Hey guys what up. Im getting ready to chip my first ecu. The only thing I got so far is a ecu.

Before I went out and bought a soldering Iron I wanted to know which ones great for this job.

Also any advice to a first timmer would be greatful.

 

bump

 

I have a 45W Hakko with a large flathead tip, a 25W Hakko with a pointed tip, and a Weller adjustable heat with multiple tips. It's easy to chip an ECU with any of the above, but pointed tips might be easier for a first timer.

 

I am currently using a Nexxtech 5-60 watt adjustable. The down side to this iron is that the tips are fairly large. I have ground a few down to make custom tips but after grinding them they don't last as long. I mostly use the stock replacement tips for ECU soldering with out any problems.

I figured that I would share some of my experiences as well. I have only been doing this for just over a year now. So I am a relative noob as well. It is easy once you get the hang of your equipment and how it works.

I also found that the 15w setting is the most forgiving at keeping the trace (bronze colored lines) from lifting off the board. If your just starting out you may find out what I am talking about. If you use to much heat and are unable to work fast enough you'll see the little orange/brown spot start to appear on the green board. That is a sign of the board getting too hot. If the trace lifts it could cause an open in that particular circuit, causing a bad connection. I had a few on my first ECU but I noticed in time and they didn't break, they just started to lift. I used clear nail polish to reseal and stick the trace back to the board. Not something you want to do too often.

My advice is patience and lots of practice a steady had helps a bit as well. Find an old computer circuit board and take your soldering iron and desoldering vacuum and practice taking some of the resistors and chip sets off the board.

I had an old ECU laying around that was burnt out that I practiced on. on the left is every single component off of the ECU main board.

I have actually used over half of those parts on other ECU's that I have chipped or repaired.

The blue & silver pen tool at the top is my nexxtech desoldering vacuum....priceless tool for chipping ECU's. only cost 4.99 at The Source by Circuit City/Radio Shack


Edit
I guess Nexxtech brand soldering tools are only sold in Canada, I couldn't find any at Radio Shack. It does have a desolderign pen like the one I have and a few dual stage irons. I would look for an adjustable one that has a low setting. RS has a dual stage one that goes from 15w-30w.


Modified by GhostAccord at 1:07 AM 1/23/2008

 

^^ that is crazy that you desoldered the whole board, that must have taken forever..

as for me, i use a cheap radioshack 25 watt pointed tip iron. I recently replaced the tip on it and broke off the screw that tightens the tip in, so i will be buying an adjustable temp iron here soon.

Before you start, as everyone mentioned, i would highly recommend practicing on some other electronics that you dont care about. You can go to a thrift store and find old computer expansion cards to practice on for cheap.. or just tear apart something you know doesnt work anymore.

here are some tips to get started that helped me:

cutting out the old chip on obd0 ECU's is a lot easier than trying to desolder them. Radio shack sells very small leed clippers that fit in between the pins on the chip. once you cut the chip out, you can desolder the pins one by one using pliers to pull the chip out on one side while heating the solder on the other side.

when you solder in the socket, or any other part for that matter, heat the pin itself and then touch the pin with the solder. dont try to touch the solder to the tip of the iron, because it will glob up and you will apply way too much solder to the pin, or worse, short a neighboring pin.

good luck

 

matco!.....................used to call me fatso know they call me castro

 

i use a bluepoint soldering station that i got from snap-on. i just use a solder sucker to desolder the holes.

 

this is what i use since its available to me here at work.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Muad’Dib &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
this is what i use since its available to me here at work.</TD></TR></TABLE>


damn that a nice soldering station!i bet them bitches aint cheap?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by sanimalp &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">as for me, i use a cheap radioshack 25 watt pointed tip iron.</TD></TR></TABLE>

1+ on that with the plunger type desoldier, also pick up some thin soldier again I have had best luck with radio shack. I got my solder sucker from strap-on but found the same exact one at radio shack for $10 less.