Hey, I found my old headphones (from Dollarama) and for dollars it has excellent audio, they beat the Marley earbuds I'd say, I wanted to replace them with headphones with a USB cable, like remove the audio from the headphones since I'd want to use it as a speaker, is this possible and easy? P.S I don't exactly want to spend a lot.

I want to find projects where someone starts with a standard practice kit but modifies it and changes what the finished product is by adding in different pieces than what just came with the kit.

Does anyone have a good source for this?

Basically the tittle. Any feedback and guidance appreciated.

This is my first attempt ever to fix torn display and touch flex, and it was successful! Does not look best but I am glad it works. Only soldering mask is missing, should arrive tomorrow.

So I’m looking at what kit to buy for myself and the kids to do some projects they can run with, if they get into it, I’m more than willing to help them with better equipment later on.

I didn't read the label close enough on the can of "Tinning Flux" from the 90s that I got at the garage sale. It contains Zinc Chloride and Ammonium Chloride. It is for copper fittings, not through-hole PCB applications, I know now.

Not before using it to do some PCB reworking and being exposed to the heated fumes for a couple of hours over two days. I thought I was having an allergy attack, my nose was running, I was sneezing like crazy. When the pain and 99.5F fever kicked in, I went to the freestanding ER clinic and got a covid and a flu test. Both came back negative.

Because of my ignorance about the dangers of that flux, I gave myself "Metal Fume Fever" I feel like utter crap. Headache, can't breathe, chest hurts, fatigued, etc. etc. Apparently, the body reacts to the zinc by mounting an immune response, and the acid/metal fumes also cause damage to the lining of the sinuses and lungs.

I had an open window, I was running one of the little yellow box fans to suck the smoke away from my face, i was holding my breath and exhaling only. So, there you go. A first hand account of why to not use pipefitting solder at your DIY electronics bench.

I have an Asko dishwasher DBI664 purchased in 2021. Recently it stopped turning on.

A Reddit post described the problem: broken power switch. I took the door apart and confirmed it.

The button in the door presses on this tiny, tiny switch. Over time, pressure causes the 2 tiny solder joints that hold the switch to the board To break. (The switch also has 3 electrical connections on the back.)

Asko wants $400 for a new control board. #$%!

I resoldered the joints that secure the switch and put it all back together — no change. Not fixed.

Looking for advice on fixing this. I assume I have to resolder the switch connections? Ive never worked with anything this small

Also wondering how I can improve this terrible design. Was thinking of covering the switch with a glue-gun to make it much more firmly attached to the board.

I got a soldering iron for myself in December as I've been wanting to learn how to solder. Today my son had a toy lightsaber that he got and it didn't work.

I opened it and it was just a wire that didn't get soldered well enough. So I got my new iron out, cleaned it via the sponge, tinned the tip with the solder that came with the iron (this smoked a good bit which I wasn't expecting). Then I learned how to use the solid welding rosn(rosin?) flux that came with it, applied a bit and was able to re-solder the wire (a simple but proud moment for me to fix my son's toy).

I have heard there are different types of solder (leaded, unleaded, different cores etc) but my question is: is there any way to tell if the solder has lead in it or what type it is? There unfortunately isn't a label and I can't find any information in the kit about it. Should I ventilate when soldering always or just when I use leaded solder?

Sorry if this is a RTFM moment but I wanted to share my proud moment anyways and thought I might include my questions at the same time since I'm about as new to soldering as I could be.

Thanks for your thoughts in advance

I've done some basic things before. Soldering or desoldering batteries to boards. Soldering wires together. But this was my biggest project to date.

I replaced the analog sticks on a PS4 Dualshock 4 controller with Hall Effect sticks. This was mostly a test run. The controller was semi-broken to begin with. I'm hoping to fully restore it, but this was just was of the pieces on that path.

I'm practicing up to eventually do the same thing on my PS5 controllers. One of the sticks is starting to drift on it and I want to fix it.

Anyway, I've seen a lot of posts about using enough flux, not using too much solder, etc. I think I used a little too much solder on some of the pins. But overall I think I'm happy with how it turned out. I won't put it all together and test it until I get some feedback, just in case.

Removing the old sticks was a royal pain in the ass. I definitely need more practice desoldering.

I did not use a heat gun, although I should look into getting one. I also did not use a sucker. I've never tried that method. I used a wick for the whole thing.

Thanks for any input.

Years ago I bought a TS100, and always liked the small form factor for occasional soldering away from my desk. I'm now looking for a more modern replacement that I can power from my Anker 737 power bank.

I always suffer from analysis paralysis, but I've managed to narrow my options down to the HS-02A and PTS200. I know they use different tip/cartridge types. They are basically equally prized, so the most important criteria that remain are the UI and reliability. Any opinions?

Hello everyone,

I'm in a bit of a bind and could use some expert advice. I'm looking for a specific IC chip for an Asus Zephyrus S17 GX703HS laptop motherboard, but I've hit a roadblock. The chip is labeled "285A TI 188 AFF0," but I haven't been able to find any information about it online, nor can I locate a PCB schematic to seek an alternative.

I've tried searching through usual databases and electronic part suppliers but to no avail. Does anyone here have experience with this or a similar issue, or could point me in the right direction to find either this specific chip or a compatible alternative?

Any help or suggestions on how to proceed would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance!

https://preview.redd.it/93mtw7nn61ce1.jpg?width=1500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8c7af6aa5530b12192155fdd91a4b08cdb017e24

https://preview.redd.it/ztgj2myo61ce1.jpg?width=1500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3f14b80ede567f97894ebdcd318cc1e4eeb7c0e4

I’m currently de soldering a keyboard, what’s the best way to get rid of this gunk. Is it flux ?

Hello !

I am not new to soldering but quite new on surface mount soldering … I did some at school years ago it was hard but was working at the end I have a “good” soldering station hot air/classic soldering but I don’t use it often

I would like your advice regarding this job, my daughter brake the usb plug of my piano silent system (expensive new and I don’t think part exist it is 10 years old)

I think I can buy a plug and solder that, would I use hot air and solder paste or classical approach ? How to redo the support that did break ? (Main question I don’t know at all here ^{^} )

I asked here 80€ to do it by a pro I mean it is ok but maybe I can give it a try

Any comments on my first surface mount? The completed device is a FM radio. It turned out excellent

I found this old container of Qualitek PF400 RA flux in my garage that I purchased 3-4 years ago and I am wondering if it is safe to use on electronics and for tinning wires? I know what I am currently using ( https://www.reddit.com/r/soldering/s/wtSTJ30WEN ) is not safe AT ALL. This container is likely much older than 3-4 years as I bought it from a surplus store. It is marketed as a replacement for the discontinued Kester SP-44 flux. I do not know anything about why that was discontinued (is it hazardous?) It doesn’t work nearly as well for soldering joints and is much harder to clean off boards than the Burnley Battery ZnCl2 flux (petrolatum and ZnCl2 based) from the early to mid 1900s have used for years but I know that stuff isn’t safe on electronics. Additionally the PF400 seems to gum up my soldering iron much faster than the Burnley. The internet claims that Kester SP-44 will wick up tinned stranded wires and corrode them over time just like ZnCl2 does. If the PF400 is safe to use what should I use to clean it off with? IPA doesn’t seem to work well at all. I’d like to spend as little money as possible.

I removed this part using hot air 120 second pre heat (200°c) and 30 second reflow 380°c-400°c

I also wonder what this area is called and what is the purpose of those two SMD capacitors that I just removed (0805 and 0402).

And I also noticed my battery charges very slowly but I guess it's just because I haven't charged it for a couple of weeks so it's dry 0% all the time. Well it always has been a weird battery... Dying at 20% or even jumping from 90% down to 60% after 30 minutes even though it says that I could last 4-6 Hours (actually 2-4 hours).

I hope it stays this way for a long time :<

I also heat it up a second time but this time I heated it up inside it's chassis with it's monitor close so the heat just got spread down to the screen and it now shows single lines sometimes... It's not that noticable and I think it does appear anymore. It's a very nice screen actually and it doesn't even get hot at all, it's also touchscreen. I hope that screen lines won't appear again...

I will be using SMD components in a project I’m making. Didn’t realize different sizes in resistors when I designed the board, and then also ordered the resistor pack afterwards. I’m looking at everything, and realizing the resistors are I little larger than the pads. When soldering on, do you think this difference is too much, or could I make it work like that? Wife has me on a tight budget so buying more would have to wait a few weeks (waited like three weeks to order the boards and components in the first place)

All of them appear to work. All they're missing are some tips and the screw thingy on the end. The power cables have melted insulation, so I'll have to replace them. Lucky find!