Problem with mini-usb connection

[jcoffin1981]

This is kind of a continuation of an old thread , but it deserves it's own start  with a  new problem    https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=77729.0

I actually, using a micrometer as well as eyeballing it, wedged some glued together credit card shavings under the buckled metal and sanded it down to the proper thickness.  This way all  the switches were parallel and supported properly.  So most of the chatter problem is finally gone, yeaaahhhhh!!!!!!!!

A separate issue I was having was that intermittently the USB device was not being recognized.  This was due to my poor soldering skills and cheap materials (quickly corroding and not getting hot enough).  What I should have done was found the poor connection and re-soldered.  Instead I decided to take the entire jack (stupid) off and clean the  contacts, and solder it correctly as it was done poorly the first time ( I acquired better materials and my skills were improving, the solder was hardly melting in certain places).  The Hakko tips are amazing by  the way.  Well, the contacts where the 5 pins  from the mini-usb meet the jack are extremely delicate and they are gone with the wind.  After all the hours I invested on this board I'm not throwing in the towel just yet.  I need to piggy-back these connections to the board somewhere to get it going again.  Looking at it I'm not getting the info I need.  I was hoping somebody smarter than me and in a helping mood could share this info with me.  Thanks a lot.

I suppose a macro image of the board is a good place to start.  I imagine it's easy to jump back on the train somewhere. 

[suicidal_orange]

Oh dear!

What board is this?  It would be easier to look at a pic of an undamaged one if possible.

There do seem to be three thin traces and one very thick one heading away from the connector but I'm hesitant to suggest you scrape them off and solder to them without being sure as if you get it wrong you'll fry the controller.  Talking of the controller what chip is it?  If you can find the pinout it might be easier to find somewhere to solder to near the chip, if it's not too far away.

[jcoffin1981]

The controller is about 3 inches  down  and  4 inches across the board.

[suicidal_orange]

Hmm... no name or model number on the PCB and I can't make out what's going on near the connector as the pics aren't as good as yours.  Can't read any of the writing on the controller chip either, though it's quite far away anyway.

[jcoffin1981]

Here is an image with the contacts still viable.  What can I do do make someone else's task easier?   Do you need a close-up of the controller?

[fohat.digs]

Mini-USB sucks hardest.

Regular USB-B and micro-USB suck less hard, but fixed cables are always best.

My opinion.

[jcoffin1981]

Here are a few more which I hope are helpful.  My next purchase (possibly tonight) is a better quality camera,  because  this is barely cutting it.

[suicidal_orange]

That's a better pic

So you can see the traces from three pins, the next one isn't connected in mini USB.



I'm not 100% sure that the big squares are connected because there's writing over the area but you should be able to see a bump connecting the coloured traces to the corners, if they do.

So you need to scratch off the blue from the thick green trace to reveal the copper beneath and solder a wire from there to the right pin, and hopefully you can connect the next two pins to the big squares (if not you'll have to scratch the tiny traces and solder to them - not an easy task)

Unfortunately I'm stumped as to where you can connect ground (pin 5) as that trace seems to stop at the hole and you've destroyed that - if you can find a pic of the other side of the board that would be helpful (I can read the name, but it's too generic to search for without a maker) or you can write out everything you can read on the controller chip and try to identify which pin is ground.

Your camera is fine for this but getting the tiny writing on chips to show up is hard!

[derb2k2]

Mini-USB sucks hardest.

Regular USB-B and micro-USB suck less hard, but fixed cables are always best.

My opinion.

THIS. Stupid things always give problems, which is why I put all sorts of things to try to impede any movement.

[TalkingTree]

Unfortunately I'm stumped as to where you can connect ground (pin 5) as that trace seems to stop at the hole and you've destroyed that

The keyboard is probably a KBP V60 mini but I haven't found any picture of the frontside of the PCB.
My (rather wild) guess is that those holes are connected to some SMD component to the otherside. Might even be worth to drill through and solder the pin to it, but let's wait for a picture from jcoffin1981.

[DanielT]

It's a V60, the OP put a link to another thread in the first post and there he said that it's a V60. Anyway, with those DIP switches it could be only a Poker or a v60

[suicidal_orange]

Thanks guys, should have read the old thread but this was supposed to be a fresh start )

The V60 has a plate as expected - short of removing all the switches there will be no way to get a pic of the other side so I'll just have to hope the chip is readable and hope there's something near it to solder to!

[alienman82]

removed.

[livingspeedbump]

This is one of the reason I complain about Mini USB anytime I come across one when doing review.

[jcoffin1981]

 Yes, I'm sorry.  To clarify it is  a V60 Mini with Gateron switches.   I'm not ready to throw in the towel just yet.  If I can find the tracts where the 5 pins lead I can solder the pins on the new jack to them.

[TalkingTree]

Yes, I'm sorry.  To clarify it is  a V60 Mini with Gateron switches.   I'm not ready to throw in the towel just yet.  If I can find the tracts where the 5 pins lead I can solder the pins on the new jack to them.

I guess you'll have to desolder the whole board, fix the plate and inspect the PCB on the other side for traces.

[suicidal_orange]

This is one of the reason I complain about Mini USB anytime I come across one when doing review.

I thought it was the fact it's SMD that's the problem and through hole connectors are much harder to pull off?

[jcoffin1981]

This was actually soldered to the board pretty darn good.  There was a hidden screw that I could not find and it would not allow my to slide the connector out.  Bottom line it was totally may fault.  I still prefer the mini usb

[jcoffin1981]

Yes, I'm sorry.  To clarify it is  a V60 Mini with Gateron switches.   I'm not ready to throw in the towel just yet.  If I can find the tracts where the 5 pins lead I can solder the pins on the new jack to them.

I guess you'll have to desolder the whole board, fix the plate and inspect the PCB on the other side for traces.

Yes, I'm sorry.  To clarify it is  a V60 Mini with Gateron switches.   I'm not ready to throw in the towel just yet.  If I can find the tracts where the 5 pins lead I can solder the pins on the new jack to them.

I guess you'll have to desolder the whole board, fix the plate and inspect the PCB on the other side for traces.

What a PITA.   First I'm going to study the PCB of a clean board and see where they go.  It can be done.  It just depends how much effort I wanna expend.  Although I hate to leave it in the condition it's in.  Fix the switch and then this happens.  You know the space bar is begging to chatter on my new board, but only occasionally.  I think if the switch is not hit in the center then may contribute to the problem. 

[suicidal_orange]

If you can read the tiny writing on the controller chip you should be able to look up it's pinout and find the ground pin(s).  Once you have one pin you can test connectivity from there to somewhere nearer the connector to solder to, but without one known ground or being able to see the other side of the board I don't think you're going to work it out.  I wish you luck though

[jcoffin1981]

Got a new camera today.  Lets see if I can post some better images.   Yeah I may have finally  F'ed this up for good.   If fixed the switch and broke the mini usb.  Go figure.

Oh, btw, the difference in quality with the Hakko tips and the one that came with the iron is night and day.  They clean well and do not immediately corrode.  Wish I had these in the beginning.

[falkentyne]

Mini-USB sucks hardest.

Regular USB-B and micro-USB suck less hard, but fixed cables are always best.

My opinion.

How is micro USB worse than mini USB?

[falkentyne]

ttzee from the mk reddit doesn't have an account here but he's a pro solderer, told me he looked at your pictures and wanted me to send you this message.

"the picture in reply #7 is very accurate. the mini USB has 5 pins, but only 4 are used. from left to right, in the direction that picture is in, the pins are GND, n/c, Data+, data-, Vbus. from the traces, we can see that the data pins can be soldered to the 2 square pads, and Vbus needs to be soldered to the Green thick trace. as for ground, it's actually all over the board. all the cross hatches and the stabilizing pins for the connector are all connected to ground. alternatively, we can also use any of the two square pads just left or just right of the data pads. for best ground connection that can handle all the current, I recommend soldering to one of the remaining USB stabilizing pads."

BTW he's the guy who made the guide on rewiring the caps lock LED above the number keypad to the 'circle hole' over the caps lock switch on the Ducky One.