CF Adapter Problems

[twooly]

It appears to me the several pins in the photos below are not soldered - take a look and tell me what you think.

It appears like Conductor2.jpg(the unbuilt one) has more unsoldered connections than the first. I was gonna quickly build it to replace #1 which was not working.

When connected via router to the Conductor Control Panel, I got the "Card Error" spoken about.

Just prior to flashing the Etherdongle to the Conductor firmware, it was working with the DMX firmware.

I dunno if my soldering skills are up to tackling something this small - I'm skeert.

Also wanted to say flip your screws over, you want the plastic nuts on the bottom (under the etherdongle) otherwise the screw head is close/on a trace on the etherdongle and could cause you problems also.

[johno123]

Great catch folks - I unfortunately already soldered both of my boards but haven't attached them to the etherdongle. I'll take a look as soon as I get home.

[popcorn]

I got my conductor and put it together.  I loaded the files to the CF card and tried the Control panel and I get "Card Error" in red letters.  After checking here, I checked the adapter pins and at first glance they looked fine, but after closer examination and checking with a digital VOM, it looks like all but 3 or 4 are NOT connected.  I don't think my soldering iron is small enough to solder them back and my eyes are not that good either.  I was going to include a picture, but my camera wont focus that close.  Anyway, I'm not sure what to do now to fix.  Any suggestions would be appreciated. I don't suppose there is a way to exchange for a "good" one?  Anyway, thanks in advance.

[rdebolt]

Sorry to hear about all of these issues. I guess for once I was one of the lucky ones. My conductor and slaves all look good. Conductor is up and running.

[cavu2u]

My conductor and slaves all look good. Conductor is up and running.

Show off   

[peteandvanessa]

I checked mine last night, mine's all good to go and up and running 

[dpitts]

Most of my pins are not connected. I need to order a smaller tip for my soldering iron in order to attempt repair. For time sake I may just run show from scheduler this year.

[rdebolt]

Show off   

Oh I've had my issues!  Just read some of my posts! 

[johno123]

Yup, one had 5 pads not connected.  The other had most of it's pads not connected at all.....  I need to get a bigger magnifying glass.  Did folks recommend that we remove the existing solder for a really bad one before fluxing it and resoldering it?  Man, I wish I had a hot air rework machine....

[zwiller]

Can I assume that a paint removal gun on low is not advisable? 

[dearvbguru]

Can I assume that a paint removal gun on low is not advisable?

I would not use a paint removal gun.  The hot air SMD rework stations are set up to prevent static discharge and also have a variety of small nozzles to direct the air only at the pins you are working on.  A regular hot air gun you will have to much air going around not on the pins and will very likely melt the plastic on the socket by the time you get the pins hot enough for the solder to reflow.

What I did was used a paste flux syringe and applied a small bead of flux across the pins.  I then took a jeweler scope magnifying glass (10x) and held it to my eye with one hand and with a fine tip on soldering iron, I touched where the pin and pad meet and held for 3 to 5 seconds and could see the flux flowing and the solder wicking onto the pin and pad.  I just went all the way down on each one to make sure that they were all touching.  I then used some rubbing alcohol and a Kimwipe and cleaned up the excess flux.  The flux paste I used was an electronic no clean flux but I wanted to clean up anyway so I could use my magnifier and carefully look at each pin and then used the probe to verify everything was in place.  After doing 5 of these, I only had one pin on the end that still moved slightly so I touched again and it held.

It only took a minute or so for each board but using the magnifying glass with your face right down there to see whats going on (be careful not to burn your nose or anything...) Using the finest point on your soldering iron and the flux made sure that I did not get any solder bridges but you have to use a steady hand to make sure you only contact one pin at a time.

[tng5737]

The CF on my Slave bd was OK but on the Cond. bd CF, NONE of its pins were soldered!

[tbone321]

It's just as easy to use a soldering iron.  All you are doing is supplying heat to the pins to reflow or flow the solder that is already there.  It really isn't all that critical if you touch more than 1 pin at the same time.  Unless there is excess solder on the pads or on your iron, the chance of a bridge is very small.  Just get the iron HOT and make sure that the tip is clean.  You do not want any excess solder on the tip at all.  Make sure that the loose pins are still aligned with their pads and press down LIGHTLY with the clean tip of the iron for about 5 seconds to reflow the joint.  It can be hard to see where the pin ends and the pad begins so I made sure that the tip was close to the body of the socket.  My iron was set to 350C and I do have a small tip that rests on one pin at a time but even if it covered two, it would have still worked and I would have finished faster.  The point being made about a steady hand here is critical.  You want to reflow the solder, not scatter it to the other pins or form a cold solder joint due to movement.  I also used the pins of an LED to check the pins both before and after the repair.  They have enough strength to move the pins that are not properly soldered without bending them completely out of position and it caught a pin that I missed on the first attempt. 

[tmcteer]

3 of my 4 conductor pcbs  had multiple pins not soldered. I used a flux pen and then ran a my find tipped soldering iron over the pads lightly touching the end of the pin and pad. I do not recommend adding solder, just reflow what's there.

Tom

[cavu2u]

I spent the bulk of last night re-working the Conductor shown in my pic (above) as completed.

It had about 40 pins not soldered.

I used a loupe(8x), a very intense light and a probe to try and move the pins - there were plenty.

Using the loupe and light, I used a 0.02 tip I had for the soldering iron and touched those pins found loose. Most seemed to flow and take hold.  After going through the pins, I re-checked and found a couple still loose and re-touched them. After 4 rounds of soldering and checking with the probe, I had no loose pins - yea! (I should have been a surgeon with hands so steady)

I also took the time to re-work my second conductor which had about 15 unsoldered pins.

I took my newly re-worked conductor upstairs for its big debut ...

Same result - can't recognize the Conductor(The CF card definitely has the required files on it 1 sequence, 1 mp3, 1 show, 1 password file, and the playlist file). My router intermittently tries to connect to no avail.

At lunch today, I said, let me try one more thing. With the spacers in place, I noticed there is a bit of a gap at the main connection and at the power header - like 1/16". I took out the spacer and tried with it flush to the connectors - nuttin'.

Not willing to accept defeat just yet, I went to the garage and very carefully soldered/assembled my second Conductor, since it had been re-worked the previous evening and was re-probed prior to my lunchtime assembly.

Pulled the non-working Conductor off the Etherdongle and put the new one in place. Went upstairs to see how nicely this one would work.

Network cable in, power on ... router port 2 lit ... then unlit, then lit, then unlit. Recycle power to router, Conductor, ad infinitum - Nuttin' again.

Earlier in the the day as I drove to work this morning, I thought to myself - I'd just like something that worked right the first time.

Hi, My name is John and I'm the proud owner of two inop Conductors - just gotta figure out what to do next to get the li'l SOBs to work.