Wii U broken fuse

[TheMagicMan]

My friend had a Wii U that had no power with no light and I opened it up to see what the problem would be. Everything looked good aside from the fuse right next to the power socket which seems to be broken off. I would say to replace it, but it seems it broke the motherboard off with it. Is this fixable or should I just dump the board(Also is there anyway to retain the data from the board if I dump it)?

 

[KleinesSinchen]

How can that happen?
Is the solder pad is ripped off the board? The color looks a bit strange.

It shouldn't be too hard to identify what part of the power connector goes to that pad. It should be possible to connect a fuse to a wire on the defective side and to the normal solder pad on the good side (carefully desolder the remnant in order to not rip off the second pad – that would be worse).

A friendly warning: Theoretically a broken fuse can be bridged… but a fuse is there for a reason. If something else is wrong with the board, trying to start it will cause further damage – maybe beyond repair. So I recommend to NOT bridge a fuse.

(Also is there anyway to retain the data from the board if I dump it)?

What data do you mean? To dump the data the console has to turn on. Using hardmod to dump the system NAND and/or the data NAND (two chips) is of no use if you don't have the console-unique keys. Either you already have them – or the thing has to fully boot up for getting them.
Never try to flash data from console A to console B → full brick 100% guaranteed.


Good luck!

 

[kaputnik]

Yep, that's very fixable. Hardest part is probably to figure out the properties of the original fuse

I would use the smallest axial through hole fuse possible with correct value/characteristics, it's an easy form factor to work with when doing this kind of repairs. Desolder whatever is left of the old fuse, expose some more of the copper trace - a fiberglass brush is indispensable for this but scraping with a scalpel etc works aswell - and solder in the fuse as a bridge between the trace and the connector pin to the left in your pic.

You might want to bend the fuse pins to a lyre shape, to reduce the stress on the copper trace when plugging in the cable etc. There's probably some movement when you do. Would guess some kind of mechanical impact on the connector is what made the original fuse come off in the first place.

It's probably also a good idea to fix the new fuse and power connector with hot glue, to further reduce stress.

 

[TheMagicMan]

Yep, that's very fixable. Hardest part is probably to figure out the properties of the original fuse

I would use the smallest axial through hole fuse possible with correct value/characteristics, it's an easy form factor to work with when doing this kind of repairs. Desolder whatever is left of the old fuse, expose some more of the copper trace - a fiberglass brush is indispensable for this but scraping with a scalpel etc works aswell - and solder in the fuse as a bridge between the trace and the connector pin to the left in your pic.

You might want to bend the fuse pins to a lyre shape, to reduce the stress on the copper trace when plugging in the cable etc. There's probably some movement when you do. Would guess some kind of mechanical impact on the connector is what made the original fuse come off in the first place.

It's probably also a good idea to fix the new fuse and power connector with hot glue, to further reduce stress.

After a bit of research I found the original fuse and was able to actually buy a replacement . Otherwise I'm a little confused as to what you mean by "exposing the copper trace". Since I have the original fuse I can obviously just solder one side normally and I was thinking of using a wire to bridge the fuse and the fuse and the other side easier(as suggested by the other user). I'm assuming then after "exposing the copper trace" I could solder the other side of the wire to it closing the loop yes?

 

[kaputnik]

After a bit of research I found the original fuse and was able to actually buy a replacement . Otherwise I'm a little confused as to what you mean by "exposing the copper trace". Since I have the original fuse I can obviously just solder one side normally and I was thinking of using a wire to bridge the fuse and the fuse and the other side easier(as suggested by the other user). I'm assuming then after "exposing the copper trace" I could solder the other side of the wire to it closing the loop yes?

Well, if you're gonna use the original surface mount fuse, never mind. The copper traces are covered with varnish, meant that you could remove some of it next to the solder pad and get a stronger solder joint if you were using a through hole fuse.

And yes, that will probably work perfectly. Just make sure you don't manage to bridge the fuse too, easily done when working with those minuscule surface mount components

 

[TheMagicMan]

Just make sure you don't manage to bridge the fuse too, easily done when working with those minuscule surface mount components

Yeah that's the thing I'm worried about. I know you already explained it but I'm still a little confused. Do you have a video or some other way of explaining how you would expose it for a stronger solder?

 

[kaputnik]

Yeah that's the thing I'm worried about. I know you already explained it but I'm still a little confused. Do you have a video or some other way of explaining how you would expose it for a stronger solder?

If you're going to use a surface mount fuse, there's no point at all in doing it, but found a youtube video showing how to do it with a fiberglass brush

 

[sideskroll]

So. Did it work? Did you fix the console? Ive had a dead Wii U for a year now. No power, no stand by light. Nothing. I tried the "hair dryer trick" (where you blow warm air through the vent hole in the back) and it amazingly worked 2 times. After that, nothing. Why it worked? Beats me. Some people have said that it might be an issue with the CPU (reballing etc) I highly doubt it though... Why would there be absolutely no power whatsoever because of a bad solder joint on the CPU? Im inclined to think it might be that fuse, but Ive been too lazy to take the thing apart... Was that the issue with his console? No power at all? And did replacing the fuse fixed it?

 

[nkitner15]

After a bit of research I found the original fuse and was able to actually buy a replacement . Otherwise I'm a little confused as to what you mean by "exposing the copper trace". Since I have the original fuse I can obviously just solder one side normally and I was thinking of using a wire to bridge the fuse and the fuse and the other side easier(as suggested by the other user). I'm assuming then after "exposing the copper trace" I could solder the other side of the wire to it closing the loop yes?

Where did you find the replacement fuse?

 

[nkitner15]

After a bit of research I found the original fuse and was able to actually buy a replacement . Otherwise I'm a little confused as to what you mean by "exposing the copper trace". Since I have the original fuse I can obviously just solder one side normally and I was thinking of using a wire to bridge the fuse and the fuse and the other side easier(as suggested by the other user). I'm assuming then after "exposing the copper trace" I could solder the other side of the wire to it closing the loop yes?

Where were you able to find the replacement fuse?