TL;DR if you know anything about capacitive touch panels and/or soldering tiny bullshit, please hit me up.
SYMPTOMS/DIAGNOSIS: shattered touch screen (ran over it with my bike…)
STEPS TAKEN: dismantled, traced connections, researched possible replacements
STATUS: confirmed schematics / connections to main board
NEXT STEPS: well... great question. I have all the information I need, I think. Look, that diagram up there? I scanned and labeled that shit! That was not available anywhere so I traced those connections! I have the understanding... but not the tools.
More below.
This little dongle connected the shattered capacitive touch panel to the main board. It uses a CST716 controller chip. I traced the connections on it so theoretically, if I had a different touch panel using the same chip, and I wanted to hate myself, I could wire it in to work.
I say "theoretically" because I don't have a tiny enough soldering iron tip or steady enough hands to actually do that in practice.
[CST716 pinout from here.]
Like, I have a part that I could "theoretically" solder in to test. It's too big and uses a CST816 chip, but it *sounds* like those chips are mostly compatible, so I might be able to BS it. At the very least I could wire it up and see anything happens, and from there refine my search for a more appropriate touch panel.
...But that's just not actually possible. I literally do not have the tools or motor skills to do wiring this precise. Maybe if I bought some nice tools and included a magnifying glass and shit I could learn to do it, but with my current setup, it's literally not possible.
Which means, my options are:
Wait until I have income again, procure nicer tools, and try this proof-of-concept. AKA "project goes on indefinite hiatus"—this makes the project most likely to succeed in the long run, as it means knowledge is the sole limiting factor, but it'll be a while before I actually get good enough tools to make it feasible.
Find a touch panel that uses the exact same 10-pin connector I need wired the exact same way. This would be easy if buying a Benjie X1 for parts on eBay were a thing you can do, but it was a cheapo MP3 player people throw away when they're done with it, so that's not a thing. This would be best case scenario, but is proving really difficult unless someone very knowledgeable reaches out with the magic set of search terms that will get me exactly that. Or if anyone just happens to know of some other gadget that uses a 2"x1.5" touch digitizer with this same connector that could be procured for parts instead.
Find literally any other circuit board that uses that 10-pin connector that then has bigger solder points, so I could use that as an in-between to zombie another screen on. This would still be annoying but possibly more realistic than #2? But also requires knowing how to search for the exact connector I need.
Secret 4th option? I know there are places that let you design and print a custom circuit board, something like that maybe??
Anyway, I'm going to keep searching different combinations of parts in different places, but I am no longer that optimistic. If you happen to know anything about finding and replacing touch panels for devices nobody else seems to give a shit about repairing, or about working with tiny PCBs, I am all ears and would appreciate your wisdom.
Otherwise I'll probably wait and save up for better tools. Advice appreciated if applicable!
