Hi folks, hoping someone here can help. I’ve got an Arducam 16MP Wide Angle USB Camera (the 1/2.8" CMOS IMX298 mini UVC USB2.0 4K webcam with microphone, 3.3ft/1m cable) that I’m running off a Raspberry Pi 4B. It was working fine, and then it just quit. Turns out the JST connector on the end of the USB cable wire broke off / disconnected. The connector on the camera board itself still looks OK to me, I think it’s just the cable that lost its power line. Can I buy a replacement USB-to-JST connector cable somewhere? I looked on Amazon and couldn’t find one. Any pointers appreciated.
Hey, thanks for the detailed description. Sorry to hear the connector came loose — that’s an annoying one. Before I point you anywhere, can you send over a couple of pictures? Specifically I’d like to see:
- The end of the USB cable where the JST connector broke off (close up if you can).
- The mating connector on the camera board, so I can confirm it’s still intact and see how many pins it has.
Also, a couple of quick questions: roughly when did it stop working, and was anything moved or stressed around the cable when it failed? That’ll help me figure out whether it’s worth trying to re-terminate the existing cable or if you’re better off with a full replacement.
OK, I can take a photo of the end of the USB cable and email it over. To answer your questions: it originally worked fine when I plugged it into the back of the camera board. The failure happened when my printer started going up and down, which was flexing and bending the cable a lot. The black wire that connects to the JST connector on the end of the USB cable is the one that disconnected. The connector on the camera board looks to be fine. Honestly I’m not sure if it was a bad crimp from the factory or just the flexing/bending that killed it. Either way, where can I get a replacement USB-to-JST cable for this camera? I really can’t find it on Amazon.
Got it, thanks. That helps. The repeated flex from the printer motion is almost certainly what did it — those JST terminations don’t love constant bending right at the plug.
A few things so we get you the right part:
- Can you count the pins on that board-side connector? It’s usually 4 or 5 on these UVC modules (VBUS, D-, D+, GND, sometimes shield).
- Are the wires on the old cable still long enough to re-strip and re-crimp, or did the black wire pull out right at the crimp with no slack left?
If there’s enough slack, a fresh JST housing + crimp can sometimes save the cable. If the wire broke flush at the connector with no length to work with, re-terminating usually isn’t practical and a replacement cable is the cleaner route. Let me know the pin count and whether there’s any slack left, and check your messages — I’ll send you the specific part info privately rather than cluttering the thread.
Counted the pins — it’s a 4-pin connector on the board side. The black wire broke off right at the crimp, basically flush, so there’s no real slack to re-strip. I actually tried to strip a bit of the jacket back to see if I could salvage it, but the remaining wire is way too short to get a new crimp on and still reach the connector on the board. So re-terminating is out.
I confirmed again the board-side connector looks undamaged — no bent pins, nothing loose. So it really does look like just the cable. Where do I go from here?
Also just to add, in case it matters for the part number: this is the 16MP IMX298 version, 4K UVC USB2.0, with mic. Not sure if the cable is the same across all the Arducam UVC models or if they differ. If you can tell me whether the replacement cable is specific to this model I’d appreciate it.
Perfect, that confirms it. Here’s where things stand:
- Root cause: the JST connector on the end of the USB cable broke off / disconnected — the black wire pulled out flush at the crimp. Given the constant flexing from the printer motion, that’s consistent with a mechanical failure at the termination, not a board fault.
- Board side: you’ve confirmed the on-board connector is intact with no bent pins, so the camera module itself appears fine.
- Re-termination: not viable in your case since there’s no slack left to re-crimp.
So the fix is a replacement USB-to-JST cable for this camera. I’ve sent you the cable details and ordering info through private message — please check it there, since I can’t post part/link specifics in the thread. If you want, once the new cable arrives, plug it in and let me know if the camera enumerates on the Pi (lsusb should show the UVC device) — happy to keep troubleshooting if anything looks off after the swap.
I’ll leave the thread open in case anyone else hits the same connector break and wants to chime in.