Is this an easy repair?

[trydowave]

Accidentally ripped of my keyboard led wires on my A600. Here's some pics:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/67883777@N02/9509658406/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/6788377...n/photostream/

Is it an easy repair for someone with not so great soldering skills and a cheap soldering iron.

Thanks
Tony

[Lord Aga]

Should be fairly easy. Those wires are not so tiny. And there's not much stuff around to bother you.
Just take the "easy does it" approach

[Scyphe]

Yes, depending on how little soldering experience you have and if you have any "cleanup" stuff. Make a note of which wires go where, cut them off, solder them off and clean up the area. Strip the cut wires from the protective plastic, 4mm or so, and twist them, then "tin" them, ie. you use your soldering iron with a dab of molten soldering tin and add to the ~4mm piece of copper wire and add solder to bleed into the copper strands in the twist.

Then resolder the "tinned" wires to where they were. From the looks of it someone have already tried soldering on that part (the burnt plastic edge, probably from the screw of a cheap soldering iron).

Make sure you clean up the area first, preferably using a braid to remove any old solder and perhaps spray a little IPA on the area and wipe off the area. Wait until the IPA (Electronics Spray aka Isopropyl Alchohol) has vaporised before you add heat or turn the thing on.

Use a pair of tweezers to remove the broken off wires when you heat the area with the soldering iron. Make sure the pads (round holes with the the copper and solder where you solder on the new wires) are intact and has connection with the line goind from it.

[demolition]

Very easy yes. Take out the screw and remove the whole assembly. Then you can clean out the old wires from the pads, and solder them back in. It's not a problem if they become a bit shorter than original.

[GadgetUK]

Very easy! Strip 1 to 1.5mm of the cable end plastic to expose the wire. Twist the strands of the wire in between finger and thumb (rolling strands together). Then heat the exposed wire and apply solder containing flux - that's your wire tinned. Finally hold the wire so it's touching the point where it broke off and heat and apply solder until the two points join.

Ideally you should remove the strands that are hanging off that solder point photographed. And if you have a desoldering pump or desolder braid, remove the solder on the pad to allow you to put the new wire end through the PCB before you solder it.

[Jope]

Might be worth your while to dab a bit of hot glue on top to act as strain relief. They will break again after a few connections/unpluggings, since one end is soldered and one end is free..

[demolition]

Originally Posted by GadgetUK

And if you have a desoldering pump or desolder braid, remove the solder on the pad to allow you to put the new wire end through the PCB before you solder it.

Another way to do it is to melt the solder and quickly fling the solder off onto a piece of paper, after the strands have been removed. It only takes ½ a sec before it hardens again, so it has to be done quickly, but otherwise its quite effective.

[kipper2k]

clean up the pads, restrip the wires, dab a bit of flux on them and apply a bit of solder to tin the wires, this will stop the stray strands and then a bit of flux on the pad and you are all done

[trydowave]

Hi. Thanxs for the advice. This A600 has been giving me a lot of problems. When I received it, it was in a right state. Trimming the wires anymore will be a problem as someone else has already trimmed them to death. I accidentally ripped them off because they were so short. Btw. I only have a cheap soldering iron, solder and some rubbing alcohol. Hopefully this will be enough.

[Scyphe]

Originally Posted by trydowave

Hi. Thanxs for the advice. This A600 has been giving me a lot of problems. When I received it, it was in a right state. Trimming the wires anymore will be a problem as someone else has already trimmed them to death. I accidentally ripped them off because they were so short. Btw. I only have a cheap soldering iron, solder and some rubbing alcohol. Hopefully this will be enough.

...desoldering pump or desolder braid...

Cheap and essential for anyone with a soldering iron, one or both.

[ElectroBlaster]

I highly recommend:

Helping hands - little weighted stand thing with two arms, crocodile clip hands and a magnifying glass on it!

Flux - Paste, Pen

IPA Alcohol for cleaning up

Think about sourcing an old floppy power plug/lead from a dead psu or something! You can trim it down to the length you want, match up the proper connections and never have it fall off again when you open the case!

Or

Find one on fleabay - Airey36 has them, depends how far you want to go tbh. EDIT: A600 led module

Ive done the same as you twice, always at the most stupid moment when you dont need it to happen lol

Hope ive giving some ok advice, im no expert but once you start learning soldering it can be a bit addictive unless you do too much lol

EDIT: Just reading the thread again! somebody noticed how repair was attempted and plastic was burnt... that is because whoever tried did not unscrew that little board... its easy to get out aswell!

[lesta_smsc]

Very easy repair. Strip the tip of the wire to expose bare wires, put some flux and then 'tin' the wire using solder. This will make a uniform tip without stray wires. That way you will prevent the wire burning and it will make a nice contact to the areas it needs to be soldered to.