Soldering-newbie: P5-header o.k. ?

[mikekiwi]

Hi,

I want to add a HifiBerry Digi to my Pi, but the P5-header wasn't already in place. I'm not very experienced in soldering such relatively tiny components (only hardwired loudspeaker crossovers), so I'm not sure if everything is o.k. now.

I attached a picture of my result, does that seem o.k.? I hope you can tell from this image...

Thanks

[ShiftPlusOne]

It should work, but I have a few tips. You have large blobs of solder and it's not even covering the pads. Look at the header next to it for comparison - much less solder and making full contact. When you solder, hold the iron so that it touches the pad and the pin at the same time, then hold the solder on the other side of the pad and let it flow around to the iron side. You may need to tap the solder against the iron briefly to get it started or lightly tin the iron first, otherwise you'd just be sitting there waiting for it to flow and potentially damaging the pad with too much heat.

[joan]

You made a far better job of soldering to P5 than I did. Mine is a right mess, but it does work.

[mikekiwi]

It should work, but I have a few tips. You have large blobs of solder and it's not even covering the pads. Look at the header next to it for comparison - much less solder and making full contact. When you solder, hold the iron so that it touches the pad and the pin at the same time, then hold the solder on the other side of the pad and let it flow around to the iron side. You may need to tap the solder against the iron briefly to get it started or lightly tin the iron first, otherwise you'd just be sitting there waiting for it to flow and potentially damaging the pad with too much heat.

Thanks for the tips, I thought I tried it this way, but I should practice this more often I tested the set-up last evening and the Digi produces sound, so I think it works indeed!

[mikekiwi]

You made a far better job of soldering to P5 than I did. Mine is a right mess, but it does work.

[Paul Webster]

You made a far better job of soldering to P5 than I did. Mine is a right mess, but it does work.

Same for me. I nearly bought a new soldering iron and guide book yesterday ... but decided that I'll not be risking it again for quite a while!

[BMS Doug]

I've had some bad soldering experiences, every time I needed to solder something it turned out badly.

I recently bought a temperature controlled Soldering Iron and my soldering is so much better, having a good Iron makes a big difference.
I bought this one



Doug.

[ShiftPlusOne]

For the folks struggling with soldering, I recommend EEVBlog's tutorials on the matter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYz5nIHH0iY

[mikekiwi]

I've had some bad soldering experiences, every time I needed to solder something it turned out badly.

I recently bought a temperature controlled Soldering Iron and my soldering is so much better, having a good Iron makes a big difference.
I bought this one



Doug.

Hi Doug, I've got this one :

not as fancy as yours, but I can control the temp. The hard thing is to judge for which task I need which temperature....

[mikekiwi]

For the folks struggling with soldering, I recommend EEVBlog's tutorials on the matter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYz5nIHH0iY

Thanks, will definitely check this when I'm at home

[BMS Doug]

Hi Doug, I've got this one :

not as fancy as yours, but I can control the temp. The hard thing is to judge for which task I need which temperature....

mine just looks fancy, it's not really anything special (I had to add pads underneath the holder, it didn't come with any).

Judging by part one of the video you want to set your iron to about 350 DegC for most soldering tasks.

I have the following notes from watching part 2 (the linked video):
He's very enthusiastic but has a very annoying speech pattern
If you find his speech as annoying as I did you could probably Fast forward sections of it.
his first solder application is at about 4min.
the next good section is from 18 mins - 21 mins
eventually you get used to his speech pattern and don't feel that fast forwarding is the entire solution.

notes on Part 1 of video:
temperature of soldering Iron (23mins)
answer to question asked at 26mins 38 seconds: "because you can't get to the point."