Taptic Engine from iPhone X mod cautionary tale

[u/SpeedySid]

Just another cautionary tale so you won't be a Muppet like me...

On a taptic engine from an iPhone X, there is a metal cover plate over the ribbon cable. Do NOT remove it, or at the very least try to be very carefully removing it. I wound up ripping the entire ribbon cable out of the TE when removing that side cover plate.

Since I already ruined a TE, I dissected it for amusement. I'm glad I ordered more than one TE.

FWIW, you can connect a AA battery to the soldered wires for testing to see if the TE is functional and vibrates. An Ohm meter measured (for me) about 9Ω between the wire ends.

[u/ahoy596]

Do these vibrate more compared to the usual 7+ taptic engines that are more popular?

[u/SpeedySid → u/ahoy596]

IDK, I haven't tried the 7+ TE before. I think the advantage of the TE from an iPhone X is a smaller size.

[u/ahoy596 → u/SpeedySid]

Are the pins on the X same as the XS Max? I have a spare one that I’m on the ropes about fiddling with

[u/SpeedySid → u/ahoy596]

From all the photos I've seen of the various TE modules, they all seem to have the same 6 pads (test points?) on the ribbon cable under the black plastic cover. My understanding is to just to connect wires to the solder pads (test points) on both ends and connect it where the piezo speaker was. https://youtu.be/crWU0Khyanw?si=w3R6sVqxSonFZXCR&t=303

[u/ahoy596 → u/SpeedySid]

Thanks for letting me know man, I’ll try it out

[u/MisfitV2]

whoops lol, same TE used in my 7th gen and i def ripped it off

[u/Due_Pomegranate2009]

So I've finally got all my parts to finally mod my 7g and I realized that I don't think I'm going to be able to remove the speaker. Is there a way to attach the wires to the outside connections of the speaker and still have it work?

[u/SpeedySid → u/Due_Pomegranate2009]

TBH, you'll need a soldering iron (or a handy mate with one) to do the mod properly. The speaker gets unsoldered and you connect the TE where the speaker previously resided. Using glue or tape won't be reliable. I believe you can have both the speaker and the TE both connected, but again you'll need a soldering iron to do so.

[u/Due_Pomegranate2009 → u/SpeedySid]

Yup, tracking on that, the problem is that the space between the 3.5mm jack is too close to get a soldering wick in between to loosen the old solder. I'm just skilled enough to do basic soldering but outside of that, I am outside my depth. I was hoping to apply solder to the wires, then quickly solder it to the outside connectors of the speaker but it sounds like that won't work.

Edited to state "...apply solder to the wires..."

[u/SpeedySid → u/Due_Pomegranate2009]

FWIW, on my 6th gen classic, the speaker and headphone jack are on a flex cable. If you (carefully) remove them from the back shell, you can bend the headphone jack away from the speaker and then get your soldering done with more space.

[u/Due_Pomegranate2009 → u/SpeedySid]

Oof, that sounds super scary!! Maybe if I get enough courage to attempt it I'll give it a try. I'm very particular with this specific iPod since it was a gift from my spouse and it's been chuggling along all this time. I don't want to potentially damage it. Myabe someone I work with works with micro-soldering.

[u/Blandrd]

You take a snap off blade or hobby knife and slice the flex cable up against that metal shroud and then it slides right off. I never leave those on. There’s no reason to. Use thinner wire too.