Myvu Solo disassembly

Today I took apart a set of MyVu solo glasses to extract the displays. I thought it might be useful to post some photos to help anyone else following my path.{|style="width: auto;"
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 * style="font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: right;"|From MyVu |}
 * style="font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: right;"|From MyVu |}

I built my own phono lead to connect a composite source - the cheaper version only comes with an Ipod lead. Pinouts for the myvu solo 4-pole 3.5mm connector are:

Tip - left

ring - right

ring - a/v ground

body/ring - video

This happens to be the same as the Zune media player. Connect the grounds (outer rings) from the phonos to the a/v ground, and the tips of three phonos to the left, right and video.

Starting point:

A bit of experimentation with the screwdriver found that the front cover is held on by a couple of plastic tabs, and with a bit of levering comes off pretty easy.

There is a plastic frame in three parts holding everything together. It is screwed together with four torx screws - two neat the centre bridge, and two behind small plasic covers forming the arm pivots (the hinges for the folding bits).

I drilled these out as my torx screwdriver was too big, causing a bit of damage.

The signal is generated in the control box and fed up a many-core wire into a small connecting PCB on the left side of the glasses.

The signal appears to be split and sent across to the right-hand display using the (damaged) flat cable (20way FFC 0.5mm pitch A-A). This can be unplugged at both ends. The right-hand end is simpler, only connecting to the right ear piece.

I cut the earphone wires and pulled out the rubber housings from the arms. This allowed me to force the left arm apart freeing the cable.

Once the outer shell has been removed, you are left with a small plastic unit containing two clear plastic blocks, with the displays at either end. They appear to be solidly glued in.

I ended cutting the block in half using wire cutters. The plastic is moulded in two parts, but is pretty solidly attached or glued. I then had to cut away and snap bits with pliers to uncover the plastic prisms. Once the prisms are removed, the remaining plastic can be snipped away to uncover the displays and tidy them up a bit. Be careful of the diagonal ends of the prisms - there are small glass mirrors glued to the ends, and I chipped one.

I now have two uncovered displays and two plastic mirror/lenses. They can be re-mounted in a more suitable frame.

Here's the photo of the bits remaining after breaking up the glasses:{|style="width: auto;"
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 * style="font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: right;"|From MyVu |}
 * style="font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: right;"|From MyVu |}

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

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.

The glasses do not work with only a single display connected. Both need to be connected before the screens will display.{|style="width: auto;"
 * 
 * style="font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: right;"|From MyVu |}
 * style="font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: right;"|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: (note the camera has difficulty focussing on a screen that small - the blur is due to the camera, not the screen.

The displays can be remounted - they need a frame and magnifying optics.

--Renoir 06:12, 25 August 2009 (UTC)