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Yes the solder joints are terrible, but it works and I'm proud of myself.
Your solder joints don't actually look that bad. Ive seen much worse; and "works" is the gold standard anyway. You're probably the only one that will see the board in person.
If you want advice, it looks like your iron was either too cold, or you didn't work fast enough and your flux burned up before the joint set.
It’s lead free solder. I think that affects how the joints look.
There are lots of LF alloys, some shiny some not. Your joints are fine, regardless of the alloy :)
Mostly just visual in terms of shine vs matte. For the quality of the joint itself, lead-free has a higher melting point so you need more heat to keep it flowing nicely.
Your joints will do what they’re supposed so, so they’re fine. Chasing perfection is just a fun minigame.
Also it depends on the tip used for the soldering iron: those large surfaces have a lot more volume of metal that needs heating (plus you also need more volume of solder) so if one uses a conical tip it doesn't transmit heat fast enough and you ended up with an irregular solder hill like that.
If you're use to soldering smaller components, doing something like that is quite different and won't come out as well until you get used to its peculiarities.
If you're not at all used to soldering, that's actually pretty good.
Totally agree on "works" being the gold standard, especially on a something like that which isn't subject to significant mechanical forces (like, for example, a push switch would).
FYI on the next one - they make CR1616 battery holders (like this) which allow future you to swap in new batteries whenever you want without additional soldering
I figure if I'm gonna do it, may as well just do it once
Enjoy having your old games back!!
dude your solder joints look professional compared to mine. I am proud of you too. give yourself a pat on the back and maybe a sloppy kiss with small butt grabby. you've earned it.
Ummm I'll have what OP is having. Thanks.
It's mostly weed, but like, the cocktail of not for the faint of liver
I've been so on the fence about attempting to solder, but it frightens me the idea of causing a little sparky fire.
So, good on you!
I'm blind (the device in back with the Freedom Scientific logo is an assistive magnifier). Both cooking and sewing are common skills taught in rehab centers for the newly blind, and soldering has aspects of both, being mindful of something very very hot near your hands, and having a certain amount of dexterity.
Here's what I did to build up confidence. I bought a bunch of perf board and resistors and I just started soldering the resistors to the perf board, that's it. No goal other than to practice soldering. I had tried one of those beginner's first electronics kits off Amazon, the ones with just an LED and a switch or whatever. I got discouraged because I messed up. So I figured if I didn't actually try to make something, I could relax and focus on soldering technique. I was eventually able to solder header pins onto a Raspberry pi zero and even terminate a coax cable, and now I can say I replaced a GB cart battery.
That’s impressive as hell, tbh. I’m glad rehab centers focus on such useful, otherwise seemingly inaccessible skills
my dude you did this with major vision loss? i take back my earlier compliment. that's not deserving of a smooch and a butt grabby. that's deserving of a full on makeout and maybe a little hand down the pants butt grabby. make sure to ask yourself for consent first.
Fire isn’t a concern, really, the temperatures are low enough that it starts slow. Rest it on wood and you’ll have time to wonder why you smell wood smoke, then wonder why it’s inside, etc. before it burns down.
The real hazard is inhaling rosin fumes (says the guy who doesn't properly ventilate his workstation). If you're anxious about lead (I was) there is lead-free solder, though it requires higher temperatures to work with. As far as lead goes, the risk is from getting flecks of it on your fingertips and then touching your eyes or mouth. I imagine it's less of a problem than it feels like in my head, but something something environmentally friendly.
Leaded solder is sooo much easier to work with. Wash your hands well after each soldering session, have a fan gently blowing over your work bench & a window cracked open & you should be (relatively) fine**. Unless you’re doing it very regularly for long periods in which case a proper extractor is worth the investment. Occasional hobby tinkering for 15-30 mins at a time over an iron is unlikely to be bad for you if you follow basic steps. **Not medical advice!
P.S. Awesome work. I can remember the first time I modded Wii 1st gen, as my first non practice soldering, I was so nervous. But the mod still works to this day, many many years later. More people should learn to solider, it’s not overly hard if you have a decent enough soldering iron, a steady enough hand, & are willing to practice. It’s so satisfying when it works!!
It’s a fruity note… inhales deeply … reminiscent of… fir with notes of cinnamon.
Babies love it too, if you have lead paint they will lick the walls and let you know
One theory for why there were so many serial killers in the 70s was because of lead paint.
It's a useful skill to know, and it's not super hard to learn. It just takes some practice.
As long as you have some common sense(eg: dont set the iron down on something flammable) you shouldn't need to worry about fires.
Update: Now I've replaced the battery in Pokemon sapphire. Luckily since it uses flash memory my 25 year old save file is intact.
Wait… can you confirm that these things don’t use volatile memory for game saves?
Pokemon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald only use the battery to power the onboard clock, the saves are on flash. If you look at the PCB you can see the flash chip on the left, it's the one that's not under the battery.
It's safe to replace the battery, but since the RTC will be starting from 0 again you won't see time based events happen until it catches up to the time stored in the save. If you're not planning on starting a new game or fixing the save file using a cart reader and save editor (alternatively a DS with GBA slot and a flash cart) there's no point in replacing the battery.
Edit: Fixed typos
The only thing I can tell you is my save survived the battery replacement, which tells me it's flash and not SRAM.
Did the same on my Ruby half a year ago. Fun times.
If you did soldering for the first time - your joins are pristine. They are completely fine unless you want to fulfill IPC-A-610 standard.
Requiring 610 for your own repair of a game cartridge would be kinda ridiculous anyway.
Besides soldering battery taps can be a pain. There can be so much thermal capacity in the taps (technically the cell, but). Combine that with an ordinary 35μm PCB, perhaps with some old school phenol board, and this result is some a newbie can be quite proud of. Heck, even if you've trained a bit.
You should be proud of yourself indeed
I'm an IT guy and I get mad anxiety with anything soldering, welding, ...
I am incompatible with anything less digital than a PC so I got mad respect for this sorta stuff.
I so badly want to learn how to fix old tech like this. I'm fascinated by the tech repair YouTubers that can bring an old gba back to life. Someone I know has an old Pokemon Crystal with a dead battery from childhood and was broken up about losing their childhood save. I don't think it's possible to bring the file back but I'd love to get the cart working again at least.
the hardest part of soldering is holding the damn thing in place. if you have something to clamp it, it becomes a hell of a lot easier.
Yeah two shots of rum right before get those shaky hand jitters out
Lol yeah I've seen people use fancy microscope looking things and using that orange tape to tape it to a surface depending on where they to solder.
Just so you know, the orange tape is called Kapton tape. It's useful for higher temperature work (such as soldering) since it can continue to stick up to 400°C.
For the most part you do not need expensive JBC tools or some super expensive testing tools.
If you plan to dive in, start simple with some USB soldering iron, multimeter and some cheap 20V labratory PSU. I found FNIRSI offers a USB-PD soldering iron with JBC tips for under $100 that is comparable to Weller 80W professional soldering station I got at work.
The other part is just trial and error. Try with simple electronics or guides. Get the general idea on how things work. Most of problems are already solved. It is easy to find repair guide for some old gaming tech or how to chip your consoles.
Have fun!
It's not hard. My Game Gears were broken and now I fixed 4 of them by replacing all caps.
I got the Pinecil for soldering and it's so easy to use and versatile. I got a couple of flux pens so the result looks nice and clean.
that's awesome. I'm happy for you. Nowadays, it's great to see ppl find some happiness in this shitty shitty world. 😌
If you ever saw any of my solder points you'd be round house high fiving yourself. Nice.
You double checked the battery polarity right? From memory the aftermarket replacement battery is flipped.
Either way, Congratulations mate.
I mean, they already said it works lol
Yes, once when loose to confirm that the bent leg was the positive one, then again after taping it down to the board (measure twice, cut once). Then again after soldering it to confirm. I also verified that I can save now.
I have no soldering skills or interest in Pokemon. The only reason I’m giving you that background to emphasize that I’m proud of you, too!
Awesome job
hey at least it's not the electrical tape method a lot of us did when we were kids.
I held it in place with captan tape and that seemed to work well.
Your soldering looks much cleaner than mine, great job! Keep at it. It's a unique and fun skill.