Answers.Body: <p>First of all: before doing anything else, contact LEGO customer support. There's nothing to lose by doing so.</p>
  <hr />
  <p>According to the video at <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPNJC5Uz9HY" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPNJC5Uz9HY</a> , it's possible to replace the screen with a <a href="https://www.adafruit.com/product/358" rel="nofollow noreferrer">1.8 inch colour TFT display</a> with the aid of a <a href="https://www.adafruit.com/product/1325" rel="nofollow noreferrer">flat ribbon adaptor</a>.</p>
  <p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/UZheQ.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/UZheQ.png" alt="EV3 with replaced screen, disassembled" /></a></p>
  <p>I'm unsure if you would need to replace the Lego firmware with <a href="https://www.ev3dev.org/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.ev3dev.org/</a> or not.</p>
  <hr />
  <p>Edit: Lego offers electronic schematics of the EV3 as part of the &quot;Hardware developer kit&quot; that can be downloaded from <a href="https://education.lego.com/en-us/product-resources/mindstorms-ev3/downloads/developer-kits" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://education.lego.com/en-us/product-resources/mindstorms-ev3/downloads/developer-kits</a> . It tells us that the display connects through <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_Peripheral_Interface" rel="nofollow noreferrer">SPI</a>, and contains this diagram of special relevance:</p>
  <p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/5rQay.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/5rQay.png" alt="Wiring diagram for the SPI ribbon cable" /></a></p>
  <p>You should be able to connect any SPI display, which would need 5 connections: +3.3V (or <code>VDDA</code>), 0V (or <code>GND</code>), clock (<code>CLK</code>), <code>MOSI</code> (or <code>DIN</code> or <code>RX</code> in a SPI peripheral), and <code>CS</code> (or <code>SS</code>). Be aware that <a href="https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/594272/spi-rx-and-tx-alternative-names-for-miso-and-mosi">the nomenclature for SPI is confusing</a>. The screen does not send data back to the board, so a <code>MISO</code>/<code>DOUT</code>/<code>TX</code> connection is not needed.</p>
  <p>The stock firmware <em><strong>should</strong></em> work with any monochrome SPI display, but we hobbyists cannot offer you any guarantee at all.</p>
  <hr />
  <p>Anyway, the original screen seems to use a pretty standard 18-pin 1.0mm-pitch ribbon cable. You should be able to unsolder it and replace with a new one. But since the connector at the board is a 18-pin 0.5mm-pitch, you'd need to use an adaptor <a href="https://www.adafruit.com/product/1325" rel="nofollow noreferrer">like the aforementioned one</a>.</p>
  <p>Bear in mind that soldering tracks with a 1.0mm pitch requires precision soldering skills (and you can imagine that 0.5mm pitch will just be harder). I strongly recommend practicing your soldering skills first.</p>
  <hr />
  <p>Edit: According to the folks over at the Electronics stackexchange, it's possible to <a href="https://electronics.stackexchange.com/q/680508">repair a flat ribbon cable</a>.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2023-05-29T11:39:29.140Z
Answers.Text: Thanks for your reply Ivan. I did go through that video earlier and it seems like the stock firmware doesn't support the color LCD display. I wanted to know if it was possible to get a screen that is similar to the existing one and works directly with the stock firmware. I'm not very experienced with electronics like these so it'll be quite difficult for me to figure out what wiring goes where, but I'm open to learning.
Answers.UserDisplayName: dkapur17
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2023-05-29T12:32:52.297Z
Answers.Text: I think I added enough information about wiring to get you started.
Answers.UserDisplayName: IvanSanchez
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2023-05-29T12:39:30.927Z
Answers.Text: Yes. The added information is of great help. I’ll do some more reading on this and get back to you. Thanks a lot!
Answers.UserDisplayName: dkapur17
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2023-05-29T14:07:42.903Z
Answers.Text: I was also wondering if screen size would be an issue. The stock display has a resolution of 178x128 pixels, which seems to be custom designed for the EV3, and I can't find that screen size anywhere. The closest I can find is a 160x128 pixel display. I'm assuming that the EV3dev kernel can adapt the display contents to the screen resolution, which is why it worked with the adafruit 160x128 LCD display (in the video you linked), but I'm not sure if that is the case with the stock firmware. Any idea about this?
Answers.UserDisplayName: dkapur17
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2023-05-29T17:14:44.710Z
Answers.Text: Alas, I haven't worked enough with SPI displays to know that. You might wanna ask in https://electronics.stackexchange.com .
Answers.UserDisplayName: IvanSanchez
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2023-05-29T11:08:43.467Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2023-09-08T06:10:34.533Z
Answers.LastEditDate: 2023-09-08T06:10:34.533Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: IvanSanchez
Body: <p>While taking apart my EV3 brick I accidently pulled on the ribbon cable connecting the screen to the motherboard too hard and it broke. <a href="https://i.sstatic.net/BwyTe.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/BwyTe.jpg" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
  <p>I figured I could just get a replacement fpc ribbon cable with the same number of pins and swap out the cable, but turns out the other end is soldered to the screen, so that isn't going to work.</p>
  <p>I looked around a lot on the Internet and found several other people with the same issue, but no solutions to the problem. Any advice on what I can do from here?</p>
  
Tags: <ev3><mindstorms><repair>
Title: Lego Mindstorms EV3 broken screen cable
UserDisplayName: dkapur17
ThreadText: # Lego Mindstorms EV3 broken screen cable
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2023-05-29)
  
  While taking apart my EV3 brick I accidently pulled on the ribbon cable connecting the screen to the motherboard too hard and it broke. [![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/BwyTe.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/BwyTe.jpg)
  
  I figured I could just get a replacement fpc ribbon cable with the same number of pins and swap out the cable, but turns out the other end is soldered to the screen, so that isn't going to work.
  
  I looked around a lot on the Internet and found several other people with the same issue, but no solutions to the problem. Any advice on what I can do from here?
  
  **Tags:** ev3, mindstorms, repair
  
  
  ---
  
  ## 1 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_1 on 2023-05-29. Score: 4
  
  First of all: before doing anything else, contact LEGO customer support. There's nothing to lose by doing so.
  
  ---
  
  According to the video at <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPNJC5Uz9HY> , it's possible to replace the screen with a [1.8 inch colour TFT display](https://www.adafruit.com/product/358) with the aid of a [flat ribbon adaptor](https://www.adafruit.com/product/1325).
  
  [![EV3 with replaced screen, disassembled](https://i.sstatic.net/UZheQ.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/UZheQ.png)
  
  I'm unsure if you would need to replace the Lego firmware with <https://www.ev3dev.org/> or not.
  
  ---
  
  Edit: Lego offers electronic schematics of the EV3 as part of the "Hardware developer kit" that can be downloaded from <https://education.lego.com/en-us/product-resources/mindstorms-ev3/downloads/developer-kits> . It tells us that the display connects through [SPI](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_Peripheral_Interface), and contains this diagram of special relevance:
  
  [![Wiring diagram for the SPI ribbon cable](https://i.sstatic.net/5rQay.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/5rQay.png)
  
  You should be able to connect any SPI display, which would need 5 connections: +3.3V (or `VDDA`), 0V (or `GND`), clock (`CLK`), `MOSI` (or `DIN` or `RX` in a SPI peripheral), and `CS` (or `SS`). Be aware that [the nomenclature for SPI is confusing](https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/594272/spi-rx-and-tx-alternative-names-for-miso-and-mosi). The screen does not send data back to the board, so a `MISO`/`DOUT`/`TX` connection is not needed.
  
  The stock firmware ***should*** work with any monochrome SPI display, but we hobbyists cannot offer you any guarantee at all.
  
  ---
  
  Anyway, the original screen seems to use a pretty standard 18-pin 1.0mm-pitch ribbon cable. You should be able to unsolder it and replace with a new one. But since the connector at the board is a 18-pin 0.5mm-pitch, you'd need to use an adaptor [like the aforementioned one](https://www.adafruit.com/product/1325).
  
  Bear in mind that soldering tracks with a 1.0mm pitch requires precision soldering skills (and you can imagine that 0.5mm pitch will just be harder). I strongly recommend practicing your soldering skills first.
  
  ---
  
  Edit: According to the folks over at the Electronics stackexchange, it's possible to [repair a flat ribbon cable](https://electronics.stackexchange.com/q/680508).
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_0**: Thanks for your reply Ivan. I did go through that video earlier and it seems like the stock firmware doesn't support the color LCD display. I wanted to know if it was possible to get a screen that is similar to the existing one and works directly with the stock firmware. I'm not very experienced with electronics like these so it'll be quite difficult for me to figure out what wiring goes where, but I'm open to learning.  
  > **username_1**: I think I added enough information about wiring to get you started.  
  > **username_0**: Yes. The added information is of great help. I’ll do some more reading on this and get back to you. Thanks a lot!  
  > **username_0**: I was also wondering if screen size would be an issue. The stock display has a resolution of 178x128 pixels, which seems to be custom designed for the EV3, and I can't find that screen size anywhere. The closest I can find is a 160x128 pixel display. I'm assuming that the EV3dev kernel can adapt the display contents to the screen resolution, which is why it worked with the adafruit 160x128 LCD display (in the video you linked), but I'm not sure if that is the case with the stock firmware. Any idea about this?  
  > **username_1**: Alas, I haven't worked enough with SPI displays to know that. You might wanna ask in https://electronics.stackexchange.com .  
  
  ---
  
  