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New wiikey install, No previous soldering experience
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TriKlops
Newbie
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29. May 2007 @ 15:47 |
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So Today I wanna share with all of you my wiikey installation experience..
First of all I want you to know that I had absolutely no experience soldering anything prior to installing the wiikey.. and I want to say that if I had known what I was gonna encounter I wouldn't have even attempt it.. but I'm glad I did.
I used the wire method for my install and I followed a lot of tutorials that kept saying you have to put a bead of solder onto the points, and then put the wire on top... but my common sense told me that if alot of people had already melted their points trying this.. it must mean the points are made out of solder right? so this is what I did...
I touched a wire to its corresponding point and simply touched my soldering iron (15w) to the wire itself.. I thought, that if the heat transfered from the wire to the point I was golden.. and what do you know? heat from the wire itself went right onto the point, and since it wasn't too hot, it was quite enough to melt the point just enough so that the wire would sink into it.. I took the iron out and voila! a strong connection... I didnt use any solder onto the board and I'm glad I didn't since the points are so tiny and so close together I was sure I would bridge them..
The wiikey itself was another different matter however... cause they don't come with pre-solder.. so here's where I took close to 2 hours just to place the right amount of solder, so that I wouldn't bridge anything together either... for a few moments there I did touch points together.. but luckily the iron was still close by so that I could melt them apart.... People.. trust me! when people tell you to take your wii to a professional if you don't have experience soldering.. Listen to them! I was lucky enough my hands were not so trembly.. but it is a hard install if you haven't done this before... after a few close calls my wiikey was installed and ready to go.
So I went to try it out.. and what do you know.. neither, backups or original were booting up.. so I thought.. serves me right... but then.. I realized that the drive was making a funny noise everytime I would load up a disc.. it turns out the drive was being pressured onto the board when I screwed it back in.. so I loosened it up a bit, and put a cushion between the board and the drive... 2 pieces of double sided foam tape to be exact, so that it wouldnt be pressure between the board and the drive.. and what do you know.. originals and backups load like a charm!
I'm so glad this worked.. but I cannot stress this enough! if you have no experience don't risk it.
thanks for reading.. and if you have no experience, and still want to try I can try and answer any questions you might have, just remember, I'm not liable for whatever might happen to your wii or wiikey.
If If what you're about so say is not as beautiful as silence itself... Stay quiet
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Senior Member
13 product reviews
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29. May 2007 @ 20:43 |
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Could you maybe add some pics for people that would like to see how you did? You can use sites like ImageShack to upload pictures to Forums!
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I7aliano
Newbie
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29. May 2007 @ 21:45 |
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I'll be doing my mod tomorrow. I have enough confidence in myself to do the install, I have read lots of tutorials, and will be practicing like crazy tomorrow before I really try it. I mean damn, if I wussed out on my first computer build, where the hell would I be today as far as my knowledge with them?
One tip I read was always keep the iron tinned, and to tin the wires and apply flux paste to the tip of each point. Then put the wire to the contact, and let a bead of solder come off the iron to the flux and contact. Does this seem like a good method? Also, I heard it's a good idea to tin the chip as well, then do the same procedure with the iron and the wire mentioned above with the board.
Could you possible share links of the diagrams, pictures, and articles you used to do your research and get your knowledge from? That would be awesome. Lastly, did you use any special media to burn your images onto? I have some AVB dvd-r's, and bought some verbatim dvd-r's because I hear those work well. Thanks dude
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ziggi_83
Senior Member
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29. May 2007 @ 23:53 |
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Firstly Triklops can you post a link of the wire install guide you followed- i searched for some but i seem to get rubbish ones!
And italiano when you say tin do you me add some solder, how can you add solder to the iron would'nt it melt?
Also should i apply flux to the wire then tin it or do i tin the wire then apply flux?
Cheers
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I7aliano
Newbie
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30. May 2007 @ 00:32 |
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"Tinning" the iron is basically just adding a pin size amount of solder to the tip of the iron, which will attach itself to it, and stay. By tinning a contact point, flux is applied beforehand, which attracts the solder like crazy. Adding flux to the wire before you tin it will make your life easier, because again the flux will cause the solder to stick better to the wire. Watch some soldering videos on youtube dude, because if you don't know how to tin something, you should seriously not even think about messing with your wii before knowing what it is, this stuff is like soldering 101, it's essential to know. Oh yea, not to scare you guys, but this is a comparison to a quarter how big the wiikey is, it's super small.
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ziggi_83
Senior Member
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30. May 2007 @ 00:40 |
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Thanks
I knew what tin meant but i thought the solder would melt off the iron if you tin it :)
Have you got anylinks to good wiikey wire install guides
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TriKlops
Newbie
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30. May 2007 @ 04:06 |
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Thanx everyone. I will try to get a diagram of my install as soon as I can.
I did do a lot of research before I attempted this, and read a lot of guides, as well as practiced on an old lan card I had before I actually went and did the wii, but trust me, I didn't expect those points to be so small, so that is why it was more difficult than I thought.
Here's a couple of guides that imho explain the process a lot better than most:
http://psx-scene.com/forums/wiikey/54830...tall-guide.html
http://www.ps2-scene.org/m37r01d/Wiikey%20review.html
yes, tinning the points and the wires help, but when you're down there everything is not as easy as it seems, believe me. Personally I didn't use any flux or solder on the wii itself, like I said, I just placed the tip of the wire on the point itself, touched the tip of the iron to the wire and the heat transfered onto the point, making it melt enough to have the wire sink into it, very clean, very fast.
My troubles began on the wiikey itself where I had to add solder, but hope you have a steady hand and you should be fine.
For my media is really strange, because my wii seems to accept everything I throw at it! I have a 16x Memorex Double Layer Drive and I started with a sony DVD+R for the setup disk, then a Fujifilm DVD+R for twilight princess, an off-brand DVD-R for gamecube games all burnt at the maximum speeds (6x-12x) and the system isn't complaining.. but I decided that if I want to preserve the life of the lens I'm going to follow the advice given here and use verbatims for all my backups.
Good luck.
If If what you're about so say is not as beautiful as silence itself... Stay quiet
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