Have done thru hole soldering for
over eight years on dozens of projects
with good result.
Have been working on the Neopixel PCB for
several days with no luck.
Have viewed several videos including
the one in the post in this forum
specifically
All of the videos seen, like the one above,have
component elements that extend out away from the
component body. In the Neopixel project
the WS2812b LED chips the pads on the chips
do not extend out from the chip.
Willing to pay $50 to anyone who can
show me how to solder these chips.
Have you tried using hot air? If the PCB land pattern does not extend much past the component pad, then soldering with an iron can be difficult. I’d recommend tinning the pads with an iron or using solder paste and reflowing using hot air with a generous amount of tacky flux.
The WS2812 packages have a history of failures when soldered using reflow. The problem appears to be much worse when hand soldering - as in you are luck to have a functional part when hand soldering.
I’ve avoided them as components if I had a choice because of their reputation and their funky timing requirements. I have several commercial strips, end even there their failure rate is unpleasant.
Yup, heard of them, but the OP was asking about hand soldering SMD neopixels which are WS2812B RGB LEDs with an integral driver. The packages are finicky and hard to solder using reflow, and generally much worse by hand. This is not a good choice for newbie SMD hand soldering.
If you want to assemble these yourself, they really need to be reflowed in our IR reflow oven, and even then plan for problems.
Have Bible study on Tuesday morning between 7 and 8:AM and a bluegrass jam Thurs at 11 AM. Other than that any time, any place.
Will bring PCBs, components, solder paste, solder, flux and tools that are being used.
Thanks.
Allen Pitts [email protected]
469-713-4147
The reflow oven on the top shelf may need repair. I didn’t see a users manual. I could not make it work. Lights light but buttons don’t button. I am very interested in reflow work as well, also using WS2812B’s in the 5050 form factor. I bought a reel (1000) of WS2812C-2020 for a high density project, so reflow is the only option.
The issue was first thought that that too much solder paste was placed on the SMD pads.
But even with a tiny amount of solder paste place on the pads
the solder paste tended to pool and bridge which was thought
to be a fatal error.
The real key was discovered that not enough time was spent heating
the paste. When it was realized, from the excellent
help of Tom (Tom, what is your last name if you read this?)
that if the solder paste is heated long enough (eight to ten seconds
at about 400 degrees Farehnheit)
two things happen: 1. The solder paste gathers onto
the pad. 2. The components, the WS2812b pixel
and the even smaller 0.1 uF capacitors (0603), will sort of
wiggle themselves into place.
It was not possible to discover the method from YouTube tutorials
or forum posts. The discovery of the the process was
only edified by hands on demonstration.
Following the very incomplete Instructable at
the home made pixel ring was finally complete. This is a
a video of my final product:
And so after a dozen or so YouTube tutorials
and a several days of frustration
the method for soldering SMD components
was found through the kindness of a stranger,
Tom, who demonstrated the use of a hot air
gun for soldering SMD components.
If there is some one who is still doing
through-hole soldering and would like to move
on to SMD components, respond to this
post. You will find that, like Tom,
I am
