Hacking Wasabi Install questions

[Arch Feline]

As grateful as I am for finding a schematic on the site. I thought that there would be directions.

Regarding setting the regional compatibility with jumpers:
I got as far as realizing that the splotches by the rounded corner of the Wasabi chip correspong to the JAP, USA, PAL images. Now what do I do to have all region compatibility?


I have these flat metal rectangles with labels for attaching wires. I can barely place the tip of the soldering iron on one.
Am I supposed to heat up the rectangle with the soldering iron?
I need one hand to hold the iron and one hand to hold the solder. How do I get the wire there? Is there stickum I can use?
How do I keep the solder from spreading to the next square? Can I stickum some of the solder-absorbing braid around the rectangle in advance?

My Wasabi came with solder and precut wires.

 

[Bob Evil]

Get some solder on the end of the wire, then, touch the tip of the wire to where you want it soldered, then touch the tip of the soldering iron to a point on the wire, just above it's tip ... this will melt the solder on the tip of the wire, and solder the wire to the point.

See ... you only need two hands

Practice soldering wires onto random bits of junk ... like the circuits on the inside of something that is broken ... anything like that will do, for practice.

 

[mattlouf]

You'll find good tips and advice on how to solder here : http://soldering.tehskeen.com/

And thebobevil is right : practice on old broken circuit you can find anywhere.

 

[Arch Feline]

Pads - Copper (Gold Looking)

Copper pads can be a little more trickier to solder onto. Most of them are covered with a lacquer (solder mask) called organic surface protectant (OSP) finish which protects them from corrosion. You can get away without removing the OSP, but you risk heating up the pad too much to actually get the solder to bond which can result in the pad coming off of the board. If this happens you're going to need to solder onto the trace that leads to the pad which is pretty difficult so I would highly recommend preparing the copper pad before attempting to solder onto it.

To prepare the pad you simply place your de-soldering braid over it and then place your iron on top of the braid. It'll take a few seconds to adsorb the lacquer so watch for a little bit of smoke. You will need to remove the braid while it's still hot otherwise it'll bond to the point and if you try to remove it by force you'll remove the point along with it meaning you're going to have to solder onto the trace. Be careful and take your time.

Once you've removed the OSP layer you'll be left with a silver pad. Just follow the steps about for that type of pad and you'll be good to go. Remember to clean any access flux left on the board with your rubbing alcohol.

Via Points

These points are small circles with a hole in the middle. They are either silver or gold in color and need to be prepped before soldering onto them. To prep a via point first put some flux on it and in the hole and then apply a small bit of solder to the end of your iron. Next touch the tip of your iron to the via point for a few seconds and remove it. You'll notice the circle is now full of solder. Now you can place your tinned wire on top of the point, apply the iron for 2-3 seconds, lift the iron and give the solder 2-3 more seconds to dry. Clean any access flux with your rubbing alcohol.


Ah, this helps.

Now any answers about "jumpers" and regional compatibility?
Jumpers Now that I think about it perhaps I should solder on wires that lead outside of the Wii cabinet for the regional compatibility? I think that I would want the other ends to be inside of a switch though.

And I am going to practice.


* * * * *

One more question Is it better to attach all wires first to the chip and then work on attaching the other ends to the Wii?

Yet one more question The installation diagram shows connecting pad J to a site by led1 and sw3 for the Flash Recovery. Where is that?


Another thing that I have found is a movie for soldering to the pins. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSJGnDHKFQ8...h-installs.html


I am now practicing soldering onto pins. I have gotten as far as a board to practice on and running out for tinner and flux paste. The tip on my iron got shining from the tinner so I feel that I am headed in the right direction.

My latest helpful link is a shop in Toronto that will install a Wasabi on your Wii with a 3 month warranty for $150 which I think includes the Wasabi.
http://toronto.backpage.com/ElectronicsFor...ewAd?oid=747991

I am seriously considering this. I may just go ahead with soldering GND, 3V3, H, I, J to my V1 Wii-clip and soldering A, B and F. I am thinking it over.