Cool! I ordered a capacitor to replace an intermittently faulty one on my car’s dashboard. It makes most of my dash go black including my speedometer.
I can rip apart the entire dash, pull out the combination meter, ship it away, be without a car for 1-2 weeks and be out $75+… Or I could attempt to solder a new cap. I saw that I don’t even have to take the old one off, I can just solder it with some leader wire.
I’m nervous. I’ve had the cap for over a week already. It cost me less than a dollar for the cap. I’m tempted to wait until I take a vacation from work in case something goes wrong. I should just be able to put the thing back in the car unless I smash it. Knock on wood.
@RiotDemon I recapped a couple of LCD monitors a little while back; that’s not such a tough job. I do have tons of experience, both as a Navy tech (six years, 1988-1994) and as a hobbyist. For some things, you really only need to reflow the solder to fix a bad joint.
@PocketBrain unfortunately they put the wrong sized capacitors at the factory and didn’t realize, I guess. Toyota had a voluntary thing where you could get it fixed, if it was giving you issues. It wasn’t when the time frame was active. The current cap is a 100 and the new ones are 200. Not sure what the numbers mean. I forget.
It’s a liberating feeling, isn’t it? I’ve been doing solder work for many years now and it’s so nice to be able to fix something myself, at home, for a few bucks, in less than an hour, instead of paying someone $200 in parts and another $200 in labor, and have it potentially take far longer. I always said that had I been born a few decades earlier, I could’ve built a TV repair empire and retired richly…but that boat has long sailed and now today’s throwaway society has destroyed that business model. And now I made myself sad…
@PooltoyWolf There is a guy at the mall that makes good money replacing “nonreplacable” cell phone batteries, cracked screens, and resoldering USB connectors while you wait.
The business is constantly evolving, so he might still be repairing stuff in a few years, but it will be different stuff.
@hamjudo While cell phone repair places do exist, in comparison with TV and radio repair from the 40s through the 70s, it’s a shell of its former self. Almost all electronics these days aren’t made to be repaired, versus before when everything had service built into its design. Take it from me when I say working inside a cell phone is far less fun and rewarding than repairing vintage equipment! Increasingly everything is tiny surface-mount componentry. Even phone batteries are soldered in place now and the phones are becoming glued and plastic welded together deliberately to discourage repair. It’s honestly very sad. I got a free working almost new Honeywell portable air conditioner off the curb last night…because the numbskull who had it installed the remote batteries wrong. -facepaw-
This is exciting! Any chance you are in Melbourne, FL? We need about 20 people who would like to solder on circuit cards for 8 hours every day and from your pictures it looks like you could be totally qualified!
Or eastern Iowa, we need people there, too!
Very good work for a first-timer. No classes? Even more impressive. You made good use of flux; was it on the side, or did you use flux-core solder? Also, I’m curious if it’s ROHS solder.
It was flux-core solder that came with the initial kit. The kit came with a solid block of rosin but I have no idea how to really use it so I ordered a bottle of liquid no clean but that didn’t come in yet.
I’ve always always wanted to solder. I know it’s super routine to a lot of folk and practically mundane but I’ve never had the opportunity to so it became something I just had to do. It also feels like a good skill to just have.
You can almost see the order I soldered in. I started doing flush cuts for the excess wires until I broke off a ceramic cap, shattering it and taking the trace on the board with it. After that I started cutting the wire above the joint. I also like the joints on the LED display which was the last thing I soldered and I am super embarrassed on that one super cold joint I over soldered on the dip.
Lessons I’ve learned is that I really need the brass brush to clean the tip and some sort of magnifying glass. Some of the better joints didn’t seem that way while I was working on them where as others I over soldered when I thought it was ‘enough’. Also thanks to the PACE videos I know now in hindsight that it’s ok to put just a bit solder directly on the tip/wire to form a heat bridge. Over the years I’ve always heard the dangers of cold solder joints so I got paranoid and made sure to always have the solder opposite of the iron. I also had a few moments where the solder stuck to the iron as I pulled away because I kept accidentally unplugging the iron.
All in all it was a great learning experience but now that I’ve scratched the itch I’m hesitant to drop another $10 on basically a novelty (plus $10 for brush tip cleaner and whatever it costs for a magnifying thing). I feel with @PooltoyWolf because if I got the opportunity at least a decade earlier I’d have a ton more excuses (and radioshacks) to justify spending more. Maybe if I find an old busted console, that would be fun to troubleshoot.
@DrunkCat@PocketBrain You will definitely get better with practice and experience. What keeps me busy and competent these days is capacitor replacement in TVs and other electronics…cheap electrolytic caps tend to die early, and cause a multitude of issues. They’re also very cheap and easy to replace, relative to replacing the entire unit, which is very wasteful!
@DrunkCat@PocketBrain It stands for ‘Restriction on Hazardous Substances’ and in this case is referring to the lead in older solder. Many people, including myself, swear by the older stuff because it melts and adheres better. As long as you’re not eating it, you should be fine.
Am, however concerned about your table/workbench. This appears first of all made of a poly wood composite. Secondly, it appears of higher than standard quality. Thirdly and maybe most importantly, it appears to be in excellent condition.
Those are just my observations though, and it seems as if you know what you’re doing. I only have such concerns based on prior experience.
I have a workbench that started as a solid oak kitchen table, turned solid oak table with solder scars, turned hole saw bench, later sanded down and varnished to one day become a kitchen table.
@lysdexia Thank you! My workbench is actually just my computer desk sadly. It was my first soldering attempt and I honestly had no idea how it would go (maybe I’ll derp out of it on the first joint) nor did I really have anywhere else in my apartment to try it out. So I cleared out a little rectangle on the left side, put a USB light on those lipstick battery banks meh sold long ago and tried my best.
Luckily no damage to the ‘workbench’ this time but working with it for the first time I am surprised just how much heat bleeds through. I definitely want to invest on one of those thermal mats for soldering.
@DrunkCat
Excellent idea!
Also as I’m sure you’re aware and just because you mentioned it being done in an apartment, remember to either use a ventilator or ventilation system. I assume the solder is lead based, and you as anyone who works in the field hobby or not, will know what I mean when you wake up the next morning in the second to worst hangover you could experience (imo).
First worst, again imo, is waking up next to a girl/guy you picked up overnight only to wake up to the lack of clean oxygen in the air absorbed by crack smoke. But maybe that only happens to me.
@lysdexia No, the fumes got to me by the end too. I had a window fan behind me going the whole time but because I didn’t have a magnifying glass station thing I was pretty close to the action anyway. From what I’ve heard though the fumes aren’t lead but the flux evaporating, which doesn’t make it any healthier but at least it sounds less gruesome than lead poisoning. That’s yet another thing to invest in. @_@
@DrunkCat
We’ve all been there I’m sure. And as you’ve experienced, it’s not something that you do more than once or twice, unless you like that sort of thing.
A good hobby shop will give you the best advice, and I highly recommend that. Soldering can be extremely healthy to your soul, being able to create! Just don’t go into it on the cheap and end up burning down the place or causing a hazmat crew to come in.
@drunkcat Nice work! I got into soldering as a hobby about 13 years ago. It turned into a part time business in addition to saving me money on common repairs. The most extreme example being the computer on the ~97 Seadoo has a diode that fails if you try to jumpstart the watercraft. Its a bit involved to get to but $10 in parts and some soldering skills saves $250 or more for a new computer.
Cool. Somehow, I’ve made it this far into my adult life without soldering anything. I recently bought this: https://sellout.woot.com/offers/elenco-sound-activated-switch-soldering
Should be a fun learning experience. There have been several occasions where I’ve spotted blown capacitors in electronics (car audio amps, monitors, power adapters), but didn’t have a soldering iron to attempt a fix.
! :DDD
Cool! I ordered a capacitor to replace an intermittently faulty one on my car’s dashboard. It makes most of my dash go black including my speedometer.
I can rip apart the entire dash, pull out the combination meter, ship it away, be without a car for 1-2 weeks and be out $75+… Or I could attempt to solder a new cap. I saw that I don’t even have to take the old one off, I can just solder it with some leader wire.
I’m nervous. I’ve had the cap for over a week already. It cost me less than a dollar for the cap. I’m tempted to wait until I take a vacation from work in case something goes wrong. I should just be able to put the thing back in the car unless I smash it. Knock on wood.
@RiotDemon I recapped a couple of LCD monitors a little while back; that’s not such a tough job. I do have tons of experience, both as a Navy tech (six years, 1988-1994) and as a hobbyist. For some things, you really only need to reflow the solder to fix a bad joint.
@PocketBrain unfortunately they put the wrong sized capacitors at the factory and didn’t realize, I guess. Toyota had a voluntary thing where you could get it fixed, if it was giving you issues. It wasn’t when the time frame was active. The current cap is a 100 and the new ones are 200. Not sure what the numbers mean. I forget.
@PocketBrain will give the video a watch later when I have more time. Thanks!
@RiotDemon This is the dude that gave me the itch to solder. Maybe it’ll help motivate you too.
@drunkcat, cool, though the time is 12:17, so it looks like you got something wrong.
@riotdemon go for it! tho if you’ve never soldered something before I suggest you try soldering a couple of wires together or some such first.
@baqui63 thanks for the advice!
It’s a liberating feeling, isn’t it? I’ve been doing solder work for many years now and it’s so nice to be able to fix something myself, at home, for a few bucks, in less than an hour, instead of paying someone $200 in parts and another $200 in labor, and have it potentially take far longer. I always said that had I been born a few decades earlier, I could’ve built a TV repair empire and retired richly…but that boat has long sailed and now today’s throwaway society has destroyed that business model. And now I made myself sad…
@PooltoyWolf There is a guy at the mall that makes good money replacing “nonreplacable” cell phone batteries, cracked screens, and resoldering USB connectors while you wait.
The business is constantly evolving, so he might still be repairing stuff in a few years, but it will be different stuff.
@hamjudo While cell phone repair places do exist, in comparison with TV and radio repair from the 40s through the 70s, it’s a shell of its former self. Almost all electronics these days aren’t made to be repaired, versus before when everything had service built into its design. Take it from me when I say working inside a cell phone is far less fun and rewarding than repairing vintage equipment! Increasingly everything is tiny surface-mount componentry. Even phone batteries are soldered in place now and the phones are becoming glued and plastic welded together deliberately to discourage repair. It’s honestly very sad. I got a free working almost new Honeywell portable air conditioner off the curb last night…because the numbskull who had it installed the remote batteries wrong. -facepaw-
This is exciting! Any chance you are in Melbourne, FL? We need about 20 people who would like to solder on circuit cards for 8 hours every day and from your pictures it looks like you could be totally qualified!
Or eastern Iowa, we need people there, too!
@JnKL hmmmm. I could learn to solder, recently retired and LOVE that side of my state (FL)…
Very good work for a first-timer. No classes? Even more impressive. You made good use of flux; was it on the side, or did you use flux-core solder? Also, I’m curious if it’s ROHS solder.
@PocketBrain This dude was basically my class: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiUAFHtzv_2xJHEjWIk1fOw/videos . I did watch a few other videos here or there. Though today I found out about PACE and I wish I did so sooner.
It was flux-core solder that came with the initial kit. The kit came with a solid block of rosin but I have no idea how to really use it so I ordered a bottle of liquid no clean but that didn’t come in yet.
This is the soldering iron kit I bought since I don’t know what ROHS means. :p And here’s the clock kit.
I’ve always always wanted to solder. I know it’s super routine to a lot of folk and practically mundane but I’ve never had the opportunity to so it became something I just had to do. It also feels like a good skill to just have.
You can almost see the order I soldered in. I started doing flush cuts for the excess wires until I broke off a ceramic cap, shattering it and taking the trace on the board with it. After that I started cutting the wire above the joint. I also like the joints on the LED display which was the last thing I soldered and I am super embarrassed on that one super cold joint I over soldered on the dip.
Lessons I’ve learned is that I really need the brass brush to clean the tip and some sort of magnifying glass. Some of the better joints didn’t seem that way while I was working on them where as others I over soldered when I thought it was ‘enough’. Also thanks to the PACE videos I know now in hindsight that it’s ok to put just a bit solder directly on the tip/wire to form a heat bridge. Over the years I’ve always heard the dangers of cold solder joints so I got paranoid and made sure to always have the solder opposite of the iron. I also had a few moments where the solder stuck to the iron as I pulled away because I kept accidentally unplugging the iron.
All in all it was a great learning experience but now that I’ve scratched the itch I’m hesitant to drop another $10 on basically a novelty (plus $10 for brush tip cleaner and whatever it costs for a magnifying thing). I feel with @PooltoyWolf because if I got the opportunity at least a decade earlier I’d have a ton more excuses (and radioshacks) to justify spending more. Maybe if I find an old busted console, that would be fun to troubleshoot.
@DrunkCat ROHS here basically means “no-lead solder.” It’s tin-lead solder in that kit. Wash your hands after handling!
@DrunkCat @PocketBrain You will definitely get better with practice and experience. What keeps me busy and competent these days is capacitor replacement in TVs and other electronics…cheap electrolytic caps tend to die early, and cause a multitude of issues. They’re also very cheap and easy to replace, relative to replacing the entire unit, which is very wasteful!
@DrunkCat @PocketBrain It stands for ‘Restriction on Hazardous Substances’ and in this case is referring to the lead in older solder. Many people, including myself, swear by the older stuff because it melts and adheres better. As long as you’re not eating it, you should be fine.
Looking at those connections, I think you meant “the hole clock kit.”
Admire your first work for sure.
Am, however concerned about your table/workbench. This appears first of all made of a poly wood composite. Secondly, it appears of higher than standard quality. Thirdly and maybe most importantly, it appears to be in excellent condition.
Those are just my observations though, and it seems as if you know what you’re doing. I only have such concerns based on prior experience.
I have a workbench that started as a solid oak kitchen table, turned solid oak table with solder scars, turned hole saw bench, later sanded down and varnished to one day become a kitchen table.
All said, am impressed!
@lysdexia Thank you! My workbench is actually just my computer desk sadly. It was my first soldering attempt and I honestly had no idea how it would go (maybe I’ll derp out of it on the first joint) nor did I really have anywhere else in my apartment to try it out. So I cleared out a little rectangle on the left side, put a USB light on those lipstick battery banks meh sold long ago and tried my best.
Luckily no damage to the ‘workbench’ this time but working with it for the first time I am surprised just how much heat bleeds through. I definitely want to invest on one of those thermal mats for soldering.
@DrunkCat
Excellent idea!
Also as I’m sure you’re aware and just because you mentioned it being done in an apartment, remember to either use a ventilator or ventilation system. I assume the solder is lead based, and you as anyone who works in the field hobby or not, will know what I mean when you wake up the next morning in the second to worst hangover you could experience (imo).
First worst, again imo, is waking up next to a girl/guy you picked up overnight only to wake up to the lack of clean oxygen in the air absorbed by crack smoke. But maybe that only happens to me.
@lysdexia No, the fumes got to me by the end too. I had a window fan behind me going the whole time but because I didn’t have a magnifying glass station thing I was pretty close to the action anyway. From what I’ve heard though the fumes aren’t lead but the flux evaporating, which doesn’t make it any healthier but at least it sounds less gruesome than lead poisoning. That’s yet another thing to invest in. @_@
@DrunkCat
We’ve all been there I’m sure. And as you’ve experienced, it’s not something that you do more than once or twice, unless you like that sort of thing.
A good hobby shop will give you the best advice, and I highly recommend that. Soldering can be extremely healthy to your soul, being able to create! Just don’t go into it on the cheap and end up burning down the place or causing a hazmat crew to come in.
@lysdexia You crack me up. Really, you do!
@llangley
Thanks, sometimes the absurd truth can make the best comedy.
@drunkcat Nice work! I got into soldering as a hobby about 13 years ago. It turned into a part time business in addition to saving me money on common repairs. The most extreme example being the computer on the ~97 Seadoo has a diode that fails if you try to jumpstart the watercraft. Its a bit involved to get to but $10 in parts and some soldering skills saves $250 or more for a new computer.
Cool. Somehow, I’ve made it this far into my adult life without soldering anything. I recently bought this: https://sellout.woot.com/offers/elenco-sound-activated-switch-soldering
Should be a fun learning experience. There have been several occasions where I’ve spotted blown capacitors in electronics (car audio amps, monitors, power adapters), but didn’t have a soldering iron to attempt a fix.
Flux. Capacitor. Both in the same thread, neither pertaining to BTTF!
Radio Shack Science Fair Kits - early 70’s. That shit never came out looking like the pictures, but they all worked. For me anyway…