Lengthening LCD lines...

captain_jim1 · 06-18-2003, 02:25 AM

I have a laptop I've disassembled for use in my car, but have a small problem with the lenght of the lines connecting the screen to the laptop...

I want to know if it's possible to lengthen the data cable somehow -- can i cut and splice longer lines in without degrading signal?

How about the power line? If I splice longer lines in there will there be an issue with power? I doubt this one will be effected as much my a splice than the data signal, but you never know.

Data Signal..

Power Cable..

frodobaggins · 06-18-2003, 04:55 AM

you should have no problems with the power.

extending the data lines can be tricky, the quality degredation will depend on length, your connection skill, and noise introduced.

Skraggy_uk · 06-18-2003, 07:22 AM

he's lucky that he has proper wires to extend, instead of the usual flattened copper on a plastic sheet.

hijinks21 · 06-18-2003, 07:54 AM

the length of your data cables should not be over 18 inches i think I've read. The controller for it is not powerfull enough to send a strong enough signal any further then that. That said, you can give it a try and you never know .. it might just work

MikeHunt79 · 06-18-2003, 10:10 AM

I tried making a 1 metre long cable, and it barely worked (I used an old ide ribbon cable as an extension)... There were juddery lines, random flashes, it wasn`t very good

... It now works much better now its been chopped down to 12". I think timing and noise are your main issues here.

captain_jim1 · 06-18-2003, 05:49 PM

Hmm .. you mention using a old ide ribbon as an extension. How did you go about this? These wires are small so I'm not too thrilled about all this chopping up.

MikeHunt79 · 06-18-2003, 06:08 PM

What I did was remove the IDE plugs from each end of my ide cable. I then went on to solder hirose plugs on each end of the cable... It was very very fiddly, but i managed.

captain_jim1 · 06-18-2003, 06:11 PM

Pardon my ignorance .. but what is a hirose plug?

DodgeCummins · 06-18-2003, 06:28 PM

Hirose is a brand name of 20-160 pin plugs that are very small...most LCDs seem to use one size. (except mine)

I also have foot long ide cables extending my LCD signals...I used bigger wire with a high voltage rating (more insulation to prevent arcing). I had to connect it to the POS plastic flat ribbon...so I have 3 bad connections...two cause a 'ghosting' effect on the lower half of the screen, the other causes the screen to go blank on occasion.

Luckily you have wires...be grateful!

captain_jim1 · 06-18-2003, 10:09 PM

Can someone point me towards a 20-pin Hirose connector? Would be sweet to use an ide cable for the extension, but have 2 hirose connectors on each end of the ide cable so i just have to "plug it in" to the existing connector... is this possible or am I dreaming?

Rob Withey · 06-19-2003, 02:45 AM

You're dreaming. The connector in your picture looks nothing like a hi-rose connector.

The best you could hope to achieve with hirose is with 2 male and 2 female connectors. Break the existing cable and solder on a male and female in the gap so you can plug it back together. Then make a male to female extension that you can insert in the middle.

Kind of defeats the whole point of building a cable so you can just plug it in though.

Rob

captain_jim1 · 06-19-2003, 03:52 AM

Yeah that does defeat the purpose. The reason for wanting to make a 'removable extension' was to just add it to one side (not inthe middle) of the cable and then I could simply remove it if it didn't work. If I cut these lines up and can't get it to work I'm going to be in a heap of trouble...

-Capt.

captain_jim1 · 06-21-2003, 03:17 AM

Well, I went for it .. chopped up a IDE cable and cut the lcd signal in half .. spent the day stripping the wires and soldering .. then covering in elec. tape for protection.. here are 2 pics of the done job..

After I was done, plugged it in and booted up.. at first .. SUCCESS! I get a perfect picture of the bios boot screen .. detects ram, cpu, etc .. then it just sits there... I try to enter the bios .. says "entering bios" .. but it never goes there. Is this related to the lines I just made? HELP!

-Capt

frodobaggins · 06-21-2003, 03:25 AM

have you just tried to let it boot first ?

How are we supposed to know if it's related !

captain_jim1 · 06-21-2003, 03:30 AM

Yep - -that's what I tried to do the first time .. I figured I'd enter the bios to see if I would see some of the BIOS colors .. blues and yellows .. that would give me more of a sign the connections were good..

-Capt.