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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: mumbosauce on Thu, 27 August 2015, 11:42:39
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I have an FC660C and the mini-usb connector is a bit loose. It wiggles and loses connection frequently. Has anyone had this problem before? I would prefer not to do any soldering and use some glue or something, as I've never soldered anything before; but of course if thats the only way to fix it I could figure it out.
If I do end up having to solder the connector back on to the pcb is there any thing I should look out for? Mainly is there anyway I could break the whole keyboard by soldering incorrectly.
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First of all, you should open the keyboard and have a good look at what's actually the problem - i.e. where exactly is something loose. That will also tell you if glue would be enough or you should resolder something. Just be careful - usually the most brittle parts are not actually the solder joints, but the wires and plastic parts inside the connector itself. If that's the case, you'll need to replace the whole connector.
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I would solder before using glue you don't want to cover over contacts in the connector.
I would suggest getting an old/broken circuit of any kind and learn to solder on it. Look up eevblog on YouTube for good guides.
Things to watch out for are "cold solder" joints and bridging between pads, other than that it should be an easy fix.
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This might be helpful. http://imgur.com/a/V1itR
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Out of curiosity, is the FC660C connector surface mount? (I'm guessing it is)
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I actually just realized the other day that my connector is loose. Haven't taken it apart to investigate yet, and I haven't reached the point of connectivity issues. I'll have a look tonight and see what's up.
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I actually just realized the other day that my connector is loose. Haven't taken it apart to investigate yet, and I haven't reached the point of connectivity issues. I'll have a look tonight and see what's up.
If it's a surface mount, I generally re-solder it into place, drill it from the sides with a thin Dremel bit, wrap some wire around those drill points, apply solder paste to everything, solder that construct
It visually makes them indestructible, don't know about their actual strength tho
https://www.keychatter.com/2015/02/24/review-happy-hacking-keyboard-pro-2/
It looks like a thru-hole from these pictures, now I wonder whether I should apply my method to all my PCB's ...
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unfortunately soldering is the only way to fix this issue, hot glue make give you a temporary fix, but it's messy and will make things difficult when you have to go in and really fix it. Soldering isn't that bad, most likely all you'll need to reflow the pins on the connector and it'll be good.
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unfortunately soldering is the only way to fix this issue, hot glue make give you a temporary fix, but it's messy and will make things difficult when you have to go in and really fix it. Soldering isn't that bad, most likely all you'll need to reflow the pins on the connector and it'll be good.
from my hot glue experiences, it also can't handle any mechanical movements, gorilla glue or something similar might be better if there is no turning back
I generally apply the method I mentioned, use a very tiny amount of gorilla glue between the USB and the PCB, and use hot-glue around the USB part, in hopes that the gorilla glue can hold the vertical movements and hot-glue can absorb the horizontal movements a bit