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skir0987

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 14, 2007
118
0
My old non-unibody MacBook Pro recently died so I've been salvaging it for parts. Right now, I'm trying to salvage the built-in iSight camera. I have done research around the internet and have found that people have turned iMac internal iSights into external USB. I'd like to do the same with the one from my MacBook Pro. I took the iSight and related cables out and have isolated the iSight assembly, but I can't figure out which cables are USB.

The first attached image is the cable coming from the assembly.

If it's hard to see, from bottom to top there is:
Red Cable
Red Cable
Black Cable
Thick Yellow Cable
Black Cable

The second attached image is the entire assembly.

Does anyone have any idea which wires are USB or does anyone have a pinout? It looks as if inside the yellow cable there's a few wires (possible Data+ and Data-), so I can take a picture of that if necessary.

Thanks
 

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skir0987

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 14, 2007
118
0
I opened the yellow cable up and--surprise, surprise--I found two cables inside. As you can see in the attached image, one is red and one is green. Traditionally, for USB, red is 5V, green is data+, white is data-, and black is ground; there are no white cables, however, and I doubt that 5V would be coupled with data+. My guess is that these are data+ and data-, but I have no idea which. And, there are still four more cables (two red, two black) aside from those. So, I'm still stuck.
 

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peterburk

macrumors newbie
Jan 10, 2006
7
1
Kaohsiung, Taiwan
"the yellow cable ... two cables inside ... one is red and one is green ... My guess is that these are data+ and data-, but I have no idea which. And, there are still four more cables (two red, two black) aside from those."

I was salvaging parts from a friend's liquid-damaged MacBook Pro, and had the same problem. I found this thread, but this question still wasn't answered! I tried it the wrong way first, but thankfully everything still works. Here is the working pinout:

Red 1 = Red 2: 5V (USB red)
Yellow-Green: D- (USB white)
Yellow-Red: D+ (USB green)
Black 1 = Black 2: Ground (USB black)

I hope this helps someone!
Peter
 

vanakaru

macrumors newbie
Dec 25, 2006
12
0
@peterburk
I am working on the same iSight as you did. However I am not able to get it to work. When I use the pinout you suggested I get USB error - USB device drawing too much power...
And I find that most USB color codes state green=D+ and white=D-.
When you did this wrong way first, do you remember how.
 

schuif67

macrumors newbie
Feb 21, 2016
1
0
breda
@peterburk
I am working on the same iSight as you did. However I am not able to get it to work. When I use the pinout you suggested I get USB error - USB device drawing too much power...
And I find that most USB color codes state green=D+ and white=D-.
When you did this wrong way first, do you remember how.
the black and red wires are coaxial, take the inner wires this might be the problem
 
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