First attempted repair of a device which half works - Repair attempted *Help* - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / beginners

author: renegadeandy
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: September 13, 2019, 09:45:54 pm
content: Hi all,I recently got a broken nintendo switch, which I assume has been slightly water damaged. I have been watching the tronicsfix series on youtube and was inspired to challenge myself into fixing something which was broken.The long and short of my findings has been documented (with pics) on their forums! I have waited patiently for some advice given my findings, but I have zero responses, and feel that community may not be active.Therefore, I bring the same set of questions here. Instead of me copy pasting everything, if people could take a little look at this forum post:https://tronicsfixforum.com/discussion/158/switch-screen-doesnt-turn-on-but-console-appears-to-work-when-docked-where-to-go-from-here-pics#latest, and then perhaps reply here with thoughts it would be terrific.Many thanks!Please note -- I think anyone with experience in electronics can answer some of my questions -- it's not necessarily switch hardware specific

author: renegadeandy
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: September 14, 2019, 09:14:59 pm
content: Please help?

author: scatterandfocus
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 15, 2019, 03:56:10 am
content: I think it's going to be difficult to get help from the more knowledgeable people here (not me) without having at least a schematic.That ribbon cable doesn't show any sort of damage other than the missing section of trace. Not really knowing anything about construction of ribbon cables, I can't really say anymore about that, other than it seems odd. If it overheated I would think that the mylar (or whatever the material is) would be damaged. Any way, this video shows a 'creative' repair to a ribbon cable that might be useful:But if something else is still damaged that caused the ribbon cable to be damaged, it might be a wasted effort or cause further damage, not knowing anything about how the cable might have been damaged in the first place.

author: renegadeandy
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: September 15, 2019, 03:41:01 pm
content: Interesting approach - I think the missing section of trace is perhaps slightly underneath a plastic coating. On these ribbon cables am I right in saying there are 2 layers.<<I know I don't have a schematic, but if I we focus on fixing this ribbon cable for now, I think it may well be the next best step>>If i separate the 2 layers of the ribbon cable, then I think I could likely just apply solder between the 2 points to bridge the gap, I am just not sure how these cables are made!The second layer of plastic appears to protect the traces about 5mm back from where the ribbon inserts into a socket.

author: scatterandfocus
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 15, 2019, 05:18:39 pm
content: I think that sort of cable is called FPC (Flexible PCB Cable), not ribbon cable. See here:http://www-eng.lbl.gov/~shuman/NEXT/CURRENT_DESIGN/TP/MATERIALS/FFC_history.pdfhttp://www.epectec.com/articles/when-to-use-pet-and-fpc-circuits-in-membrane-switch-design.htmlAccording to those sources, the traces of some FPC's are made of a silver and carbon paste, so soldering to it might not be possible. But there are probably other ways to go about repairing or replacing that cable.If you can manage to get the layers separated without destroying it, maybe you can use silver conductive glue or ink.