I about to order the chips from hyperducktuning. I think I have everything I need to do the chipping. I went to http://www.racingchips.com and they had instructions on how to do it. What is a ic socket, i don't know what they are talking about. Is it some extension that you put on the soldier gun. I have a circuit board laying around that i'm going to practice on before I do my own. Any info on this would help and any precautions would help also

 

an ic socket is probably reffering to ic (integrated circuit in case u didn't know) socket pins. you first solder these onto the board so that you can just plug the chip in instead of having to solder down the pins of the chip to the board. this is so that u can easily take the chip out if u want instead of having to use solder wick to soak up the solder.

Hunter- who did an intership w/ analog devices (electrical engineering company) this past spring semester

 

oh yea, you're also going to need a very high quality solder gun, not some crappy home depot deal. they might work, but it'll take a while and probably make a mess. be sure to get some solder wick before you start in case you mess up and connect some pins that aren't supposed to be connected. and, a must! you MUST have a magnifying scope deal. this is very minute stuff you are going to be soldering. oh yea, and one more thing... patience.

 

just looked at that page. there's your pin sockets. you can get them that come together in blocks like that, or individual ones for each pin. get the ones that come together, much easier. find out how many pins are on each side and get one accordingly. if they don't make them for that exact numer, get the next highest one and trim some off. maybe try radio shack? if not, then try this place
http://www.digi-key.com/

 

Not to be mean, but if you dont know what ic was then may be you should leave this to be done by someone else. It is very easy to mess up on, I am not sure how well your soldering skills are, but if you have not done any circuit boards then I would advise you not to do this.

If still plan on doing it your self, then good luck to ya!

 

its not hard, but someone whos never soldered may have a hardtime.

 

True. All you need is 30 minutes of high-school electronics. Remember...static kills most IC's, get a wristband from radio shack.

 

Yeh, get a solder sucker. Desoldering the stock chip is the hardest part of these ecus. I sometimes pulls the copper off board when pulling the chip, so be careful. I use a cheap soldering iron that works great, as long as your using the right solder, not some thick *** crap that's not the right melting point. Get thin resin core solder which helps stick. Thick solder and weak iron don't give. Don't use a beat up iron or soldeirng tip.

 

thanks for the help fellows, I do know how to solder. I'm not some professional computer expert but I know what i'm doing. I have a few circuit boards to practice on anyway before I start hacking at my ecu