Whites XLT Ribbon Cable

[jagsteve]

Hi everyone, I'm Steve from Scotland. Fairly new to metal detecting but have already found a bronze-age sword and part of a hoard of Edward I silver hammered coins.
My training was in TV repair originally but now earn a living as a laptop technician.

Anyhow.... my problem is this...

I obtained a White's XLT with a broken battery terminal and also damage underneath the plastic pod where the toggle switch is.
I've repaired the battery terminal and have ordered a new plastic housing from Whites (for the display box part). Today I decided to strip down the plastic control box ready for the new part arriving. The problem is that the plug for the ribbon cable (which runs through the stem to the battery box) doesn't fit through the slot in the plastic housing....? How do you remove the plastic housing when it's locked in place by the ribbon cable?

I thought fine, I'll just thread it through the stem from the battery box but no... that side also has a slot too small to fit the plug through. It's as if they've crimped the plugs onto the ribbon cable at each end after it's been fed through the stem - and there's no way to change the plastic housing without 1.) cutting the ribbon cable. or 2.) cutting a hole in the new housing.

Sorry if this doesn't make sense lol. Has anyone else had this problem?

[Qiaozhi]

It's as if they've crimped the plugs onto the ribbon cable at each end after it's been fed through the stem.

You're probably correct about the plug being crimped on afterwards, as the access hole through the stem is very small.

How do you remove the plastic housing when it's locked in place by the ribbon cable?

You should be able to remove the plug from the ribbon cable (if you are careful). Worst case - you'll have to cut off the plug and crimp on a new one.

[jagsteve]

Thank you for that. I hadn't realised it would be possible to remove the plug from the ribbon but I can see now how it's clipped on. I'll give that a try and will report back.
Thank you again.

[Carl-NC]

Qiaozhi is right on both counts. The connector is crimped on after the cable is threaded, and you can carefully remove the connector and then re-use it after you replace the pod.