Very good video! I always wondered why I did not screw up these elastic connectors when I put something back together! Now I know it is made to be inserted quite randomly and it will work every time. Cool!
@@HA7DN maybe not enough pressure applied on the board on either side to make contact correctly? Or maybe the zebra connector is dirty, clean it with some IPA?
I used to have to replace those lcd's back in my 2-way radio/pager repair days. They were a real pain. If you touched the zebra flex strip with your fingers, you might as well throw it away. The oils from your fingers can ruin them. We had to wear cotton gloves to handle them. I don't miss working on them.
Ha, I’m currently working on a project that uses zebra connector to an LCD. Kind of a PITA to work with. I had to have a board made with the edge connectors and then squish the LCD down onto the board, aligning it correctly. It was kind of fun to reverse engineer how the LCD was arranged. It used 4 Coms. LCDs are way more complicated than LEDs.
Remember seeing a different kind of elastomeric connector years ago. Instead of carbon strips, it used fine gold colored wires (not sure if real gold bond wires or gold coated) otherwise it works and is used the same way.
Fun, I remember seeing those a lot tell I started taking apart Ti calculators. Those use plastic loop with carbon connectors and a silicon bar that is looped over to give some pressure into the connection. Btw ITO is really beautiful to sputter onto glass. Has a nice purple glow at the sputter source.
I believe that Indium is considered a rare element and is therefore probably pretty expensive. Aluminum however is one of the most abundant elements in Nature, found in quantity in rocks, clay and such and is therefore, you could almost say, dirt cheap, therefore it would seem like they would want to use transparent Aluminum for this application. How to make it seems to be much of a mystery however I have heard there is a guy named Scotty who knows the secret but his whereabouts is a little hard to track down also.
This has always been a mystery to me how a piece of rubber could make a clock work. I never imagined it worked that way, the ones i have been working with have all been black so never noticed anything :P
I remember when repairing lcd modules for avionics, we was many times replacing these zebras due to especially the pcb connectors has pressed a imprint in them. Lots of fiddling and clean fingers.
I have an old Micronta (Radio Shack) multimeter. The zebra ribbon tore loose. Can you buy a new ribbon? Then , how do you connect it to the LCD display?
Are these LCD's are specific to the application, like the digit layout etc? Also when the LCD dies is it possible to replace with something else generic? I know the zebra strips do fail. It's hard finding any good information on these. Thanks for your videos again.
They are highly specific to the application. They are broken down into com and segment lines in a matrix. The number of actual segments on the display dictates how many lines you need. If it breaks, you are SOL. You can have LCDs made for about $100, but then you have to know how the one you’re replacing was designed.
@@jimomertz thanks, that sucks, I have some instrument clusters where these die, I would like some solution when they die, so I guess I'd have to go further back in the circuit to make a solution.
Thats a coincidence, I am publishing a video in the next few weeks repairing a bit of test gear with a bad display, it had an unusual type of zebra strip which I hadn't come across before, I actually did the repair on one of my live streams.
@@IMSAIGuy Not stick on... it was used like the standard rubber type, but was mounted inside a slot on a plastic frame to hold it up, look out for my video about the Wavetek Model 21 in a few weeks time, you will see what I mean.
Either the mechanical design clamps the parts together or there's a bit of adhesive somewhere. Often the case clamps the parts together. Sometimes a bracket or bezel does the job.
you are right is not as simple as I stated as it was not the topic. but there is a back contact that allows an electrical field to be generated perpendicular to the face of the LCD.
@@IMSAIGuy totally agree. I was just complaining about the reflective layer being rendered that way. Please forgive me if I bother you with that little detail. Thank you very much for your work!
