Hacking first soldering attempt ever

[bomma]

Hi,
my dad bought me a solder station with a super fine tip.
You can see my first attempt on the picture.
For wires i used a computers IDE ribbon.

Do you think it will work?

 

[taiguy]

it looks alright, but you should test continuity with a multimeter to make sure all the connections are solid and you have no shorts.

 

[outphase]

Work with smaller solder so the points on the Wii won't intersect. You should really practice with an old PCB first.

 

[Louse76]

Definitely. Those look like they will work, but a couple look really messy... and you will definitely need to be much cleaner on the Wii.

Also, make sure you're not stripping back too much. One is stripped back way to far, luckily there is nothing right there to short on.

PS: Use Flux.

 

[Phrostay]

The pads on the Wii are flat. In the soldering guide I have been reading most of the examples have a wire sticking out from a PCB. How do I go about soldering these flat pads and getting a nice volcanus shaped solder? I am doing a lot of practice on an older router which has plenty of flat tiny pads. The pads are very tiny, probably smaller than the ones on the Wii, but I always end up putting a huge ball of solder over the really tiny pads. The solder isn't dull but is shiny, I'm just worried that it's too much solder. I'm using 0.8mm 60/40 solder with flux and a 17-Watt soldering iron with 0.8mm fine tip.

 

[Hooya]

Phrostay:
Just be faster and touch the solder lighter to the point you're heating with the iron.

It seems like you're generally doing everything right, you're just inexperienced so you're being too slow/careful with things.

As far as soldering on "flat" points, just flip that PCB you're working on over. You'll probably find some smaller points there. I use an old sound card to practice on, there are dozens of points very analogous to the points on the Wii on the Underside of the board. If there's a wire (or Lead, as it's more typically called in this context) sticking out it's probably bigger than the smaller points on the Wii board anyway.

 

[Tedorama]

Using the finest solder- iron tip you can find will help too

 

[darrrren]

yes it looks ok but i would redo the one which has been stripped to far because it dosent look like a very good joint anyway. and also bend the wire with tweezers so all four come neatly away from the chip. you will need to be neater with the stripping on the ends which solder to the wii about 1.5 mm exposed is perfect then pre solder the ends of the wire without extra flux. first i scrape all the contacts on the wii with sharp point screwdriver thing a dart will do to remove any residue. then blow it off. then get a thin lenth of solder and apply a smear of flux to each contact but avoid it on the board because it will make it easier to bridge them together. then set you solder station to 315 c dip the tip in some flux then apply some solder and wipe it all off on your wet sponge.then apply a tiny amount of solder to the tip of your iron.then touch each contact for about half a second and you will see each contact run and go shinny. but one of two bigger contacts the left one above the four smaller ones takes quite a lot more effort about 4-5 seconds you need a bit more solder on you tip for this one and rub it about the contact till you get it to melt. i dont know why but i have installed over 20 wiikeys and that contact has been difficult on every one.. then stick your wiikey to the board as will of seen in photos. then bend your wires into position with tweesers this is where kynar wire is best because it holdls its shape up to the contacts. think about the route of your wires so they dont interfear with the others.put the tip of your wire over the contact hold it with the tip of your finger the touch it for 0.5-1 second with the tip of your iron and you will feel it pull down when it takes hold. just keep applying more solder to your tip if needed on each joint. just be carefull because them small pads can be easily pulled of if you over heat the pad or pull on a wire to hard.

 

[thieves like us]

the solder connections look good (shiny vs. dull), however as many people have already stated, you've got waaaaaaaay too much bare wire exposed on a few of those leads. additionally, I wouldn't use the wire from a usb cable, but spend the 2usd and purchase a roll of kynar wire-wrapping wire to do the job.

for one thing, the kynar won't shrink back when you expose it to heat (exposing even more bare wire), and second, 30awg is solid instead of the stranded wire that you've currently using (1pc of solid wire vs. the 10-12 strands that you've had to twist together.

lastly, I would practice a bit more before moving onto the leads on the wii's optical drive. those connections are a lot closer together and about half the size of the smaller pads on the wiikey.

I tend to work the other way around, soldering the wires to the motherboard first and then attaching them to the wiikey. since the connections on the motherboard are closer and smaller, it's much easier to solder each wire individually and then connect to the wiikey, then trying to shift that whole assembly around.

 

[ugotpwned5]

Heres my first solder attempt! And it Works! WOOT!