[Photos] Git1 Camera and Remote Dissected!

Gibson99

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So I decided it was time to put my Git1 under the knife (or allen wrench, as it were). Tools required were a 1.5mm Allen/hex key, a #00 phillips screwdriver, and a sharp plastic spudger.

There are 4x 1.5mm allen screws holding the front panel on, and a snap at the center of each long side of the front panel. Once it's off, there are 2 phillips screws holding the lens trim on, so maybe if you were feeling creative or something, you could paint the lens trim a different color than the case. One funny little detail i noticed - the LEDs are mounted at a diagonal to match the openings in the front of the case. they didn't HAVE to do that, but they did. so maybe the board designers had a little fun with it. another thing they didn't have to do was add a piece of foam around the LEDs to prevent light leaks. to me, this shows they actually cared what they were doing and are more interested in making a polished product than just cutting corners wherever possible to save $0.000001 on each unit.
10 front cover off.JPG 11 front cover inside.JPG 12 front cover lens trim off.JPG

Once the front panel is off, you only have to disconnect the small black wifi antenna lead next to the lens and bend it up out of the way, then push on the screen at the back to push the entire assembly out of the camera shell. the USB and micro-hdmi ports will hang in the case, so it will come out at an angle, SD-card slot first. Look closely and you can see the black wifi antenna glued to the top inside of the shell. You can also plainly see the small button cell battery at the bottom of the front PCB. This is for storing settings and the time/date, so that when you remove the main battery, you won't have to reset everything. This is nice - the last action camera I reviewed didn't have one. it lost its settings every time i removed the battery, which got old fast.
13 guts out.JPG

Unfortunately, even once you remove the 3 black phillips screws securing the front PCB and disconnect the 2 ribbon cables visible at front, that's about as far as you can take it apart. there's another ribbon cable for the display, but you can't get to it because of how the screen is attached. you'd have to drill/cut off 4 plastic tabs that were melted in place to secure the screen to the internal frame of the camera. This "melting" style of attaching the screen is more robust than adhesive which might come loose over time and repeated hot/cold cycles, and it won't come loose like screws could. Unfortunately it hampers serviceability. But I'm not an iFixIt reviewer either, so i won't give it a low iFixIt score just because of this. ;) I also thought it was a little weird how the top ribbon cable actually sits partially across the top of the shutter button. looking at the plastic part of the button in the main shell and the button itself, it doesn't look like it'll be an issue since the ribbon cable doesn't move and the plastic button in the shell has a raised + on it which won't contact the ribbon, but it's very tight tolerances, that's for sure!
14 back-screen cant be removed.JPG 15 top cables.JPG

This is about as far apart as the two boards will stretch without disconnecting the display ribbon cable. hard to see in this pic, but the CPU's chip has a big white sticker on it so you can't tell what it is. but it does appear to be a novatek based on everything else i've seen from the software side and what @gitup has said here on the forums. they don't list the CPU on their website; only the image sensor.
16 side hdmi usb mic.JPG

Here you can see the wifi button and its PCB, which contains the antenna for the RF remote - that's the zig-zag trace at the lower left of the PCB. the wifi button is used for more than just wifi - it's the menu/settings button, and can also be used for quickly toggling certain settings. The wifi chipset used is the Realtek 8189ES, which is a B/G/N single stream chip capable of 54MB/sec in G and 150MB/sec in N mode. So the wifi chip should not be the bottleneck if there are any data transfer speed issues.
17 wifi button.JPG 18 realtek 8189ES B-G-N chip.JPG

There only appeared to be one dab of glue holding the lens from rotating, so if you ever needed to refocus it, it shouldn't be a big deal. there is no set screw or jam nut on this lens assy.

Overall this seems to be a solidly built little camera.
 
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OK, now for the wireless remote. It's a one-way communication device, similar to a garage door opener. However, the camera has to already be turned on before the remote will work. Then once you press a button, you see the red light flicker for a second or two as it sends the command, and then you just hope you can hear the camera beep to start whatever command you sent, or that you can see the camera's LEDs.

Watch face is all rubber, and the body is hard plastic with rubberized coating. strap looks and feels similar to the straps used to adjust my backpack - not as tightly woven as a seatbelt, and slightly thicker. it's not itchy when when it's hot outside and i'm sweating, and does not catch/pull the hairs on my wrist. the looser weaving allows air to circulate, which is good for an action camera accessory!
20 watch back.JPG 21 watch front.JPG

As expected, the watch is very simple to take apart. 4 #00 phillips screws and a snap on each long edge. you might even be able to release the snap with your fingernail, but i used a small flat screwdriver. Once the back cover comes off, the battery pops right out. there's no spring or anything to actually keep the CR2032 battery inside, so it relies on the snaps and 4 screws of the back cover, which should be MORE than enough. The back cover DOES have a rubber o-ring seal, so it should keep water out. I believe @gitup said the remote is waterproof to only a few meters (6 feet) but I could be mistaken on that.
22 watch open.JPG 23 watch pcb.JPG

this one rates 10/10 on the iFixIt scale. ;)
 
Under the knife?
I see no knife but I rather not see it under the knife anyways. ;)
Nice work!
Next phase is to name all individual microscopic components used on the board. :D
 
I also like how the buttons are placed, they are all positioned onto the PCB itself. If you press hard on them the will not rip off the circuit board as they are not side mounted.
 
The back cover DOES have a rubber o-ring seal, so it should keep water out. I believe @gitup said the remote is waterproof to only a few meters (6 feet) but I could be mistaken on that.
Thank you very much for the pictures, it is not difficult to disassemble and assemble Git1, we do this often while testing the lens.
Regarding the remote control, is waterproof, I can confirm it is no problem for surfing.

git1 rf.jpg
 
Under the knife?
I see no knife but I rather not see it under the knife anyways. ;)
Nice work!
Next phase is to name all individual microscopic components used on the board. :D
they're already labeled. R12, R13, C26, D2, B1... just view the full size pics. :p
 
Yes, but what was the question? Life, the universe, and everything isn't a question now, is it? Now we have to build another computer... I mean camera...
I remember Lafayette Electronics, I bought kits and built it myself! DIY power!
 
So I decided it was time to put my Git1 under the knife (or allen wrench, as it were). Tools required were a 1.5mm Allen/hex key, a #00 phillips screwdriver, and a sharp plastic spudger.

There are 4x 1.5mm allen screws holding the front panel on, and a snap at the center of each long side of the front panel. Once it's off, there are 2 phillips screws holding the lens trim on, so maybe if you were feeling creative or something, you could paint the lens trim a different color than the case. One funny little detail i noticed - the LEDs are mounted at a diagonal to match the openings in the front of the case. they didn't HAVE to do that, but they did. so maybe the board designers had a little fun with it. another thing they didn't have to do was add a piece of foam around the LEDs to prevent light leaks. to me, this shows they actually cared what they were doing and are more interested in making a polished product than just cutting corners wherever possible to save $0.000001 on each unit.
View attachment 18153 View attachment 18154 View attachment 18155

Once the front panel is off, you only have to disconnect the small black wifi antenna lead next to the lens and bend it up out of the way, then push on the screen at the back to push the entire assembly out of the camera shell. the USB and micro-hdmi ports will hang in the case, so it will come out at an angle, SD-card slot first. Look closely and you can see the black wifi antenna glued to the top inside of the shell. You can also plainly see the small button cell battery at the bottom of the front PCB. This is for storing settings and the time/date, so that when you remove the main battery, you won't have to reset everything. This is nice - the last action camera I reviewed didn't have one. it lost its settings every time i removed the battery, which got old fast.
View attachment 18156

Unfortunately, even once you remove the 3 black phillips screws securing the front PCB and disconnect the 2 ribbon cables visible at front, that's about as far as you can take it apart. there's another ribbon cable for the display, but you can't get to it because of how the screen is attached. you'd have to drill/cut off 4 plastic tabs that were melted in place to secure the screen to the internal frame of the camera. This "melting" style of attaching the screen is more robust than adhesive which might come loose over time and repeated hot/cold cycles, and it won't come loose like screws could. Unfortunately it hampers serviceability. But I'm not an iFixIt reviewer either, so i won't give it a low iFixIt score just because of this. ;) I also thought it was a little weird how the top ribbon cable actually sits partially across the top of the shutter button. looking at the plastic part of the button in the main shell and the button itself, it doesn't look like it'll be an issue since the ribbon cable doesn't move and the plastic button in the shell has a raised + on it which won't contact the ribbon, but it's very tight tolerances, that's for sure!
View attachment 18157 View attachment 18158

This is about as far apart as the two boards will stretch without disconnecting the display ribbon cable. hard to see in this pic, but the CPU's chip has a big white sticker on it so you can't tell what it is. but it does appear to be a novatek based on everything else i've seen from the software side and what @gitup has said here on the forums. they don't list the CPU on their website; only the image sensor.
View attachment 18159

Here you can see the wifi button and its PCB, which contains the antenna for the RF remote - that's the zig-zag trace at the lower left of the PCB. the wifi button is used for more than just wifi - it's the menu/settings button, and can also be used for quickly toggling certain settings. The wifi chipset used is the Realtek 8189ES, which is a B/G/N single stream chip capable of 54MB/sec in G and 150MB/sec in N mode. So the wifi chip should not be the bottleneck if there are any data transfer speed issues.
View attachment 18160 View attachment 18161

There only appeared to be one dab of glue holding the lens from rotating, so if you ever needed to refocus it, it shouldn't be a big deal. there is no set screw or jam nut on this lens assy.

Overall this seems to be a solidly built little camera.
Does the screen attachment method mean I won't be able to change the pcb that Gitup is sending? My date/time battery is faulty!
It appears in photo that the pcb is screwed to the board holding the osd screen ribbon?
 
Does the screen attachment method mean I won't be able to change the pcb that Gitup is sending? My date/time battery is faulty!
It appears in photo that the pcb is screwed to the board holding the osd screen ribbon?
not sure. this is a git1, and i don't remember if the git2 board is held on the same way. it's been a long time and i don't remember if i opened my git2 or not.
 
Does the screen attachment method mean I won't be able to change the pcb that Gitup is sending? My date/time battery is faulty!
It appears in photo that the pcb is screwed to the board holding the osd screen ribbon?
Easy to replace even you are not good at electronic technical.
 
Easy to replace even you are not good at electronic technical.
Thanks! TechTronic9000 has a video on the Git 2 disassembly.
But like tablet disassembly the owner must be careful in opening the ribbon circuit retainers, they will break from the PCB easily!
 
Thanks! TechTronic9000 has a video on the Git 2 disassembly.
But like tablet disassembly the owner must be careful in opening the ribbon circuit retainers, they will break from the PCB easily!
Just make sure that you don't use any force, if it needs to be forced then you are doing it wrong!

The ribbon cable connectors need the clamp lifted and then the cable just lifts out with zero force.
 
Just make sure that you don't use any force, if it needs to be forced then you are doing it wrong!

The ribbon cable connectors need the clamp lifted and then the cable just lifts out with zero force.
...hence the name "ZIF socket" - Zero Insertion Force. you gently put the cable in till it bottoms out, the flip/slide the latch closed and now it's locked in place. to remove, flip the latch up (or in some cases, slide it towards the cable), then the cable usually just falls out on its own.
 
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