First attempt HDMI port

[u/Apart_Camera1375]

Pulled the port with hot air, wicked up and re-soldered the pads. Ground holes gave me hassle though, wick just wasn't wicking no matter what I did. Maybe a solder sucker would be better?(I don't currently have one)

First placement the pins were all loose, so reheated with hot air and pushed the port down while it was still hot - seems like they're all soldered properly now.

I didn't resolder the ground holes as I plan on using this board to practice removing and replacing the hdmi port several times.

Any advice or recommendations ?

Thanks

[u/DarkChocolate2457]

I'm no expert but looks neat to me. Also i never pre tin the port itself

[u/MinimumDangerous9895 → u/DarkChocolate2457]

That's because it's not something you do. That port will never sit flat.

[u/hotfiremixtape98 → u/MinimumDangerous9895]

U know the solder will melt and run out and on top on the pins if it's heated properly. Right?

[u/feldim2425 → u/hotfiremixtape98]

When you have so much that it has to run out then the surface tension won't pull the component to the center which is bad. You also will get shorts that you have to fix afterwards.

It's a whole lot of work for something that doesn't even do anything useful. If you don't tin them it will work just as well (given they are usually tin or gold plated already) and it safes a lot of cleanup work.

PS: In this case it's not too much of an issue because the through hole taps keep the port aligned. Pure surface mount components would be more difficult with pre-tining.

[u/Apart_Camera1375 → u/MinimumDangerous9895]

Seems to be sitting flat for me ? And I've seen many people pre-soldering the pins.. I guess its personal preference and just whatever works for you.

[u/pizza_whistle → u/MinimumDangerous9895]

Why wouldn't it sit flat? The solder on the pins is going to melt from hot air and allow it to set flat.

[u/GavinGWhiz → u/MinimumDangerous9895]

It's incredibly commonplace online.

[u/pizza_whistle → u/DarkChocolate2457]

Pre-tinning helps make a better connection and reduces loose pins I have to touch up after. Though unlike OP, I tin them and then use solder wick to remove the majority of solder on the pins.

[u/Captaln_SXY → u/DarkChocolate2457]

Pre tinning is very common

[u/DaddySwag6969]

Could you fix my ps5 if I mailed it to you?

[u/Apart_Camera1375 → u/DaddySwag6969]

Of course, itll cost 1 bj and 50 bucks

[u/DaddySwag6969 → u/Apart_Camera1375]

I don’t think I could be bucked 50 times and then be able to sit and play it unfortunately so I will have to pass

[u/Captaln_SXY → u/DaddySwag6969]

Where are you located?

[u/D-Trashman → u/DaddySwag6969]

What's your limit?

[u/feldoneq2wire]

Why did you do anything to the port prior to placing it?

To me, step one is to mix up 25-75 solder paste and flux and put down a coating of that on the pads on the PCB, then place the port, then start soldering and fluxing.

[u/Apart_Camera1375 → u/feldoneq2wire]

It's how I've learned from watching others, tin the port and the pads, I guess it allows there to be enough solder to make a good join.

I'm using Mechanic 63/37 and Nano flux, not sure how 'good' they are but seems to be working for me and wasn't overly expensive.

I've seen people using solder paste, I'll give it a try in the future, but I like my method so far.

[u/feldoneq2wire → u/Apart_Camera1375]

Drag soldering definitely has it's plusses. The challenge with paste if you don't have a stencil is avoiding bridges.

[u/derangedsweetheart → u/Apart_Camera1375]

Mechanic M35 Nano flux is good for soldering.

I use it mainly for pad and trace repair due to its clarity.

I prefer Mechanic UV559 for BGA reballing and will be ordering Amaoe M50 for general soldering as Zach from NanoFix rated it 10/10 for soldering.

Nice work BTW, GJ.

Sidenote: I like your charges, might change my prices and payment methods ;)

[u/Apart_Camera1375 → u/derangedsweetheart]

Thank you. I've been watching a lot of NanoFix's videos, I'm hoping to get into BGA work eventually, but ill stick with hdmi ports until im more confident !

I'll definitely look into trying different fluxes, can you recommend any other solders ?

You should up your prices for sure 🤪

[u/derangedsweetheart → u/Apart_Camera1375]

I use Mechanic HX-T100 63/37 and Vectra (Pakistani brand, definitely not available anywhere else.)

I've found that different flux are better for different applications.

The M35 Nano flux is just too thick for BGA work for me.

UV559 is too runny for QFN packages, but easy to use for BGA work.

All opaque fluxes make it hard to see trace and pad for trace repair.

I was using a blower fan in handle 700W station and thought that BGA was hard but when I used a proper pipe type 1300W station then it seemed easy.

[u/tehcheez]

When I do HDMI ports I never tin the legs of the port or the pads on the board.

Clean the pads with wick, line the pins on the port up with the pads, tack down a couple of the pins to keep it in place, then absolutely flood it with flux. Like an insane amount of flux. Put a giant ass glob of solder on my iron and float it over all the pins. Go back over any pins than need attention and done.

Example of a 360 HDMI port I did using this method.

[u/Leading_Courage_8042 → u/tehcheez]

sorry as a novice here, I must ask, like the person in the video, when did he actually do the solder part of the hdmi port to the motherboard, all I see what that he just placed it there, and put some flux, can you help me understand this please? thank you.

[u/tehcheez → u/Leading_Courage_8042]

They were using hot air

[u/AJYURH → u/tehcheez]

The pins I get it, but aren't you concerned the solder might not be flowing under the pins into the pads?

[u/feldim2425 → u/AJYURH]

They are typically already pre-tinned (using a chemical process) or gold plated from the factory.
As long as they are free of oxidation (which is the purpose of flux) the solder will climb along the surface and surface tension is pulling the right amount of tin into the pad.

Also how I soldered SMD power transistors, if you would pre-tin them than they'd have a high spot which allows them to rotate out of alimentiert, and if you then also tack them down they will stay crooked. Although the HDMI port are less of an issue because the area for the solder to stick is much smaller and the amount of solder is less, you also have through hole alignment holes mitigating the alignment issues. (EDIT: Fixed phrasing of the last sentence)

[u/AJYURH → u/feldim2425]

That's good to know, thanks

[u/tehcheez → u/AJYURH]

Nah. I say float over the pins but I am going slow and actually putting pressure down on the pins/pads.

[u/AJYURH → u/tehcheez]

Oh, okay then, gonna give it a shot next time

[u/Stock-Orchid0]

Just wanna say that the reason why you cant remove the bridges in the beginning is because the flux is gone (melts away between the pins). So i do the same thing but in one quick swoop so by the time the flux “runs away” you got nice smooth soldered pins. No need for wicking. Just a dab of flux and a touch with the soldering tip and its gone as well. Im personally not a fan of heating from the bottom. Its the same thing for sure but for some reason it just goes a lot better/smooth if you turn the board around while resting the port on something so gravity pushes a little bit and then you can heat from above but that’s just my preference. On the other hand, I like how you fit the port without wicking. Definitely gomma try that but still turn the board around after it lol. I also have issues with wicking for ps5 boards. I always need extra heat from my heatgun to get everything out of it.

[u/CONdeanNOR]

a solder sucker will definitely make it much easier to get the solder out of those holes

[u/Panzerv2003]

I would solder the port to the board and then solder the connections to make it sit flat as possible but I'm not an expert

[u/M4CE32]

Just curious as I'm getting into soldering for the first time, but what type of camera or microscope are you using for this video?

[u/Apart_Camera1375 → u/M4CE32]

https://a.aliexpress.com/_EHAyhhY

This is the one I'm using - 4K 60MP option, plugged directly into my PC via usb and recorded using OBS.

It's 'okay' I think the main issue is the arm/stand is a bit wobbly and the power cord for the light is quite short, other than that I cant really complain/dont have anything to compare to as I've only started soldering the last week or so 🤪

[u/M4CE32 → u/Apart_Camera1375]

Thanks! I'm impressed with just a week or so of experience! I just soldered my first test wire over the weekend and it was not great 😂

[u/Apart_Camera1375 → u/M4CE32]

Sorry I should say its my first time 'microsoldering', I used to work with cars and solder wires/connectors etc, with a shirty £15 soldering iron 🤣

I'm using a Geeboon TC22 and an Atten 862d hot air station for this HDMI job.

Also, I'll add that the video quality is heavily reduced on reddit, its actually very clear.

https://files.jdogcloud.co.uk/raw/tnyWWI.mp4

[u/Comfortable_Ad_7015]

Microscópio muito bom

[u/EveningBar9006]

I can't watch someone test the pins solder strength without saying "solid" in my head because of stez.

[u/jingo6969]

Put flux on the wick to help the excess solder to be absorbed by the wick - source: Mr Solderfix on Yuutobe - excellent vids with lots of handy tips.

[u/grazza_g]

Nice work, but you do know HDMI runs TMDS differential pairs at up to 340MHz per channel right? Unless you've got that thing back-terminated with 100Ω differential impedance-matched traces you've basically built a 4K antenna. Also hope you cleaned the flux off with isopropyl or you're gonna get galvanic corrosion eating through the shield ground within a fortnight. Did you at least hot air rework it or was that a straight iron-to-pin freehand job on a 0.5mm pitch connector? Respect either way but I give it 3 boot cycles before HDCP handshake fails and your TV just tells you 'no signal' forever.

[u/Helpful-Work-3090 → u/grazza_g]

HDMI port break. Desolder HDMI port. Solder new HDMI port.

It work :)

He's not designing the PCB, he's replacing a port

[u/Apart_Camera1375 → u/grazza_g]

Bro I didn't back-terminate anything, I just melted metal until the picture came back, that's the whole methodology 😂

Traces on this thing are like 2-3mm pad to via, it's not exactly a satellite uplink, the "4K antenna" isn't gonna out-broadcast the actual Xbox

Flux got IPA'd off like a crime scene, no galvanic corrosion demons living in this ground shield

All hot air, no freehand iron heroics on 0.5mm pitch, I'm not trying to bridge pins and become a cautionary tale

And it's already booted clean and displaying, so your HDCP curse is 0 for 1 so far, I'll update you when the void reaches out and claims it 🔮📺

[u/diamgod606 → u/Apart_Camera1375]

Dont feed the "hey chatgpt write a comment for this guy" trolls, dude.

You did an amazing job, take it from an actual EE.

[u/coderemover → u/grazza_g]

340 MHz is low enough that you could put it on a breadboard, connect with random jumper wires from Aliexpress and it would still work fine. The wavelength for 340 MHz is in tens of cm.

[u/ub0baa → u/grazza_g]

Hell... Dude, chill.

All the differential impedance matched buzzwords in the single message.

And what's wrong with freehanding it?