I joined just to tell everyone that is thinking of putting in your own Wiikey, not to get discouraged by all the people talking smack about how difficult it is to install a WiiKey.
I have no previous experience soldering whatsoever and was able to make the cleanest install of a wiikey that i Have ever seen, using the quicksolder method.
Some tips for first-timers I found usefull and not.
-Practice on some crappy chip board for some other device to get used to what the solder will do and react to the contact points- I used an old Guitar effects pedal board that had bitten the dust a long time ago.
-Flux did nothing for me - I bought it thinking that i was going to use it and didnt end up using it, actually on the test board I was using with the flux, it ended up actually causing more bad aspects than good.
-do the small contact points first, and take your time - this will build your confidence as you progress
-use a 15 Watt soldering iron (or less), with a very fine tip (the smaller the better) I ended up getting a 9 watt one since the CT store that I bought it at did not have a 15. - I also read somewhere that the ColdHeat iron gets waaaay to hot for the job at hand.
-I did not need a tri-wing screwdriver, I managed to do the job just fine - with a small philips head with for the triwing screws- except, the ones holding the Wii face on - see next point.
- The face of the Wii (The part with the logo on it) does not need to come off - you can slide the other parts in and out without taking it off.
- Double check your Wii chipboard Model # with the online versioning check. to make sure the Wiikey is compatible with your system.
I hope this helps anyone thinking about putting in their own chip - good luck.
Originally posted by irreality: I joined just to tell everyone that is thinking of putting in your own Wiikey, not to get discouraged by all the people talking smack about how difficult it is to install a WiiKey.
I have no previous experience soldering whatsoever and was able to make the cleanest install of a wiikey that i Have ever seen, using the quicksolder method.
Some tips for first-timers I found usefull and not.
-Practice on some crappy chip board for some other device to get used to what the solder will do and react to the contact points- I used an old Guitar effects pedal board that had bitten the dust a long time ago.
-Flux did nothing for me - I bought it thinking that i was going to use it and didnt end up using it, actually on the test board I was using with the flux, it ended up actually causing more bad aspects than good.
-do the small contact points first, and take your time - this will build your confidence as you progress
-use a 15 Watt soldering iron (or less), with a very fine tip (the smaller the better) I ended up getting a 9 watt one since the CT store that I bought it at did not have a 15. - I also read somewhere that the ColdHeat iron gets waaaay to hot for the job at hand.
-I did not need a tri-wing screwdriver, I managed to do the job just fine - with a small philips head with for the triwing screws- except, the ones holding the Wii face on - see next point.
- The face of the Wii (The part with the logo on it) does not need to come off - you can slide the other parts in and out without taking it off.
- Double check your Wii chipboard Model # with the online versioning check. to make sure the Wiikey is compatible with your system.
I hope this helps anyone thinking about putting in their own chip - good luck.
If you do intend to do the install yourself, make sure you know EXACTLY what you are doing...try and find a video that you can go along with whilst installing.
Also make sure you get a decent soldering iron. My "quality" soldering iron soldered to itself more than anything, so my install didn't work.
The process is actually quite easy (using the quick solder install) as said above, and good luck to anyone having a go!
