Omega Owners Forum
Omega Help Area => Omega General Help => Topic started by: Bo Bo on 30 August 2006, 22:19:32
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I know there have been several questions about this, but I'm wondering what normally happens when they start to go. Mine seem to have a life of their own! Sometimes the display is easily readable with just a few missing & some days I can can't make any sense out of it. I was thinking of sending it to a guy on ebay who fixes them, but if this is not not normal; then there could be something else wrong & a waste of time.
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There is a guy on here who fixes them too. He's driving a car across Europe with Laidback.
Basically, there is a ribbon cable between the glass and the PCB. It is pressed into contact with a flimsy blob of mastic. This allows expansion and contraction thousands of times over the years and the reslut is oxidation of the contacts which are effected by heat.
Solution is to peel back the ribbon cable SLIGHTLY and clean the visible contacts, then press together using a MarksDTMCalib mod box. Easy enough to do and costs nothing to do either. Very satisfying too. I did mine, which is now in a zillion bits in the shed, and garden, and bin! Then I am impatient!!!!
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From memory of what I read on the 'other' site, some MIds have a thin flat internal ribbon cable that feeds the LEDs, and when the contacts on the ribbon are playing up this is what you get. Not sure if this is a DIY fix though. Maybe get a working MID from the scrappies or eBay? TheBoy will know if it needs Tech2 to install.
EDIT *** Beaten to it by RMcB, as always...
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So from this can I deduce that it is indeed normal behaviour & probably not worth doing myself?!
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you would really need a new ribbon cable as depending on the extent of the oxidation there may not be enough conductor left but your problem sounds like it would work i.e. occasional loss of contact of the conductors
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To replace the ribbon at the display end would be 'a challenge' (and I find most surface mount stuff easy to solder).