hastings298 Posted June 10, 2020 Report Share Posted June 10, 2020 I'm a total newbie to soldering/electronics and I messed up while trying to replace the capacitor on my old xbox. I took a picture from underneath the motherboard and labelled which hole is positive and negative, and I'm trying to understand what my options are for getting a cap in there. For the record, I damaged the "via" rivets so the holes are damaged. Some people talk about scratching off the light green stuff to reveal the copper and attaching wires to it, to which a cap could go on the end? I'm really confused and would appreciate any help you could offer. First pic was the bulged caps. Damaged cap slot is on the far right. Next pic is of the underside of the 3rd cap slot. 3rd pic is from the top of the motherboard, same cap slot. I think the copper vias connecting the different layers in the board were damaged, as they came out with the cap that I had to remove (yes I'm dumb, got frustrated and had the temperature too high). What are my options here? Is there any way to go around this? Is it worth just filling in the holes with plenty of solder and installing the cap as normal? Really don't know what to do Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ging3rguy Posted June 10, 2020 Report Share Posted June 10, 2020 Ouch. Next time use plenty of flux and some desoldering braid to get as much of the solder off, it makes it easier when you are trying to get the replacement cap in. Max temp should be 450C. You mentioned that someone suggest exposing the trace and then soldering from the cap legs to the exposed trace, that is what I would try, max temp 390C. Tin the exposed trace then solder the wire between the cap and the trace, make sure you know which is +/-. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SS_Dave Posted June 10, 2020 Report Share Posted June 10, 2020 6 hours ago, hastings298 said: I'm a total newbie to soldering/electronics and I messed up while trying to replace the capacitor on my old xbox. I took a picture from underneath the motherboard and labelled which hole is positive and negative, and I'm trying to understand what my options are for getting a cap in there. For the record, I damaged the "via" rivets so the holes are damaged. Some people talk about scratching off the light green stuff to reveal the copper and attaching wires to it, to which a cap could go on the end? I'm really confused and would appreciate any help you could offer. First pic was the bulged caps. Damaged cap slot is on the far right. Next pic is of the underside of the 3rd cap slot. 3rd pic is from the top of the motherboard, same cap slot. I think the copper vias connecting the different layers in the board were damaged, as they came out with the cap that I had to remove (yes I'm dumb, got frustrated and had the temperature too high). What are my options here? Is there any way to go around this? Is it worth just filling in the holes with plenty of solder and installing the cap as normal? Really don't know what to do Where I have added the purple mark gently scrape the green paint off to expose the copper trace the fit the new cap and bent the lead over onto the trace and solder to it. The damage thats been done is proberley from to much heat for to long. I set my soldering iron to around 375 -400 c for changing those caps. FLUX paste is your friend when soldering. Cheers SS Dave Soft modding is like masturbating, It gets the job done but it's nothing like the real thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HDShadow Posted June 11, 2020 Report Share Posted June 11, 2020 I've been following this problem on another forum and one of the solutions suggested was using either of the other two unused cap mounting positions, as seen in the first pic. The fix seems plausible with the idea being that as long as the total value of the caps equals or exceeds 7500uF (6.3v) (5 x 1500uF) and does not exceed 9600uF (6.3v) (3 x 3300uF) it should work. But the information provided was that the OP had tried that and it didn't. Is there an explanation for this because otherwise it sounded to me like the simplest solution. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ging3rguy Posted June 11, 2020 Report Share Posted June 11, 2020 Do a continuity/resistance test to see if the cap points are linked. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hastings298 Posted June 11, 2020 Author Report Share Posted June 11, 2020 I've got a multimeter but never used it, how do I check if the cap points are linked? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SS_Dave Posted June 11, 2020 Report Share Posted June 11, 2020 If I am looking at the correct cap that is giving you problems. Fit a new cap in the location below Then add a wire link like the purple line in the pic below. Hint: When you are removing the caps in this location set you iron temp to 400 - 425c . I add flux paste to the cap legs and then apply fresh solder as it makes the job easier. Cheers SS Dave Soft modding is like masturbating, It gets the job done but it's nothing like the real thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ging3rguy Posted June 11, 2020 Report Share Posted June 11, 2020 1 hour ago, hastings298 said: I've got a multimeter but never used it, how do I check if the cap points are linked? If you have a continuity setting it will beep when you put the 2 probes together, if you only have resistance on your meter this is measured in ohms and you want to set it on 2ohms or its lowest setting. In the resistance setting the meter will generally show 1 when the probes are not touching and 0 when they are. On the motherboard you want a 0 or beep when you go from the cap positive to the potential cap positive and the same for negative. This will show that the cap positions are in parallel or linked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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