Laptop LCD Extension

huafist · 01-15-2005, 02:11 PM

I've seen a lot of threads asking about this. I just did it, so I'm going to tell everyone HOW I did it (yeah I know, letting out the secrets lol).
I have NOT installed it in the car yet (fabricating a 1-piece dash to house it), but I have subjected it to all sorts of sources of EMI and so far it's good. The cable in it's entirety is approx. 13".

I took the laptop apart completely. The cable is 2-piece in this one (AMS Roadster 15 series, you can find them on Ebay). There's a flat cable running from the back of the LCD display down to the bottom of the LCD housing, then a standard wire cable runs from there to the board.
Decided how long I wanted/needed my cabling to be, then went to the local Radio Shack to buy wire. Bought a roll of 30GA. insulated wire and some heat shrink tubing.
Back in my fortress of solitude, I cut lengths from my roll of wire and stripped the ends. cut small pieces of heat shrink tubing and threaded them onto the wires.
Heated the soldering gun up, tinned them all, then CAREFULLY, one wire at a time, cut the wires in the wiring harness IN THE MIDDLE (to allow for errors), and soldered the extensions in, then heated the heat shrink tubing to seal it.

When I was finished (and it looked like a giant rat's nest), I straightened it out and twisted it so it was semi-wrapped. I plugged it up to see what would happen, and sure enough, EMI interference like none other - couldn't even really make the display out (3 CRT monitors machines tend to generate quite a bit of EMI). So, I shut it down and unplugged it.

I decided to use an old belkin printer cable as a sacrificial lamb. Using my Xacto knife, I CAREFULLY cut the insulation off of the cable, and unwrapped the shielding on the cable. I took that shielding and wrapped my new LCD cable in it. taped it into place on the ends, and wrapped the final product in conduit wrapping.

Plugged it up again, and VIOLA! It works like a charm. LCD is perfectly clear.
I hope this helps, but DO NOT attempt this unless you're handy with a soldering iron

electronik · 01-15-2005, 03:32 PM

Thats crazy!!!

Roll-your-own VGA cable!

Respect

TruckinMP3 · 01-15-2005, 03:41 PM

Yeah Brother.... can I have an AMEN!

Bugbyte · 01-15-2005, 09:05 PM

Photos, please!

huafist · 01-16-2005, 03:23 AM

Thanks for the props gang

Pictures are up at my car project site:

http://rob.intrados.net/project/carputer/

And if you don't notice them, there are pictures of the power control module I built to "wake up" the laptop when the ignition is turned on there also:

http://rob.intrados.net/project/carputer/LCM/

The dash is in a state of fabrication as well:

http://rob.intrados.net/project/interior/dash/

peter6960 · 01-16-2005, 04:20 AM

I also managed to extent the lcd on my Acer Travelnote.

But i took two old paralel male to female cables i had lying around. simply spliced the laptop's own wires in the center, but used the paralel cable's conductors directly. Also connected the shielding to the laptop's own shields.

I dont see any EMI.

But it did take a few hours. i have like 49 cables in there....

AdReNaLiN · 01-16-2005, 06:41 AM

Good work! I am planning on doing this also...

What is the sheilding and can it be obtained from other sources other than a printer cable?

Offtopic: Laptop Wake Up.
Do you have some kind of software on the laptop to wake it after you send it the pulse?

huafist · 01-16-2005, 12:32 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by AdReNaLiN

Good work! I am planning on doing this also...

What is the sheilding and can it be obtained from other sources other than a printer cable?

Offtopic: Laptop Wake Up.
Do you have some kind of software on the laptop to wake it after you send it the pulse?

I'd say you can find the shielding in any type of external cable - I'd venture to guess RG8 (TV cable) shielding would work as well.
One of the previous posters is right, though -this takes FOREVER to do, especially to do right. The # of connections varies from laptop to laptop, mine had 30. Just be patient and make sure you mate them right.

Offtopic:
For the wakeup I just configured the BIOS for wake on ring, then installed a nonexistant modem on com1 in windows.