It would be worth popping up your VIN number. That way people with the right access can get the exact part number for you. For security reasons the VIN will be obscured, but moderators will be able to read it.
James ex BX 1.9
ex Xantia 2.0HDi SX
ex Xantia 2.0HDi LX
ex C5 2.0HDi VTR
ex C5 2.0HDi VTR
ex C5 2.2HDi VTX+
Yes, I am paranoid, but am I paranoid ENOUGH?
Out amongst the stars, looking for a world of my own!
If it's the same construction, no cutting needed. The two boards are push-fit pins and any breached sealant (around the soldered joints) can be remade after.
Or are they all potted in? I can't tell from the photo.
MikeT wrote: 07 Dec 2018, 17:05
Or are they all potted in? I can't tell from the photo.
It does look potted, now I've had a closer look. I thought you meant the sealant covering the PCB or perhaps joining the casing.
It can be unpotted but probably more work than you're willing to undertake when used spares are relatively cheap.
Potting compound is a material used to protect circuit boards, typically from environmental conditions, and sometimes to protect intellectual property. It is the cream substance in the first of the two pictures.
James ex BX 1.9
ex Xantia 2.0HDi SX
ex Xantia 2.0HDi LX
ex C5 2.0HDi VTR
ex C5 2.0HDi VTR
ex C5 2.2HDi VTX+
Yes, I am paranoid, but am I paranoid ENOUGH?
Out amongst the stars, looking for a world of my own!
A friend of mine used to do custom boards for clients. One new client was known to try and reverse engineer boards, and then try to avoid payments for various reasons. Bob heard of this, and used potting compound with an added circuit to enclose the whole product, leaving the various connections available. Sure enough they tried to remove the potting compound (there are materials that will do this, but care is required, as they are acidic). The extra circuit came into its own. There were four magnets surrounding a reed switch. As the potting compound softened the magnets shifted, the reed switch closed, and a very small charge went off, wrecking the board. It also dumped some of the materials onto a very expensive oscilloscope, writing it off. If they had paid him in full first, he would have told them to enter a code at the starting menu, which would have permanently turned off the protection circuit.
They did use him again (his kit worked really well), and they never tried that trick again, with him or other design engineers.
James ex BX 1.9
ex Xantia 2.0HDi SX
ex Xantia 2.0HDi LX
ex C5 2.0HDi VTR
ex C5 2.0HDi VTR
ex C5 2.2HDi VTX+
Yes, I am paranoid, but am I paranoid ENOUGH?
Out amongst the stars, looking for a world of my own!
Potting compound is usually black or cream, and goes hard. It's an epoxy mix, not dissimilar to Araldite or GRP resin, that is used to provide protection to delicate electronic boards to be used in harsh environments - like up front in an engine bay. Those under the dash are not likely to be so protected, but might have a (typically green) lacquer applied to them.
