A600 Keyboard LEDS cable
 

Hi,
I have a little problem: after keeping my A600 case open for a long time, I noticed that two cables (out of 4) are detached. They are the orange and red cables (see photo). I suppose the 4-pins connector is used for LEDS power (POWER, FLOPPY, DISK).

There are 2 soldering points, and I don't remember which one is for the red cable and which one for the orange one... :nervous

Hi,

looking at your picture...

Red is top left, Orange is bottom left

ok :),
thanks mate!

This is a pain with the 600 as the lead has very short, fine gauge wires and is awkward to unplug. After mine breaking a couple of times I added an extension section to make it more secure. Just got some ribbon cable in matching colours and some thin tube heatshrink to insulate the joins. :)

Good work :great.
Where did you buy the heatshrink tube? Electronics store?

P.S. I saw that your cables colors are different. I thought they were color-coded the same way worldwide...

Hi Supamax,
yes most electronics stores where you might buy components, gadgets, etc should carry small assorted packs of heatshrink tube in various colours and sizes. A hairdryer is sufficient to cause it to shrink and make a nice, neat insulated join.

Just had another look at your pic, I think they're the same; green, orange, red, black. Maybe the quality of my pic, a very old digicam!

Cheers mutch.

I personally use a cigarette lighter, there has been a couple of times when I've accidentally set fire to the wire though. :laughing

Hairdryers be damned, cigarette lighters are the only way to go ;)

I use a lighter to melt heatshrink too. :-)

I've been told that it's not the right way to do it, but just be quick with the flame so that it shrinks and then stop and no-one will know the difference. ;-)

I've never tried the lighter method, I normally use a soldering iron after I soldered the wires together. That works ok as long as you don't use the part of the tip that has solder on it (messy if you do).

I reckon that a hot air soldering station would do a great job with heatshrink tubing but I haven't tried that yet.

Used all the mentioned methods. The best is using a SMD rework station, but that's an overkill if you are using it only to heat shrink some insulation.

So, here comes my cigarette lighter (yes, I'm a smoker).

Oops! You're right, I assumed one cable was yellow... :blased I'm getting old

I got tired of this problem and directly replaced those tiny cables with long ones. It's a lifesaver.

I recommend you do the same, specially if you open the A600 frequently (like I do).

What is the similarity of this two things. i don't understand your words. clear it by yourself.

They both produce heat which is needed for heatshrink tube to shrink?

There's my original quote, troll, notice the absence of an 'e' before cigarette.


Heatguns are also a viable option depending on the distance from plastic parts, a hairdryer just doesn't get hot enough.

Bumping an age old thread... Anyway, Thanks! Ripped my wires off and just wasn't sure. This was the info I needed! All working great again.