Steering Wheel Ribbon Cable - Help !

[jensena]

I knew I spoke to soon - 200mls round France no problems, but today my Wipers stopped working. I've taken the Steering wheel off and the cable is broken across 2 cables. I've phoned TVR dealers and been told they are unavailable, some people have been waiting 6 months for one.
Are there any alternatives around? Any one got any suggestions?

[Tyre Smoke]

Maplins - or so I've seen on here a couple of times.

No chance of bridging the broken wires then?

[jesfirth]

you could try the breakers either douglas valley or bellhill garage

[jensena]

jesfirth said:

you could try the breakers either douglas valley or bellhill garage

Many Thanks - Douglas Valley had one, big relief !!

[Alistair H.]

jensena said:

I've phoned TVR dealers and been told they are unavailable, some people have been waiting 6 months for one.

I do worry more and more about parts for cerbs. - it is only going to get worse.

[alderley]

jensena said:

I've taken the Steering wheel off and the cable is broken across 2 cables. I've phoned TVR dealers and been told they are unavailable, some people have been waiting 6 months for one.
Are there any alternatives around? Any one got any suggestions?

Yes.
The first time I replaced my ribbon cable I failed to check I had set it low enough. It rubbed through like yours. Then I repaired it myself after buying an electrical soldering iron from Maplins. I taped over the repaired bit and glued it in place so it cannot move and snap. The rest of the ribbon can still move to accommodate the turning of the steering wheel. It would help to experiment on a bit of old ribbon first and to use a sharp blade to gently remove some insulation and create shiny ends of copper to solder.

[byker28i]

Alan, can you take a photo of the broken one. I might be able to source alternatives through work as we use lots of similar stuff.

[Julian64]

I don't think there is any worry about this. The company that makes them is actually printed on the lead itself. A quick search on the internet got me the company, I called them, they knew what size the TVR was and offered to send me one for £22.

Its a special connector but just standard ribbon cable. I balked at £22 for a simple cable so carefully prized the connector open, unbent the pins, and reconnected it two inches further down the cable. Twas a simple job, but if you do want the part don't bother going through TVR to get it.

[byker28i]

I've got an idea what they use now. I've taken my heater controls out to replace the blue led.

[jensena]

byker28i said:

Alan, can you take a photo of the broken one. I might be able to source alternatives through work as we use lots of similar stuff.

Dave - I'll take a photo tomorrow. I had an autoelectrician call round to see if he could repair it, and he was unwilling to do the job, said that it was a very thin plastic ribbon cable, and attempting to solder would just melt the adjacent non damaged wires.

The cable seems to be standard PC type ribbon cable, although more thinner and more plasticky than the rubbery PC cable(if you know what I mean). The problem appears to be the connectors which are crimped through the cable, but are hidden behind the plstic of the connecting plug.

Hopefully the one from Douglas valley will arrive Thursday and I can get it fitted, and let you all know how I got on.

[mike_e]

These cables are actually flexible printed circuits. The polyester base material means they can't be soldered hence the connectors are crimped onto the ends. Connectors look like FCI Clincher type, about £2 from Farnell-in-one.

[350matt]

Why not just replace with some std ribbon cable?

Matt

[jensena]

Its the small connectors on the end that are the problem

[byker28i]

I'm going to take another look today but I'm wondering now if we could use standard computer type cable with clamp plugs. You'd end up with a second row of redundant pins, but the cable is multicored and so less likely to break.

I've replaced my blue led with an ultra bright one. I can see it working in daylight now.

[johnbear]

A quick repair method is to use a small office stapler to staple along the break.

Tighten up the staple with a quick pinch of the pliers and cover both sides with insulation tape.

[xsnowman]

just to clarify i have repaired the cables from the buttons to the 4 pin connection boss on the steering wheel does the ribbon cable then run from this 4 pin connection boss into the dash/control switches?

[jensena]

xsnowman said:

just to clarify i have repaired the cables from the buttons to the 4 pin connection boss on the steering wheel does the ribbon cable then run from this 4 pin connection boss into the dash/control switches?

Yes if does, sort of!. The ribbon is spiralled around inside the steering wheel hub, it's about 8' long, it connects at one end to a multi pin connector that goes to the horn buttons. The at theother end of the spiral, id connects into another multi pin cconnector that leads up to the dash.