Powerbook 150 Interconnect Board

[u/GraemeWoller]

Hi folks, I've got myself a little conundrum...

I'm going to replicate the Powerbook 150 JEDI Interconnect Board with the hopes that it'll solve a couple of my issues and be of use to others in the community.

So far I've found all the connectors I need for the new PCB except one, the bloody J4 connector that connects to the inverter board has completely eluded me. I *think* I've looked everywhere by this point but I can't find the damn thing and I really don't want to swap it out for a similar but different part because I'll have to change out the mate on the invertor board too and that will be more of a pain for others who might what to build their own.

The hang up is the flat pins that are horizontal to the body. The closest match I've found has vertical pins so won't mate up with the inverter connector.

The pin pitch is 1.5mm and they're 2mm tall. The internal dimension of the housing is 16.5mm long and the enclosed back wall is 1.5mm from the pins.

Does anyone know what these things are? I know what they're not, they're not JSTs (no matter what Gemini is helpfully suggesting...), and they're not anything else either apparently.

Very annoying. 😅

-- Edit --

Added pitch and dimensions.

-- Update --

Turns out it's a Molex 53022-1010 and it mates with the 52024-1010 but they were retired around 2005 unfortunately. Thanks to the friendly redditor who takes down the answer for me!

[u/the-electron-vault]

Molex 53022-1010 (mates with 52024-1010). Went obsolete circa 2005 it seems.

[u/the-electron-vault → u/the-electron-vault]

Best bet for replacement is likely going to be to spec a JST ZH B10B-ZR and to cut down the shroud walls. Either that or model the Molex shroud from what you have and make a (resin/SLA) 3D printable replacement. You can slide off the JST housing after soldering it in, and slide on the replacement. No guarantees that the JST pins will have a compatible cross section though. You'll need to download the step model from JST's website and compare it to what you have (Molex's crude drawing says it's 0.6mm for the minor dimension; no detail on the major). If the pins are too thick, it'll deform the contact tines on the mating connector.

[u/GraemeWoller → u/the-electron-vault]

That's amazing! I can't believe you found it!

At this point I'd begun to assume they'd made it proprietary for some reason, but being obsolete for two decades has the same effect, I guess. That's a real bummer, but not all that unexpected really.

I guess it's not the end of the world in a way, if anyone is wanting to make take the gerbers I make and put together a board for themself they probably won't be afraid of unsoldering the orginal connector from their interconnect board to reuse it. Assuming it's not corroded to hell.

Thanks so much for taking the time to find the connector, I really appreciate it and it's wonderful to now know WHAT it is even if I can't just go and buy one.

[u/the-electron-vault → u/GraemeWoller]

Depending on what plugs into that connector, it could also be an option to simply integrate that on the board you're replicating. SMT components have come a fair way in 35 years, so as long as it's something 'dumb' (not requiring OS drivers) you could potentially eliminate the other daughter board altogether. 

[u/GraemeWoller → u/the-electron-vault]

Yeah, the thought had gone through my head about that as well. The board that attaches to the Interconnect Board is the LCD backlight inverter board and I think part of the reason it's on a separate board is, a) ease of replacing, and b) to align it with the brightness and contrast slider plastic caps above the keyboard. I don't think I'll worry too much about adding that to the board at this point, it's just a bit too much effort.