I figured out how to ruin a Nano today. I bought three a while ago that needed the pin headers soldered on. I soldered on up a few months ago and everything was fine. Today I decided to solder another one for a project. The soldering wasn't the best job but it was passable. So I went to load up a sketch and I kept getting a loading error. I made sure I had the right board selected in the IDE, the right port and the "old bootloader", these boards won't load without it. To check the USB cord I got out the first Nano because I know it works. The sketch loaded fine. So then I got the magnifying glass out, the 10x one, and took a really good look at the solder spots. That's when I noticed a small dab of solder on two of the ATmega328 pins. Ooops. I figured that was the problem. I noticed when I plugged the Nano into the computer with the USB all 16 of the LEDs I have on the breadboard came on and stayed on. I figured that wasn't right. I think the solder "shorted" the two pins. I tried to get the solder off with my iron and solder sucker. That made it worse because I ended up getting solder on a couple more pins. I did what I could to save it but when I plugged in the USB cable the LED on the board didn't light and I quickly got a loading error. Oh well. I got the third Nano out and soldered it and it works fine. I realized what I did when I was soldering is not turn the board so the pins I was soldering were closest to me. I turned the third board. The other board when I was reaching over it to solder the farther pins I got solder on the chip pins.

Have you got any desoldering braid ?

Show us good images of the soldering. Buy some liquid soldering flux, comes in a pen too. [image] [image]

[image] UKHeliBob: Have you got any desoldering braid ? No but I was wishing I did when I was trying to get the solder off. I need to get some and see if I can save the Nano [image] LarryD: Show us good images of the soldering. The amount of solder left on the pins is so small I can barely see it with a magnifying glass. Here is the best image I can get with the macro setting on my phone. [Nano #1]

[image] Share tips you have come across General Electronics When using an ‘soldering iron’ along with Solder Wick to remove excess solder, there is a good chance you will damage or lift PCB pads. Ideally you want to place as little pressure on the wick and solder joint as possible. On the other hand, if you use a ‘hot air wand’ instead of an iron, there is no chance of damaging a PCB pad. Tools and supplies needed: Hot air Wand with a ~4mm nozzle Kapton or heat resistant aluminum tape 2 mm Solder Wick liquid flux ceramic tweezers (reverse) IPA to cl… [image] [image] [image]

Just put a little paste/liquid flux on it and reflow it gently with the iron. A little pull back away from the IC with the tip, will usually clear away the blobs that are shorting the pins. Start close to the IC and sweep gently down and away. It may be that you don't have to actually remove any solder, this way, other than what sticks to the iron.

Share tips you have come across use a ‘hot air wand’ instead of an iron [image] anon57585045: Just put a little paste/liquid flux on it and reflow it gently Good ideas. I have a soldering station with a heat gun. I could combine it with the paste to see if I can flow the solder out.

Heat gun is overkill and will stress nearby components without need. Also the blobs won't go away with a heat gun - they will only cling even better to the pins. I've removed shorts like those ones, hundreds, maybe thousands of times with the iron. The secret is - when the iron is clean, it attracts solder. So it will "vacuum" it up. but not without flux!!

First invest in some liquid flux.

[image] anon57585045: and will stress nearby components without need Yes. If you have Aluminum tape components can be shield from heat. Cannot stress enough the OP needs flux.

Awesome, I got the Nano to work. The soldering tip on the soldering station iron is long and really thin, pointy. I painted some paste flux on the pins with the extra solder and used the very tip of the tip. I made sure it was really clean and almost no solder on it. The tip pulled the extra solder right off, almost too much. So now the Nano is working and blinking away. Thanks for all the help. Yes, I need to get some liquid flux, it's at the top of my list.

How To Ruin A Nano

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LarryD January 10, 2023, 11:18pm 5

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How To Ruin A Nano

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