One of the issues I’ve had with the electron trackers is lack of ground terminals. The pin style headers also don’t retain individual wire pins very well, moderate movement can cause the pins to come out of the headers.
I found these after a ton of looking, the right pitch was hard to come across. Amazon
Soldering is tough in the confined space, but I think I did OK.
The result looks like this:
Update…
It’s very close work, and my hands aren’t nearly as steady as they used to be. I was concerned that I may have damaged or de-soldered some of the surface mount components that were very close to the 3.3, RST, BAT, and GND pins. I also had concerns about some of the board traces, but near as I can tell everything is OK.
nice work. i’m curious what style tip you used and iron you have. i have issues getting a fine tip hot enough on a fx-951
Actually I was wishing I had a smaller tip, the soldering iron I have is a cheap one.
I have always feared smaller tips would have difficulty getting hot enough, so that’s good to know.
This is the soldering kit I bought, I also bought a spool of fine rosin core solder, But I should have also bought solder wick. I did have trouble bridging between pins. (BTW, the kit’s stand/holder doesn’t work very well, it’s too light and the iron slides all the way through the holder)
ok. thanks. i bought my current iron used 2 years ago and my problem has been the actual heat at the tip [whatever tip i use] . if i use a temp probe on a multi-meter the actual temp is not near the rated temp for the iron. i’m thinking maybe these power sources lose output over time. supposedly 75watt iron to get max 480F max at tip but it depends greatly on the mass of the tip. i’d really like to find an iron that can somehow generate mass quantities of heat to a fine tip. i’d think technology is there but in my practice not by a long shot. some of the finer, smaller items needs hot air or oven to be good in my experience. pardon my french but in this day and age for irons, that sucks. imo. one definitely needs wick, extra rosin liquid or paste. you did a damn good job from the pix as far as i can tell.
I have this, also from Amazon. Works great and comes with some very fine tips.
Tim,
This looks like a pretty good setup and price… are you able to comment on how well the fine tips heat?
Thanks
Don
Thanks,
Full disclosure… the picture showed the second row of pins I did. The first row didn’t look so good. It’s been many many years since I’ve done any real soldering. That first row probably took 3-4 times longer than the second one.
I hate soldering and would love to see Particle offer this option for production boards. We also need access to the Li+ pin which I just found out is a hidden gem few people are aware of. Here is the suggestion post in another topic where I was asking for circuit design help: Electron schematic help