I Destroyed a Nes Game......

[2600Ibarelyknewher]

Hey guys, so this time I messed up bad, no excuses here. Simply how can I fix this. Also will the product pictured below which is an conductive epoxy help? The game is Zelda for NES. 

Edited August 6, 2020 by 2600Ibarelyknewher

[tpugmire]

I’d put a battery holder in this now, because it’ll be hard for anyone to change the battery it the future. Just solder a small jumper wire from the back side of the battery terminal and hook it to the next component in line, which looks like the diode at the top of the board. 

[tpugmire]

Just now, tpugmire said:

 

 

Edited August 6, 2020 by tpugmire

[2600Ibarelyknewher]

18 minutes ago, tpugmire said:

I’d put a battery holder in this now, because it’ll be hard for anyone to change the battery it the future. Just solder a small jumper wire from the back side of the battery terminal and hook it to the next component in line, which looks like the diode at the top of the board. 

The front pad is also damaged too, does this make a difference?

[Keatah]

In this case no. You won't even need the conductive pen. Just solder-up both sides!

Edited August 6, 2020 by Keatah

[2600Ibarelyknewher]

8 minutes ago, Keatah said:

In this case no. You won't even need the conductive pen. Just solder-up both sides!

You mean the Negative and positive side of the battery? Only

[Keatah]

Front and back.

 

 

[2600Ibarelyknewher]

17 minutes ago, Keatah said:

Front and back.

 

 

Sorry I’m confused, could you rephrase this? If I soldered a tabbed battery or holder, would I just need to connect the positive side on the back to the diode? Also where on the diode is best? 

[+wongojack]

This is totally fixable, but you won't get perfect step by step instructions from anyone.  Here's my advice - don't take any advice without testing it yourself.  

 

Step 0 - Get a different copy of the same cartridge

Step 1 - Buy a Multimeter

Step 2 - Do a conductivity test (aka short; aka "beep") around the missing components and compare to the "good" copy

 

Figure out how they were supposed to connect before this thing got ripped outta there.  Your job is now to essentially restore the connections that were there before.  As Keatah says, it will take work on both sides of the board.  The advice you've been given is

 

A. Install a battery holder - this should cover the gaping wounds on the top side of the board <- this is on the front

B. Hook it to the next component in line - aka restore the connections that were there before <- this is likely on the back

 

Only someone with the thing in their hands inspecting the current damage will know exactly how to put this back together.  You can figure it out if you take a breath and do some inspection before, during, and after your work.

 

 

About diodes - they are used to restrict polarity to a specific charge in a circuit.  Basically, they only let electrons flow in one direction.  They are usually there to prevent some sort of accidental reverse polarity from flowing to components.  In this case, I would assume the positive voltage from the battery would be connected to the positive end of the diode and then current would flow from there to the rest of the board.  Diodes are marked with a dark band near the far edge of one side of their cylinder.  This is called the "cathode terminal."  Connect positive voltage to the terminal farthest from the dark band.  In this case, I think if you got the connection reversed, it would just mean you'd be bypassing the diode and send the battery voltage straight to the board.  It would probably work both ways.  BUT - I would test everything I am saying for yourself because I'm just a doofus on a website multi-tasking and nothing happens to me if your game is damaged even more.

[2600Ibarelyknewher]

54 minutes ago, wongojack said:

This is totally fixable, but you won't get perfect step by step instructions from anyone.  Here's my advice - don't take any advice without testing it yourself.  

 

Step 0 - Get a different copy of the same cartridge

Step 1 - Buy a Multimeter

Step 2 - Do a conductivity test (aka short; aka "beep") around the missing components and compare to the "good" copy

 

Figure out how they were supposed to connect before this thing got ripped outta there.  Your job is now to essentially restore the connections that were there before.  As Keatah says, it will take work on both sides of the board.  The advice you've been given is

 

A. Install a battery holder - this should cover the gaping wounds on the top side of the board <- this is on the front

B. Hook it to the next component in line - aka restore the connections that were there before <- this is likely on the back

 

Only someone with the thing in their hands inspecting the current damage will know exactly how to put this back together.  You can figure it out if you take a breath and do some inspection before, during, and after your work.

 

 

About diodes - they are used to restrict polarity to a specific charge in a circuit.  Basically, they only let electrons flow in one direction.  They are usually there to prevent some sort of accidental reverse polarity from flowing to components.  In this case, I would assume the positive voltage from the battery would be connected to the positive end of the diode and then current would flow from there to the rest of the board.  Diodes are marked with a dark band near the far edge of one side of their cylinder.  This is called the "cathode terminal."  Connect positive voltage to the terminal farthest from the dark band.  In this case, I think if you got the connection reversed, it would just mean you'd be bypassing the diode and send the battery voltage straight to the board.  It would probably work both ways.  BUT - I would test everything I am saying for yourself because I'm just a doofus on a website multi-tasking and nothing happens to me if your game is damaged even more.

Thanks so much for the multi meter suggestion, I honestly am not the best at electronics lol, I thought it energized the whole board not just parts going specifically from the terminals to parts on the board. I’ve found where the terminals were suppose to go ie one of the diode legs and one chip leg for the NEG terminal. 15 mins it’s held a save for! Thanks so much 

[+wongojack]

Glad to hear that it is working.  Post a picture of your repair!

 

[2600Ibarelyknewher]

Give me your honest opinions lol
 

Edited August 7, 2020 by 2600Ibarelyknewher

[+wongojack]

If it works, it doesn't matter how it looks.

 

Some general advice would be to "heat the work not the solder."  So you put components in place then push your iron against and wait.  When the work gets hot, you can apply solder and everything should fuse together in a smooth liquidy pool that cools as soon as you remove your iron.  It looks like you probably could have waited a little longer before applying solder.

 

 

[2600Ibarelyknewher]

6 minutes ago, wongojack said:

If it works, it doesn't matter how it looks.

 

Some general advice would be to "heat the work not the solder."  So you put components in place then push your iron against and wait.  When the work gets hot, you can apply solder and everything should fuse together in a smooth liquidy pool that cools as soon as you remove your iron.  It looks like you probably could have waited a little longer before applying solder.

 

 

Do you think its because I tried to pile it on too much? Lol I’m just so happy it works, I thought for sure I really messed it up for about 2 months. I’ve done about 15 of these battery changes and this one went really badly for some reason. The board just didn’t take the heat as well as other games I’ve seen. That’s part of the reason I’m scared to bring the heat to it. I have a soldering station and reworks station attached. You ever just mess up really bad and avoid something for a time because of it lol?

[Keatah]

13 hours ago, 2600Ibarelyknewher said:

 You ever just mess up really bad and avoid something for a time because of it lol?

 

All the time. I start organizing files or my computer stuff and hardware and stuff and I get a 3rd of the way through and discover a better way. Get pissed. Stop. Revisit. And on and on it goes! Meanwhile the shit keeps piling up!

[2600Ibarelyknewher]

1 hour ago, Keatah said:

 

All the time. I start organizing files or my computer stuff and hardware and stuff and I get a 3rd of the way through and discover a better way. Get pissed. Stop. Revisit. And on and on it goes! Meanwhile the shit keeps piling up!

I think I truly just thought I messed it up so badly I couldn’t fix it lol. I didn’t have anything to go off of. When I google this problem of pads gone it was too general of an issue. Most people are fixing non through hole devices. Two months this thing sat on my bench lol, 5 different attempts. Now I know to ask you guys when I am stuck.

Edited August 7, 2020 by 2600Ibarelyknewher

[Keatah]

Indeed. It's working now. I can tell you the above repair was nowhere near being a loss.

 

Half the battle with learning soldering is getting an understanding of how the solder flows and adheres to the material. And things can often look totally different (from original) when you're done and still work perfectly. Think jumper wires or "quality bodges" and patches.

 

Soldering is a dead art. And Google is geared toward returning "e-commerce" hits and $$$. So no surprise that proper instructions weren't the first returned results.

[2600Ibarelyknewher]

have you ever done anything like this lol? 

[tpugmire]

I fixed a GBA game that had almost the exact same thing happen. Didn’t look pretty, but it worked. That’s the important thing. 

[2600Ibarelyknewher]

1 hour ago, tpugmire said:

I fixed a GBA game that had almost the exact same thing happen. Didn’t look pretty, but it worked. That’s the important thing. 

I was wondering about that, since it wasn’t through hole, was it harder to fix? I’d love to see a picture of that actually I’d bet it was a Pokémon game.  

[R.Cade]

It's not really damaged, just very very sloppy. Get a better soldering iron, solder, and flux. Practice on some old board.

Redo this when you do.

 

I don't know why you have jumper wires, the tracks look fine to me.

 

 

[2600Ibarelyknewher]

1 hour ago, R.Cade said:

It's not really damaged, just very very sloppy. Get a better soldering iron, solder, and flux. Practice on some old board.

Redo this when you do.

 

I don't know why you have jumper wires, the tracks look fine to me.

 

 

I have an O.K iron but I was in a rush when doing this because it made me upset thinking about why I had done to this game lol, the next time I do something like this I’ll take my time and practice some before hand. I use leaded solder so it typically melts better than this, my current solder is def really cheap though lol. I tried just soldering batteries and also holders with just using the original traces but the game wouldn’t hold a save anymore. Once I added the cables it could hold a save. 

Edited August 8, 2020 by 2600Ibarelyknewher

[tpugmire]

10 hours ago, 2600Ibarelyknewher said:

I was wondering about that, since it wasn’t through hole, was it harder to fix? I’d love to see a picture of that actually I’d bet it was a Pokémon game.  

I don’t have a picture, it wasn’t mine, my younger cousin tried to fix it himself and screwed it up. He ripped off an entire solder pad and some of the trace. It was Pokémon Emerald. 

[2600Ibarelyknewher]

11 minutes ago, tpugmire said:

I don’t have a picture, it wasn’t mine, my younger cousin tried to fix it himself and screwed it up. He ripped off an entire solder pad and some of the trace. It was Pokémon Emerald. 

I’ve done quite a few GBA and GB Pokémon games, I find them much easier than the through hole snes and nes games etc.