My Neptune's maiden voyage

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Andy's the expert here, but one more tip on how to identify at least the area on the board where you're getting intermittent contact under a bad solder joint:

Get the board out of there, hook it up to the other subsystems and power up. With a dry stick or other pointed, non-conducting item, press on the board till something stops/starts working. Then, in the general area, keep poking around, with lighter pressure till the site of the glitching is identified. Turn off the power, and start re-soldering all connections in the identified area.

As you flexed the board, it caused the bad solder joint to make/break.

This goes back to my ControlAir r/c system kit days when I thought flux was an optional consumable. In the good old days when the 'servo' was rubber band powered.

David,

[Subculture]

Yes that's a good tip.

Also check the really simple stuff first e.g. the wire going from the receiver to the board. Observe what the status LED's on the board are doing, try the board with a servo tester- you could have a bad channel on your receiver.

[Slats]

On the subject of flux, is it better to use the solder's that contain flux, or should we be apply a separate flux?
J

[Subculture]

I use resin cored (multicore) solder for most jobs. When soldering heavy gauge wires I tend to add a little extra rosin flux, it helps when tinning the wire and makes it 'wet' out nice.

What you mustn't do is use an acid based flux for wiring and electronics work. That sort of flux will damage your components and wiring, and is only suitable for doing your plumbing jobs or heavy gauge work like railings, soldering up props etc.

There are also water based fluxes, I avoid those, and I avoid the non-lead based soft solders which have a much higher melting point.

[Albion]

I know this is a little off topic, but for hard core (pun intended) soldering using Acid flux, i will use Jif, Cif or whatever it is called in your neck off the woods, the abrasive kitchen cleaner stuff, and scrub the joint with a (preferably old) toothbrush, and then rinse with water to ensure all the acid is gone

[Subculture]

I use green scotch brite pads (synthetic wire wool) and plenty of water- gets everything squeaky clean.

[Tugrat]

Its been a while since i last had a dry joint.

I upgraded my bulky soldering iron to a temperature controlled iron. One in that the temperature dial is not on the wand. A benefit of this is that the wand can be smaller and lighter.

I also have a magnifying lamp so that I can inspect the board for shorts and cracks etc.

I would also check to see that circuit board is double sided in which case one side could be ok and the other the problem.

[AQUASUB]

I am glad that my SB-2.0 has had zero problems so far and I take her to the limit and offen beyond,but I did get micro cracks in the front and rear plates,not any more since I installed a relief valve.

Dave

[AQUASUB]

Soon I will post all of the mods I have made to this great sub.

[Subculture]

Any resolution to this yet? Seems to have gone all quiet.

[Kazzer]

I keep looking at it as I rush by doing a thousand other important jobs.