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QMX pre-assembly USB-C question

 

I was inspecting my board set before beginning assembly. This is my USB-C connector. I can see there is a little bit of solder in just about every hole, but should I be touching these up? Seems a little sparse. I don't want to cause more problems than I might be trying to solve.?

Also, unrelated, mine has the Q103 / Q104 short, shipped 8/24/23.

Brian?
n1bs
 

Yes. Ideally remove the existing solder (solder sucker?) and then fill those holes all the way down to the pins on the physical connector.

73, Willie N1JBJ

On Sep 1, 2023, at 3:23 PM, Brian Swann n1bs <n1bs@...> wrote:

I was inspecting my board set before beginning assembly. This is my USB-C connector. I can see there is a little bit of solder in just about every hole, but should I be touching these up? Seems a little sparse. I don't want to cause more problems than I might be trying to solve.

Also, unrelated, mine has the Q103 / Q104 short, shipped 8/24/23.

Brian
n1bs
 

I would just dab a bit of liquid rosin on them and touch them with a soldering iron and maybe the slightest tap of molten solder on each one. They will wick the solder down in to the connector via capillary action.

If you do not have a desoldering tool or the technique you can mess up a pad or delaminate the trace from the PCB.

Those grounding ears on either side are important to get soldered down. That is the mechanical rigidity of the USB connector and every time you bump the external USB cable you are putting stress on the connector. I have a $2000 laptop that is junk because the USB-C connector tore off that way.
--
Tisha Hayes, AA4HA
Sr Engineer, 4RF Inc.
 

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I went ahead and reflowed the USB-C connector per Hans' 52 tips video. Picture of my reworked connector. I also fixed the Q103/Q104 short in about 1 minute with a hot air rework station.

--n1bs


On Fri, Sep 1, 2023 at 3:24?PM Brian Swann n1bs <n1bs@...> wrote:
I was inspecting my board set before beginning assembly. This is my USB-C connector. I can see there is a little bit of solder in just about every hole, but should I be touching these up? Seems a little sparse. I don't want to cause more problems than I might be trying to solve.?

Also, unrelated, mine has the Q103 / Q104 short, shipped 8/24/23.

Brian?
n1bs
 

Excellent, Brian. That is exactly what I was talking about. Especially use liquid flux to improve the solder surface tension "wicking" between the 16 pins and the 16 via barrels as Tisha mentioned.

73 Kees K5BCQ

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