TSOP Xbox and new hard drive

Ouch. When I bridged my unit I did it this way: Clean iron tip, short piece of small gauge solid core wire, and flux core solder. First one was a bit problematic but I finally got it. Second point went perfectly. Here's a good tip: Never leave the iron on the solder points for more than 5 seconds. Anything more increases risk of melting the epoxy used to bond the traces to the fiberglass PCB. 5 seconds may be pushing it since I use a cheapy non temperature regulated iron but I haven't had problems yet.

 

I just added more solder on to my board. Did the trick, really don't need much heat either. You just have to be quick or that happens.

 

This. I realise now that I got the tinning/cleaning mixed up, so was doing it the wrong way round. Obviously focusing too much on the TSOP and not enough on my solder technique! Strange as I just did some soldering last week and that went fine. Well at least I know for next time...

 

If you really wanted, you could just add some jumper wires like RetroJunkie did, he made a similar mistake

 

Like this?

 

Yep!

 

Do you think it'll work even though the solder point/pad is no longer there?

I don't mind giving it a go, would like to get a TSOP down including flashing the BIOS.

 

Well I'm not too experienced with soldering myself, but from previous experiments once the solder pads are gone they no longer work. (This was on the front panel of the XBOX) which is why I think you'll require some jumper wires.

 

Hmm maybe this particular board has had enough abuse, I'm just glad it's still working.

 

Indeed, once a solderpad is gone you'll have trouble creating an electrical connection!

One thing you can do however, is gently scrape off the soldermask (green mask) on top of the trace the solder pad was originally connected to using a X-acto knife. You'll reveal the copper which you can solder to.

It's a delicate job but it'll sometime save your ass.

Just make sure to not cut too deep on the trace or else you'll sever the copper trace. You might even slip and cut much more than what you wanted!

Make sure you don't scrape off solder mask around the trace because most PCB designers fill "unused" space with grounded copper planes. If you scrape that grouding plane, you have a chance to connect the plane to the trace when soldering on it.

Don't scrape too much of the trace, copper left at open air will rust. Remove just enough solder mask to create a firm bond between the wire and the trace. Cover the entire naked part of the trace with solder.

This technique is a last resort. It creates a very weak connection by nature. Don't pull too much on the wire to check if it's well bonded! Traces are also glued using epoxy to the fiberglass board.

 

Also remember, you only need to write to the TSOP chip once.

Hell, get a conductive pen and go to town.

 

I just tin a 30AWG wire and lay it across the pads, trim it from the rest of the wire and call it a day. Never have mastered the ability to jump two pads with a ball of solder and when there are fool-proof methods about I'd rather use them than try to learn on a poor, innocent XBox.

 

My tried and true TSOP method is to "dab" the solder. It's not conventional, but it works.

 

Yeah I might go the wire route next time. Although I did manage to get the topside points done ok with just solder

My problem is also patience... if something doesn't work right away I get frustrated and try to rush it. Need to chill out more.

 

Taking it easy will help dramatically. Usually when I'm soldering sometimes I get nervous and shake a bit, really not sure why but it happens.

 

I have that problem too. My unit is a 1.2 so there was only 2 points to bridge both on the topside. I went so far as to remove the PCB to make it easier and the whole thing still took me nearly 10 minutes to do. I was ready to drop kick it out the front door towards the barn...

 

I feel like I've redeemed myself this weekend in terms of my soldering. I took on the task of replacing the analog sticks in my original 360 controller as they were worn out - not centering properly and the clicks were hit and miss. I have other pads, but this was the original that came with the console so had some sentimental value as well as my general thoughts on repairing/re-using rather than just replacing things.

Took my time, didn't stress out, and managed to get both sticks desoldered and replaced. Of course not without it's problems. I managed to lift 2 pads - one on the left stick and one for the right trigger. Thankfully the left stick one doesn't seem to have affected anything so maybe that was just to hold it in place. With the right trigger I had to run a wire to another point on the board after doing some digging around online.

Also the right stick would only work up and down for some reason, but after going over my soldering it was all good.

Quite pleased with myself as it wasn't an easy task - 14 points per analog stick and then 3 per trigger, although I realised afterwards that I didn't even need to remove the right trigger!

Before:



After:



I might give the ol' TSOP another go now I have some more experience :encouragement:

 

Cheer: You can do it Banjo! You can do it Banjo!

 

Lol thanks man

 

nice job