Hardware Botched shell swap

AshuraZro

Belongs in a museum.
Member
Joined
Feb 21, 2004
Messages
2,588
Trophies
2
Location
Ontario
XP
2,465
Country
Canada
I recently goofed up my right JoyCon myself while swapping cases (left went without a hitch). I took a lot of care in the disassembly and reassembly but I'm willing to bet I borked the battery connector given it won't turn on. No regrets as I knew the risk but part of me wishes I'd straight up ripped something off so I could at least point to it and go "Well there's the problem." and move on.
 

ganons

Well-Known Member
OP
Member
Joined
Jun 12, 2005
Messages
3,180
Trophies
1
XP
2,764
Country
I'm kind of in awe at how badly you messed up that connector. It's supposed to be a ZIF (zero insertion force) connector. At no point should you be physically pulling or pushing at the connector. Just flip up the latch (or sometimes there is a piece that you have to push out with a small tool, that takes more effort but still should not require force, I think those particular 2 are of the flip up kind though), gently pull the ribbon out, gently push it all the way in, and flip the latch back down. What did you do to rip it clean off the board like that? Did you forget to flip up the latch or something?

When I opened up my left JoyCon to do the foam connectivity fix, I was super worried about damaging the ribbon cables knowing they are fragile, but that was never an issue. Instead, I damaged the battery connector on the board, not knowing it came apart in two halves, I thought it just pushed onto pins from the side so I pulled at it and pulled both plastic pieces off the pins, one of the pins then broke and I scoured eBay for months for a faulty left JoyCon with good board for a good price with international shipping, and eventually found one with a faulty stick click from Germany for like €15 including shipping which I bought, since I didn't feel comfortable soldering the battery directly to the board.

But with ribbon cables, there are pretty much only a couple of ways the cable can latch in place, the latch itself can sometimes be damaged easily, but ripping the entire connector off the board? I've never seen that. I honestly wonder what you did to cause that.

Like I said in the op, a screw was stripped so it was not possible to unscrew so I had to pry it which lead damaging those components.
 
  • Like
Reactions: The Real Jdbye

ganons

Well-Known Member
OP
Member
Joined
Jun 12, 2005
Messages
3,180
Trophies
1
XP
2,764
Country
I recently goofed up my right JoyCon myself while swapping cases (left went without a hitch). I took a lot of care in the disassembly and reassembly but I'm willing to bet I borked the battery connector given it won't turn on. No regrets as I knew the risk but part of me wishes I'd straight up ripped something off so I could at least point to it and go "Well there's the problem." and move on.

Got a pic of what you think you borked?
 

ganons

Well-Known Member
OP
Member
Joined
Jun 12, 2005
Messages
3,180
Trophies
1
XP
2,764
Country
Ok so I took another look and the ribbon cable looks bent.

Would that stop it from working if it's damaged?
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20200620_102208.jpg
    IMG_20200620_102208.jpg
    600.3 KB · Views: 105
  • IMG_20200620_102146.jpg
    IMG_20200620_102146.jpg
    709.3 KB · Views: 101

ganons

Well-Known Member
OP
Member
Joined
Jun 12, 2005
Messages
3,180
Trophies
1
XP
2,764
Country
That ribbon must have been damaged. I pushed it quite light where the bend was and it snapped! Got a replacement on the way.
 
General chit-chat
Help Users
  • No one is chatting at the moment.
    K3N1 @ K3N1: https://youtube.com/shorts/PArWUK0WyDQ?feature=share