soldering iron

[mickyyoungplumb]

Evening, the last time i used a soldering iron was in school! i am a plumber so use a gun all the time so i understand the principles of soldering. What im doing is making a joint on an ecu from my van. I need to make a link between two points. What is the thin metal used to make the bond???

 

[Iggifer]

solder? or am i being stupid?

It's a lot thinner than plumbers solder but it's still solder

 

[EFLImpudence]

I think what is meant is the conductive paths on a pcb - I think.

Just use a piece of wire.

 

[mickyyoungplumb]

correct, the conductive path. Its such a tiny little leg, but i want to give it a go before i pay for a new one. It's super thin metal, where will i pick that up from? or get a piece from.

 

[RF Lighting]

Just use a bit of copper wire in place of the failed track.

 

[Choppy]

To make a soldered link, you need tinned wire. You can buy this or run solder down say a piece of 1mm copper cable (multistrand).
You can try and make a bridge with thin solderr, but you need a soldering iron and not a gas iron to do this. If you have any old diodes or resistors, use the legs of these to make the bridging wire you need

 

[mickyyoungplumb]

im literally getting up at 7 to go buy an iron and some solder, mayby il just buy a resistor and use the leg from it

 

[mattylad]

You still need the iron and solder though.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

mayby il just buy a resistor and use the leg from it

What - you really have no access whatsoever to any type of wire or cable?

 

[mickyyoungplumb]

yes i know i still need an iron and solder and yes i do have some heat resistance flex in my van. So i can just use a strip of thin copper strips?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

A flex core will be fine, as long as it isn't too big and heavy to fit properly - tail wagging the dog and all that.

 

[bernardgreen]

If this is PCB repair then you need to be carefull as soldering wire to a broken PCB track can result in the track detaching from the board. Removing the solder resist coating from a thin track can weaken the track at the point you attach the link.

The best way is to connect the new link to the legs of components either side of the damaged track.

Tack the link to the board with dots of glue.

 

[JohnW2]

Its such a tiny little leg, but i want to give it a go before i pay for a new one. It's super thin metal, where will i pick that up from? or get a piece from.

The advice you've been given is all good. Just one point - if this PCB track 'burnt out', that could well have been for a good reason (e.g. a fault somewhere in the ECU), in which case repairing the track may not solve the problem. Indeed, if you replace a burned-out track with a more meaty piece of wire, it could possibly immediately fail in a somewhat more dramatic fashion (since the replacement wire will allow more current to flow before it 'burns out') once you have repaired the track.

Kind Regards, John