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optical mouse malfunction



 
 
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  #16  
Old July 5th 12, 05:21 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware
Jo-Anne[_4_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,101
Default optical mouse malfunction


"VanguardLH" wrote in message
...
snip

You were right, Paul--it's a broken wire. Unfortunately, the mouse may be
TOO well made. There are five wires in a cord or sleeve (not sure what to
call it); and at the mouse end, besides their being taped together and to
the sleeve, each wire is crimped into a separate hole in a plastic piece.
I
suspect they'd all have to be carefully taken out of that piece, cut far
enough back to get past the break in the one wire, wherever it is, and
then
recrimped (assuming the plastic piece survives). Moreover, there's a
plastic
"buffering" piece on the outside of the sleeve at the entryway to the
mouse,
and it doesn't come off. I'm very tempted to write to the company to ask
if
it can sell me another cord...

Jo-Anne


A picture posted online somewhere and given a link here would better
help for others to know what you're trying to describe.



I had a hard time getting close enough with my camera to do a clear shot,
but I tried. The result is he

http://tinypic.com/r/v418ph/6

Jo-Anne


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  #17  
Old July 5th 12, 06:36 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware
Paul
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 18,275
Default optical mouse malfunction

Jo-Anne wrote:
"VanguardLH" wrote in message
...
snip

You were right, Paul--it's a broken wire. Unfortunately, the mouse may be
TOO well made. There are five wires in a cord or sleeve (not sure what to
call it); and at the mouse end, besides their being taped together and to
the sleeve, each wire is crimped into a separate hole in a plastic piece.
I
suspect they'd all have to be carefully taken out of that piece, cut far
enough back to get past the break in the one wire, wherever it is, and
then
recrimped (assuming the plastic piece survives). Moreover, there's a
plastic
"buffering" piece on the outside of the sleeve at the entryway to the
mouse,
and it doesn't come off. I'm very tempted to write to the company to ask
if
it can sell me another cord...

Jo-Anne

A picture posted online somewhere and given a link here would better
help for others to know what you're trying to describe.



I had a hard time getting close enough with my camera to do a clear shot,
but I tried. The result is he

http://tinypic.com/r/v418ph/6

Jo-Anne


http://oi45.tinypic.com/v418ph.jpg

Does the plastic grommet on the left, split into two pieces ?

Sometimes, items like that consist of two parts. They squash the wire
to prevent it from moving through the grommet.

As for the thing on the right, that's not going to be a lot of fun.
Four of the connections would be ordinary wires. The fifth is
"shield", and could be made from twisted braid off the shield.

I can't really tell what kind of connector that is on the end.

If the pins could be backed out of the shell, that would solve
one part of the puzzle. Some shells have a "tab per pin", and
releasing the tab with a hobby knife, allows the wire and pin
to be extracted. The pin will have a "spike" on the side of it,
which catches in the tab, to hold it secure. Things like that
are intended to be "one way" insert. If the thing the pin
lodges in, can be released, then the pin can be backed out.

Once the pin is out, the pin itself probably can't be recycled.
As you say, a "crimp" of the pin onto the wire, tends to bend the
crimp hooks all to bits. Opening the hooks and closing them
again, just isn't practical (they snap off). And then, finding
replacement crimp pins, is the challenge.

There are a ton of different crimp pins out there, so matching
what you've got, would not be trivial.

You can unsolder the mating connector from the Contour PCB.
Then solder the wire, right to the PCB. That may be the
most practical solution. It really depends, on what you envisage
as the assembly order, and whether the cable arrangement can
be set up, before the soldering begins.

But the first step remains, whether that grommet splits in two
or not. If it does, you pry it apart, move it up the wire
several inches, and it will "reclamp" itself when it's forced
through the hole in the casing. I think my electric kettle
may use something like that, to clamp the wire.

This picture is not the same as yours. It's intended to show
what a two part strain relief looks like. The two halves
close around the wire. The device "clamps" as it is forced
through a too-small hole in a chassis. The wire is forced to
go through a path which isn't straight, which prevents it
from moving. It applies enough force, that the wire underneath
probably cannot be "clamped" a second time, and fresh wire
should be pulled into position where it will "clamp".

http://www.atmgurus.com/estore/image...2617-00031.jpg

All in all, a challenging project. Working with strain
reliefs, does involve a bit of cursing and swearing.
Tools tend to slide off them.

You also have the option, of starting with a USB cable, chopping
an end off it, then solder the wires to the mouse PCB. And then
doing your best, to make your own strain relief solution. I've
never been 100% successful at making home strain reliefs. They've
all resulted in wire breakage later.

*******

A cheesy kind of repair, is to move the grommet/strain relief up
the cable a bit, and bring the broken wire *inside* the mouse
casing. Then, fiddle with the wire, such that the broken parts
touch, when the mouse is reassembled. As long as the strain
relief is *really good* at preventing tugging, the broken
wire bits may stay in close proximity to one another.
Obviously, this isn't a proper repair, but it's an intermediate
solution to dealing with the connector and wire dress problem.
This would be the kind of solution, someone adverse to soldering
might try. (Someone whose burnt finger is just about healed.)

Paul
  #18  
Old July 5th 12, 10:48 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware
VanguardLH[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 10,881
Default optical mouse malfunction

Paul wrote:

If the pins could be backed out of the shell, that would solve
one part of the puzzle. Some shells have a "tab per pin", and
releasing the tab with a hobby knife, allows the wire and pin
to be extracted. The pin will have a "spike" on the side of it,
which catches in the tab, to hold it secure. Things like that
are intended to be "one way" insert. If the thing the pin
lodges in, can be released, then the pin can be backed out.


I find a small sewing needle works to depress the locking finger. It's
metal is stronger than just a pin. However, once the pin is out of the
connector shell, it is improbable the wire can be removed from the
crimped pin without damaging the pin. The metal becomes weak and breaks
when you try to uncrimp the part holding the wire. Soldering would
require a very small tipped iron and the soldered joint would have to be
small enough so it fits into the connector's hole into which the pin
slides.

You can unsolder the mating connector from the Contour PCB.
Then solder the wire, right to the PCB. That may be the
most practical solution. It really depends, on what you envisage
as the assembly order, and whether the cable arrangement can
be set up, before the soldering begins.


I suspect even easier would be to cut off the connector on the wire
bundle and solder each wird underneath the PCB - if the wires are long
enough. Rather than try to remove the PCB connector and solder there,
just solder onto the other side.

The black part is just heat shrink tubing that could be cut away. The
strain relief (plastic blob) around the cable may be molded and not
reusable. If this is the case, you want that use custom strain relief
(you find anything else that works with that mouse shell). If it's a
molded blob on the cable, and because you must use it to prevent the
soldered wires from getting yanked on at their solder connection,
lengthening the wires is needed. Solder a short length of wire onto
each existing cable wire. The old and new wires are braided so unbraid
them to straighten, mesh the ends together, twist a little, and solder
the wires inline with each other. You end up with a short length of
bare meshed wires. Slide over some heatshrink tubing just a bit larger
than the soldered wires and heat to shrink. Now the wires will be long
enough to route to the other side of the PCB to solder them there.

Unless it looked easy to get the pin out, remove the wire from the pin,
solder on new part of the old wire (trim it back), and the soldered job
still fits into the connector, I'd just give up on reusing the
connector. Solder wire stubbies onto the solder pads on the other side
of the connector (you could remove the connector using a solder sucker
or wick but removal might not be needed) and run them around the PCB to
solder them to trimmed old wire(s). Be sure to slide the heatshrink
over the stub or old wire before soldering so it's available over the
wire to slide over the solder joint to heat and seal it.
  #19  
Old July 7th 12, 08:34 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware
Jo-Anne[_4_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,101
Default optical mouse malfunction

"Paul" wrote in message
...
Jo-Anne wrote:
"VanguardLH" wrote in message
...
snip

You were right, Paul--it's a broken wire. Unfortunately, the mouse may
be
TOO well made. There are five wires in a cord or sleeve (not sure what
to
call it); and at the mouse end, besides their being taped together and
to
the sleeve, each wire is crimped into a separate hole in a plastic
piece. I
suspect they'd all have to be carefully taken out of that piece, cut
far
enough back to get past the break in the one wire, wherever it is, and
then
recrimped (assuming the plastic piece survives). Moreover, there's a
plastic
"buffering" piece on the outside of the sleeve at the entryway to the
mouse,
and it doesn't come off. I'm very tempted to write to the company to
ask if
it can sell me another cord...

Jo-Anne
A picture posted online somewhere and given a link here would better
help for others to know what you're trying to describe.



I had a hard time getting close enough with my camera to do a clear shot,
but I tried. The result is he

http://tinypic.com/r/v418ph/6

Jo-Anne


http://oi45.tinypic.com/v418ph.jpg

Does the plastic grommet on the left, split into two pieces ?

Sometimes, items like that consist of two parts. They squash the wire
to prevent it from moving through the grommet.

As for the thing on the right, that's not going to be a lot of fun.
Four of the connections would be ordinary wires. The fifth is
"shield", and could be made from twisted braid off the shield.

I can't really tell what kind of connector that is on the end.

If the pins could be backed out of the shell, that would solve
one part of the puzzle. Some shells have a "tab per pin", and
releasing the tab with a hobby knife, allows the wire and pin
to be extracted. The pin will have a "spike" on the side of it,
which catches in the tab, to hold it secure. Things like that
are intended to be "one way" insert. If the thing the pin
lodges in, can be released, then the pin can be backed out.

Once the pin is out, the pin itself probably can't be recycled.
As you say, a "crimp" of the pin onto the wire, tends to bend the
crimp hooks all to bits. Opening the hooks and closing them
again, just isn't practical (they snap off). And then, finding
replacement crimp pins, is the challenge.

There are a ton of different crimp pins out there, so matching
what you've got, would not be trivial.

You can unsolder the mating connector from the Contour PCB.
Then solder the wire, right to the PCB. That may be the
most practical solution. It really depends, on what you envisage
as the assembly order, and whether the cable arrangement can
be set up, before the soldering begins.

But the first step remains, whether that grommet splits in two
or not. If it does, you pry it apart, move it up the wire
several inches, and it will "reclamp" itself when it's forced
through the hole in the casing. I think my electric kettle
may use something like that, to clamp the wire.

This picture is not the same as yours. It's intended to show
what a two part strain relief looks like. The two halves
close around the wire. The device "clamps" as it is forced
through a too-small hole in a chassis. The wire is forced to
go through a path which isn't straight, which prevents it
from moving. It applies enough force, that the wire underneath
probably cannot be "clamped" a second time, and fresh wire
should be pulled into position where it will "clamp".

http://www.atmgurus.com/estore/image...2617-00031.jpg

All in all, a challenging project. Working with strain
reliefs, does involve a bit of cursing and swearing.
Tools tend to slide off them.

You also have the option, of starting with a USB cable, chopping
an end off it, then solder the wires to the mouse PCB. And then
doing your best, to make your own strain relief solution. I've
never been 100% successful at making home strain reliefs. They've
all resulted in wire breakage later.

*******

A cheesy kind of repair, is to move the grommet/strain relief up
the cable a bit, and bring the broken wire *inside* the mouse
casing. Then, fiddle with the wire, such that the broken parts
touch, when the mouse is reassembled. As long as the strain
relief is *really good* at preventing tugging, the broken
wire bits may stay in close proximity to one another.
Obviously, this isn't a proper repair, but it's an intermediate
solution to dealing with the connector and wire dress problem.
This would be the kind of solution, someone adverse to soldering
might try. (Someone whose burnt finger is just about healed.)

Paul



Thank you for the detailed info, Paul! My husband is now trying to decide
how or whether to do this repair...

Jo-Anne


  #20  
Old July 7th 12, 08:35 PM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware
Jo-Anne[_4_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,101
Default optical mouse malfunction


"VanguardLH" wrote in message
...
Paul wrote:

If the pins could be backed out of the shell, that would solve
one part of the puzzle. Some shells have a "tab per pin", and
releasing the tab with a hobby knife, allows the wire and pin
to be extracted. The pin will have a "spike" on the side of it,
which catches in the tab, to hold it secure. Things like that
are intended to be "one way" insert. If the thing the pin
lodges in, can be released, then the pin can be backed out.


I find a small sewing needle works to depress the locking finger. It's
metal is stronger than just a pin. However, once the pin is out of the
connector shell, it is improbable the wire can be removed from the
crimped pin without damaging the pin. The metal becomes weak and breaks
when you try to uncrimp the part holding the wire. Soldering would
require a very small tipped iron and the soldered joint would have to be
small enough so it fits into the connector's hole into which the pin
slides.

You can unsolder the mating connector from the Contour PCB.
Then solder the wire, right to the PCB. That may be the
most practical solution. It really depends, on what you envisage
as the assembly order, and whether the cable arrangement can
be set up, before the soldering begins.


I suspect even easier would be to cut off the connector on the wire
bundle and solder each wird underneath the PCB - if the wires are long
enough. Rather than try to remove the PCB connector and solder there,
just solder onto the other side.

The black part is just heat shrink tubing that could be cut away. The
strain relief (plastic blob) around the cable may be molded and not
reusable. If this is the case, you want that use custom strain relief
(you find anything else that works with that mouse shell). If it's a
molded blob on the cable, and because you must use it to prevent the
soldered wires from getting yanked on at their solder connection,
lengthening the wires is needed. Solder a short length of wire onto
each existing cable wire. The old and new wires are braided so unbraid
them to straighten, mesh the ends together, twist a little, and solder
the wires inline with each other. You end up with a short length of
bare meshed wires. Slide over some heatshrink tubing just a bit larger
than the soldered wires and heat to shrink. Now the wires will be long
enough to route to the other side of the PCB to solder them there.

Unless it looked easy to get the pin out, remove the wire from the pin,
solder on new part of the old wire (trim it back), and the soldered job
still fits into the connector, I'd just give up on reusing the
connector. Solder wire stubbies onto the solder pads on the other side
of the connector (you could remove the connector using a solder sucker
or wick but removal might not be needed) and run them around the PCB to
solder them to trimmed old wire(s). Be sure to slide the heatshrink
over the stub or old wire before soldering so it's available over the
wire to slide over the solder joint to heat and seal it.



Thank you, Vanguard! I've passed this info on to him. I'm not sure if he's
going to try the repair...

Jo-Anne


  #21  
Old July 13th 12, 08:12 AM posted to microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware
rjk
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 478
Default optical mouse malfunction


"Good Guy" wrote in message
...


The short answer is optical mice are NOT fixable. However, you paid $110
for a mouse so it must be some extra special one. What exactly does it do
that my $3.99 mice can't do?

I always but cheaper ones so that if they are broken or "walked away" from
my desk then I won't have sleepless nights.

--
Good Guy
Website: http://mytaxsite.co.uk
Website: http://html-css.co.uk
Forums: http://mytaxsite.boardhost.com
Email: http://mytaxsite.co.uk/contact-us



IMO ...you don't have to sacrifice cheapness for quality, when there are
Logitech M305 cordless. I've bought at least four, and they were around £13
each. I keep one in Laptop case, nano-USB receiver means you can leave it
plugged in. But, for lengthy periods of time in front of ones desktops ,
M305's cordless are simply brilliant.

After having owned and used quite a few mice ranging from very expensive to
quite cheap, the M305's are a DREAM !!!
Left and right mouse buttons are hinged, (instead of nasty flexible plastic
as on some cheapies), giving a "precision feel," with almost no effort to
use for long periods of time.
The "wheel" also has a left and right scroll action, (if supported in your
OS/apps.)
Not having a wire is another "heaven", ...wise to keep a pack of AA's
handy, one lasts for a good two or three months at least.

regards, Richard


 




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