bolt/tube) to make the hinge durable. MWeston could clear this for us I'm pretty sure. ^_^

Damn, I thought about this a while ago and discarded the idea. But the pics only showed the older ribbon :facepalm:
Looking at this pic, I guess 95,73% chance, that it will be rolled up and fed through the hinge

edit
Older version ribbon:

 

[fusion_power]

Damn, I thought about this a while ago and discarded the idea. But the pics only showed the older ribbon :facepalm:
Looking at this pic, I guess 95,73% chance, that it will be rolled up and fed through the hinge

Yupp, I also imagine something like this:

 

[Phawx]

Sigh, not even half way through January. CES '09 was kind of a let down. Some nice new screens are coming out, but Panda is what I am still looking forward to.

Only a couple more months to go.

 

[mali]

Guess what the opening in the case at the hinge is for

http://www.openpandora.ca/images/FDM_w_Keymat.JPG

It's for putting through the ribbon connector :lol:

 

[adamorjames]

Guess what the opening in the case at the hinge is for

http://www.openpandora.ca/images/FDM_w_Keymat.JPG

It's for putting through the ribbon connector :lol:


:lol:

 

[fusion_power]

Guess what the opening in the case at the hinge is for

http://www.openpandora.ca/images/FDM_w_Keymat.JPG

It's for putting through the ribbon connector :lol:


I've seen it a while ago but I hope, the final Units will have a more elegant way to lead the cable through the case. No modern device uses such a cheap and instable way to connect the LCD lid with the case. A simple, straight connected an not rolled up Cable will faster break than we can spell "Pandora"

 

[mali]

I think, this way is needed to keep the hinge stability. Having two halfs on the bottom part like on the lid would reduce the stiffness of the hinge and would lead to a much more complex design of the case. You won't be able to see the slit in the case any more, when the lid is attached To clarify, the slit is needed to put the stiff contact bar of the ribbon through the case, because this part can't be rolled. It wouldn't be possible to put the ribbon through the hinge hole of the bottom part of the case at all without the slit. The ribbon will be rolled up in the fully assebled Pandora, I suppose.

This is still just speculation.

 

[Yigguth]

How did this suddenly become an issue? I just assumed it wouldn't be visible, just like every other device with a flip up screen

 

[mali]

It isn't an issue at all. Just an important detail for modders/hardware geeks