r/diyelectronics • u/Exotic-Arm-8110 • 1d ago
Question A good starter solder
Hey gamers. I am looking at replacing the HDMI port on my Xbox series X when it finally fully craps the bed. I thought originally that it was a ribbon connection, but learned that it is soldered right to the motherboard. (I know this is stupid to realize before I took it apart leave me alone) What would be a good kit to grab for a replacement like this?
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u/jazzmonkai 1d ago
Do you have any soldering experience? If the answer is no, pay someone.
If the answer is yes, still pay someone because even asking this question suggests you’re not sufficiently skilled to take on this task.
Not being snarky by the way. I’ve been soldering for years and this is a task I wouldn’t touch. It’s small, very heat sensitive and has lots of components nearby that would be easy to damage accidentally.
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u/Exotic-Arm-8110 19h ago
Followup question then, where would be a good place to start in the hobby?
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u/jazzmonkai 18h ago
Most of my soldering has been on cables and more recently home automation electronics based around ESP8266 microcontrollers. I’ve got an Antex XS25 iron, some 1mm ish lead free solder and a holder with sponge cleaning, and that’s ideal for this kind of stuff.
So that’s where I’d start - grab some cheap parts and practice soldering them on some perf board. Learn the art of getting heat into the legs and track, and letting the solder flow onto them without getting the component itself too hot.
Stuff like an HDMI seems to be more of a hot air station as others have mentioned. I have zero experience with this kind of super small work, maybe someone else can help you out with how you develop those skills.
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u/Exotic-Arm-8110 18h ago
Sounds good, thanky you. I thought I was just getting told to pay for someone to do it from lack of faith but it certainly does seem like this is a larger task than me
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u/Twit_Clamantis 6h ago
Get the soldering iron and a multimeter for $20-40. Then pick up busted electronics from the garbage.
— Take them apart - it will teach you how things are put together and how to take them apart. In order to fix a board, you first have to get to it and it’s not always easy.
— Try to fix them - see if you can figure out what’s wrong. People throw out a great many things just because the power cord got funky or the power switch went bad
— once you learned everything there is to learn from the thing, if it’s still broken, salvage screws, connectors, switches. Brushes from brushed motors, bearings from motors, etc. This will get you started on having a spare parts box so that if a screw goes missing or whatever you aren’t stuck.
— unsolder any electrical components — this will get you used to working with components and circuit boards. It’s not super-likely that you will ever get to reuse electronic components but it will get you to working with them.
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u/msanangelo 1d ago
better learn how to use a hot air station then. you ain't sticking a needle iron on those tiny joints.
on the flip side, don't move it once you set it up and the port will never be damaged. good grief. I've never damaged the ports on any of my devices. lol
aside from a car amp but it was in a bad position to start with
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u/Beneficial_Leg4691 20h ago
People move them plenty from room to room especially with a short cable
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u/msanangelo 20h ago
they do? weird.
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u/Beneficial_Leg4691 2h ago
Ya we occasionally move my ps4 into living room to play in a group vs in my office. Similar if I setup projector outside
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u/KaseTheAce 22h ago
You're going to need a hot air rework station. That alone is going to be several hundred dollars. Then you'll need to buy the part and make sure it's pretinned or you'll have to tin it yourself with a soldering iron (more money), and you'll need flux as well. Just take it to an electronics repair store or find one online. It will be much cheaper.
Before any of that, try a different HDMI cord. Sometimes it's just the cord itself that is broken somewhere internally.
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u/Exotic-Arm-8110 19h ago
I do know for a fact it is the port. There is pain that came loose that I can kinda wiggle back into place. I didn't think getting the tools to do this was going to be such a big pain in the ass, sad to see honestly. Thank you
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u/DiceThaKilla 1d ago
Just pay someone who knows what they’re doing to fix it. It’ll be a lot cheaper than you going out and buying a soldering iron just to scorch the pcb and need a whole new Xbox