Newbie with a soldering question...

Hi guys,

Ok, so I've been trying to get better at soldering and I've ran into a bit of a wall here. I was taking my Gamecube apart and I accidentally tore the red and white wires (they connect to a motor). So I went to desolder, and ended up taking every bit of solder off. So now the pads are green. I'm having a hard time re-soldering it. My tip is a bit large and old so I ordered a conical tip today. Will this fix my problem or is there something else I may have done? I've had success soldering through holes, but this is my first attempt at soldering directly to a pad.

Thank you in advance for the help, I know it's a super basic question and I appreciate your time answering

 

It sounds like you have damaged the traces on the PCB. It should be possible to find some other place to connect the wires, but this will possibly require some rather fine soldering.

Can you post a photo of the board?

 

Like TriMesh said, it sounds like you ripped the pads off. You might be able to expose enough of the connecting traces to add some solder and create new pads. You could also try tracing the traces to see where they go and then solder to the sources. When soldering to the GameCube motherboard, you'll want to use a fine tip and 30-40 gauge (AWG) wire, preferably solid core like Kynar.

 

Please post pics of damage. Like said, follow traces to a good point to attach wires. 25 - 30 AWG solid core kynar wire, fine tipped solder iron preferably variable wattage or 15w - 20w. Good quality flux and rosin core 60/40 Pb/sn solder. Also lots of practice on dead pcb and follow some youtube vids.

 

Agree with others, post a picture and BE MORE CAREFUL! No ideal how you could pull the wires out, just have to take your time inspecting everything as you disassemble and reassemble. As mentioned you will have to follow the traces to find another solder point for the repair, have care not to damage any other part such as a shared resistor or capacitor.

"Pre-tin" each leg or wire of a part with a light coat of solder BEFORE soldering onto the PCB.
This step is needed if there is no hole in the pad of the PCB to prestage each leg prior to the solder work.

Forget the new tip, get a smaller "Pencil" soldering iron for the intricate soldering of PCB traces. Also pick up very thin wire ROSIN core solder for much better control. Practice soldering and desoldering by removing and replacing components on an old PC PCB such as an obsolete Video or Phone Modem or Sound Card.

Though thin solid core wire is easier to solder in tight spots, it does NOT have much flex. A risk of the wire pulling off another pad during reassembly. The motor already has wires anyways so no need to change it out, if solid wire be sure to support the soldered ends during reassembly..

 

Big old iron burned the traces right off! you need to back track where the traces from those pads go and solder to something else that connects to the traces.

 

There really is no substitute for a temp controlled iron. If you have, set it to around 250C and you should be safe. I find that applying some solder Flux before soldering helps to prevent bridges when soldering in a tight spot.

I guess one wire is ground? That should be easy enough but you would need a higher temp when soldering to a ground plane. If the other one is Vcc then you should have no problem.

But be sure to check for continuity with a multimeter from the broken traces to the spot you plan to solder to to make sure it is the right spot.

 

You should really stop touching any consoles with soldering irons till you practice soldering on something else.