Desoldering capacitor help!

[Ibby]

Hi folks I hope you can help me. I have two vu+ duos in the house and both are just showing the red light. After doing some research on this site I changed the capacitor on one box and got it working fine.

Unfortunately on the second box when clipping the legs off the old capacitor I have by mistake cut too far down one of legs meaning it's impossible to solder the leg of a new capacitor to it. I have figured that I will have to take the board out and desolder the old capacitor and solder the new one. Are there any guides as to how to take the box apart and do this please?

If not I will have to find a repair shop (anyone know of any in the Derby area I would appreciate it). Thank you

[casuk]

Its very easy to remove the board, disconnect all leads and cables remove all screws and lift out board turn it over, use some flux and solder thread and remove the solder and tack the new cap and bend the cap away from HDD and reassemble

[Ibby]

Thanks Casuk will give it a go

[Ibby]

Well I tried to desolder it earlier today. I managed to get the board out from the box however my soldering iron simply could not melt the solder that is there (abit surprising as my soldering iron is 40w? Will have to purchase a stronger iron or does anyone have any other suggestions please?

[khan888]

Well I tried to desolder it earlier today. I managed to get the board out from the box however my soldering iron simply could not melt the solder that is there (abit surprising as my soldering iron is 40w? Will have to purchase a stronger iron or does anyone have any other suggestions please?

Edit: sorry misread the first post


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[abu baniaz]

Add some solder and flux to the existing solder.

[adm]

Well I tried to desolder it earlier today. I managed to get the board out from the box however my soldering iron simply could not melt the solder that is there (abit surprising as my soldering iron is 40w? Will have to purchase a stronger iron or does anyone have any other suggestions please?

During manufacture the excess flux will have been washed from the board. Solder without flux is hard to melt/remove. The trick is to resolder the joint with a rosin (flux) cored tin/lead solder before trying to melt it to remove it. You can buy flux pens/liquid flux etc. but the flux in a a new bit of solder should be sufficient.

Use only tin/lead solder. Lead free solder is the spawn of the devil.


http://tinyurl.com/pwmrtup


To make a thicker solder you can twist together multiple thin strands.

[Ibby]

Thanks for the help. I tried using some of that copper stuff but it didn't shift it. Will try your suggestion with the flux solder stuff

[adm]

Thanks for the help. I tried using some of that copper stuff but it didn't shift it. Will try your suggestion with the flux solder stuff

De-solder braid should be impregnated with flux but tends to dry out and becomes less effective with age. If the braid doesn't look nice and shiny its possibly old stock. Re-soldering the joint with fresh solder with an integral flux should help with the braid.


Youtube video explaining technique


https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=htrcZuK_ZsY#t=43
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Z38WsZFmq8E#t=18

[Ibby]

Thanks for the guidance I managed to resolder a new capacitor onto the board but I am still getting the red light only. Are there any other suggestions as to what else I can do? I just feel paranoid I may have fried the motherboard!

[abu baniaz]

Sometiomes the regulators go too.

[TK4|2|1]

Thanks for the guidance I managed to resolder a new capacitor onto the board but I am still getting the red light only. Are there any other suggestions as to what else I can do? I just feel paranoid I may have fried the motherboard!

You made sure you put it in the right way round? They are polarized. Positive & negative.


Sent by pressing the screen on 1 of my Apple devices, cuz that's how I roll..

[Ibby]

Can those also be swapped out?

I've noticed a problem on my other box that I thought I had fixed. I have been getting the red light again on this 2nd box. When I opened it up it all seemed fine so I plugged it in to test it with the top Off - low and behold it worked! However when I screwed the lid back on I was getting the red light again. I decided to put another capacitor on and it was working fine again (watched TV on it last night). Have woken up this morning to find its gone again.

I'm at a total loss about this and find it so frustrating that these boxes that cost me £350 each only have a shelf life of 4 years

[Ibby]

You made sure you put it in the right way round? They are polarized. Positive & negative.


Sent by pressing the screen on 1 of my Apple devices, cuz that's how I roll..

Yes did all that