2018-05-23, 15:39
(This post was last modified: 2018-05-23, 17:15 by andycrofts.)
(2018-05-12, 13:23)Cutty Wrote:(2018-05-12, 07:45)andycrofts Wrote:(2016-05-14, 21:01)andyweather Wrote: Thats a shame its no good to me then as i cannot solder.
Will have to stay with system red.
Can't you find a kind enthusiastic 12-year-old to build it for you? I have to ask the neighbours' kid to program the video recorder...But, then I'm old and smell of pee...Seriously, soldering is not hard, about 20 minutes of practice will get you going. You'll need both thin and 'normal' solder, and I'd advise getting a reel of solder braid if you need to take off some excess - which happens! Nice to have is a flux pen, (Like a whiteboard pen) and wipe over each set of pads where you're gonna put the next part. Makes soldering a bit easier. So, soldering iron, solder, braid, flux pen, nice pair of tweezers - adds less than €50 to total (banggood.com's maybe a good place to look first if you haven't got an electronics shop nearby).
HTH
-Andyt
I disagree strongly with this ...
It appears to me that Andyweather evaluated his situation, experience, and confidence, appropriately, and KUDOs to him.
This advice appears to come from someone who has not completed and placed a system into operation....though his general thoughts are not "incorrect" , the suggestion of 20 minutes practice, or help from an enthusiastic i12 year old can be dangerous to your pocketbook and peace of mind.... and certainly to your system's operational integrity.
While the few parts that require installation are quite simple in over-view, especially to those of us with experience, those components and their installation are 'Mission Critical". This final assembly IS NOT the scenario for a person to practice or learn soldering techniques, who doesn't have the proper tools, etc, . even though the actual install does not require the extensive list of 'solder' equipment mentioned... and actually take only a few minutes for someone with experience....
.... the boards have extremely small paths, dual sided... In much of the circuitry those paths are designed with inductance and distance, capacitance, as a consideration.... the connectors can be damaged by excessive heat, especially since they will require two levels of heat to properly install, and a large proportion of issues in operation can be traced to poor soldering overheating, under heating, microscopic bridges... etc
Don't underestimate your abilities, but don't overestimate them either... I for one would not depend on 20 minutes of learning to insure the operation of a system I'd waited months for, and invested a bit of money into....
Well, I disagree. I built my first radio at 8 years old, my first transmitter when I was 12. Soldering was easy for me, as learning languages are easy for some (fortunate) folks - not I, however. Yeah, maybe 20 minutes is a bit short. Certainly an afternoon would be sufficient. Plenty of videos on YouTube to follow. I certainly didn't suggest practice on "the Real Thing" - that would be stupid, as would assuming I actually meant that be stupid.
I'm now 62 (halfway to the mis-typed 112) and my last project, 2 years ago after 10 years' inactive unemployment was to design, layout and build - single-handedly - a data logger. I used (then) Cadsoft Eagle, and a PCB manufacturer in China. Never did Surface mount before. (Not designed/laid out a PCB for at least 30 years). When the boards came I assembled 6, by hand. I'd used 0805 components, as my eyesight isn't good enough for 0402 or 0604 anymore. All 6 worked first time as designed. All I had were the tools I listed - plus a magnifying glass. 64-pin XMEGA256A4 processor wasn't a problem - neither was anything else. It's possible. Just a bit of (As the Finns say) "Sisu".