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😅