Lilliput button board (IR sensor extension)...did I fry it?

[Quack]

I was trying to extend the IR sensor on my Lilliput 629GL-70NP and I think I may have fried something. Here's what I did:

I used a soldering iron to heat and remove the IR sensor from the button board. Here's the piece that I removed (sorry for the fuzzy cam-phone image).



I removed it by desoldering the three little prongs that are soldered to the button board.

Once the piece was removed, I soldered three 18 gauge wires directly to the board where the three prongs used to attach. Then, I soldered these wires to the appropriate prongs on the IR sensor, effectively extending the sensor about 12 inches.

After the first attempt, the remote did not work but all the buttons on the front of the Lilliput still worked. So, I took it apart, resoldered everything carefully and hooked it all back up. After the second soldering job, the remote still did not work and only the PC/AV and Power buttons on the front of the Lilliput worked. The Menu, <, >, Vol+, and Vol- no longer work.

So, anybody very familiar with the Lilliput button board...did I fry it? Any way I can test it?

[EL CAMINO]

i did the mod too,and i didnt have any problem,i'll say first check for any open line on the board with your ohmmeter,from the connector to every sw.because the way the board is (two sided) you may broke a line,one question,did you remove the flat cable that connects the sw. board with the lcd board?,probably is not making god contact on the conector may happend.some things to star... good luck man.

[Motorcity]

If you had the soldering iron on the ir sensor too long, you may have fried it. Also, on your second attempt, you may have done some damage to the pcb. either way, you cooked it.

[RetroPlayer]

Is there any possibility that the second time you wired up the sensor backwards? In my experience, these boards swap commons to use less I/O, so the fact that a couple of buttons are working and not others makes me wonder about the orientation of the sensor. This can be verified by just completely removing the IR sensor and trying the buttons.

If you fried the board with your soldering iron, you will have lifted pads and would not have been able to solder back on to them the second time. If you simply fried the sensor, I doubt the rest of your buttons would stop working as a result (though there is a small possibility that you melted it so bad that it shorted out internally...though I think you would have noticed this visually and would have smelled it at the time.) Again, removing the IR sensor from the circuit would verify this.

I would do as the first responder said and check the ribbon cables going between the button board and the main board. Then remove the IR sensor completely from the circuit and try the buttons. If all is well, then you probably wired it in backwards, or something went wacko in the sensor.

You could also look for loose pullup resistors (you really need to take a better picture of the board!) They will be the little 'chips' on the board, if there are any on that button board (if not, then they are definitely on the main board.) Barring the possibility that you let your iron slip and gouged traces on the board, which I will assume -since you said you were "careful" -didn't happen, you could have somehow blown the I/O on the chip that handles the buttons. This would likely only happen if you shorted them out and still would be pretty unlikely with the pullups in there.

Scott McDonnell

[Motorcity]

not having good close up pictures makes it kind of difficult to see the damage you may have done to the pcb. heat kills, and that ir sensor is no exception. even 3-5 seconds with a hot iron will do enough damage to that ir sensor, and even the pcb to ruin them without you knowing it. Remember, heat kills. use it wisely.

[DOHCrazy]

My lilli 8" did this too after the mod.

I had to reseat my cable maybe 20 times before it worked. Now it works fine.

[greenman100]

I have a 629 board if you want it

[Quack]

I'm pretty sure I fried the sensor. I reseated the cable (I figured out the trick to mine...it needs to sit all the way to one side) and everything except the sensor works fine. I decided to attach the button board to the back of the lilliput housing (see my worklog for the details) and forego the remote for now. Eventually I'll do some more detail work on the dash bezel and then probably replace the remote sensor. Thanks for all the advice.

[WuNgUn]

Dammit...mine isn't working either after soldering on an extension...
Gonna try soldering the wires to the BACK side of the button board.

[WuNgUn]

Yup, that worked...perfectly!
My attached wires, because the board had already been soldered, didn't pass thru the holes in the board, not making contact with the circuits on the otherside...
Soldering them to the back (ribbon side) of the board worked the first time...

[WuNgUn]

Update: I pulled a wire off the board...and it apparently pulled the solder pad off!
I resoldered it on the other side of the board in hopes that it'll still work, but I won't know until tomorrow when I plug it in...