Troubleshoot why certain keys don't repond

[ktechelonbreak]

As far as soldering onto PCB is concerned, I try to keep the lowest setting possible. I only have a 15W radioshack soldering iron which is usually more than enough for these projects. Having flux, desoldering wick, and helping hands clamps are a must IMO.

@Thatbraziliann That portion of the board is pretty fried it looks like. If you have some copper tape left, you can try to cut a thin strip and carefully layer it on top of the fried portion to connect them. This is probably the only hard portion of soldering for the whole project, the rest is relatively easy. Keep at it man, it's all about learning!

[Thatbraziliann]

As far as soldering onto PCB is concerned, I try to keep the lowest setting possible. I only have a 15W radioshack soldering iron which is usually more than enough for these projects. Having flux, desoldering wick, and helping hands clamps are a must IMO.

@Thatbraziliann That portion of the board is pretty fried it looks like. If you have some copper tape left, you can try to cut a thin strip and carefully layer it on top of the fried portion to connect them. This is probably the only hard portion of soldering for the whole project, the rest is relatively easy. Keep at it man, it's all about learning!

You dont think I could just use the whole strip to connect those two together over the fried portion that way itll be like I had attached then together? Like one piece overlapping the two traces then overlapping the two bottom traces. Then taking another piece connecting the right hand trace to the tape?

[ktechelonbreak]

You can do it however you'd like, the key is to make sure those 2 bottom traces are connected together. They are essentially 1 long circuit so if you need to do multiple strip tapes to get it connected, that's fine. Just make sure the adhesive side is also conductive, otherwise you probably need to solder the tape to the traces.

[Thatbraziliann]

You can do it however you'd like, the key is to make sure those 2 bottom traces are connected together. They are essentially 1 long circuit so if you need to do multiple strip tapes to get it connected, that's fine. Just make sure the adhesive side is also conductive, otherwise you probably need to solder the tape to the traces.

Okay I will try to solder it if its not conductive( How would I know if it is conductive on the bottom just use a multimeter on bottom half and put each prod on an end?)

Im hoping I can salvage it because Idk if helders pCB will lign up with my buttons then its back to using the dremel and making a new case ;/

[crispy_tofu]

Damn I was always setting it to 375... That explains a lot of my burns and everything else.. I wonder if I can solder better with a lower temp?

Definitely! It doesn't look beyond salvage yet, try scrubbing the black grime off with water (wipe it off after) and a brush and try again!
60/40 leaded solder (most common solder) melts at ~190 degrees C, so I would suggest setting the soldering iron to about 250 degrees C. The reason I suggest setting it higher is because the soldering iron cools down while it transfers heat.

It is difficult, as the trace is quite small. But don't give up!

[Thatbraziliann]

Damn I was always setting it to 375... That explains a lot of my burns and everything else.. I wonder if I can solder better with a lower temp?

Definitely! It doesn't look beyond salvage yet, try scrubbing the black grime off with water (wipe it off after) and a brush and try again!
60/40 leaded solder (most common solder) melts at ~190 degrees C, so I would suggest setting the soldering iron to about 250 degrees C. The reason I suggest setting it higher is because the soldering iron cools down while it transfers heat.

It is difficult, as the trace is quite small. But don't give up!

OMG thank you soo much @Crispytofu @dirtybeagles @ ktechelonbreak I figures out why Dpad wasn't working especially the UP.. these staples wrent reading ground


So check out my Frankenstein esk soldering treatment to get everything connected..

@dirtybeagles you are so right its SOOOOOO MUCH easier to solder at 200 degrees. If I mess up nothing around burns hahaha. I still suck as I wasnt able to tap into the traces without a Huge glob but check it out!! all keys now register



(/sidenote/ Now X is a bit sticky and sometimes double registers or doesnt register.. maybe I have to redo the copper tape.. but I dont care as much now because Im soo excited that all the keys work!! ill probably still connect into Helders PCB because itll be cleaner but still. VERY EXCITED)

[crispy_tofu]

That's good to hear.

[ktechelonbreak]

Good job! Even if you don't end up using the board, that's valuable experience that you'll have forever =)

[petran1420]

@Thatbraziliann ok so I have the exact same problem as you, exact same buttons not working. And I also had a terribly tough time getting my grounds bridged together, so I'm guessing my problem is the same too! I'm attaching a pic of my board, as you can see my 'bridges' are just little balls. I only had a single temp level old soldering iron before so it may have been too hot like your problem, I just got a new one. So, I'm thinking of doing your fix. Just to be sure, it looks like you used solder to connect those two parallel staples together, and then you bridged the L, D, and R d-pad ground traces together with big globs of solder? Is there copper tape underneath all that solder?

I'm glad you were able to fix yours, I hope I'll be able too as well!

[petran1420]

So I attempted a fix, bridging the ground traces together, with solder on top of copper tape on top of newly exposed traces, to no avail. Picture attached. Any insight?