News

Teardown Tuesday: Logitech HD Pro Webcam (C920)

December 26, 2017 by Nick Davis

In this teardown, we claw open Logitech's new HD Webcam C920 for examination.

In this teardown, we claw open Logitech's new HD Webcam C920 for examination.

First Impressions

This 1080p widescreen HD camera, from Logitech, looks and feels like it's a well-built camera that weighs, to my surprise, more than it should; it weighs-in just shy of half a pound—0.48 pounds, or 7.68 ounces, according to its description on Amazon. Most of the weight appears to be in the hinged base.

Included with the camera is an integrated USB cable; I say integrated meaning that the cable is part of the camera as opposed to one that must be plugged in—we'll take a closer look at this integration during the teardown.

 

Figure 1. Logitech's HD Pro Webcam C920. Images courtesy of Amazon.

Gaining Access

The first step in this teardown is the removal of the four screws that help hold the camera's enclosure together. As can be seen in the image below, there are two screws on both sides of the enclosure's bottom; these screws are hidden underneath the two rubber-like pads.

 

Figure 2. Removing the two rubber-like pads to reveal the four hidden screws.

 

With these four screws gone the two perforated microphone covers can be detached, which, when removed, expose eight more screws (see image below).

 

Figure 3. With the two microphone covers removed, eight additional screws are exposed.

 

Four of these eight screws were easy to unscrew, but the remaining four must have had high-strength Loctite generously applied to their threads because I could not get them to budge loose. In order to remove the plastic, I resorted to using brute force to simply break-away the two plastic enclosure pieces. With the plastic removed, a lone PCB can be seen neatly packed away within the enclosure.

Internal Electronics

Figure 4. Breaking the plastic enclosure was required in order to gain access to the internal electrical components; a lone PCB can be seen.

 

Removing the PCB from the plastic piece required the removal of three more screws. The image below shows the back side of the PCB, which includes the main processor, thermal interface material (TIM), and two screws attached to the camera lens module (not seen as it's located on the PCB's front side).

Also visible is a heat sink (attached to the plastic enclosure). Notice the indentation in the TIM which is made from the heat sink's protruding square-shaped feature.

 

Figure 5. PCB is separated from the plastic enclosure.

 

The following image shows some of the main components on the PCB's front side, including the camera lens module and two electret microphones (one was damaged during the plastic-breaking process). Also seen is the integrated USB cable that was mentioned previously. The next section identifies, in more detail, the PCB's main components.

 

Figure 6. PCB is separated from the plastic enclosure.

The PCB and Its Components

PCB Front Side

The image below shows the primary components soldered to the PCB's front side. And although many of the components have part markings, very few datasheets could be found.

 

Figure 7. PCB is separated from the plastic enclosure.

 

  • Electret microphones: No part marking.
  • Camera lens module: Part marking: LF9-76564 (no datasheet could be found).
  • Image sensor: No part marking.
  • Transistors:
    • N02 (no datasheet could be found)
    • 1AM
  • Voltage regulators (linear):
    • MBDGD (no datasheet could be found)
    • AH17E (no datasheet could be found)
  • Voltage regulators (switching): D0SQK (no datasheet could be found)

 

After removing the camera lens module, a thin silicon-like seal was observed; this seal is sandwiched in between the image sensor and the camera lens module, which, I assume, prevents dust and other contaminants from getting on to the image sensor. The image below shows the seal being pulled-up with an exacto knife.

 

Figure 8. A silicon-like seal surrounds the image sensor.

 

PCB Back Side

While the PCB's back side has fewer components on it, it does include the processor and the TIM (the TIM has been removed to expose the PCB underneath it) which is used to help dissipate heat from the image sensor.

 

Figure 9. The components on the PCB's back side.

 

  • Voltage regulators (linear):
    • Part marking: MBFGD (no datasheet could be found)
    • Part marking: MBCGF qty 2 (no datasheet could be found)
  • Processor: Part marking: Logitech QuickCam 334-000086 1725-BCABA25B (no datasheet could be found)
  • Crystal: Part marking: H127H (no datasheet could be found)

Conclusion

Although a rather physically small device (though it's deceivingly a bit heavy), this HD Pro Webcam C920 from Logitech looks to be both well-designed and well-built. The electrical design, itself, looks surprisingly simple, but the real magic resides in the image sensor and the processor, but of which, I'm sure, are very complicated in nature.

Update 12/29/2017: One of our users, Sambo007, pointed out that what were initially identified as speakers are actually electret microphones. The article has been updated to reflect this. Thank you, Sambo007!

 

Next Teardown: Samsung's SmartThings Smart Home Hub and IoT Water Leak Sensor

8 Comments
  • S
    Sambo007 December 29, 2017

    I believe what you called speakers are actually electret microphones: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electret_microphone
    https://www.logitech.com/en-us/product/hd-pro-webcam-c920#specification-tabular
    Quoted from Specs: - Built-in dual stereo mics with automatic noise reduction.
    I also believe that one of the mics broke off during disassembly.
    Cheers.

    Like. Reply
    • N
      Nick Davis December 29, 2017
      Hello Sambo007, You're correct, and thanks for the feedback! The article has been updated to reflect this misidentification. Thanks! -Nick
      Like. Reply
  • BorisKontorovich January 01, 2018

    I worked on the design of this camera…  brings back memories…

    Like. Reply