Can you fix a zebra strip?

I have a meter with intermittent display segments. I've cleaned the board and (carefully) the LCD glass contacts. Not much help. Neither did cleaning the zebra strip. Is there anything I can do to the zebra strip to help? I've thought about shaving down the plastic to get more compression on the strip...but there's no coming back from that.

Reply to
mike
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Maker and model number?

If you look carefully at the strip, you'll see that the connecting PCB traces has created an indentation in the strip. If you rotate the strip to a different side, the indentations will not make contact. There are 8 possible ways to reinstall the strip, 7 of which won't work. The trick will be to find the original orientation. Shaving the existing connector won't help because it will reduce the connection pressure.

However, I don't think you'll have much luck getting it back in position. Find a replacement strip and it should work, assuming nothing else is blown/broken/trashed. Search for "elastomeric connector strip".

--
Jeff Liebermann     jeffl@cruzio.com 
150 Felker St #D    http://www.LearnByDestroying.com 
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Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

Thanks for the link. It's a UEI EM150 vacuum gauge. It's been sitting for a year. I figgered it would cold flow and make connecti0n eventually. I was wrong. ;-(

I don't think the thing is worth the postage to order a new strip.

Think I'll try squeezing the strip sideways and heating it a little.

Reply to
mike

"There are 8 possible ways to reinstall the strip, 7 of which won't work" ? The point of zebras is they have very great latitude for mis-positioning, I've found replacing back-in in another 1 of 8 orientations often works, admittedly I flip in a vertical sense and flip longitudinally ,not necessarily solved the problem for very long though. Assuming the zebra is nominally held in a plastic well, then "shaving down the plastic " does work , and is a more long term solution. I mark and use a file to remove about 1/3mm all round, just freehand, again zebra latitude comes to the fore again - I wonder who thought up such a clever solution.

Reply to
N_Cook

I had a microwave display where the metal contact points under the zebra strip were just soldered. Cleaning with solvent didn't help, a pencil eraser was needed.

--
They can have my command prompt when they pry it from my cold dead fingers.
Reply to
George Jetson

"N_Cook" wrote in news:ke2r5g$4n0$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me:

Filing it is drastic and not reversable.

Instead, I recommend shimming between the bezel and the LCD glass (on top of the glass) using a narrow strip of self-adhesive tape. You only really need to shim the edge with the zebra strip. The glass then sits a little closer to the PCB complessing the zebra strip slightly more.

It is the ONLY satisfactory method I have found if the clamping pressure comes from plastic clips, not screws.

--
Ian Malcolm.   London, ENGLAND.  (NEWSGROUP REPLY PREFERRED)  
ianm[at]the[dash]malcolms[dot]freeserve[dot]co[dot]uk  
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Reply to
Ian Malcolm

yes the order is

clean all contact surfaces tighten with spacers/shims where applicable double flip the zebra parts mule for a replacement file job

My work-a-day DVM kept randomly loosing segments , went through 1 a few times, 2 not applicable, 3 lasted a few months, 4 no mule found, finally 5 and has been reliable since then , perhaps 2 or 3 years now

Reply to
N_Cook

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