[newb] Need some advice on difficulty of this repair

[akuthia]

Hey everyone, coming from this thread. As I say in the last post (which, since it hasn't been answered in about a week i figured i should repost in a more appropriate place) I'm wondering if I should be buying a certain type of solder iron, or if a general, relatively cheap 20 buck radioshack special is good enough?

[SteveNielsen]

Re: [newb] Need some advice on difficulty of this repair

Well, all of the links to pictures are no longer available for one thing (from the older thread). It is best to upload the pics directly to this site. I don't think they have an expiration date here

If you are trying to remove a component from a multi-layer board or where the component is connected to a large "ground plane" (a big fat "trace" on the board that usually is a ground connection (but not always)) it is going to take more heat than a R_Shack $20 pencil will provide. Those are only around 35-40W. You'll need maybe 70W or higher to heat that and especially if it is lead free solder (which is likely in consumer electronics these days). You might get through it with something around 60W but it's gonna take a while to heat that up enough to pull it out, never mind clearing the thru-hole.

[stj]

Re: [newb] Need some advice on difficulty of this repair

if your soldering circuit boards, you need a temperature-controlled iron unless you want to risk lifting tracks.

what's your budget?

[akuthia]

Re: [newb] Need some advice on difficulty of this repair

Well, crap, sorry. I had recently cleared out my google drive account, and must've forgot they were among the pictures I had posted on them I'll get them reuploaded, probably tomorrow

[Agent24]

Re: [newb] Need some advice on difficulty of this repair

Upload the photos to the forum, then they won't disappear in a hurry

[akuthia]

Re: [newb] Need some advice on difficulty of this repair

Ok, so here are the pics (I'll add them to my old thread too)

Budget wise I'm preferably looking for under 50-75 bucks all told (including the caps for the job). I'm a "semi employed" college student, so money is tight. I already replaced the monitor that died, so this is more of a "nice have" project, than a must repair deal.

[stj]

Re: [newb] Need some advice on difficulty of this repair

that looks like the same psu i'v converted for LED on some HD-tv's

[dellxps15]

Re: [newb] Need some advice on difficulty of this repair

Ok, so here are the pics (I'll add them to my old thread too)

Budget wise I'm preferably looking for under 50-75 bucks all told (including the caps for the job). I'm a "semi employed" college student, so money is tight. I already replaced the monitor that died, so this is more of a "nice have" project, than a must repair deal.

for that soldering, a normal 8€ soldering iron + desolder wick + rosin flux + 63-37 or 60-40 tin is more then enought, just pay attention to not stay too much on the pad (if iron get too hot)or u can damage them.

if ur badget is 70 bucks dunno if a controlled temperature iron will fits your money; maybe some only iron atten (936b) is 50 or 60

[akuthia]

Re: [newb] Need some advice on difficulty of this repair

So, I'm looking on amazon for the iron, and everything I'm seeing is either maxing out at around 60w, or is a butane torch, or is significantly above my budget (in fact, more than just replacing the monitor would be). I also saw this iron but it seems sketchy that it's being measured in volts, not watts (although it does include a temp range as well)

[Agent24]

Re: [newb] Need some advice on difficulty of this repair

I also saw this iron but it seems sketchy that it's being measured in volts, not watts (although it does include a temp range as well)

That just means it can work on mains voltages in the range of 110 - 130 volts. Because it's adjustable, they don't give the wattage.

It looks like a Weller ripoff. Probably be fine for what you're doing though. Make sure you watch some decent soldering tutorials first so you know how to use it, eg: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_NU2ruzyc4

[akuthia]

Re: [newb] Need some advice on difficulty of this repair

ok, so aside from the previously liked iron, here's the list

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...A35HIKRLBF6RXB

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...=ATVPDKIKX0DER

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...=ATVPDKIKX0DER

anything you feel i'm missing?

[Agent24]

Re: [newb] Need some advice on difficulty of this repair

Looks fine although for just replacing through-hole capacitors you don't really need a flux-pen. The solder has flux in it anyway. Instead you might like a desoldering pump: http://www.amazon.com/Desoldering-So.../dp/B003482JZY

I'd still get the desolder wick though. Mostly you can use either, sometimes one works better than the other in a given situation.

The 0.3mm solder is probably on the thin side, it will work, but I would go with 0.5-0.7mm or so for average through-hole parts. 0.3mm is great for SMT stuff though.

If you can get it, try for a real Weller eg: http://www.amazon.com/Weller-WLC100-.../dp/B000AS28UC - I see it has a nice fat chisel tip also. I question the other station now as the tip might be one of those needle-point ones which are almost useless for just about everything, even most SMD. Thick conical is OK, but the really thin ones are not very good. If you think you'll want to do more soldering in the future, I'd get the Weller, if it's just a one-off, the cheaper one will probably do, assuming the tip is OK.

[stj]

Re: [newb] Need some advice on difficulty of this repair

.3mm is very expensive,
.5mm isnt cheap either.
.7 is best for most work.

[akuthia]

Re: [newb] Need some advice on difficulty of this repair

ok, last batch of questions (until i screw something up maybe ) I'm ordering from amazon, because, as of right now getting 10 of each on second day air from amazon is going to be cheaper than digikey's shipping alone (I'm guessing they're in california which is way it's almost 15 buck ups ground shipping)

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...A1THAZDOWP300U

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...A1THAZDOWP300U

http://www.amazon.com/33uF-Radial-El...citor+33uf+50v

On the last one, bammbammfran suggested i replace it, but I'm looking at it, and I'm not sure, plus, I'm not positive what the putty like substance is on the side, almost looks like thermal paste to me.

[stj]

Re: [newb] Need some advice on difficulty of this repair

CHANG brand?
you gotta be fucking kidding me - we take those out and bin them on sight!!!

[selldoor]

Re: [newb] Need some advice on difficulty of this repair

Those caps are a dreadful choice! Noname brand one picture is even a Changi
You NEED to use good brand caps else yuo will be redoing it again in a month or so.

How much are they from Badcaps.net ? His post is reasonable.

[akuthia]

Re: [newb] Need some advice on difficulty of this repair

Those caps are a dreadful choice! Noname brand one picture is even a Changi
You NEED to use good brand caps else yuo will be redoing it again in a month or so.

How much are they from Badcaps.net ? His post is reasonable.

with cheapest shipping @ 8 oz (I can't image 5 caps weigh more than a half pound) it's ~22 bucks.

I don't really know a good brand from a bad one, I thought I had seen the name Amico somewhere though, not sure if it was on digikey, or something else.

Fortunately, i didn't actually place the order :P

[mariushm]

Re: [newb] Need some advice on difficulty of this repair

This site has a store, you know.. see here: https://www.badcaps.net/store/ - go there and add the capacitors you need in cart and order them.

You should replace with capacitors of same capacitance value or just a bit higher (10-20%), the voltage rating MUST be at least equal to the voltage rating of your current capacitors if you don't know what they do in the circuit. You can use capacitors rated for higher voltage but unless you know what you're doing, never use capacitors rated for lower voltage.

Pay attention to what's written on the capacitors on your board. You have 5 that definitely should be replaced (the four on the left top corner and the one in the center) and a sixth one is optional (the small value one on top center part of the board by the heatsink.

You don't need flux pen, but it wouldn't hurt to use extra flux. It's optional, you'll do ok with some decent solder with good percentage of flux inside.

The holes on the pcb are large and so are the pads, so you can use solder of thicker diameter, too thin solder will just give your wrist pains from the amount of solder wire you'd have to slide onto that pad.
No need for solder wick, a solder sucker will be a better tool for you but even that is not that required. A solder sucker will simply be more versatile and cheap solder wick often comes without flux or with very little flux, which will make the wick useless and will make you think you're doing it wrong, while it's simply the wick bad.

The holes on that pcb are so large that you can just move the hot iron tip from one lead to the other of the capacitor and as you do that, gently angle the capacitor on each side and pull out, and the leads will come out. Solder will be in the holes, but you can just put the iron on the solder and you can then insert the new leads through the liquid solder.

I haven't tested this desoldering pump but it seems to have good reviews:

http://www.amazon.com/Sucking-Vacuum...soldering+pump

If you're going to buy from Amazon, here's some suggestions for solder:

http://www.amazon.com/MG-Chemicals-S...4845697&sr=1-4

http://www.amazon.com/MG-Chemicals-S...845852&sr=1-41

http://www.amazon.com/MG-Chemicals-S...845697&sr=1-16

The 0.6oz version should be enough for you, no need to spend more than 10-15$ unless you think you're going to fix other stuff in the future.

[stj]

Re: [newb] Need some advice on difficulty of this repair

you need to aim for panasonic or rubycon.
and NOT from ebay/amazon because they are all re-labelled crap.

you also need the right series.
for a psu repair i would recommend panasonic FR type or FK type or FC type - in that order.

[mariushm]

Re: [newb] Need some advice on difficulty of this repair

You need indeed Low ESR capacitors, can't just use anything.
Ideally, you would match the impedance (it can be a bit lower) and ripple (it can be higher) but if that monitor survived with capacitors going bad slowly to the point electrolyte evaporated, the circuit won't be that picky.

So don't worry about right series, pretty much all capacitors on Badcaps store are low esr and good enough, just match capacitance and voltage like instructed. Panasonic, Rubycon, Nichicon, United Chemi Con, even Samxon stocked by Badcaps store will be fine.

Don't buy from eBay or Amazon capacitors if you don't know what you need (not to mention they often don't tell you what you get, the picture doesn't match or may simply be some random picture).