Monday 24 August 2009

MyVu Solo displays

Here's the photo of the bits remaining after breaking up the glasses:
From MyVu

The remaining useful pieces are two microdisplays with controller: one and one half-optics sets (I cracked one mirror).
From MyVu

I'd sliced the cable between the two PCBs during disassembly and found that they don't turn on if the second display is not connected, even with a bit of fiddling. Trying to strip the FFC (Flat Flexible Cable) to try and reattach it just didn't work - the connectors are about 0.2mm wide at that point and I just cut more and more off.
From MyVu

Farnell came to the rescue: A 20-way 0.5mm pitch FFC (A to A) for £1.54 did the job just as well. I plugged it in to both displays and they're both up and running.
Here's a mini southpark episode:
From MyVu


Now all I need are some glasses and some magnifying lenses....

7 comments:

Freds said...

Interesting, what's the resolution of the display's?

Unknown said...

displays are 320x240 - not brilliant, but they were only £45.

They've been replaced by the MyVu crystal - which has 640x480 res and are easier to modify.

video looks good, pretty clear - and my laptop plugs in using tv-out.

It should be enough to prove the concept and to evaluate: version 2 could have a much more expensive display.

June said...

Just get some Vuzix iWear!

Unknown said...

I like these :
http://www.vuzix.com/iwear/products_wrap920.html

but they haven't been released yet!

Unknown said...

I'm trying to do a hack on the myvu solo's so I can use one display. I have had no luck trying them as one display, do you have any advice?

Thanks!
Melissa

Unknown said...

Hi Melissa,

I've not found a way to make the displays work independently yet. If they're not connected, they don't work - it's not just the backlight is off.

I'd suggest using both, but hiding one end if you don't need it. It depends on your application, but that could be an option.

I haven't investigated the signals across the cable, but given the simplicity of the display pcbs my guess is that there is nothing special going across the cable. it might be that connecting a couple of pins is enough to trigger it.

Good luck!

Unknown said...

I've managed to get the displays to work on their own - i.e. the left one only:
On the ribbon cable that connects the left to right, remove it, and connect the second and third pins. (i.e. leave the first pin alone, then connect the second and third pins)

This turns on the backlight of the display and allows it to work with only one connected.

YMMV