Help With Install Needed PLEASE

[odingalt]

Thanks for posting the pics! Good pics!

Check the little black part near "D8". It's on the back side near the white plastic base of the right trigger. It's a little black part with three silver legs. One of the silver legs has a glob of solder on it still. That solder might be connecting the leg of the D8 diode to the ground plain. This particular circuit board has a ground plain (I think) which is pretty common of circuit boards. Basically any part of the circuit board that isn't use for other copper traces may be connected to the ground plain (which is the same as ground). Some reasons for using a ground plain include heat dissipation and lower production costs (less etching of the copper, meaning longer life of the chemicals used, etc.)

I will keep looking over the pics but that was the first thing that stood out. Try using your iron to clean that solder off.

 

[odingalt]

Steve do you have any soldering flux in your toolkit? It might help you clean up some of those connections, I see a couple other connections with some solder clumped on there, but based on the camera angle I can't tell if those other areas are causing a problem or not. In any case, a little flux plus soldering braid would do wonders in cleaning up a few of those connections. If you don't have flux in your toolkit you must pick some up, I was in Radio Shack a few weeks ago and they still carry flux (albeit not my favorite brand, the stuff is probably pretty toxic so use in well ventilated area only!!!!)

If you ask me what soldering flux is, I have no idea. It's a chemical that makes solder "wetter". In fact most solders that you buy will be "flux core" solder, meaning there is a little bit of flux actually in the core of the solder itself. That's why you might notice when you are soldering that the place you are soldering looks like it gets a little pool of liquid around it. That's the flux in the solder. But once you've soldered, re-soldered and then removed a wire from a connection, all that flux has burned off and it can help a lot to add more flux by itself to wet the solder again.

(I'm not an expert, I know a guy that's certified in this stuff that has helped me understand do's and don'ts of sensitive electronics, but I don't want to call him this late to ask him about flux )

 

[odingalt]

Sorry this back and forth on the forums is taking so long, here are the other connections to check out:

http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/3424/bottomcleanup.jpg

Red means you could use some flux to clean up.
Pink means you could just use household rubbing alcohol and a cotton Q-tip to clean that area up without harm to the circuit board.

Edit, I just messed up one of the rings, the pink farthest to the right was supposed to be red for flux cleanup. And one of the red rings was supposed to be pink for Q-tip and rubbing alcohol cleanup. Sorry I am very tired I am going on 13 hours of work today Hopefully you can figure out which ones need soldering iron + flux and which ones need q-tip + alcohol.

 

[StevenSteinbeck]

Sorry this back and forth on the forums is taking so long, here are the other connections to check out:

http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/3424/bottomcleanup.jpg

Red means you could use some flux to clean up.
Pink means you could just use household rubbing alcohol and a cotton Q-tip to clean that area up without harm to the circuit board.

Edit, I just messed up one of the rings, the pink farthest to the right was supposed to be red for flux cleanup. And one of the red rings was supposed to be pink for Q-tip and rubbing alcohol cleanup. Sorry I am very tired I am going on 13 hours of work today Hopefully you can figure out which ones need soldering iron + flux and which ones need q-tip + alcohol.

Ok thanks for the info. I will clean everything up that you have specified when I get home today/

 

[odingalt]

Let us know if you have any luck getting one of those two circuit boards so at least they will sync again.

 

[StevenSteinbeck]

Ok, back with an update. Completed everything with precision in the photo (thanks so much for that help odingalt) and it now syncs! I will be very careful when installing these wires and I will keep you guys updated!. BTW I will be completing 1 controller and then working on the next one because that one is for my brother. So the syncing one is the one that I am finishing up first.

 

[odingalt]

Steven, great to hear it! Thanks for sticking with it and posting the pics, and glad you were able to get it sync'ing again.

 

[40_ounce]

Glad you got it working..... POst pics of the finished product.