Hacking Wiinja V2 mod – success!! A solder virgin’s story

[Ryusamus]

I received my V2 wiinja two days ago and ripped into the wii right away (which is surprisingly easy to open and put back together).

I had been practicing soldering on an old clock radio that I opened up earlier but the wii mod would be my first real world, $280 on the line soldering job. I used a 15w iron from radio shack, .032 solder (rosin core) btw.

First thing to note is that the video’s and tuturials do not give a very good sense of how small the three contacts (contacts 5,6,7) really are – they are freakin’ tiny! The other two are a decent size and well spaced.

Any way, I ended up lifting up contact 7 which was like a dagger to the heart. All that planning, preparation, practice and money spent down the frickin drain. As a last attempt I got out my magnifying lens and followed the path to the d2b chip and tried to solder to the leg (which are beyond tiny). Somehow, someway I got it exactly onto the correct leg.

I finished it off by soldering to the wiinja, used some super glue and taped the hell out of it. Put it all back together,crossed my fingers and threw in my original madden 07 which booted up as usual. Nice, worst case scenario averted.

I then tried my pre-burned backup (TDK dvd-r burned at 4x) and praise the lord it worked too! I checked the following backups and all worked flawlessly:
rayman, super swing golf, madden 07, wii play, elebits, tony hawk, warioware, call of duty 3

In fact, I noticed that the loading times for games were actually faster for some reason although I can't confirm for sure.
Anybody else notice this??

Now I want to start my own business doing this mod. What a rush! I went from depressed to down right giddy in a span of an hour.

That’s my story I hope you all have the same luck (maybe a little skill) that I had.

Cheers.

 

[modmanwii]

congrats!

Oh the good ol days!

 

[lookout]

Yep! you got the right tools - welldone and welcome to GBAtemp

 

[Ryusamus]

Yep! you got the right tools - welldone and welcome to GBAtemp

Thanks! I've been lurking here for a while and reading up on all the good info here. Great source for beginners!

 

[thegame07]

i would not start a business of soldering people wiis untill you get more experience . what if you break peoples wiis you will need to pay for them that will = money down the drain.

 

[directive0]

where'd you get your chip?

 

[Ryusamus]

I got my chip from wiinjamod.com. They currently have them for $35. I thought service was great and they kept us informed via their forum with status updates etc. Keep in mind that they're Canadian based so if you're not Canadian you may end up with customs charges etc.

 

[Ryusamus]

i would not start a business of soldering people wiis untill you get more experience . what if you break peoples wiis you will need to pay for them that will = money down the drain.

Yeah, I hear you. If I do, it will be for friends or family that understand the risks. The hardest part would be even finding a system. They're still sold out everywhere here (near toronto, ontario).

 

[directive0]

I'm Canadian...atleast I think I am.... how would I be sure?

only kidding, thanks for the info.

 

[shtonkalot]

i would not start a business of soldering people wiis untill you get more experience . what if you break peoples wiis you will need to pay for them that will = money down the drain.
Yeah, I hear you. If I do, it will be for friends or family that understand the risks. The hardest part would be even finding a system. They're still sold out everywhere here (near toronto, ontario).

I agree that it may bit a bit early to start doing this on others consoles. You yourself make out it was luck that you got it working: "Somehow, someway I got it exactly onto the correct leg."
If you can lift one track, you can lift them all. Soldering to 3 legs on the Panasonic chip you may not just be able to 'somehow' get right.
Also if you charge money for your service then you should be responsible for the systems you work on. Stuff it and then you might be up for some serious cash and hunting time for a console, not to mention the wrath of the persons Wii you busted.

Apart from that though, Congratulations

You have to start somewhere, and it's all fine now so well done.

 

[pokerrey05]

I just had my soldered after my botch install to two legs on the chip and its working great
Modchipman 35.06 with shipping with coupon code wiihaveawiiner

 

[ciama81]

I got my chip from wiinjamod.com. They currently have them for $35. I thought service was great and they kept us informed via their forum with status updates etc. Keep in mind that they're Canadian based so if you're not Canadian you may end up with customs charges etc.

Great to know, i preordered from them too a while ago, but i'm in the usa so it will take a couple extra days to get here. Congrats on the install!!

 

[Deleted User]

i would not start a business of soldering people wiis untill you get more experience . what if you break peoples wiis you will need to pay for them that will = money down the drain.

Yeah, I hear you. If I do, it will be for friends or family that understand the risks. The hardest part would be even finding a system. They're still sold out everywhere here (near toronto, ontario).

I'm also from Toronto, and I was lucky enough to get myself a Wii. I live in Richmond Hill, and I travelled all the way to Brampton to get the LAST Wii in some store. Anyway ... I might get this chip ... but I'm still waiting a while, just to make sure. But I'm glad to hear your success story.