Neutral Terminal Broke off

[deplanche]

On the LE I am building, one of the posts (for lack of a better or more accurate term) on the bottom side of  a screw down terminal broke off.  It had been bent somewhere in the shipping/unpacking/storage process, and I thought I was careful straightening it out.  However, when the hot iron hit it, it just fell right off.  That's the bad news.  And it's at the "far" end of the strip, where I would have to desolder many of the connections to remove and replace that.  That's the worse news.

The good news is that it is on the neutral side of the terminal (I think it's for Channel 16), where all the connections go to the same, very large trace.  So I am pretty sure I can get around this pretty easily by just hooking the neutral wire that would go there, into any of the other neutral terminals, let's say Channel 15, so that 2 neutrals would go into that one terminal.  I know that will increase the amps going thru there.  But if I were to use different color cords or outlets to make sure I kept the amps down on those two channels, would that be a good fix?

[RJ]

Sorry to hear you had this happen to you. I would not of expected someone to have one of those break.

That would work or a better fix might be to use a dremel with the thin cutting wheel or a thin saw and cut the last two contacts in the strip out. you can buy the same strip in two connections and solder it back.

Just a suggestion of what I would do.

RJ

[deplanche]

I thought about cutting it out too, but thought the cutting action could damage the solder joints.  If it was the other end, piece of cake.  This end, worried I will make the problem worse.

Have to figure out what I will need those channels for and then see how much I want to try to do.

Thanks.

[WWNF911]

I thought about cutting it out too, but thought the cutting action could damage the solder joints.  If it was the other end, piece of cake.  This end, worried I will make the problem worse.

Have to figure out what I will need those channels for and then see how much I want to try to do.

Thanks.

If you'd like, ship it to me. I'll get it out for you. I'm in Reno.

[Greg]

If you're using it in single power source mode then you have an unused neutral terminal on the power source input block on the right side... just a thought.

Could be worse though. Time for a dunderhead confession on my part: I once soldered the entire output strip in backwards on one of my LEs. Didn't notice it until I put it on the test bench and went to hook up some lights. Doh! 32 connections to desolder, flip the strip and resolder. Its times like that when having a desoldering station really comes in handy but then it would have been better to have paid better attention in the first place.

Greg

[RJ]

If you're using it in single power source mode then you have an unused neutral terminal on the power source input block on the right side... just a thought.

Could be worse though. Time for a dunderhead confession on my part: I once soldered the entire output strip in backwards on one of my LEs. Didn't notice it until I put it on the test bench and went to hook up some lights. Doh! 32 connections to desolder, flip the strip and resolder. Its times like that when having a desoldering station really comes in handy but then it would have been better to have paid better attention in the first place.

Greg

OUCH!!!!!!!!!!!   

RJ

[Greg]

RJ,

Yeah I always carefully orient the actives and when done use a magnifying glass to closely inspect my soldering but... I'm still much less than perfect.

I guess solder flux fumes are not always a suitable replacement for sleep. 

Greg

[RJ]

Nor am I but those mistakes still hurt!

So again OUCH! 

RJ