I have many times extended pushbuttons for different applications, but this time I need to extend the buttons of a tablet computer for an art installation.
The tablet is a Linx 7 and inside there is a small ribbon cable that connects the three buttons (power, vol+, vol-), which I need to extend (although only power would be enough). It's too small to solder a wire, so I was wondering if anyone knows a good solution. Searching on forums and blogs I just found one person who found a successful way, but it happened that his tablet (Nexus) had another spot where he could solder the power wires.
Is there any kind of small ribbon (10 pin) adapter for PCB soldering? Is there any other option?
Thank you very much for your help, attached are the pictures.
Best Answer
The button board is two pieces, one the conductive carbon or metal button, and two the pcb with some open traces. When the buttons are pressed, they flex and touch two sides of the traces on the pcb. If you peel it apart, you get access to the traces that you can solder to easily.
That said, you can use a wired headphone cable with volume and play remote buttons, or even a bluetooth remote instead. Or if your tablet supports USB OTG, a wired keyboard.