Any advice for modifying screen?

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spacedementia87
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Any advice for modifying screen?

Post by spacedementia87 » Thu Jul 21, 2016 1:05 pm

So I ordered a 3.5" screen on Amazon and it arrived today.

Turns out I got the BW variant 7.

Helpful image here shows me what to solder

http://sudomod.com/wiki/index.php?title ... jumper.jpg

However, looking at the board, this looks tiny. I have no idea how I am going to get solder in there without just shorting a load of other pins.

Any advice?

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Flowlance
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Re: Any advice for modifying screen?

Post by Flowlance » Thu Jul 21, 2016 1:37 pm

Warm up the chip's leg with the tip of your soldering iron then put solder directly at the chip's leg and not on the soldering iron. The solder should stick to the leg. Then put the wire on top of the applied solder and touch the wire with your soldering iron. It should stick fairly quickly. You can make it a bit easier by applying some solder to the wire first too.
Also having a good soldering iron tip is key here. Using an old or worn out one makes things way harder. On mine the pointy edge was all gone after soldering a lot so i had to switch it out.

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kakan
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Re: Any advice for modifying screen?

Post by kakan » Thu Jul 21, 2016 1:41 pm

Flux is your best friend, smear that thing on.

spacedementia87
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Re: Any advice for modifying screen?

Post by spacedementia87 » Thu Jul 21, 2016 4:54 pm

kakan wrote:Flux is your best friend, smear that thing on.
I have never used flux before, just flux cored solder. I guess I'll order some.

Do you put it everywhere apart from the leg of the chip?
Flowlance wrote:Warm up the chip's leg with the tip of your soldering iron then put solder directly at the chip's leg and not on the soldering iron. The solder should stick to the leg. Then put the wire on top of the applied solder and touch the wire with your soldering iron. It should stick fairly quickly. You can make it a bit easier by applying some solder to the wire first too.
Also having a good soldering iron tip is key here. Using an old or worn out one makes things way harder. On mine the pointy edge was all gone after soldering a lot so i had to switch it out.
Thanks for the advice. I might find an old circuit to take apart and practise. I must have an old motherboard or something around.

Quatrerwin
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Re: Any advice for modifying screen?

Post by Quatrerwin » Thu Jul 21, 2016 5:10 pm

I have V7 of that screen and it doesn't look anything like that. That is V2. If you do have V7, it turns out it's identical to the EPathChina 3.5 Composite Display. I modified mine like in the directions and it works:

[spoiler="modify to work with 5V"]Image[/spoiler]

I put a lot of solder on the pins of the IC, then lifted the IC out, cleaned it up with some solder wick, and soldered the wire on.

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kakan
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Re: Any advice for modifying screen?

Post by kakan » Thu Jul 21, 2016 6:14 pm

spacedementia87 wrote:
kakan wrote:Flux is your best friend, smear that thing on.
I have never used flux before, just flux cored solder. I guess I'll order some.

Do you put it everywhere apart from the leg of the chip?
Yes I usually smear it on in the area I'm working on.

I just do what @Quatrerwin does but also adding flux, After the chip is removed and excessive solder is wicked I like to use cleaning alcohol to remove any excess flux around the board. Then adding the wire that is pre-tinned and dipped in more flux (I feel it's less necessary the lower temperature you use as the flux may not dissipate as fast).

Flux is also a great way to remove excess solder that may have been created on other components.

As a last note tl/dr. Flux is most often used as a preventive method for oxidation and to transfer heat for cleaner solder joints.

spacedementia87
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Re: Any advice for modifying screen?

Post by spacedementia87 » Fri Jul 22, 2016 1:58 am

Quatrerwin wrote:I have V7 of that screen and it doesn't look anything like that. That is V2. If you do have V7, it turns out it's identical to the EPathChina 3.5 Composite Display. I modified mine like in the directions and it works:

[spoiler="modify to work with 5V"]Image[/spoiler]

I put a lot of solder on the pins of the IC, then lifted the IC out, cleaned it up with some solder wick, and soldered the wire on.
Sorry yes, V2. The images suggest I don't need to remove any chip.
kakan wrote:
spacedementia87 wrote:
kakan wrote:Flux is your best friend, smear that thing on.
I have never used flux before, just flux cored solder. I guess I'll order some.

Do you put it everywhere apart from the leg of the chip?
Yes I usually smear it on in the area I'm working on.

I just do what @Quatrerwin does but also adding flux, After the chip is removed and excessive solder is wicked I like to use cleaning alcohol to remove any excess flux around the board. Then adding the wire that is pre-tinned and dipped in more flux (I feel it's less necessary the lower temperature you use as the flux may not dissipate as fast).

Flux is also a great way to remove excess solder that may have been created on other components.

As a last note tl/dr. Flux is most often used as a preventive method for oxidation and to transfer heat for cleaner solder joints.
Ok thanks. Luckily I don't need to remove any chips it seems. Simple add the wire in.

Quatrerwin
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Re: Any advice for modifying screen?

Post by Quatrerwin » Fri Jul 22, 2016 4:49 am

Otherwise, helping hands and a smaller soldering iron tip would probably really help with precision.

jazzy
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Re: Any advice for modifying screen?

Post by jazzy » Wed Jul 27, 2016 5:57 pm

Quatrerwin wrote:I have V7 of that screen and it doesn't look anything like that. That is V2. If you do have V7, it turns out it's identical to the EPathChina 3.5 Composite Display. I modified mine like in the directions and it works:

[spoiler="modify to work with 5V"]Image[/spoiler]

I put a lot of solder on the pins of the IC, then lifted the IC out, cleaned it up with some solder wick, and soldered the wire on.
These directions worked perfect for me. My screen is the BW V7. I didn't remove the chip, then soldered to the rasberry pi board ground(black), 5v(red), and video(yellow) and one more (white) using wermys guide.

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Fleder
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Re: Any advice for modifying screen?

Post by Fleder » Thu Jul 28, 2016 1:11 am

jazzy wrote:These directions worked perfect for me. My screen is the BW V7. I didn't remove the chip, then soldered to the rasberry pi board ground(black), 5v(red), and video(yellow) and one more (white) using wermys guide.
Although it might work, you should NOT solder on both video wires!
See here: http://sudomod.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=958

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