Hacking Hardware DS Solder Pad gone, should I give up on this board?

[MikeyLORR]

Hello, I'm back again with another hardware modding issue. I've had a USB-C charging port mod for my DS Phat (original DS) for several years now. A few months ago, it stopped working and I had to replace it. A couple days ago, when I plugged it in, it didn't charge, and instead made a loud buzzing sound. I knew something was wrong with the solder. I took the port off and the solder pad used for the voltage connection came off of the motherboard (picture attached, there should be a metal solder pad to the left of the rightmost pad [the one with the 1 to the right of it]). I'm not able to solder it back on, at least how I'm doing it right now. Is there any way to get this connection back, or should I give up on this board and use my spare? Any and all help is appreciated. Thank you.

 

[catlover007]

Yes, this is still far from gone (you need to look at my GBA SP).

The tool of choice for things like this is magnet wire. It is wire which is isolated by a very thin usually transparent coating, so on first glance it looks like unisolated solid core wire. It is thus very compact compared e.g. stranded wire with PVC or silicone isolation. You can remove the isolation on one end by carefully dipping it into a bubble of solder on your soldering iron.

Do you see how the traces go from the EM filter to the ripped pad? You can solder one end of the magnet wire directly to a pin of the EM filter and the other to the matching pin of the port. Though be careful, if you destroy too much further down you get almost exponentially more problems.

To avoid pads from coming off avoid applying high temperatures for too long (though it still happens to me regularly hence my experience with this in the first place haha).

EDIT: also to avoid applying too high temperatures for too long use flux, good flux! I've heard this so many times and I never believed while using cheapo flux. Then I tried actual name brand "Made in America" Chipquik gel flux (there are supposedly some other good brands as well, but I have no experience with them) and my soldering abilities doubled overnight. It's a bit pricy, but absolutely worth it.

 

[MikeyLORR]

Yes, this is still far from gone (you need to look at my GBA SP).

The tool of choice for things like this is magnet wire. It is wire which is isolated by a very thin usually transparent coating, so on first glance it looks like unisolated solid core wire. It is thus very compact compared e.g. stranded wire with PVC or silicone isolation. You can remove the isolation on one end by carefully dipping it into a bubble of solder on your soldering iron.

Do you see how the traces go from the EM filter to the ripped pad? You can solder one end of the magnet wire directly to a pin of the EM filter and the other to the matching pin of the port. Though be careful, if you destroy too much further down you get almost exponentially more problems.

To avoid pads from coming off avoid applying high temperatures for too long (though it still happens to me regularly hence my experience with this in the first place haha).

EDIT: also to avoid applying too high temperatures for too long use flux, good flux! I've heard this so many times and I never believed while using cheapo flux. Then I tried actual name brand "Made in America" Chipquik gel flux (there are supposedly some other good brands as well, but I have no experience with them) and my soldering abilities doubled overnight. It's a bit pricy, but absolutely worth it.

Thank you for the info! I will fully admit, I am not great at soldering (although I'm definitely able to do it and am a lot less disaster-prone than when I first started). Can you give a recommendation for the magnet wire? Also, I'm not sure exactly where the pad goes in contact to the EM filter, I can see where the one to the right of it goes but not this one. Also, just to confirm, this is the right flux? It should definitely be better than the basic Weller rosin flux paste I'm using. Thank you again.

 

[catlover007]

Can you give a recommendation for the magnet wire?

For this I never bought anything special, for example these are the top results on Aliexpress for me, any of these seem to be ok (though I never tried the ones with red isolation, I've always used the transparent coated ones).

The one big thing you need to look out for is the diameter. If it's too big the wire is too stiff and when you try to bend it in place after soldering one side on you instead break the solder joint (not that bad) or rip out the pad (bad) it was attached to. On the other hand if it's too thin, it is problematic if the cable is supposed to carry wire power instead of data. You can recognise whether power is supposed to flow through the trace you ripped off if it looks wider than the other ones around it.

For reference an chip leg is usually 0.2 mm wide. I'd just buy two or three different sizes around this and then hold them next to the place to solder to make an educate guess, assuming this won't be the last time you use the wire in any project and they don't go to waste.

Also, just to confirm, this is the right flux? It should definitely be better than the basic Weller rosin flux paste I'm using. Thank you again.

The one I'm using is NC-191, which according to the datasheet has "Smooth Flow technology" (otherwise they seem to be completely the same?). The Chipquik product catalogue is unfortunately somewhat confusing. Though I have no idea whether this is even an "upgrade" or whether it costs more.

That said of all fluxes I tried before it I found rosin to actually be the best compared to cheapo synthetic flux. It's just super painful to clean up (and has to be cleaned up, as it can otherwise cause corrosion).

 

[MikeyLORR]

@catlover007 Hello, I got the flux and magnet wire today. Before I work on anything, I just wanna confirm what I'll be doing. I'm going to connect the V-in to the voltage point on the USB charging port (see pictures)

The magnet wire I got is a tiny bit more than 0.2mm wide, which I think should be good. Let me know what you think and I'll probably get started tomorrow. Thank you again for the help!

 

[catlover007]

@catlover007 Hello, I got the flux and magnet wire today. Before I work on anything, I just wanna confirm what I'll be doing. I'm going to connect the V-in to the voltage point on the USB charging port (see pictures)

The magnet wire I got is a tiny bit more than 0.2mm wide, which I think should be good. Let me know what you think and I'll probably get started tomorrow. Thank you again for the help!

If I understand it correctly you're bypassing the EM filter then. It'll be probably ok, though I'd rather keep it in there. You can directly solder to the input side of the EMI filter:

 

[MikeyLORR]

If I understand it correctly you're bypassing the EM filter then. It'll be probably ok, though I'd rather keep it in there. You can directly solder to the input side of the EMI filter:

View attachment 555406

Got it, I'll connect it directly to the filter. Thank you!

Post automatically merged: Feb 7, 2026

Got it, I'll connect it directly to the filter. Thank you!

@catlover007 I think I got the wire soldered correctly, I'm attaching a couple pictures of what I have. I tried plugging it in and didn't get a light. Do you think something needs to be changed, or should I just swap boards now?

 

[Nephiel]

Are you 100% sure that was the VIN pad? I'm going just from the photos, but there's a via right there that comes from the VIN test point on the other side, and that via is not connected to that pad. Rather, it goes to the one next to it, and to the last pin on the EMI filter, not the second last you soldered to.

(edit 2026-02-14: turns out this wasn't quite right. Yes, VIN is not pad 3 from the right, it's pad 2, and yes, it goes to the via - but pads 1 and 2 are not connected. I mistook them for a single half-damaged pad. Sorry about that).

 

[MikeyLORR]

Are you 100% sure that was the VIN pad? I'm going just from the photos, but there's a via right there that comes from the VIN test point on the other side, and that via is not connected to that pad. Rather, it goes to the one next to it, and to the last pin on the EMI filter, not the second last you soldered to.

I'll try this, unfortunately I messed up the pad on the charger port I was using (they're so tiny and hard to work with). I ordered another one, and I'm gonna replace my soldering tip and try again. At this point I'm very used to these projects taking a while

 

[MikeyLORR]

I'll try this, unfortunately I messed up the pad on the charger port I was using (they're so tiny and hard to work with). I ordered another one, and I'm gonna replace my soldering tip and try again. At this point I'm very used to these projects taking a while

@Nephiel @catlover007 I tried it again with a new port, soldering the wire from the voltage pin on the port to the first pin on the filter (see pictures), I plugged in my charger and still no orange light. Anything else I should try before giving this up?

 

[Nephiel]

I've looked further into this. It seems I was wrong, what I took for a single, half-damaged pad, is actually two. VIN (pad 2, the lifted one) would go to the via, but not to EM7 after all (that's pad 1).

I found here a picture showing VIN should go to EM10. Worth a try, I guess?
That point should have continuity to the via, and to the VIN test point on the other side of the board, that's easy to check before doing anything else.

 

[MikeyLORR]

I've looked further into this. It seems I was wrong, what I took for a single, half-damaged pad, is actually two. VIN (pad 2, the lifted one) would go to the via, but not to EM7 after all (that's pad 1).

I found here a picture showing VIN should go to EM10. Worth a try, I guess?
That point should have continuity to the via, and to the VIN test point on the other side of the board, that's easy to check before doing anything else.

Oh my gosh, it works!!!! I managed to easily get a wire from EM10 to the voltage pin on the port, it lights up and charges now! Thanks so much for the help, here's to hoping this will last and I won't need to mess with it again for a while XD

 

[catlover007]

Ah well good to see this had a happy ending!

 

[MikeyLORR]

@Nephiel @catlover007 Soooo, I'm back. I went on a trip with my DS and when I came back, the charger port was having problems again. Now both of the ground connections are removed, which is incredible. I tried the same thing with the magnet wire, I was able to make a connection to the ground on the port with the Vgnd on the DS board. It works now, but very poorly, I have to move the cable around and it only charged in exactly the right spot. Just want to ask for any input/advice.

 

[catlover007]

Oh no I forgot to tell you about the last step of every botch: sealing. Even the tiny wires act as levers on the solder points, so usually they need some reinforcement. Depending on the situation the minimum is to tape everything down, though putting UV curable solder mask or hot glue is also very common (if you have to work again on it these can be very annoying to remove though of course).

Pictures are as always very useful to give better advice. If you have to move around the botch wire, there's something seriously wrong. Either the wire itself has a break or the solder joints are pretty much already gone.

 

[MikeyLORR]

Oh no I forgot to tell you about the last step of every botch: sealing. Even the tiny wires act as levers on the solder points, so usually they need some reinforcement. Depending on the situation the minimum is to tape everything down, though putting UV curable solder mask or hot glue is also very common (if you have to work again on it these can be very annoying to remove though of course).

Pictures are as always very useful to give better advice. If you have to move around the botch wire, there's something seriously wrong. Either the wire itself has a break or the solder joints are pretty much already gone.

Here's what I have right now. Not great, I know XD
I'm heavily considering switching motherboard but I'll try anything