Pi Zero 2 W -- Camera Cable Connection Moderators: adafruit_support_bill, adafruit

[HisNibs]

Exploded Diagram of Pi Zero 2 W Camera Cable Interface

SketchUp_2022-01-23_13-47-28.png (27.03 KiB) Viewed 48 times

I want to confirm that I am inserting the camera cable properly.
Since it is difficult for me to determine where in the jack the contact
points are, I need some instructions.

I have created an exploded diagram (above) of the components:

a) Pi Zero 2 board colored green

b) Camera jack colored white
i) top (labled "Top of jack")
ii) bottom

c) Cable
i) top labled "Cable: Black Cover facing up"
ii) bottom with gold contacts lablesed "Cable: Gold contacts facing down"

d) Black plastic fastener (Do not completely remove, it just comes out a little and pushes back in)

I am assuming that the cable is connected as follows:

cable with gold contacts facing down towards Pi motherboard is
inserted on top of Camera Jack's bottom section.
The black plastic fastener then goes on top of the cable and is inserted;
and the black plastic fastener is beneath the top of the Camera Jack.

[franklin97355]

The gold traces(contacts) face toward the board on the pi and the camera.

[HisNibs]

Thank you. I'm still having problems with my Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W seeing the camera. If anyone has a Raspbery Pi Zero 2 W and has the camera module working, please speak up.

[franklin97355]

Can you post clear close pictures of the cable as it is plugged into the pi and camera?

[HisNibs]

As requested, here are three close-ups:

1) Looking Down on RP Zero 2 W

Top view

PiZero2_topview_2022-01-23_17-14-31.png (528.28 KiB) Viewed 45 times

2) Flipped RP Zero 2 W Board so we're looking at its underside

bottom view

PiZero2_bottomsup_2022-01-23_17-16-36.png (993.41 KiB) Viewed 45 times

3) Ribbon cable to camera module

camera ribbon

cameraribbon_2022-01-23_17-12-44.png (849.48 KiB) Viewed 45 times

[franklin97355]

That's not the one we sell now but if you contact support@adafruit.com with a link to this thread and your order number they will get you a new one. Make sure it is seated fully and don't force it, we will see if that is the fix.

[HisNibs]

Hi Franklin,

Thank you for the kind offer. Yes, the board I photographed was not procured from Adafruit; here's why. I procured from Adafruit a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W back when it first came out -- I was a lucky one. Then I detached the black holding bar on the socket for the ribbon cable when I could not get the standard ribbon in, that when I learned that the Pi Zero 2 W needed to have an adapter ribbon, so I placed an order for the reducing ribbon/cable. I subsequently lost the black bar and I think I had broken it, too. In the meantime, I ordered another Pi from another vendor as Adafruit was out of the Pi Zero 2 W, again, luck was on my side for procurement.

I relegated the first Zero to non-camera activity since I could not get the ribbon to stay in the socket without the black compression bar. (I tried using thick paper wedges (fire hazard) just as a temporary fix, but no luck.) The black bar in the Zero's camera port is a very small and delicate piece of plastic -- readers be very careful with it and do not force it out, it just needs to be loosened about 1/32nd of an inch and then shoved back in when the ribbon cable is seated.

Since the black plastic bar came off on the 2nd Zero (non-Adafruit sourced), I'll try using the black bar on the first Zero. I've been laboring on the assumption that all Pi Zeros since October were created equally.

Note: I was unable to see the connectors inside the connection casement, so I determined there were four different insertion scenarios: A) ribbon above the black bar with i) contacts facing up, or with ii) contacts facing down (though this seemed like they could seat against the plastic, but I'm not sure what the depth of a seated ribbon is vis-a-vis the black compression bar) or B) ribbon between the black bar and the bottom of the socket with i) contacts facing up or ii) contacts facing down (this you have indicated is the correct scenario).

Also, I'm playing around with different OS and versions of Raspian and have in mind that camera support is iffy or non-existant if using 64-bit Bullseye. (I'm trying to get Gentoo linux, 64-bit, running on it so I do not have the incompatability problems I have witnessed re: Raspian vs. the hardware vs. gstreamer.) My ultimate goal is to have the high watermark of gstreamer running onoa Pi Zero 2 W with a quality camera so I have a 24/7 high resolution color 30fps video stream over rstp to feed into Moonfire-nvr for preservation.

I will get to that goal, it's just a question of time. In the meantime, let me reiterate my satisfaction with Adafruit and how much having a vendor such as Adafruit has inspired me.

Best,
John