Need pitch for a rca laser carriage ribbon cable (1 Viewer)

[Robt1]

I have a rca 5.1 home theater and instead of cutting the ribbon cable and scraping the end to make it work, I'd rather ask here as to what pitch the laser carriage ribbon cable is and then buy a new one? It's an older model around 2007 from Walmart. It works intermittently and I can see where the problem is at the end of the cable(as verified from videos on YouTube). I don't have a metric ruler so I cannot calculate the pitch myself. If no one knows for sure ,then generally what pitch is used for that type of application? Thanks

 

[David Norman]

Can you list the model of RCA system and be more specific (or generic) about which wires/cables you wish to replace? The link to the You Tube video and timestamp might help. I'm assuming this an internal cable, but can you specify what 2 points it's connecting

Possibly attach a photo of the cable?

 

[Robt1]

It's the ribbon cable that runs from motherboard to the optical laser carriage in the dvd-cd playback.
Picture of model and cable below.

 

[David Norman]

Just eyeballing the cable it appears likely to be a 0.5mm wire.

Most of these optical pickup cables that I can find are 23-24 pin. What it the width of the ribbon (approx and inches is OK )
and if you disconnect the end at the motherboard can you count the visible pins? The cable doesn't appear like it's more than an inch wide

I thought I'd able to find a service manual online, but so far I'm coming up empty with anything listing parts numbers for the internal parts. I can some that show the outer case and front panel, but nothing for the boards.

 

[Robt1]

Just eyeballing the cable it appears likely to be a 0.5mm wire.

Most of these optical pickup cables that I can find are 23-24 pin. What it the width of the ribbon (approx and inches is OK )
and if you disconnect the end at the motherboard can you count the visible pins? The cable doesn't appear like it's more than an inch wide

I thought I'd able to find a service manual online, but so far I'm coming up empty with anything listing parts numbers for the internal parts. I can some that show the outer case and front panel, but nothing for the boards.

 

[Robt1]

I already broke a piece off of one connector(doesn't affect connection) so if I can just leave that alone and wait for an answer from someone who's familiar with what I show them here I'll be better off. I know the formula for finding the pitch but the female connectors are so fragile I don't want to keep taking the cable off.

 

[David Norman]

Understood. I wish I could find the service manual for this specific or any similar DVD or HT system from the era and give you an exact part number and description. The only place I could find that might have that info appears to be a pay site. I replaced a number of pickups, spindle motors, and ribbon cables on a couple Sony Multidisc 5 or 6 disc DVD players that were used in an office situation playing continuously 8-12 hr a day, 6 days a week, but no direct experiece with RCA/Thomson units.

Hopefully one of the Technical guys here or on one of the otehr sites you asked can give a more specific answer.

 

[John Dirk]

The part number is printed right on the cable.

See on Amazon

 

[David Norman]

I thought it was going be that simple too, but (unless I'm typing something incorrectly) when searching either e188165 or awm 20798 it kept coming up with multiple variations of pin counts and even wire gauge . The cable shown in the Robert's pic isn't a 40 pin cable -- not sure if you were using the Amazon link as an example or the link jumped the tracks

I did find a service manual of a different RCA HT unit from the 2000's which shows the optical pickup end pin-out with 24, but didn't actually give me a part number. It was a bit confusing because it listed the optical unit as a Sony, but I have no idea is somehow the manual mixed up the pages when it was uploaded or if RCA was sourcing lasers from Sony back then

 

[John Dirk]

I thought it was going be that simple too, but (unless I'm typing something incorrectly) when searching either e188165 or awm 20798 it kept coming up with multiple variations of pin counts and even wire gauge . The cable shown in the Robert's pic isn't a 40 pin cable -- not sure if you were using the Amazon link as an example or the link jumped the tracks

I did find a service manual of a different RCA HT unit from the 2000's which shows the optical pickup end pin-out with 24, but didn't actually give me a part number. It was a bit confusing because it listed the optical unit as a Sony, but I have no idea is somehow the manual mixed up the pages when it was uploaded or if RCA was sourcing lasers from Sony back then

Good catch, David. I wondered about that but the cable width [at a glance] appeared about the same. I enlarged the supplied pic and did my best to count the pins. It appears to be a 26 pin cable. Here is the closest match I could find. As you alluded, however, without the service manual for that specific unit, this is likely the best we'll be able to do.

FFC FPC Flat Flexible Cable for LCD Laptop

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[Robt1]

#20624 on your cable compared to # 20798 on my cable.

 

[Robt1]

I thought it was going be that simple too, but (unless I'm typing something incorrectly) when searching either e188165 or awm 20798 it kept coming up with multiple variations of pin counts and even wire gauge . The cable shown in the Robert's pic isn't a 40 pin cable -- not sure if you were using the Amazon link as an example or the link jumped the tracks

I did find a service manual of a different RCA HT unit from the 2000's which shows the optical pickup end pin-out with 24, but didn't actually give me a part number. It was a bit confusing because it listed the optical unit as a Sony, but I have no idea is somehow the manual mixed up the pages when it was uploaded or if RCA was sourcing lasers from Sony back then

This is the only one so far on Amazon but there's way too many of them.

 

[Robt1]

Good catch, David. I wondered about that but the cable width [at a glance] appeared about the same. I enlarged the supplied pic and did my best to count the pins. It appears to be a 26 pin cable. Here is the closest match I could find. As you alluded, however, without the service manual for that specific unit, this is likely the best we'll be able to do.

FFC FPC Flat Flexible Cable for LCD Laptop

Buy ffc fpc flat flexible cable for lcd laptop at Harfington, get more Flexible Flat Cable in various size. Get it now!

www.harfington.com

This is the only one so far on Amazon but there's way too many of them.

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[Robt1]

This is the only one so far on Amazon but there's way too many of them.

Here's one of the schematicsif you can find the terminal and count the pins it would help. I don't read schematics.https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bCI5qmjGiu9CBgp94IOHaQLpGCjWcUKH/view?usp=drivesdk

 

[Robt1]

 

[Robt1]

 

[Robt1]

This is the only one so far on Amazon but there's way too many of them.

If you'll scroll down on replies you can see the schematics.

 

[David Norman]

The other consideration is whether the connector is an A or B type cable (are the pins on the same side of the cable or front/back. I usually assume same side since every flat cable I think I've seen is an A-type, but without removing the old cable or at least looking at the insertion points closer it's still up in the air.


The schematic specific I don't think would help a lot for me though I'm blocked/restricted anyway (YOU NEED ACCESS)

If you have a decent Computer/Electronic repair shop in the area it wouldn't be out of reason to think maybe they could help out. Either something equivalent in stock or scavenged from an old unit. A lot of computers seem to use AWM 20624 variations, but I think electrically it should be identical if the width of the cable, pin count, and pitch are identical.
Other than ordering from one of the CHINA ebay shops or possibly Alibaba, I certainly haven't found anything less than $12-15 shipped for a 1-2 unit package on the Ebay listing that i think might be similar cables

 

[Robt1]

Good catch, David. I wondered about that but the cable width [at a glance] appeared about the same. I enlarged the supplied pic and did my best to count the pins. It appears to be a 26 pin cable. Here is the closest match I could find. As you alluded, however, without the service manual for that specific unit, this is likely the best we'll be able to do.

FFC FPC Flat Flexible Cable for LCD Laptop

Buy ffc fpc flat flexible cable for lcd laptop at Harfington, get more Flexible Flat Cable in various size. Get it now!

www.harfington.com

The other consideration is whether the connector is an A or B type cable (are the pins on the same side of the cable or front/back. I usually assume same side since every flat cable I think I've seen is an A-type, but without removing the old cable or at least looking at the insertion points closer it's still up in the air.


The schematic specific I don't think would help a lot for me though I'm blocked/restricted anyway (YOU NEED ACCESS)

If you have a decent Computer/Electronic repair shop in the area it wouldn't be out of reason to think maybe they could help out. Either something equivalent in stock or scavenged from an old unit. A lot of computers seem to use AWM 20624 variations, but I think electrically it should be identical if the width of the cable, pin count, and pitch are identical.
Other than ordering from one of the CHINA ebay shops or possibly Alibaba, I certainly haven't found anything less than $12-15 shipped for a 1-2 unit package on the Ebay listing that i think might be similar cables

I went ahead and ordered this after counting 24 pins an a .5mm pitch

 

[John Dirk]

#20624 on your cable compared to # 20798 on my cable.

Yes but searches for both produced different variations of cables so I don't know if those are meant to be completely descriptive. Also, I magnified and counted the pins as best I could and thought I came up with 26.