I so badly want to learn how to fix old tech like this. I’m fascinated by the tech repair YouTubers that can bring an old gba back to life. Someone I know has an old Pokemon Crystal with a dead battery from childhood and was broken up about losing their childhood save. I don’t think it’s possible to bring the file back but I’d love to get the cart working again at least.
For the most part you do not need expensive JBC tools or some super expensive testing tools.
If you plan to dive in, start simple with some USB soldering iron, multimeter and some cheap 20V labratory PSU. I found FNIRSI offers a USB-PD soldering iron with JBC tips for under $100 that is comparable to Weller 80W professional soldering station I got at work.
The other part is just trial and error. Try with simple electronics or guides. Get the general idea on how things work. Most of problems are already solved. It is easy to find repair guide for some old gaming tech or how to chip your consoles.
Just so you know, the orange tape is called Kapton tape. It’s useful for higher temperature work (such as soldering) since it can continue to stick up to 400°C.
Pinecil, haven’t heard of that. I’ll take a look, thanks! Is there anything you used to practice ahead of time? Before jumping right into the actually hardware you were trying to fix?
Another happy owner of a pinecil here. For me it gets plenty hot and works great. There isn’t a battery though, you’re meant to use it wired with either USB C PD 65 Watts or 12V standard size barrel plug at similar wattage. More info on the pinecil wiki: https://wiki.pine64.org/wiki/Pinecil_Power_Supplies
Maybe, but it is pretty affordable (~$26 USD), the hardware and software is open source, and it is very portable due to the lack of a soldering station. It is also temp adjustable and has features like temp boost for heat sucking components like ground planes. For nerds, they have a risc-v devboard that you can use with the soldering iron’s CPU. So, there are reasons it has a CPU, but some would probably still prefer a regular dumb soldering iron.
I so badly want to learn how to fix old tech like this. I’m fascinated by the tech repair YouTubers that can bring an old gba back to life. Someone I know has an old Pokemon Crystal with a dead battery from childhood and was broken up about losing their childhood save. I don’t think it’s possible to bring the file back but I’d love to get the cart working again at least.
For the most part you do not need expensive JBC tools or some super expensive testing tools.
If you plan to dive in, start simple with some USB soldering iron, multimeter and some cheap 20V labratory PSU. I found FNIRSI offers a USB-PD soldering iron with JBC tips for under $100 that is comparable to Weller 80W professional soldering station I got at work.
The other part is just trial and error. Try with simple electronics or guides. Get the general idea on how things work. Most of problems are already solved. It is easy to find repair guide for some old gaming tech or how to chip your consoles.
Have fun!
the hardest part of soldering is holding the damn thing in place. if you have something to clamp it, it becomes a hell of a lot easier.
Lol yeah I’ve seen people use fancy microscope looking things and using that orange tape to tape it to a surface depending on where they to solder.
Just so you know, the orange tape is called Kapton tape. It’s useful for higher temperature work (such as soldering) since it can continue to stick up to 400°C.
That’s the name! I kept thinking Krafton but no…that’s the company who’s in trouble for doing those shenanigans with Subnautica 2 lol.
It’s not hard. My Game Gears were broken and now I fixed 4 of them by replacing all caps.
I got the Pinecil for soldering and it’s so easy to use and versatile. I got a couple of flux pens so the result looks nice and clean.
Pinecil, haven’t heard of that. I’ll take a look, thanks! Is there anything you used to practice ahead of time? Before jumping right into the actually hardware you were trying to fix?
I went right off the deep end. I followed along with someone else doing it, some YT video.
Oh damn lol. Brave.
Just took a look at the pinecil. That looks pretty slick. Have you run into any issues with it? Battery not lasting or it not getting hot enough?
Another happy owner of a pinecil here. For me it gets plenty hot and works great. There isn’t a battery though, you’re meant to use it wired with either USB C PD 65 Watts or 12V standard size barrel plug at similar wattage. More info on the pinecil wiki: https://wiki.pine64.org/wiki/Pinecil_Power_Supplies
Also, here’s some more general info about pinecil from their wiki: https://wiki.pine64.org/wiki/Pinecil
Seems a bit over-engineered to me. Why would a soldering iron need a CPU?
Maybe, but it is pretty affordable (~$26 USD), the hardware and software is open source, and it is very portable due to the lack of a soldering station. It is also temp adjustable and has features like temp boost for heat sucking components like ground planes. For nerds, they have a risc-v devboard that you can use with the soldering iron’s CPU. So, there are reasons it has a CPU, but some would probably still prefer a regular dumb soldering iron.