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Defective soldering on Quickstart board — Parallax Forums

Defective soldering on Quickstart board

Jeff HaasJeff Haas Posts: 421
in Propeller 1
I was trying to learn Spin and was trying something on my Quickstart board, and found that some of the pins just weren't responding.  This was making me go around in circles (Do I understand the pin numbering right?  Do I not understand how to blink an LED in Spin???) until I took a very close look at the solder joints that hold the header down.  Many of them in the center of the header have little or no solder on them.  It seems the center of the header got no solder applied at all.  A quick test with the multitester showed that that was the problem.

Question: Has anyone else seen this?

I'm going to try to fix this myself, I hope I can get it right!

Comments

  • VonSzarvasVonSzarvas Posts: 3,450
    That sounds annoying.

    Any chance you could post "before" and "after" photo of the solder joints, so we can see what you found, and how you could fix it ?

    Or at least a "before" image.... some of the soldering gurus here might be able to offer some tips!


  • TorTor Posts: 2,010
    It sounds like something may have gone wrong in production of that board. All my Quickstart boards are perfect though.
  • Jeff HaasJeff Haas Posts: 421
    Ok, I've tried fixing a few of the joints, but this is almost beyond
    me.  My cell phone camera is good enough to get this.  The ones on the
    right are obviously what I soldered, and you can see the ones in the
    middle without any solder on the pads.

    It's late and I'm going to bed!
    Quickstart soldering.jpg
    960 x 540 - 58K
  • LeonLeon Posts: 7,620
    Parallax will replace the board, if you tell them about it.
  • Cluso99Cluso99 Posts: 18,069
    Parallax are fantastic. Just let them know of the problem and they will replace it. Looks like the solder paste was not applied to these pins and the visual inspection missed it.
  • VonSzarvasVonSzarvas Posts: 3,450
    Hi Jeff !

    The guys are right to suggest you contact Parallax.

    They will get you going again... Here's the contact details:

    support@parallax.com or 888-997-8267

    All the best!

  • PublisonPublison Posts: 12,366
    edited 2015-07-23 15:43
    I bet if you call customer service, they would have one out today, and he would get a new one tomorrow. If you are have problems identifying pins, have them send you a :
    https://www.parallax.com/product/721-00017It makes pin ID wonderfull! :)


    Jim
    (Tech might want the other back to check where in the manufacturing process it went wrong)
  • Jeff HaasJeff Haas Posts: 421
    Thanks everyone!  I have sent an email to support.

    Jeff
  • Jeff HaasJeff Haas Posts: 421
    You guys were right - Parallax is replacing the board.  Thanks for the advice!
  • Cluso99Cluso99 Posts: 18,069
    No worries. Parallax is THE BEST company supporting their users with any problems like this. We have even seen them replace items even though it's been the users fault. Problems are few, but the service is great. Cannot ask for more than that.
  • Jeff HaasJeff Haas Posts: 421
    Update: They sent me a new board, and I also got out my Canon and took some good pics of the board and provided them to Parallax support.

    The new board arrived today (I'm in California) and I discovered there are some features that have been upgraded from version A - the pins can be accessed from the bottom of the board as well as the top, and they are also labelled on the bottom!

    Thanks again to everyone.


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