broken 4.3 screen

[rockclimber1]

Hi all,
I have an xl2 with a broken digitizer. Looking around ebay I came across a UK site with a listing for a 4.3 xl digitizer. I know the lcd's/screens are different but are the 4.3 digitizers the same/interchangeable?
Thanks,
Paul.

 

[canderson]

If you poke around, you'll see just how much effort goes into swapping the digitizer from the face of the LCD. It's not a trivial exercise. AFAIK, all of the 4.3" touch screens are the same across the TomTom line. That said, unless you've got nimble fingers and good eyesight, not to mention access to and some skill with a soldering iron, the LCD/digitizer assembly is much quicker and less painful as a solution.

 

[rockclimber1]

Thanks for the reply,
I did look about first. I am ok with the soldering although it might be interesting lining the digitizer up when I stick it back on. I am going to order one up and I'll let you know how I go on.
The reason I'm trying to keep the cost down is because this was a brand new unit I bought from Halfords and the screen broke the first time I pressed it into its screen holder (it was working fine in my hand before). To buy a full screen is the best part of £40 with the postage which is nearly half the cost of the unit in the first place, whereas the digitizer is about £10.

 

[canderson]

There's a video posted here >>> https://www.tomtomforums.com/t28403-instructions-changing-cracked-screen-740-please.html <<< that demonstrates what the swap looks like on a 740. The actual LCD/digitizer process will look pretty much the same no matter what model you've got.

 

[rockclimber1]

Job done

Hi all,
I got my digitizer from ebay from a uk based site so it only took 3 days to arrive.
The whole job only took me about 15 mins.
I used a stanley knife blade between the old digitzer and screen to cut through the old seal all the way round. When I got to the top where the ribbon cable is soldered on I just cut through the ribbon cable at the top of the screen so that when I'd peeled off the old digitizer it left the last 8 or 9mm of ribbon cable still attached to the circuit board. I could then lift this last bit of ribbon cable up and desoldered from underneath it by gently heating the lower tracks and gently lifting the ribbon up.
I then stuck the new digitizer on to the screen assembly and lined up the solder tracks. Then soldered the new ribbon in place.
It is now all working fine. Took it onto TomTom home and updated/backed it up it for the first time.
Hope this helps somebody else,
Paul.

 

[canderson]

Well done. I assume the video was pretty much an identical exercise?

 

[Andy_P]

Nice work rockclimer1...

I'm usually very happy with electronics repairs, but if I ever needed to do a digitiser replacement, watching that video would have made me think twice about doing it.
Great to get confirmation that it can be done successfully and without too much hassle.

 

[rockclimber1]

not hard to do

Hi,
I didn't watch that video because I had already looked at some on you tube beforehand.
So I have just watched it and yes it's pretty much the same.
The digitizer appears to be two pieces of glass stuck together and in the video he removes one layer then the other but when I did mine I removed them both in one go. It is only stuck to the frame by what is really just double sided tape a bit like a draught excluder material. I just used a stanley blade and run it along between the steel frame and the glass.
I then stuck the new digitizer on before I soldered it on. I think it's easier that way because you're not fighting the cable when you try to line the digitizer up, and you can use a bit of tape to hold the ribbon cable in place whilst you solder it.
Whats the worst that can happen? If you damage the screen then you just buy a complete screen which is what you were going to do anyway and it has cost you an extra tenner or so.
Paul.

 

[Andy_P]

Whats the worst that can happen? If you damage the screen then you just buy a complete screen which is what you were going to do anyway.

Good point! :thumb: