Great video vince! thanks for fixing my vita :D. You were right as soon as you mentioned about corrosion i thought its screwed for sure :'). Always great content keep it up!
Great job there!!!! The reason those 2 holes were not unblocking is the fact it has a super large ground plane and the number of layers probably. Your iron doesn't have the thermal power - it's not just a question of temperature, it's a question of how much heat the layers suck away. Pre-heating with hot air at around 400 to 450 for 3 or 4 minutes before using the iron can often help! You can also carefully drill solder like that, but you need to use exactly the right sized bit and when the hole is not circular like that it can be a pain. But that's a last ditched thing really - I wouldn't recommend drilling holes out as you can damage the through hole plating. Another tip - when trying to get solder onto the pads like that, solder in the direction the pads sit according to their largest dimension, you have least risk of them coming off the PCB that way. I know you didn't lose any, but if you tried a similar thing on some PCBs I would guarantee after a number of heating cycles they would start floating and sliding around.
Na you should bot use a Drill exectly the size of the Hole, if you have a Hole of about 0,8mm I'd use a 0,5mm Drill. This way there is a pretty little chance of damaging the "Troughlayer". You should also try to suck away as much solder as possible so you get a nice even concave hole
@@jonathanlang9711 What I would do in this case is applying additional solder on the pad, then suck it with the braid, repeat until the hole is cleared. Indeed with a larger tip, not a tiny one. No need for excessive heat though, just the iron tip must be large enough to conduct correctly.
@@NiamorH Thats excactly what he did in the first place for about 5-10 Times with the bigger tip. and tgen switched to a smaller. Also he actually mentioned that probably the smaller Tip can't conduct enough heat as well. But as seen the larger Tip didn't bring a good result to.
@@jonathanlang9711 true I missed it, the timelapse is so fast I didn't see it. maybe I would have added even MORE solder than he did, on both sides as well :) I don't know, usually it does work pretty well.
What you can do is add some new solder to the top side of the hole, put the solder sucker at the bottom side of the hole, then you take your biggest tip and apply heat to the top side. That way the sucker and the iron aren't fighting for space, and you can keep the heat on right up until you activate the sucker. Getting everything in position takes some holding your tongue at the right angle, but it can be amazingly effective.
For batteries with 3 wires/contacts, the third one (usually the middle one on batteries with flat recessed contacts) is almost always a thermistor (temperature sensor) with its other pin on battery negative. The charging circuit, or sometimes the overall power management circuit, will use this to monitor the temperature of the battery and cut off the power if it gets too hot (maybe even when too cold). Smart monitoring/identification signals do exist but usually only in 4-contact batteries along with the thermistor.
The thing I love the most about these videos is not the fact that we get to learn (and that they are so relaxing), rather that you don't split them into 3 to 4 parts and time them over a weekly release period. We get to watch a whole repair process from start to finish in a single video. You're one of the best repair channels out there, IMHO! Keep it up!
The reason the solder isn't melting properly is the fact you're using a small tip on a large piece of metal shielding it just draw all the heat out of the iron tip. Use large tips when working on grounds since they always have a large surface area
@@Mymatevince while a larger tip can help, it's just a workaround, the reason is that your iron doesn't have enough wattage to keep up with the heat wicked away by the large ground plane, without more wattage the only work arounds are to get a larger mass tip to hold more energy or raise the temp to again increase the amount of energy in the iron
T12 irons work better, as the heater is right near the tip. Get a 75w bakon 950d £35. You wouldn't regret it.....Ive bought so many cheap irons and they were all hopeless, even other T12's. But the BK950D really impressed me considering its size.
Hey Vince, cleaning out ground plain pins is always a struggle (they are made to dissipate heat), on a thin tip if you are at 350C (element temp) the thin tip will lose heat very fast and wont be 350 at the tip. thus the board doing its job. too clean those a fat tip with high heat and board on its side, you heat it up one side and suck it out the other while heating it.just be care full not too heat the other pins the same because it may lift the pads.
@@Mymatevince just an add on to this you might want to invest in one of these desoldering guns that keep the solder hot whilst it's been sucked away from the board rover.ebay.com/rover/1/710-53481-19255-0/1?icep_id=114&ipn=icep&toolid=20004&campid=5338356139&mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fitm%2FPro-Desoldering-Station-Vacuum-Removal-Iron-Gun-ZD-915-230V-140W-Soldering-SMD%2F352448817980%3Fepid%3D9005522184%26hash%3Ditem520f962b3c%3Ag%3AJnQAAOSwuMRbgc~e%3Ark%3A22%3Apf%3A0
Vince you're quite a nice , intelligent skillful guy.Good work on this people wouldn't even try to fix it.Should cost at least a 100 pound for that repair.
Very nice repair, Vince! I enjoy watching your repairs and attempted repairs. I'm still an amateur myself, but what I noticed: You seem to become more and more confident with each video. That's great! And encouraging to newbies to electronics repair. Keep up the great work!
12:55 put the lid back on the 'IPA' Isopropyl Alcohol That breaks my heart LOL great video !! clean clean clean clean, i have the perfect flux for this type of repair it puts a solid coating between all the contacts..And protects them we use it on bga chips that have had bad water/pop damage..it sets like glass !!If the pad is missing find out where it goes to and from and you can just run a jumper wire. Few things keep the soldering tip clean and check out some soldering tutorials.
We got there at the end, the soldering was frustrating but patience was of the essence. The bonus was your tea was ready and if that was the Mrs she's better then mine as I'd have had that PlayStation put where the sun doesn't shine!
Good job man.You made that David guy a happy person and I'm thinking you fulfilled your expectation with this rather hard learning curve.Please give that David guy a break on the price of fixing the vita even know you put quite alot of time in fixing it.Very good job and I'm glad you just didnt throw in the towel.Hell I would of gave up but then again my hands are to shaky for even using a soldering iron.Nice video man. Great job
Great job! I like your style that you showing us the failures and the stragguls...what is not so common amoungst the RUclips repair videos. Keep up the good work and the excellent content!
Just found your channel and loved watching you repair the vita, i found it really relaxing. i used to repair my own things too but now for some reason when i try to solder my hands shake like mad even if i rest my arms on the desk. strange thing is it only happens when i'm soldering never any other times. i've subbed and pressed the bell.
I really enjoy your videos and I also like fixing things but I have never looked into board repairs. I might tinker with some old stuff and learn. I also really love how excited you get when your fixed goods turn on. Its that moment you realise your hard work and dedicated time has paid off. Keep learning and keep up the good work.
Great video, and good job fixing the thing! Love watching you get stuff working again, gives me hope for the old devices in the future, as you can always fix them!
I havent quite finished the video yet so im not sure if you fixed the vita or not?.That fix is kicking your ass but nice job none the less. I give you alot of credit.nice job.I wish my hands were steady enough to do that type work.Nice job.I hope when I get to the end of the video you actually got it fixed but if not then know one can say you didnt try.Nice job man
Another great video vince!. And as someone else has said it’s just the pcb and copper plane complexity/width/size rather than a question of temperature. It soaks the heat of the iron away before it has chance to melt the solder. Best bet is a future upgrade to a higher wattage soldering iron. One of the reasons I use a decent quality high wattage iron up to 120w (antex). On really hard areas like this, you can also preheat the board to help with the heat soak.
Never reuse a corroded connector, because corrosion will only continue spreading. The only way to protect corroded area is to clean affected area with petrol, reflux, retin, use a new connector and on the end put some colophonium rosin flux on it, because it will prevent the rust from reappearing by cutting oxygen from it.
Great video. I do repair a lots of items mostly a mobile phone but never do the micro usb before because for phone, I just need to swap with a new charging board. For Vita, I only replaced the faulty analog button once and I don't dare to replace the faulty power LED (red faulty, green in OK). I also still learning this kind of stuff since 30 years ago. New products, new items to learn. Subs to you now.
Welcome to the world of heat sucking ground planes :) Actually, you can preheat the board in an oven to make the solder melt better as the ground plane is conducting heat away right when you touch it... :) That's why these machines don't need any heatsinks :)
great video Vince... really cool to follow... i mean i've started fixing stuff myself... soldered in a new charging port on my Xbox 1 controller... might buy some more to fix and mod. cheers Vince... keep up the good work.
Solder balling up on itself when you try to tin the tip indicates your iron tip is dirty. When it's dirty, thermal transfer is significantly reduced. As GadgetUK164 told you, preheat the area first. Also, a more agressive flux would be useful here, but clean up well after you've used it.
Love the vid. You are getting serious skills !!!!. The station should kick in the heater when it senses the temperature drop (because the heat disiaption to the board). Probable on your the temp sensor is too far away from the tip that takes time to realize that more power is needed. I have seen stations (generic, but decent) that when you got the issue you had in the pad, the measured temperature falls like a rock on the LCD and the heater is turned to compensate as much as the max power can (60W in the case Im telling). Even on a fine tip, it really manages to do bigger jobs
Great video. It is not unheard of to use hot air to pre heat the board or to even remove components. The board will consume most of the heat giving one a hard time to get either remove or replace the components due to the thermal transfer. I have even used both hot air, soldering iron, flux and wick to remove solder from those difficult holes. Keep up the good work.
Hey Vince, a little tip for getting solder out of holes.... use thinner solder braid, I use 1.2mm. Push the braid in the hole with a small tipped iron. I do this daily when removing large relays from boards... hope this helps. Great vids by the way
Totally enjoyable video again Vince great repair job!, i was curling my toes when you were scratching away at the pad willing it to stay in one piece haha, to me it looked as though the pads were pitted slightly from the corrosion you probably rescued it in the nick of time, already looking forward to the next fix it video.....
Bro, I thought you were going to go threw the whole video without noticing that the ps button on the psv 2000 don't have an LED in it. Excellent work none the less
Good work Vince, as usual... Only one thing, maybe help, if you want to remove a stucked welding, you can use a thin needle (according to the hole), put it in the tin hole, heating with a soldering iron (with flux) with some pushing for the needle , and it will go throu the hole with the stuck tin.. ⚡⚡
Vince, great job. Only use a charger with the same rated output voltage that the console needs. If you use a higher voltage output charger you can damage the board.
I got my fat Vita for 20 bucks due to having the same problem, it wouldn't charge, turns out one of the pins of the charger port was slightly bent to the side, just grabbed a needle and bend it back to place and there! It worked perfectly!
I usually use a combination of heat gun on a lower temp to keep the board at a reasonable temp as well as a soldering iron; heat is a form of energy, and energy is cumulative. The board dissipates at a faster rate than the iron can handle, but even with the same iron and another source of heat, the combined energy input is enough to make the solder melt much easier
Wow Vince just found your channel, sorry never heard of your channel until now. You have some fantastic repairs I love fixing stuff. I mainly make videos on test gear but really impressed with your work. I have more gear than I know what to do with but you do amazing work with basic gear,. Thanks for sharing regards Chris.
Enjoy the videos Vince! I notice that a less "pretty" way of clearing the holes on a PCB never gets any play. I OFTEN heat the solder in the holes and then tap the PCB on the table to knock the molten solder out. Can splash, so use with caution ;-)
Vince, when you are soldering, the steps are - tin the tip if it needs it (there shouldn't be a glob on it when you tin it, wipe to glob off on your sponge), apply the tip to the surface you want solder on and heat it up, then push your solder into the point where your tip meets the target area. It seems like you try to get a glob to stick to a surface from your tip too often. Solder won't stick to a surface that is colder than its melting point. edit: Another reason why a glob won't stick from the tip is that by the time you have heated the target to right temp with the glob still on your tip - the solder is burnt up and won't want to stick anyway.
You're getting better and better with fixing things, Vince. Not sure if you know of his channel, but if not you should check out Lukemorse, the man is just a wizard with bringing things back from the dead like this.
Not bad for a semi amateur solderer giving it a go. You fixed it which is the best result and a Vita lives on to fight another day :). Hope you learnt from the experience. It looked really neat in the end too and your friend will be well chuffed I bet!!
I just imported a brand new vita from Japan a couple weeks ago, fantastic machine! Most likely, a family member (child) spilt their drink all over it and kept quiet!
@Zyzz brand new imports can be crazy expensive. They can range £200-£500. Madness. Look in the used market, alot of people have taken good care of their vitas. I brought a used one for £100, its in near mint condition. My seller claimed to have only used it once or twice. I believe them cos mine came with firmware 3.32 (quite old). So I manual updated to 3.60 and installed henkaku/enso (easy with youtube tutorials) and bam! I haven't been able to put down the damn thing. Also mine was abit more expensive in the used market cos I wanted one with no finger prints or scratches (mine was literally mint) but if your not too bothered about tiny marks or scratches you can get a used one for around £60-£90. NOTE: if you are planning on getting a used vita get one with firmware version 3.68 or below.
Hi Vince. Try cleaning the tip of your soldering iron with a wet sponge often. Also, that stubborn garbage solder you were trying to remove from those charging port ground holes, was probably that lead-free solder, it won’t flow into your wicks, and has a higher than normal melting point. I hate that lead-free garbage with a great unimaginable passion!!! I don’t know if you did this, but next time check to see if the circuit board is labeled with a PB element symbol with a circle slashed out on it. That’s how you know if lead free solder was used on the board. Great Video though!!!👍🏻
Great fix, nice one mate, most smart battery chargers actually trickle charges upto around 30% to save from damage it normally ramps up after that threshold.
hi Vince sometimes when the solder won't melt we use a small hand tool with a drill bit in (Eclipse no.121) it's for ground planes so you don't delaminate the board when heating it.
If you can't Get the solder out of some Holes, you can drill/mill out the Solder with a very little Drill, like 0,4-1 mm depending on how big the hole is
That board might consist of many layers and relay on metal for solidity; also, it should provide even better heating because they at Sony confirmed that they had to downclock the original PS Vita to avoid overheating. So that's why it *should* drain heat so well.
You can check if its a good battery by hitting it with your bench power supply and see if its drawing any amps.The volts are totally irrelevant. If it does it means the battery i) isnt fully charged ii) It can take a charge and its good. You can charge the battery with your bench power supply to see if the unit is working aswell. Li-ion batteries have 3.6V empty and 4.2V when fully charged. Thanks for another great video Loved the robotics sound of your automatic tripod
I recommend getting some solder paste (paste not flux) for thos things, you can just heat it with the air or iron after applying a small amount to the pads and it will effortlessly create perfect joints
The anchors on the micro USB connector need a lot of heat. It helps to preheat the entire PCB and use a low temp solder to get the existing solder stuck in those anchors to flow.
Sometimes i find that tinning the tip of the iron before soldering helps. Also your soldering iron dosent have the power to melt the solder (in the two holes), so using your reflow station at 400-500°C can help to get that initial heat. The solder is basically absorbing all your heat and not melting it. I only have 2 years experience myself but it does help.
i know this video is now 4 years old but just wanted to say that i had so many vitas for repair and it amazes me that the batteries on them are very very good, i didnt have one with a bad battery yet to be honest. yeah of course they do get less life out of them but i didnt see any swell up or not turn on because of a broken battery.
Mangled those rear holes, lol :O, otherwise great job!. I usually get my components from China, much cheaper than locally, but, have to wait a few weeks is the only downside.
Nice work. Pleasure to watch. USB / HDMI are sods because of the ground plane. Had the same on a PS4 HDMI with my Aouye 968A+. Very frustrating. Gonna invest in a Quick hot air station next year. Higher temp but for less time is probably better for the board on balance. The way Andrew does it is to mix in leaded and leave the solder in the holes and somehow align it whilst still molten but you need a Quick for that lol. The reason the outher 2 pads won't take is the same reason. Need more heat. Keep it up.
I was really surprised by the fact the pads was still intact. Especially since you showed the pins moved at the start. Usually What happens is the pads corrode away from the board and the pin with the pad attached moves. The pins must of only barely been attached in the production process to come away like that. Still great job in fixing it and with your thought process, education of components and experience soldering you would make a good electronics engineer.
Hi Vince i have the same model its water damaged i bought it off Ebay it charged up fine but the screen wont show nothing do you no whats wrong Cheers Jos
Great video vince! thanks for fixing my vita :D. You were right as soon as you mentioned about corrosion i thought its screwed for sure :'). Always great content keep it up!
Cheers David :-) Email me over your address (not here) and I will get it posted back to you :-)
OK now come clean... How did it get water damaged?
How did you get it wet?
@@solidamber Probably took it in the bath with him.
@@GGigabiteM lol
Great job there!!!! The reason those 2 holes were not unblocking is the fact it has a super large ground plane and the number of layers probably. Your iron doesn't have the thermal power - it's not just a question of temperature, it's a question of how much heat the layers suck away. Pre-heating with hot air at around 400 to 450 for 3 or 4 minutes before using the iron can often help! You can also carefully drill solder like that, but you need to use exactly the right sized bit and when the hole is not circular like that it can be a pain.
But that's a last ditched thing really - I wouldn't recommend drilling holes out as you can damage the through hole plating. Another tip - when trying to get solder onto the pads like that, solder in the direction the pads sit according to their largest dimension, you have least risk of them coming off the PCB that way. I know you didn't lose any, but if you tried a similar thing on some PCBs I would guarantee after a number of heating cycles they would start floating and sliding around.
Na you should bot use a Drill exectly the size of the Hole, if you have a Hole of about 0,8mm I'd use a 0,5mm Drill. This way there is a pretty little chance of damaging the "Troughlayer". You should also try to suck away as much solder as possible so you get a nice even concave hole
@@jonathanlang9711 What I would do in this case is applying additional solder on the pad, then suck it with the braid, repeat until the hole is cleared. Indeed with a larger tip, not a tiny one. No need for excessive heat though, just the iron tip must be large enough to conduct correctly.
@@NiamorH Thats excactly what he did in the first place for about 5-10 Times with the bigger tip. and tgen switched to a smaller. Also he actually mentioned that probably the smaller Tip can't conduct enough heat as well. But as seen the larger Tip didn't bring a good result to.
@@jonathanlang9711 true I missed it, the timelapse is so fast I didn't see it. maybe I would have added even MORE solder than he did, on both sides as well :) I don't know, usually it does work pretty well.
What you can do is add some new solder to the top side of the hole, put the solder sucker at the bottom side of the hole, then you take your biggest tip and apply heat to the top side. That way the sucker and the iron aren't fighting for space, and you can keep the heat on right up until you activate the sucker. Getting everything in position takes some holding your tongue at the right angle, but it can be amazingly effective.
For batteries with 3 wires/contacts, the third one (usually the middle one on batteries with flat recessed contacts) is almost always a thermistor (temperature sensor) with its other pin on battery negative. The charging circuit, or sometimes the overall power management circuit, will use this to monitor the temperature of the battery and cut off the power if it gets too hot (maybe even when too cold). Smart monitoring/identification signals do exist but usually only in 4-contact batteries along with the thermistor.
Thanks for the great info :-)
The thing I love the most about these videos is not the fact that we get to learn (and that they are so relaxing), rather that you don't split them into 3 to 4 parts and time them over a weekly release period. We get to watch a whole repair process from start to finish in a single video.
You're one of the best repair channels out there, IMHO! Keep it up!
Thanks for the nice feedback :-)
The reason the solder isn't melting properly is the fact you're using a small tip on a large piece of metal shielding it just draw all the heat out of the iron tip. Use large tips when working on grounds since they always have a large surface area
Thanks, I had a larger tip on to begin with but next time I will try an even bigger one :-)
@@Mymatevince while a larger tip can help, it's just a workaround, the reason is that your iron doesn't have enough wattage to keep up with the heat wicked away by the large ground plane, without more wattage the only work arounds are to get a larger mass tip to hold more energy or raise the temp to again increase the amount of energy in the iron
T12 irons work better, as the heater is right near the tip. Get a 75w bakon 950d £35.
You wouldn't regret it.....Ive bought so many cheap irons and they were all hopeless, even other T12's.
But the BK950D really impressed me considering its size.
Hey Vince, cleaning out ground plain pins is always a struggle (they are made to dissipate heat), on a thin tip if you are at 350C (element temp) the thin tip will lose heat very fast and wont be 350 at the tip. thus the board doing its job. too clean those a fat tip with high heat and board on its side, you heat it up one side and suck it out the other while heating it.just be care full not too heat the other pins the same because it may lift the pads.
Great advice. Thank you :-)
@@Mymatevince just an add on to this you might want to invest in one of these desoldering guns that keep the solder hot whilst it's been sucked away from the board rover.ebay.com/rover/1/710-53481-19255-0/1?icep_id=114&ipn=icep&toolid=20004&campid=5338356139&mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fitm%2FPro-Desoldering-Station-Vacuum-Removal-Iron-Gun-ZD-915-230V-140W-Soldering-SMD%2F352448817980%3Fepid%3D9005522184%26hash%3Ditem520f962b3c%3Ag%3AJnQAAOSwuMRbgc~e%3Ark%3A22%3Apf%3A0
Vince, you should tin your soldering iron tip too. It needs to hold solder to transfer heat effectively.
Vince you're quite a nice , intelligent skillful guy.Good work on this people wouldn't even try to fix it.Should cost at least a 100 pound for that repair.
Thank you :-)
I mean, I don't understand why people wouldn't try, just take some time out to open it and have a look, just remember how to put it back together.
Very nice repair, Vince!
I enjoy watching your repairs and attempted repairs.
I'm still an amateur myself, but what I noticed: You seem to become more and more confident with each video.
That's great! And encouraging to newbies to electronics repair.
Keep up the great work!
Thanks for the feedback and support :-)
My mum recently passed away, I've been watching your videos to help keep my mind occupied so thank you
I'm sorry for your loss. Stay strong brother.
I'm so sorry to hear that. I unfortunately had to go through that as well . Over time the pain will start to ease. Take care, Vince.
Lost my dad about 5 yrs ago its tuff even to this day. Hope the best for u
I felt the same last year when mom passed away also,,
Take care and pray to Allah for your mom will enter paradise
You are getting significantly better at fault finding. Keep up the good work! Cheers!
Thank you so much :-)
Well done Vince! You must be buzzing after your fixes especially when it involves soldering! Bravo 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Thanks mate :-)
Every single one of your vids I'm sat there willing you to fix whatever it is!
Brilliant job and keep up the great content and fixes well done 😁😁😁
Thank you mate, I appreciate that :-)
You're very welcome matey 😁
12:55 put the lid back on the 'IPA' Isopropyl Alcohol That breaks my heart LOL great video !!
clean clean clean clean, i have the perfect flux for this type of repair it puts a solid coating
between all the contacts..And protects them we use it on bga chips that have had
bad water/pop damage..it sets like glass !!If the pad is missing find out where it goes
to and from and you can just run a jumper wire.
Few things keep the soldering tip clean and check out some soldering tutorials.
I know the problem with the solderholes. I spent nearly an hour to clean it out. You make a great job. I love your channel.
We got there at the end, the soldering was frustrating but patience was of the essence. The bonus was your tea was ready and if that was the Mrs she's better then mine as I'd have had that PlayStation put where the sun doesn't shine!
Good job man.You made that David guy a happy person and I'm thinking you fulfilled your expectation with this rather hard learning curve.Please give that David guy a break on the price of fixing the vita even know you put quite alot of time in fixing it.Very good job and I'm glad you just didnt throw in the towel.Hell I would of gave up but then again my hands are to shaky for even using a soldering iron.Nice video man. Great job
Great job! I like your style that you showing us the failures and the stragguls...what is not so common amoungst the RUclips repair videos. Keep up the good work and the excellent content!
Thanks for the nice feedback :-)
Just found your channel and loved watching you repair the vita, i found it really relaxing. i used to repair my own things too but now for some reason when i try to solder my hands shake like mad even if i rest my arms on the desk. strange thing is it only happens when i'm soldering never any other times. i've subbed and pressed the bell.
I used to really enjoy fixing broken electronics off ebay. Your channel has made me want to do it again!
I really enjoy your videos and I also like fixing things but I have never looked into board repairs. I might tinker with some old stuff and learn.
I also really love how excited you get when your fixed goods turn on. Its that moment you realise your hard work and dedicated time has paid off.
Keep learning and keep up the good work.
nice job dude, you're explaining is clear to follow for simpletons like myself, even just for entertainment
Well done Vince. You are inspiring me to look at purchasing a proper soldering kit and doing this as a hobby
Great video, and good job fixing the thing! Love watching you get stuff working again, gives me hope for the old devices in the future, as you can always fix them!
I havent quite finished the video yet so im not sure if you fixed the vita or not?.That fix is kicking your ass but nice job none the less. I give you alot of credit.nice job.I wish my hands were steady enough to do that type work.Nice job.I hope when I get to the end of the video you actually got it fixed but if not then know one can say you didnt try.Nice job man
Another great video vince!. And as someone else has said it’s just the pcb and copper plane complexity/width/size rather than a question of temperature. It soaks the heat of the iron away before it has chance to melt the solder. Best bet is a future upgrade to a higher wattage soldering iron. One of the reasons I use a decent quality high wattage iron up to 120w (antex).
On really hard areas like this, you can also preheat the board to help with the heat soak.
Never reuse a corroded connector, because corrosion will only continue spreading. The only way to protect corroded area is to clean affected area with petrol, reflux, retin, use a new connector and on the end put some colophonium rosin flux on it, because it will prevent the rust from reappearing by cutting oxygen from it.
The Tired Techie Rosin flux is brilliant stuff and also easy to clean off if you want
Great video. I do repair a lots of items mostly a mobile phone but never do the micro usb before because for phone, I just need to swap with a new charging board. For Vita, I only replaced the faulty analog button once and I don't dare to replace the faulty power LED (red faulty, green in OK). I also still learning this kind of stuff since 30 years ago. New products, new items to learn. Subs to you now.
Welcome to the world of heat sucking ground planes :) Actually, you can preheat the board in an oven to make the solder melt better as the ground plane is conducting heat away right when you touch it... :) That's why these machines don't need any heatsinks :)
heatguns are your friend, a little pre-warm and then working on these things is so much easier.
Good to know
Nice one. Always enjoy your videos. Inspires me to start looking for broken consoles so I can practice soldering...
great video Vince... really cool to follow... i mean i've started fixing stuff myself... soldered in a new charging port on my Xbox 1 controller... might buy some more to fix and mod. cheers Vince... keep up the good work.
Thank you and well done for fixing your own stuff :-)
Solder balling up on itself when you try to tin the tip indicates your iron tip is dirty. When it's dirty, thermal transfer is significantly reduced. As GadgetUK164 told you, preheat the area first. Also, a more agressive flux would be useful here, but clean up well after you've used it.
Love the vid. You are getting serious skills !!!!. The station should kick in the heater when it senses the temperature drop (because the heat disiaption to the board). Probable on your the temp sensor is too far away from the tip that takes time to realize that more power is needed. I have seen stations (generic, but decent) that when you got the issue you had in the pad, the measured temperature falls like a rock on the LCD and the heater is turned to compensate as much as the max power can (60W in the case Im telling). Even on a fine tip, it really manages to do bigger jobs
Brilliant vid mate. Your attention to detail and fault finding process is exemplary. Very entertaining.
Great video. It is not unheard of to use hot air to pre heat the board or to even remove components. The board will consume most of the heat giving one a hard time to get either remove or replace the components due to the thermal transfer. I have even used both hot air, soldering iron, flux and wick to remove solder from those difficult holes. Keep up the good work.
Thank you :-)
Hey Vince, a little tip for getting solder out of holes.... use thinner solder braid, I use 1.2mm. Push the braid in the hole with a small tipped iron. I do this daily when removing large relays from boards... hope this helps. Great vids by the way
mymatevince- breaks a small green thing from the motherboard
alsomymatevince- i hope it wasn't a component
i seriously love you man
Totally enjoyable video again Vince great repair job!, i was curling my toes when you were scratching away at the pad willing it to stay in one piece haha, to me it looked as though the pads were pitted slightly from the corrosion you probably rescued it in the nick of time, already looking forward to the next fix it video.....
Excellent repair there vince!!! And well executed 👌👍
Hi Vince your great videos encourage me to fix things from eBay. You are a great youtuber and great at fixing things.
Bro, I thought you were going to go threw the whole video without noticing that the ps button on the psv 2000 don't have an LED in it. Excellent work none the less
Brilliant work! That was a tough one! Sure owner was very pleased! 👍🏾 Thanks so much for Sharing!
This is a good channel for anyone interested in electronic wanting to know how to fix stuff.
Good work Vince, as usual...
Only one thing, maybe help, if you want to remove a stucked welding, you can use a thin needle (according to the hole), put it in the tin hole, heating with a soldering iron (with flux) with some pushing for the needle , and it will go throu the hole with the stuck tin.. ⚡⚡
Vince, great job. Only use a charger with the same rated output voltage that the console needs. If you use a higher voltage output charger you can damage the board.
not necessarily but better be safe than sorry
Soldering any components or ports in is tough let alone very small ones. Great job!
I got my fat Vita for 20 bucks due to having the same problem, it wouldn't charge, turns out one of the pins of the charger port was slightly bent to the side, just grabbed a needle and bend it back to place and there! It worked perfectly!
I’m hooked by these videos, best one yet!
Thanks :-)
You have so much patience. Great channel.
I usually use a combination of heat gun on a lower temp to keep the board at a reasonable temp as well as a soldering iron; heat is a form of energy, and energy is cumulative. The board dissipates at a faster rate than the iron can handle, but even with the same iron and another source of heat, the combined energy input is enough to make the solder melt much easier
Thanks for the advice :-)
Excellent job Vince.
Wow Vince just found your channel, sorry never heard of your channel until now. You have some fantastic repairs I love fixing stuff. I mainly make videos on test gear but really impressed with your work. I have more gear than I know what to do with but you do amazing work with basic gear,. Thanks for sharing regards Chris.
Great Job! Nice video Vince. Please, never stop!
Enjoy the videos Vince! I notice that a less "pretty" way of clearing the holes on a PCB never gets any play. I OFTEN heat the solder in the holes and then tap the PCB on the table to knock the molten solder out. Can splash, so use with caution ;-)
Nice one Vince, great fix that really kept us guessing until the end.
Vince, when you are soldering, the steps are - tin the tip if it needs it (there shouldn't be a glob on it when you tin it, wipe to glob off on your sponge), apply the tip to the surface you want solder on and heat it up, then push your solder into the point where your tip meets the target area. It seems like you try to get a glob to stick to a surface from your tip too often. Solder won't stick to a surface that is colder than its melting point.
edit: Another reason why a glob won't stick from the tip is that by the time you have heated the target to right temp with the glob still on your tip - the solder is burnt up and won't want to stick anyway.
Thanks for the helpful tips :-)
You're getting better and better with fixing things, Vince. Not sure if you know of his channel, but if not you should check out Lukemorse, the man is just a wizard with bringing things back from the dead like this.
Hey My Mate Vince always poppin off new video in the american AM hours!
Made my morning, mate! Thanks for the new video!
Thanks mate :-)
Not bad for a semi amateur solderer giving it a go. You fixed it which is the best result and a Vita lives on to fight another day :). Hope you learnt from the experience. It looked really neat in the end too and your friend will be well chuffed I bet!!
These videos are amazing thank you vince for these entertaining vids ❤ much love & support
I just imported a brand new vita from Japan a couple weeks ago, fantastic machine! Most likely, a family member (child) spilt their drink all over it and kept quiet!
@Zyzz brand new imports can be crazy expensive. They can range £200-£500. Madness. Look in the used market, alot of people have taken good care of their vitas. I brought a used one for £100, its in near mint condition. My seller claimed to have only used it once or twice. I believe them cos mine came with firmware 3.32 (quite old). So I manual updated to 3.60 and installed henkaku/enso (easy with youtube tutorials) and bam! I haven't been able to put down the damn thing.
Also mine was abit more expensive in the used market cos I wanted one with no finger prints or scratches (mine was literally mint) but if your not too bothered about tiny marks or scratches you can get a used one for around £60-£90.
NOTE: if you are planning on getting a used vita get one with firmware version 3.68 or below.
Hi Vince. Try cleaning the tip of your soldering iron with a wet sponge often. Also, that stubborn garbage solder you were trying to remove from those charging port ground holes, was probably that lead-free solder, it won’t flow into your wicks, and has a higher than normal melting point. I hate that lead-free garbage with a great unimaginable passion!!! I don’t know if you did this, but next time check to see if the circuit board is labeled with a PB element symbol with a circle slashed out on it. That’s how you know if lead free solder was used on the board. Great Video though!!!👍🏻
The slims are different from the phat vitas. I was saying that to the tv when you where like this button should light up lol.
on *phat* Vitas, the *P* button lights up, on *slim* it doesn't. :|
I was screaming at the screen several times throughout the video, hope I didn't scare you too much ! :D
Patients of a saint... bravo fix pal
Thank you :-)
Another great fix and video vince nice one mate and merry Christmas
Thank you and I hope you have a Merry Christmas too :-)
20:00 them's some sturdy pads and traces, they're still there after that assault !
Super job as always Vince! Well done! 👍
Another great fix video and new stuff learned on the way. Big fan of these video's. thank you.
Excellent, thanks for the comments :-)
Great video Vince.
Great job Vince, saved a Vita.
for future reference, you need a 1500 to 2000 mA output to charge a Vita, also good work .
It will charge on less, but only in sleep mode, and at 500ma.
Whooooooooooooooo over the moon for ya Vince !!!! great fix ..... keep em coming , could sit for hours watchin your fix it videos !!!! ....Shaun.
Gotta get away from game companies doing dumb crap...Hey Vince is fixing a PS Vita, something cool to watch!
Great job, Vince!
Another WINNER! Keep up the great work!
I once had trouble charging my vita. turned out with the original its possible to put the charging plug in the wrong way lol.
Great fix, nice one mate, most smart battery chargers actually trickle charges upto around 30% to save from damage it normally ramps up after that threshold.
Thanks for the advice :-)
hi Vince sometimes when the solder won't melt we use a small hand tool with a drill bit in (Eclipse no.121) it's for ground planes so you don't delaminate the board when heating it.
If you can't Get the solder out of some Holes, you can drill/mill out the Solder with a very little Drill, like 0,4-1 mm depending on how big the hole is
So satisfying. This can bring lots of business for you! Keep it up!
That board might consist of many layers and relay on metal for solidity; also, it should provide even better heating because they at Sony confirmed that they had to downclock the original PS Vita to avoid overheating.
So that's why it *should* drain heat so well.
You can check if its a good battery by hitting it with your bench power supply and see if its drawing any amps.The volts are totally irrelevant.
If it does it means the battery
i) isnt fully charged
ii) It can take a charge and its good.
You can charge the battery with your bench power supply to see if the unit is working aswell.
Li-ion batteries have 3.6V empty and 4.2V when fully charged.
Thanks for another great video
Loved the robotics sound of your automatic tripod
what is that flux he's using? It looks the bobbins. Great work Vince , love your vids
Thanks :-) It is a tacky flux (Andrew Paul used/uses it in his videos). It is called Amtech NC-559--V2-TF
thanks for that, tough to find in the UK though, wonder if i can sneak it past customs
I recommend getting some solder paste (paste not flux) for thos things, you can just heat it with the air or iron after applying a small amount to the pads and it will effortlessly create perfect joints
The anchors on the micro USB connector need a lot of heat. It helps to preheat the entire PCB and use a low temp solder to get the existing solder stuck in those anchors to flow.
Sometimes i find that tinning the tip of the iron before soldering helps. Also your soldering iron dosent have the power to melt the solder (in the two holes), so using your reflow station at 400-500°C can help to get that initial heat. The solder is basically absorbing all your heat and not melting it. I only have 2 years experience myself but it does help.
Hey Vince nice video as always, but you really need to invest in a new Camera and a new lighting system cause the video looks lil dark :)
Livres Audio it’s probably just your brightness.
I love your excitement when it actually starts up the first time :-D
Vince does it again! great vid :D
Thanks :-)
i know this video is now 4 years old but just wanted to say that i had so many vitas for repair and it amazes me that the batteries on them are very very good, i didnt have one with a bad battery yet to be honest.
yeah of course they do get less life out of them but i didnt see any swell up or not turn on because of a broken battery.
Yay a new vid 😊. Just got a Switch (fully working when I bought it) and love it.
This is great, glad it appeared on my recommendations! Have a sub!
Another job well done! Thanks for another great video.!
Hey Vince love your videos the are really good and I look forward to the next video
Thank you :-)
Top job Vince!
Thank you mate :-)
Great job My Mate VINCE
Mangled those rear holes, lol :O, otherwise great job!. I usually get my components from China, much cheaper than locally, but, have to wait a few weeks is the only downside.
Nice work. Pleasure to watch. USB / HDMI are sods because of the ground plane. Had the same on a PS4 HDMI with my Aouye 968A+. Very frustrating. Gonna invest in a Quick hot air station next year. Higher temp but for less time is probably better for the board on balance. The way Andrew does it is to mix in leaded and leave the solder in the holes and somehow align it whilst still molten but you need a Quick for that lol. The reason the outher 2 pads won't take is the same reason. Need more heat. Keep it up.
I was really surprised by the fact the pads was still intact. Especially since you showed the pins moved at the start. Usually What happens is the pads corrode away from the board and the pin with the pad attached moves. The pins must of only barely been attached in the production process to come away like that. Still great job in fixing it and with your thought process, education of components and experience soldering you would make a good electronics engineer.
Thanks, yes I thought he pads had completely eroded away too. I was pleased when I finally saw the copper was still intact :-)
Hi Vince i have the same model its water damaged i bought it off Ebay it charged up fine but the screen wont show nothing do you no whats wrong Cheers Jos