yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[General Accessories] pphi:
I broke the stem on my crown because I wasn't being careful and forceful (I have a classic and executive and was trying to put the brighter OLED from my classic into my dimming executive). Took it to a watchmaker and had him swap it out for me and fix the stem. Costed me 25 for the new stem and 50 to do the swap.
[General Accessories] JimSmith94:
Did the watchmaker swap out the displays? The tech specs of the replacements posted earlier look like they connect with a ribbon cable that plugs in. Do you know if that is true? If so, it shouldn't be "too bad" of a job to find the tools or a jeweler to do the swap.

Has anyone received a replacement display and successfully replaced one yet.
[General Accessories] pphi:
Since I had 2 working watches, he just swapped the faces. He did remark that it was very odd to have the face completely not glued and was just held to the circuit board/oled display by the hands.
[General Accessories] netstat_EVO:
the display is a very tiny solder-on connection.

I have to find the box that mine are in, but I'll get pictures up tonight. I figure thats the least I can do at this point, and won't require the amount of time needed to disassemble the watch.

I'll use a US quarter or something for size comparison in the photo, but believe me when I say that these things are tiny.
[General Accessories] netstat_EVO:
Ok, day late and a buck short. But here are the photos of the Truly Semiconductor screens...

Super small solder-on connection (verified on watch by how far I had mine disassembled) :(
[General Accessories] JimSmith94:
Thanks for the pictures! I have a retired friend that works on clocks and some electronics. I'll try to run these pictures by him and see if he thinks it can be soldered by hand or if only a machine could do it.
[General Accessories] netstat_EVO:
it can be done by hand. but your going to need a super super fine tip on your soldering iron, and preferably someone with a ton of experience to do it.
[General Accessories] JimSmith94:
Thanks again! I just scanned this thread once more and didn't see where you ordered your displays from. Did you order directly from Truly Semiconductors or a distributor? Google only found one distributor and that was Gleichmann & Co Electronics GmbH in Germany.

It's probably too much to hope for a US source. Could you post a link to the order page of your source? I think I'll bite the bullet and order some.
[General Accessories] netstat_EVO:
http://sales.trulydisplays.com/

No US source. You are going to wait just short of forever for them to come in, but at least there is no big expenditure involved.

They are done as a "R&D order" and built per order, no off-the-shelf stock at all.
[General Accessories] JimSmith94:
Thanks again! Their "About Us / Contact Us" page: http://sales.trulydisplays.com/aboutus.asp does list a California address and American sounding email addresses, but they probably do all the manufacturing in Korea.
[General Accessories] netstat_EVO:
Manfactured in China

Chinese mfg plant ships to CA distributor, CA distributor ships to you.

Just another fun part of why it takes so long.
[General Accessories] JimSmith94:
I talked to my electronics buddy about the feasibility of doing this.He's a retired rocket scientist - for real, who does have a ton of soldering experience. He is now a clock repairman - but doesn't do watches.

He said this could be done easily with the right (expensive) equipment, but he wouldn't try it by hand. It would be way too easy to overheat and melt something.

I guess I'll try to sell my three watches as is and maybe try the Meta Watch, if/when they get their bugs worked out and start shipping.
[General Accessories] JimSmith94:
I just got off the phone with a nice and knowledgeable tech at Metro Service Center in Dallas. I found them through a Google search, as the US repair center for Fossil watches.

I had read and assumed that Fossil made the MBW-150 for Sony-Ericsson, but he said it was another vendor, and he didn't know who that was. Fossil did make a similar Bluetooth watch for Abacus: http://www.abacuswatches.com/ and they are making the MetaWatch for TI: https://estore.ti.com/Search.aspx?k=meta watch

The part that was relevant to me was when he said that Fossil never attempted repairs of the electronics (LCD) of their watches. For those problems, they just replaced the watch with another one, if they had them. Fossil wouldn't sell them the parts, and he didn't think the displays could be replaced by hand anyway.

If someone comes forward with the proper tools, knowledge, and skills to do the display replacement with the parts found, we stand a chance of keeping the usefulness of our watches. Otherwise, I'm afraid I'm out of ideas.
[General Accessories] leobg:
As much as I don't want to admit this, we have to accept the fact we can't get those fixed. I am using mine as a regular watch now (battery lasts forever when bluetooth is off). Given the fact SE refuses to repair those and they would be the only one who knows exact parts specifications and there are so few (I guess) sold, I doubt somebody will throw money in researching the panel (reverse engineer the watch pretty much), to create a repair shop to fix those..

Damn I like this watch design! And functionality (when it worked...) :(
[General Accessories] leobg:
Has anyone tried those: (search for 170685894340 on the popular auction site)? Are they as cheap looking as they are on the picture? I know they lack functionality (no music controls it seems?), but look somewhat similar (given you can find a better looking wrist band). I know smartphone software supports them (at least android one) (they call those fake MBW-150)
[General Accessories] docbio:
So I just got off the phone with SE Canada. The lady on the line stated that they can't repair my MBW-150 Executive watch as they no longer make them. She did offer to replace the watch with a LiveView or a HBM-600. Since its pretty obvious that the display will only get worse, I am considering it. I figure if they send me a LiveView, I can probably pick up one of the fake mbw-150s to replace my watch, and switch between the two. Its a damn shame though, it is a gorgeous watch.

Anyone know if Openwatch will work with the Metawatch? I'm thinking of picking one of those up instead of the fake mbw-150s. Also, does the fading issue crop up with the fake mbw-150s as well?
[General Accessories] aureldoku:
what is the HBM-600? cant find any images of this?
[General Accessories] JimSmith94:
According to this: http://thisismynext.com/2011/07/20/metawatch-prototype-review/ OpenWatch not only works with MetaWatch, it comes with it.

---------- Post added at 07:56 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:50 PM ----------

Has anyone been brave enough to try to replace the display? I received a watch hands remover, but haven't dared to try it yet.
[General Accessories] fiveseven808:
So, I'm really surprised no one here has mentioned hot bar soldering yet...

(URL unable to post)

Here's a short primer about it if anyone is curious.

Basically, if we get the tools and the display's we should be able to easily replace these displays (provided we can disassemble the watches without destroying them).

Just ordered a MBW-150 Music Edition from some dude in Hungary, so I can't wait to join the club :]

So long as we get a supply of displays, I'd definitely be interested in purchasing a tool to do the hot bar soldering and desoldering. I already have considerable experience working with surface mount components, so this will be an interesting addition to my collection of tools :P

Anyway, hope this link helps shed some light on the process one might go through to repair these beautiful devices?

Background: I came from a SE LiveView. I considered the MBW too expensive, but between the LV disconnecting on me (even with mods), popping out of it's watch holder and the watch holder finally disintegrating on me completely, I decided to take the jump for this antiquated piece of engineering.

Edit:

Unfortunately I don't have a high enough post count to post URLs, instead Google "hot bar soldering" and it will be the first link/PDF to click on. That'll give you an idea about all of this stuff :]
[General Accessories] JimSmith94:
What kind of prices are you finding for the hot bar soldering tool? I found several links to them, but none with prices. The only price I found was this eBay link for over $20,000! :eek:
[General Accessories] fiveseven808:
Actually, you're probably right :P I didn't think hot bar soldering would be so expensive. I assumed there was a hobbyist's alternative :P

So far here's what I'm thinking. Use a hot air/IR station to remove the old display, and do something like this for the new display

(url removed. youtube: "PSP DEVOLUTION SOLDERING FLAT RIBBON" )

Flood the area with flux and use surface tension to solder? :P looks viable. The pitch on the display is a helluva lot more fine though :\ worth a shot on someone's dead watch though~ (or similarly pitched connector). I'm sure I can find a dead LCD display around here and test out that technique :]
[General Accessories] JimSmith94:
I think hand soldering just might work after all! Check out this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R698z9QaypY&NR=1 and this one starting around 2:35: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z99P0WTT06Y&feature=player_embedded.

I ordered and received a watch hand puller from eBay, found the little tab that needs to be held to remove the stem, and removed all of the practically microscopic screws that hold everything together.

I put the remaining circuit board into a small vise with soft jaws, and started lightly sliding the tip of my soldering iron across the contacts holding the display in place. Most of them came off intact, and the few that broke off the display ribbon cable came off with a few swipes of the soldering iron. Even through a magnifying glass, it looks like a perfect job. :D

I'm going to order three white displays for my three watches and see what happens. If it's as easy to install the new displays as it was to remove the old one, and I can manage to get new displays installed to salvage them, I will keep one or two, and sell one or two of my other watches.

Here are the steps I performed to get the circuit board out to get to the display contacts:

Remove the four small Phillips screws that secure the base (bottom and remove the base.

Remove the battery and push the stem in and out a few times. As you do that, you will see a small metal bar move near the middle where the battery was. With the stem pushed in, hold that in place with a small screwdriver, and the stem will pull out completely.

Remove two more small Phillips screws and a black plastic piece over the circuit board will come off.

Use the watch hand puller to remove the hands, and slip off the watch face.

There are now two tiny slot head screws that hold the circuit board. I had to use a magnifying glass to find and see them, and to get a very small screwdriver into the slot to remove them.

Once done, the ribbon cable is exposed and I removed it as above.
[General Accessories] fiveseven808:
Seen the first link, didn't think it applied because it looks like the FPC is facing towards the camera as well as the PCB. It was my understanding that the OLED FPC had a much finer pitch than the one shown in the first video. The second video does not apply much at all due to the OLED having windowed leads vs the standard leads on the SE display.

Very happy about the step by step instructions you gave for disassembling the watch though! :D Where did you purchase the displays from?

Also, you were able to remove the old display without damaging the PCB contacts?! you must post pictures! I'm very interested! :)
[General Accessories] JimSmith94:
I ordered the displays from http://sales.trulydisplays.com/ using the part number for the white display linked to earlier, OEL9M0023-W-E.

I took this picture with my phone and it's a little blurry, plus the forum resized it. While some of the display leads were broken in the process, I think you can see that the contacts on the watch are intact.
[General Accessories] fiveseven808:
Wow! those displays are pretty cheap! :D

Also, you were able to remove the display with just a soldering iron? nice job on keeping the board contacts in good shape :]

Wow, this seems incredibly do-able with just a regular iron now! :D very happy to hear this news!!!!
[General Accessories] JimSmith94:
I ordered four displays for three watches, in case I mess up one. They were $8 each plus $11+ total for shipping, so $43+ total.

I probably could have done it easier with a flat tip as in the YouTube videos, but I only had a regular tip on my soldering iron. I just started at one end and rubbed it back and forth until the end of the ribbon loosened, then worked my way across. Once the whole thing was off, I went back over each contact with the iron and a magnifying glass, to clean up the contacts and remove the pieces that had broken off the ribbon.

Now the long 4-8 week wait for them to arrive. Hope I can still remember how to reassemble it by then.
[General Accessories] leobg:
On that web site there's a nice guide about hand soldering these OLED displays.

I'll wait to see if Jim can confirm those working and will order couple for my MBW-150 too. Meanwhile I'll place an order for a hand puller so I can safely remove the watch hands. For anyone interested - here is a good overview of how remove and then reinstall the hands.
[General Accessories] JimSmith94:
Leo, thanks for the pictures and video! :) I did use an old Weller TC201 soldering station that I had laying around, but it doesn't have a temperature control, and I can't see if there is a temperature anywhere on the tip. I used about the same angle and technique to remove the ribbon, so hopefully the new ones will go on just as easily. :p
[General Accessories] JimSmith94:
Unless someone can find another source, I don't know what to do now. This was in my email this morning from Truly Displays:
[General Accessories] fiveseven808:
Not cool :[

Well that shoots a few plans down.

An option I was somewhat considering was ordering those cheaper sony fakes and transplanting the displays from those to the real sonys in desperate times.

The only problem is the whole non-destructive removal of the "new" display... hot air station possibly?
[General Accessories] JimSmith94:
I replied to their email and received a nice reply from the Truly Display representative:

The other suggestion was to contact Sony for replacement parts, but we already know how well that worked. :rolleyes:

I asked for a contact at one of their offices in Asia, but if anyone is there and can email them, you might have better luck than me. I "think" this is the company and their contact list: http://www.trulysemi.com/en/contact_contact.asp
[General Accessories] leobg:
We are not sure if display is the same in the replicas.. Taking it out without damaging it with no special equipment on hand will be next to impossible..

I guess we have to either settle for a nice looking regular MBW-150 without the fancy bluetooth stuff or settle up for Meta Watch which btw should be shipping starting tomorrow.

Edit: the MetaWatch sure is a development system, but I am sure OpenWatch developer will pick it right away, no doubt there will be useful stuff available for it not long after it starts shipping. Doesn't look too bad (not as good as the MBW-150 exec (I'm more of a fan of round watches) and I will miss the music controls. For everyone who thought the 'cheap ebay replica' - it is supported by OpenWatch for example, but to me it doesn't look good even on the pictures. I won't be wasting money just to confirm my thought...
[General Accessories] fiveseven808:
If you're able to remove the display by using a soldering iron, a hot air rework station should do the job without damaging it just fine. But that's just an assumption :P

If the display dies, the bluetooth stuff still works at least somewhat right? then so long as we can pair it to our phones, we can have a vibration alert watch that's a heck of a lot better than nothing! :rolleyes:
[General Accessories] JimSmith94:
Yes, Bluetooth still works, so you can still feel the notification vibration. However, I and others are still having a problem with rapid battery drain on the watch with OpenWatch for Android.

My own watch dies in 6-7 hours, even after installing a new battery in the watch. The only solution we've found is to delete and repair the watch with the phone. That restores normal battery life, but it only lasts for a few days, then starts the fast drain again.

Of course, without the display, you can't tell that Bluetooth has shut off on the watch until you notice that you have received an email or text, and your watch didn't vibrate. I have memorized the reset steps for the watch though. :rolleyes:
[General Accessories] netstat_EVO:
Wow, progress, awesome.

Not so great on the fact that Truly is not selling the displays because they "don't recommend them" ... seems kinda BS to me. My order came in as a R&D one off order.

For those able to keep going on this, I am anxious to see how it pans out. I currently can only do two things about it ... jack and sh*t :( due to breaking my hand (pic attached) Life lesson: a 2001 Nissan Maxima at decent velocity does not have enough mass to move a stopped Ford Mustang out of the way. (track accident, not street)

I am real happy to see that the old display can be easily removed with a normal iron, revives a little hope I had lost from previous expert opinions...

Hope to see more good news soon. I can't do much besides read everything on the internet for about another four weeks anyway.
[General Accessories] JimSmith94:
It seems that replacing the displays is going nowhere. I guess it's too much to ask for a $300+ watch to last more than one year. Not that it will do any good, but after this complete lack of repair, service, or even concern from Sony-Ericsson, I will never buy anything from either of them again.

Does anyone have any experience with the imitation MBW-150 knockoffs? I'm seeing those advertised for roughly $50-70. They only do caller ID and SMS, but I never used the music player part anyway. If their displays hold up, one of those would be good enough for me.

I've tried to talk myself into a MetaWatch, but I need the analog face so I don't have to put my glasses on to see what time it is, and their oval face looks weird to me. I like the "classic" look and metal band of a traditional watch, like the MBW-150 Executive version.
[General Accessories] vaevictus_net:
I had one of the fake mbw-150's ... i thought it was terrible. and now i've got two real mbw-150's to try and repair.

---------- Post added at 10:08 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:51 AM ----------

Maybe if we group ordered we could get a significant enough order to have a slight bit more leverage?

I'd certainly spend a hundred USD if i could get 6 displays for my 2 watches if there was a single person in the US who could reliably swap the displays.

So ... how about we make a list of people and qty they'd order at this point.

Maybe an order of 100 units would open some minds as to the possibility of a production run? i don't know how many is a significant number for an oled manufacturer.

Reply and add your name to this list if you'd definitely purchase one or more:

The List of Purchasers:

Vaevictus, 2 watches, 6 displays wanted, 100$

---------- Post added at 11:07 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:08 AM ----------

anyone thing there's any chance this would be compatible? I've found a few schematics, this looks like the same pins, possibly reversed?

ugh... i still can't post urls

i found one 96x16 on digikey that looks right... and maybe one on intelligentdisplay

actually the on on intelligentdisplay looks like it might be the same one as truly, but we'd need to contact them.

i found it on digikey...
[General Accessories] JimSmith94:
What was so terrible about your fake one? Did you have the two button LM958 like this one? http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/watches/c16c/ How long did you use it, and did the display hold up? If so, I'm thinking about just getting one of those and be done with it, or I might even be interested in buying yours. About all I use are the caller ID and text message notification anyway. :rolleyes:

Have you contacted the companies you mentioned to find out if their displays are compatible with and available for the MBW-150? What did they say? I have the display removed from one of my three MBW-150s, and it's pretty much a paperweight until/unless this gets resolved.
[General Accessories] aureldoku:
btw, here in germany you can buy a brand new mbw 150 for around 40€

ww.amazon.de/Ericsson-Bluetooth-MBW-150-Music-SonyEricsson/dp/B000VXLW4E/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1319455118&sr=8-6

(not permitted to post links, so i had to mess it up)
[General Accessories] netstat_EVO:
Wow, wonder what shipping to the US would be...
[General Accessories] aureldoku:
maybe collective order and retailing would be interesting
[General Accessories] CyberDemonVZ:
Hi!

I've just found this:

http://www.topfreebiz.com/product/4399184/OLED-0.67''TOD9M0028-R-Y-B-W-G.htm

They look like Truly displays!

Could someone request price for it?

P.S. does anybody have extra displays? netstat_EVO? I think I have found guy who can solder them. But I am in Croatia, Europe...
[General Accessories] slipudatung:
I have sent a request for pricing. If I am able to get some I will test on my MBW-100 :)
[General Accessories] CyberDemonVZ:
Great!

If they have it, and you will buy it...

Are you willing to buy extra 2 pcs for me?

Lowes shipping costs, maybe faster delivery for more displays....

And then send it to me in box or (reinforced) envelope? :) My expense, of course.

What color would you buy?
[General Accessories] vaevictus_net:
Ebay puts a couple of mbw-150 music and classic black ones for 130$ USD.

amazon.de puts them at more like 60$. Sadly the white faced one is still at 100$, but I'd definitely go for one of those.

So, i suppose the plan would be to ship one box over with the watches and unbox and reship once in the states?

Perhaps we could save money by skipping the big boxes, only shipping over the black watch boxes? I don't need extra charging cables and manuals.

---------- Post added at 06:18 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:05 AM ----------

Those are the wrong size i believe. the target displays are 96x16 i believe.
[General Accessories] akira28hk:
Digikey have some listed but no stock :(

http://www.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?vendor=0&keywords=oled+96x16

spec:

http://catalog.osram-os.com/media/_en/Graphics/00033553_0.pdf
[General Accessories] vaevictus_net:
Yeah, most of those say discontinued 2007. I'd still like someone to call and see if it's possible to have them made, etc. At least to see what it'd cost. the 0 stock scares me less than the discontinued on most of them.

Not all say that they're discoed.

(boy the newbie restrictions are painful here, can't even quote without a manual edit. :D )