Trouble getting solder to melt on ground lines?

[Jonathan Holt]

I've got a strange issue, wanted to reach out to you guys to see if you have any ideas.

I'm improving the wiring on the video, audio, etc for better longevity to make sure wires don't corrode and or break, so I'm changing the wiring from being directly wired to the board to being on headers. This has worked easily using the soldering iron to melt the solder, and then I put the header through the hole in the board.

But for some reason, the ground line isn't melting all the way through the board no matter how hot I put the iron. So I tried using the other ground line, same thing. The solder on every other line melts instantly when the iron touches it, but not these. I was able to melt it when I removed the multi av port, but I can't now. I know the more you heat it the more resistant the solder is to heat, but I've not heated it any more than the other lines.

See the picture for more detail.

 

[Blargaman91]

Your soldering iron is not hot enough if you can't melt those pads. They're connected to the entire ground layer, so they take more heat to melt, but I think a good soldering iron should be able to do that easily.

 

[Jonathan Holt]

I had it at the max temp (480°C), I don't know why it was giving me such trouble. I ended up finally getting it, I had to get a very small tip that would fit all the way through the hole in the board so it melted all the solder, then I got the pin through. I need to get a solder sucker, that would probably make this a lot easier.

Thanks for the reply!

 

[Joeyjoe9876]

shouldn't have had to do that. are you tinning your tip when you solder? applying a small amount of solder to the tip will help solder flow and melt a lot easier. Solder sucker is well worth the investment. Flux can be helpful as well, but you shouldn't use a bunch of it. it does leave some residue on the board that needs cleaning.

 

[Jonathan Holt]

shouldn't have had to do that. are you tinning your tip when you solder? applying a small amount of solder to the tip will help solder flow and melt a lot easier. Solder sucker is well worth the investment. Flux can be helpful as well, but you shouldn't use a bunch of it. it does leave some residue on the board that needs cleaning.

I do tin the tip, and it works great on the other leads, it's just the grounds I have trouble with.

 

[Joeyjoe9876]

ah okay. Can be understandable, ground lines should be a little thicker than others.

 

[Jonathan Holt]

Your soldering iron is not hot enough if you can't melt those pads. They're connected to the entire ground layer, so they take more heat to melt, but I think a good soldering iron should be able to do that easily.

Okay, so I've got a knew ground dilemma...crisis actually.

I had finished all the wiring fixes and everything, and had my portable reassembled, but had to set up the software and softmod it so I can run games off USB loader.

When I opened letter bomb, it hung for a few seconds and then turned off. I'm not sure if this was a coincidence or if letterbomb overloaded the wii, because when I tried to turn it back on, it popped and the wii led turned off. Then seconds later I smelled burnt PCB. (Note, I had the wii on for 30-40 minutes prior to doing letter bomb and it was fine, this is why I'm wondering if it was related or not).

I quickly disassembled the wii, and it appears as though the ground line I referenced earlier in this thread has been burnt. I have no idea why, there wasn't any bridged connection, and if there was, the line next to it that was also burnt is is the Pr B line, so I would have noticed something wrong with the display.

I am completely at a loss as to why this happened. For clarification, I have a picture below.

Also, what I was using the ground for was for a negative wire for an extra fan I had. I was using a second wii fan on the other side of the board to keep the board cool, and I had it wired to the 5+v line and the ground line mentioned.

On a final note, I am not 100% sure that this is what was burnt, the burnt smell was just strongest around this area.

I removed the header there and rewired the fan to the negative for the wii main power supply to the left of the multi-av leads, and it has not helped the condition of the wii.

***EDIT: The letterbomb I used was a part of a package created using ModMii, and the Wii was running software version 4.3u

 

[Jonathan Holt]

BUMP... Anyone have any thoughts on this?