Author Topic: PCB Soldering question  (Read 2023 times)

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Offline Hituro

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PCB Soldering question
« on: Tue, 27 March 2012, 04:33:57 »
So, I know I'm a bit of a noob when it comes to soldering, and I have some what of a noob question :P  I was soldering new capacitors onto a power supply board for a monitor that I have.  Some of the capacitors had blown, one specifically blew out from the bottom and leaked it's capacitor juices all over the board (sounds dirty :O)  Anywho, all the other capacitors I was able to replace but this one.  Upon removing this capacitor it seems that one of the through holes has no contact pad to solder to, which means the solder won't bind!  I was thinking of maybe running an insulated copper wire from the one end of the capacitor to a soldered jumper wire joint that's on the same tracing as the capacitor.  My question is, would this be dangerous?  or would it be ok to do.  I'm not exactly an electronics engineer so I don't really know what would happen, I just don't want explosions and fire and death.  Let me know if there's any way to repair and salvage this.  I would hate to toss a good monitor because of a simply connection problem like this.

Here's a photo of what I'm referring to.  The double red circle is the problem area, and the red/blue circle is the joint with the jumper wire I'm thinking of running a wire to from one of the capacitor leads on the trace.
« Last Edit: Tue, 27 March 2012, 21:30:23 by Hituro »

Offline alaricljs

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PCB Soldering question
« Reply #1 on: Tue, 27 March 2012, 07:41:42 »
It is common practice to re-trace a PCB with spare wire.  As long as you are using a sufficient thickness of wire to run the same amount of current as the trace you should be all set.  It sounds like current was the issue and the trace itself was cooked along with your capacitor.
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Offline Hituro

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PCB Soldering question
« Reply #2 on: Tue, 27 March 2012, 10:41:09 »
Thanks for the response, can I ask how to know what thickness of wire to use to run the same amount of current?  I mean, I'm probably not going to use the fattest gauge wire ever, but is there a way to tell so that the circuit isn't damaged or anything?

Offline Kazen

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PCB Soldering question
« Reply #3 on: Tue, 27 March 2012, 10:51:23 »
working on a monitor can be rather dangerous, as they usually store large amounts of power in there capacitors...

Offline Hituro

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PCB Soldering question
« Reply #4 on: Tue, 27 March 2012, 11:28:31 »
OK I just want to clarify something so people don't think I'm a tard when it comes to monitors.  This is an LCD monitor, the power supply board has been removed from the actual monitor, there is no charge left in the thing currently (haha, bad pun, charge, current... anyway).  Also, I have in the past worked on giant CRT arcade monitors, which have insane amounts of voltage.  So yes, I know the dangers of monitors, and I know how to prevent fatality :P  However, I haven't done a lot of soldering and have never soldered a wire trace.  I would assume, connecting two connections on the same trace on the board would be fine, but that is why I asked the questions that I've asked.  So, again, just to clarify, this is an LCD power-supply board that has been completely removed from the unit.  There is no charge and it's most certainly not plugged in and hasn't been for a few weeks :P

So I'll re-state my question, how would I be able to tell what gauge wire I should be using when connecting to points together on a trace.

Offline Hituro

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PCB Soldering question
« Reply #5 on: Tue, 27 March 2012, 21:24:33 »
Here is the picture I was talking about

Offline alaricljs

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PCB Soldering question
« Reply #6 on: Tue, 27 March 2012, 22:06:01 »
18ga  or a couple 22ga should cover that.
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Offline Hituro

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PCB Soldering question
« Reply #7 on: Tue, 27 March 2012, 22:24:49 »
Quote from: alaricljs;558725
18ga  or a couple 22ga should cover that.


Great I have both of those :D

Offline Hituro

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PCB Soldering question
« Reply #8 on: Wed, 28 March 2012, 04:51:27 »
Blah... well, I did the thing with the copper wire.  It soldered perfectly, however, I'm still getting a short somewhere.  I know this because when I plug the monitor in, without even turning it on, the power light gives off a faint blink.  Not sure what else it could be, I'd probably have to check everything with a multimeter.  There is a slight burn on the board so I almost wonder if a transformer on the board went bad.  I'd really love to fix this board, I hate giving up on my electronics :(  I think this will be the first thing that I just cannot fix.