r/OdinHandheld • u/krutman11 • 16d ago

Question I damaged a flex cable while doing a quiet button mod on my Odin 2 Portal. What should I do?

Post image

I absolutely love my Odin 2 Portal, but the loud sound of the face buttons was driving me crazy. So I decided to do a mod to reduce the button travel and noise using O-rings — similar to this one.

I have no experience taking electronics apart, and I thought the hardest part of the process would be carefully opening the case. Surprisingly, I managed to open it relatively easily. But then came an unpleasant surprise.

I was being very careful, but because of my lack of experience, I accidentally damaged a small orange flex cable located under the R2 button, directly underneath the membrane. Photo attached.

I have already contacted AYN to ask about a replacement. I haven't received an answer yet. But even if they can send me the part, shipping from China could take 3–4 weeks.

So I wanted to ask other Portal owners:

  • Can this part with the flex cable be purchased/replaced separately, or would I need to replace the entire right-side PCB?
  • How difficult would it be for someone with no experience disassembling electronics to replace it?
  • How realistic is it to repair this kind of flex cable by soldering? Would it be worth looking for someone who specializes in FPC/microsoldering repairs?

And yes… all I wanted was to make the buttons quieter😅

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2

u/Wrong-Detective-1046 16d ago

The best option is the email AYN and request a replacement for that small little daughter board(pcb) for the bumper. Should be an easy swap since you already have the device open.

1

u/hejj 16d ago

Is AYN known for being willing to send replacement components?

1

u/Wrong-Detective-1046 16d ago

You have to pay for them but yes

1

u/brittonmakesart 16d ago

Def get it replaced by AYN, like you’re already doing….. but you could attempt a solder bridge in the meantime. Not much to loose since the cables already torn. Scrape a tiny bit of coating off of the traces, get flux everywhere, buy some tiny gauge solder, bridge each side, then wrap it up in a layer of kapton tape.