Hacking wiikey install

[wiimii]

ok , took the wii apart got to the main dvd drive , its a d2b with cut legs, so i didnt use a dremel or any power tool , i just used a blade to scrape away until i got the 3 pins i needed , any way i get the 3 pins exposed , prepare 3 lengths of wire and start , i tinned the wire first and tried my hardest to get the wires neetly connected, however it wouldnt stick , so i used some flux , so i managed to get 2 wires on , but on the 3rd wire i was installing it was melting the rest of the solder on the other contacts arrrrrrrrrrgh this wii is pi**ing me off .

i gave up , i didnt want to risk bridging any connections , so i guess ill have to send it to a pro , but atleast i didnt f**k my wii up its back together and working fine.

well my question is how the hell do people manage to get these connections on its soo small and i also used a magnifing glass ?????

 

[ziddey]

keep trying and you'll get it. lots of flux and work left to right. the wires need to be very very thinly tinned. also, it may help to try different wire. I ran out of kylar and just busted up some household electrical wire and used single strands.

what i did was lay the three wires on top of the chip and tape it down. then use my fingers and a paper clip to push the wire and bend it around the chip, down and around the pcb. then i dabbed at the point where the clipped leg was.

all in all, I've only done it once, and it took so many tries before I even got all the legs appearingly on. Getting the legs on took me at least 5 hours. Getting the wiikey on took me about a minute. So at least you know when you get the legs on, you're homefree

 

[wiimii]

keep trying and you'll get it. lots of flux and work left to right. the wires need to be very very thinly tinned. also, it may help to try different wire. I ran out of kylar and just busted up some household electrical wire and used single strands.

what i did was lay the three wires on top of the chip and tape it down. then use my fingers and a paper clip to push the wire and bend it around the chip, down and around the pcb. then i dabbed at the point where the clipped leg was.

all in all, I've only done it once, and it took so many tries before I even got all the legs appearingly on. Getting the legs on took me at least 5 hours. Getting the wiikey on took me about a minute. So at least you know when you get the legs on, you're homefree

so what do you advise me to do with the rebuilding part mate ? should i tape it down like you did , but were do i tin ? just the wire only? and if so do i tin the whole length ? i need as much info on this as possible ? what if i bridge legs ? also what soldering tip did you use? thanx buddy

 

[ziddey]

It look me a long time mainly because I'm not that skilled in dealing with something this fine. Also, I used a regular 15w radio shack iron. The tip wasn't all too small.

Here's what I'd recommend:

tin the soldering iron. cover the legs with flux and tin the clipped legs a bit. then flux on top of that again.

flux the wires and tin them. they need to be tinned the length from the clipped legs to the pcb. Lay the wires on the chip and align them up, and then tape it down. I used a smd capacitor (might have been resistor, I can't remember) as a reference point. I clipped the wire after there. From there, I pushed down around the chip and down so that it contoured like the leg is supposed to. I then took the iron from left to right dabbing on the wires by the legs.

It took a lot of time and fiddling, but eventually it worked out well.

 

[wiimii]

UPDATE :

tried and failed . i did it a differ ent way i just connected the 3 wires from the missing legs to the wiikey directly . any how , booted the wii? couldnt even run originals so i unsoldered it . ( sigh) it looked pretty neet too and i thought it would have worked tried bootdisk and nfs carbon, burnt with imgburn @ 4 x

 

[ziddey]

if you can't run originals, then it means you've most likely bridged something.

 

[wiimii]

if you can't run originals, then it means you've most likely bridged something.

yeh i think i must have

ill give it another shot tomorrow . ziddey- do you think if i use live power cable (mains brown live type) for the legs will it still conduct properly as well as kaynar wire? will this still work just as good cos i think what im going to do is :

1. install the wiikey in the proper position so all is perfect using this method : http://psx-scene.com/forums/wiikey/54830-w...tall-guide.html leaving points 4,5, and 6 out obviously

2.solder my wire to points 4,5,6, on the wiikey then with the other end of the mains cable (live brown stuff) chop it down to a single thread as you mentioned and solder the single threads to the exposed traces on the ic ?

would this be a good install if all goes well ? also i have no hot glue so what do you suggest as a replacement to secure the wires coming from the exposed 3 traces ?

any help would be great and thanks so much for your help so far as i would have sent it to get modded now i can see light at the end of the tunnel for this install.

wiimii

 

[wiiza]

that is the method we use.

bare the tracers and go straight from them to the key with kynar for the 3 that are cut and use the pads for the others. secure the tracer connections with hot glue. this method has worked 100% for us. just make sure that all your connections are secure.

you may want to use a desoldering pump or some solder mop/copper braid to clean up the solder if you have bridged something

 

[wiimii]

update: done it , works a bloody charm im on zelda as we speak although i need some hot glue stuff to sucure the 3 connections
thanks for your help mate

 

[ziddey]

update: done it , works a bloody charm im on zelda as we speak although i need some hot glue stuff to sucure the 3 connections
thanks for your help mate

grats! sorry i wasn't able to respond until now, but i see you made it without me

i didn't use any hot glue myself. just relying on the solder to hold the rebuilt legs together. i haven't closed up my wii yet since i wanted to give it a thorough burnin to make sure it wasn't going to undo itself and after about 4 days straight of being powered on, i think it's good to go

 

[wiiza]

great stuff mate!!

congrats on a successful install!!

 

[wiimii]

any other solution for securing the 3 wires in place that are soldered to the ic chip? any help would be great , or if there really is no other solution ? were can i buy the hot glue stuff in uk online?

wiimii

how about something like this? http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/15-WATT-HOT-GLUE-GUN...1QQcmdZViewItem

would it do the job please help

 

[ziddey]

the hot glue isn't essential. it's just put on after it's been soldered on to prevent it from coming out of contact. the main focus should be on getting the wires soldered in place

 

[ziddey]

I see you posted the same question on psx-scene... hot glue is only used afterwards to ensure the connection doesn't come apart. Concentrate on the actual soldering.

Also, it'd be a good idea to test and confirm it works before you go off and hot glue it on. Otherwise, you're going to need to remove the glue in order to fix it.

 

[wiiza]

any other solution for securing the 3 wires in place that are soldered to the ic chip? any help would be great , or if there really is no other solution ? were can i buy the hot glue stuff in uk online?

wiimii

how about something like this? hxxp://cgi.ebay.co.uk/15-WATT-HOT-GLUE-GUN-WITH-GLUE-STICKS.....
would it do the job please help

yep thatll do the trick, any hot glue gun will work tho you can buy them from halfords, maplin etc

 

[wiimii]

I see you posted the same question on psx-scene... hot glue is only used afterwards to ensure the connection doesn't come apart. Concentrate on the actual soldering.

Also, it'd be a good idea to test and confirm it works before you go off and hot glue it on. Otherwise, you're going to need to remove the glue in order to fix it.

yeh i know what your saying , it has been working fine ever since , boots everything not 1 dre , but do you think if my conections on the 3 traces were week theyed have popped off by now?

 

[Tomobobo]

Maybe, but the way you should be looking at it is:

"Hell yeah they havn't popped off before I could glue them down!"

 

[wiimii]

Maybe, but the way you should be looking at it is:

"Hell yeah they havn't popped off before I could glue them down!"

yeh ure right man ill just not touch the thing leave it where it is in its same spot until i get the hot glue , then put some on , you see its only the thing with taking the wii downstairs to put on the big screen i dont wanna risk banging it against anything or anything till the glue set

thanks

edit , question .... so what this with a person i read saying the glue will get heated then cooled alot causing it to harden and damage connections, sorry cant remember where i read but im posotive i did see somone posting that yesterday

 

[aardvarks]

bin using hot glue for ages. had no problems!

 

[Tomobobo]

Maybe, but the way you should be looking at it is:

"Hell yeah they havn't popped off before I could glue them down!"


yeh ure right man ill just not touch the thing leave it where it is in its same spot until i get the hot glue , then put some on , you see its only the thing with taking the wii downstairs to put on the big screen i dont wanna risk banging it against anything or anything till the glue set

thanks

edit , question .... so what this with a person i read saying the glue will get heated then cooled alot causing it to harden and damage connections, sorry cant remember where i read but im posotive i did see somone posting that yesterday

It's.... possible I guess. Probably not going to happen though.