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The power to the red LED lighting of the SL-HF2100 drop down touch panel is provided by small insulated wires (shown broken above). Five are used to supply the voltage that illuminates the left and right touch sensitive glass panels and to provide a case ground for static discharge protection. Over time repeated flexing (from opening and closing the drop down door) causes these wires to fatigue and eventually break. When this happens the panels go dark and a repair is needed. But rather than replace the wires, which would only break again over time, I have engineered an alternative and better solution. This is to lengthen and re-route the wires so they can better handle the panels movement. This first photo (shown as plate 1 in upper left corner) shows the broken wires protruding over the bottom of the drop down panel. (The machine is shown upside-down and the bottom cover is removed.) Notice also one of the two flat ribbon cables on the right. These ribbon cables deliver the function signals from the glass panels to the processor of the VCR. It is the clear sheet of plastic with fifteen black lines of conductor material printed on it. These flat ribbons have proven to be much more flexible and durable than the wires. Which begs the question, why didn't Sony use ribbon cable to power the LEDs? My thoughts are they just couldn't handle the necessary current. Unfortunately, the insulated wires they did use turned out to not be such a good option since they all break. Now lets start the repair and correction. Click on the photo (plate 2 in the series) and you can see a close up of the wires showing how they have been repaired and insulated. If the wires break off inside the door it is sometimes necessary to disassemble it to get at the wire ends. Click on the photo again (plate 3) and you can see the first step in the procedure for re-routing the wiring. Notice I have drilled a number of small holes along the bottom edge or flange of the door. Click on the photo again (plate 4) and you can see the start of the lacing process that secures the wires along the bottom edge of the flange. Click it again (plate 5) and you can see how the lacing is extend the wiring along the edge. I use heavy duty thread for this operation and chain stitch it along using a hemostat (or clamp) that is visible on the right. Super glue and accelerator is used on each stitch to secure it as the links are added. Click again (plate 6) and the last stitch in the chain is being tied using the hemostat. Another click on the picture (plate 7) and you can see how the wiring has been re-routed around and over to the connector on the circuit board. There is also a close up of the finished lacing. This completes the repair and upgrade. This longer wiring spreads the flexing over a greater distance and eliminates the sharp angle of the original design that causes the wires to break. I have been doing this upgrade for a number of years and have never had this re-engineered improvement fail. Click on the photo one more time (plate 8) to see a before and after photo. To return to the previous page click here. ©Misterßetamax go to homepage |