The pictures make everything look so big but, oh man, when you open that monster up...
This is what i get for believing the advertising; hardly a task for amateurs.
I can't get the solder to stick well and it always comes out in big globules, melting together into the neighboring connections. I'm assuming that's a real problem. Would getting flux help even a noobie solderer to string more compliant solder?
Yes , flux can deffinately help i modded my wiikey d2b with cut legs first mod ever with wiikey, i did practise alot though ,
if you think them points are small try soldering to the tiny ic legs , i have an argon to install for a friend, but i have also practised on an old motherboard ic (very tiny),
its supprising how far a newbie can get with patience and practise. :D
Few Tips : Flux all points genorously but not too much as to flow on toother points.
you only need to dab a tiny amount of solder on the points via the iron as the contacts have plenty of solder there allready
Amazing. 9 hours of effort later and it works. Of course, I bust a nut putting it back together and must've tightened too much because now the DVD won't read or eject. >_<
It's certainly not easy by any means but it was just accomplished (kind of) by a guy who didn't even know what soldering was till about a week ago. If you have any confidence at all, wiikey is the way to go.
ya man, same with me. The wiikey was my first ever soldering, and I didn't know anything about soldering. Got my wiikey, read stuff about soldering, bought my equipment and had it all up in running in like 2 hours.
I bet the pros can do the whole thing in less than 15 minutes.
My first mod took me 2-3 hours. I had previously modded couple PS2's so I had some soldering experience. Preparation actually helps ALOT like using flux (on both the wires and the board) and pre-tinning (coating the surface with a small amount of solder) the wires and the contacts on the Wii. Then all you need to do is to heat the wire for about a second or 2 with the gun and while the wire is touching the solder point and it would make a solid connection. Now it takes me about 30 minutes to do one.