IMAX B6AC V2 Charger Broken Trace

[Iceni]

12 hours ago, EDcase said:

If interested:

I saw that one a long time ago, It's interesting don't you think that a man with all that testing gear doesn't come out and say anything about how dangerous they are. There's a good reason for that, The circuit used in this design of charger can't be patented, Only the enclosure and branding can be. The actual board design and layout is very similar across all brands of this style of charger, And I would not at all be surprised if they all came from the same factory.

 

There are some minor differences like the protection fuse, but understand that's a fuse and not something you can reset. So as a feature to protect the circuit it's already redundant as you would need to solder a new component into the original to repair it. Whereas the clone will just go pop and probably blow a few mosfets. Either way without the knowledge to solder the units would both be dead. And if you look at the OP's example there is no fuse present on the Resistor arrangement.

His actual intention to help people avoid a clone is only really noted in the comments, but the comments are actually quite interesting. Lot's of people saying they have a fake and didn't realise. A few saying they had fakes and they stopped working. And a few saying they have fakes that work perfectly fine. There's also a few comment where people have stated they have a clone that works fine and then get a comment by the author saying if it's working and in tolerance then there's no real reason to not be using it. It's a very mixed bag.

What I'm saying is, a clone is bad for someone not willing or capable of checking the outputs. If however you can check those and are confident in checking, understanding any risk, and are willing to take those risks. Then a clone can do what you need it to do.

I'm sure the original video idea was to get a clone and show just how bad they are, When that wasn't the case the video had a significantly different tone, spotting the differences, rather than outing a dangerous design.

 

Edited January 31, 2022 by Iceni

[paradoxum]

6 hours ago, Lozart said:

 

Did you solder that with your eyes shut?

 

I'll be the first to admit I'm terrible at soldering. I can't keep my hands steady at all. Gave up painting WH40k because of it. Shit I hope it's not early parkinsons..

But also those connection points are absolutely tiny and I had to solder tiny wires to them while avoiding all the other solder points and avoiding burning out any more trace with the iron, doesn't help that I need a good pair of Helping Hands too since this adjustable 'spider' one is trash. Any recommendations for a good soldering workstation or something?

I was thinking of this, but it's super expensive, there must be some chinese copy out there:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08QZ48T28/ref=ox_sc_saved_image_8?smid=A7AHT9N61VJ59&psc=1

 

14 hours ago, EDcase said:

Maybe worth sending to Big Clive then...

 

How do I do that? Is it just for him to tinker with or does he do repairs for coin?

Edited January 31, 2022 by paradoxum

[Lozart]

1 hour ago, paradoxum said:

 

I'll be the first to admit I'm terrible at soldering. I can't keep my hands steady at all. Gave up painting WH40k because of it. Shit I hope it's not early parkinsons..

But also those connection points are absolutely tiny and I had to solder tiny wires to them while avoiding all the other solder points and avoiding burning out any more trace with the iron, doesn't help that I need a good pair of Helping Hands too since this adjustable 'spider' one is trash. Any recommendations for a good soldering workstation or something?

I was thinking of this, but it's super expensive, there must be some chinese copy out there:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08QZ48T28/ref=ox_sc_saved_image_8?smid=A7AHT9N61VJ59&psc=1

 

 

It's not so much the means of holding the work, it's more the size of the soldering iron and lack of consistent application of the right amount of heat. I agree that soldering onto PCBs is a bit tricky in trying not to burn the board but the wires are all melted to fuck and I'm astounded you managed to get THAT much solder on just one joint!

 

You'd be better off using a half decent temp controlled electric iron instead of that Dremel gas one than spunking £55 on the frankly way over the top helping hand setup (as nice as it looks).

One like this would be fine https://www.amazon.co.uk/Draper-61478-40W-Soldering-Station/dp/B010823P38/ref=sr_1_40?keywords=soldering+iron+station&qid=1643649137&sprefix=soldering+%2Caps%2C566&sr=8-40

[paradoxum]

34 minutes ago, Lozart said:

 

It's not so much the means of holding the work, it's more the size of the soldering iron and lack of consistent application of the right amount of heat. I agree that soldering onto PCBs is a bit tricky in trying not to burn the board but the wires are all melted to fuck and I'm astounded you managed to get THAT much solder on just one joint!

 

Well what happened was I soldered one of the red wires to it, and then when I tried to just stick the other one on to the same blob I had down, the other wire came off, I had to put more solder on to get that solder to melt so I could fix the first wire, and blabla by the time I got both on there was a load of solder, if I had decent helping hands that actually kept things in place it would help - also a magnifying glass setup on it too - but anyway they were on solid and it wasn't touching anything it shouldn't so at that point I just leave it to avoid making it worse.

 

 

Edited January 31, 2022 by paradoxum

[EDcase]

2 hours ago, paradoxum said:

16 hours ago, EDcase said:

Maybe worth sending to Big Clive then...

 

How do I do that? Is it just for him to tinker with or does he do repairs for coin?

To be honest I don't know. 

If you can't fix it then you've got nothing to loose sending it to him.

His email is on his YouTube About page so can ask him.  (Can't post his email here as its open to bot scans)

https://www.youtube.com/c/Bigclive/about

 

[Rogerborg]

5 hours ago, paradoxum said:

How do I do that? Is it just for him to tinker with or does he do repairs for coin?

 

No, he does teardowns for fun.  People send him dead stuff, or interesting things, to sacrifice on the altar of pop-science.

[paradoxum]

1 hour ago, Rogerborg said:

 

No, he does teardowns for fun.  People send him dead stuff, or interesting things, to sacrifice on the altar of pop-science.

 

Oh ok that's what I figured, and yeah might aswell, would be interesting if he figured it out just so I know what it was.

[Lozart]

5 hours ago, paradoxum said:

 

Well what happened was I soldered one of the red wires to it, and then when I tried to just stick the other one on to the same blob I had down, the other wire came off, I had to put more solder on to get that solder to melt so I could fix the first wire, and blabla by the time I got both on there was a load of solder, if I had decent helping hands that actually kept things in place it would help - also a magnifying glass setup on it too - but anyway they were on solid and it wasn't touching anything it shouldn't so at that point I just leave it to avoid making it worse.

 

 

Get yourself a solder sucker! 

[Rogerborg]

7 minutes ago, Lozart said:

Get yourself a solder sucker! 

 

I've never had much luck with the cheap ones and my ham fingers, I prefer desoldering braid.  Either one is worth a try.

[Lozart]

10 hours ago, Rogerborg said:

 

I've never had much luck with the cheap ones and my ham fingers, I prefer desoldering braid.  Either one is worth a try.

 

There's definitely a knack with a sucker but yes, braid works too. When I had free and easy access to it, braid was my go-to for PCB work.

[paradoxum]

Yeah I have like three of them. I've never been able to get them to work. I only even heard about braid recently which is weird because i've been soldering for years, need to get some of that.

 

And I did have an iron with an adjustable temp knob, but it took forever to heat up and eventually broke, and I just love the lack of the wire getting in the way with the gas one. It is adjustable too, but obviiously it's just analogue adjustment.

[Lozart]

1 hour ago, paradoxum said:

And I did have an iron with an adjustable temp knob, but it took forever to heat up and eventually broke, and I just love the lack of the wire getting in the way with the gas one. It is adjustable too, but obviiously it's just analogue adjustment.

 

 

I have a similar gas iron in my arsenal of hot pointy tools, while yes, it's "adjustable" it's not got anywhere near the finesse needed for working on a PCB.

 

Cards on the table, I used to do this kind of stuff for a living and spent 4 years doing an electronic craft apprenticeship with the MoD/Defence Research Agency (as was, now Qinetiq). There is definitely a knack but better tools always help!

[Iceni]

It's not just the tools, it's the whole system.

I picked up a load of ex MOD gear a few years ago dirt cheap, Among it was a lovely roll of the really thick masking grade 3m kapton tape, and a few full rolls of Omega 63/37 with fast flow flux 2% flux. It blew my mind just how much better these products were than the standard store bought products.

That solder is £40-60 for 500g's compared to £20 for some cheap lead free stuff from amazon. But holy shit it's a night and day difference.

Equally flux. You can't solder without it. Well you can but it looks like shit - See above. A couple of cheap rosin blocks is a couple of £. A few dropper bottles (ask anyone you know who vapes), and some Isopropanol alcohol. Fill the bottles about 50% with IPA then break up one of the rosin pucks  and put different amounts in the bottles... Will give you some really good flux for very cheap, and different grades for different work... Thin and low content for clean work, High content thicker for dirty work and wires. Ebay Colophony flux and you should see the little tins, It's a brittle tree sap. You can also just dip the tip in it. Smells divine.

Edited February 1, 2022 by Iceni

[paradoxum]

1 hour ago, Lozart said:

 

 

I have a similar gas iron in my arsenal of hot pointy tools, while yes, it's "adjustable" it's not got anywhere near the finesse needed for working on a PCB.

 

Cards on the table, I used to do this kind of stuff for a living and spent 4 years doing an electronic craft apprenticeship with the MoD/Defence Research Agency (as was, now Qinetiq). There is definitely a knack but better tools always help!

 

There's an electronic store around the corner that I took my Titan to last week to have him solder new wire to the board, I suppose I could take it to him and see what he says.

 

At the same time I think I'm going to have him put all new XT60 (prefer to deans) on all my batteries / cabling, because I'm aiming for optimum efficiency and some of my solder jobs look so terrible that they must be causing resistence in the wiring.

26 minutes ago, Iceni said:

It's not just the tools, it's the whole system.

I picked up a load of ex MOD gear a few years ago dirt cheap, Among it was a lovely roll of the really thick masking grade 3m kapton tape, and a few full rolls of Omega 63/37 with fast flow flux 2% flux. It blew my mind just how much better these products were than the standard store bought products.

That solder is £40-60 for 500g's compared to £20 for some cheap lead free stuff from amazon. But holy shit it's a night and day difference.

Equally flux. You can't solder without it. Well you can but it looks like shit - See above. A couple of cheap rosin blocks is a couple of £. A few dropper bottles (ask anyone you know who vapes), and some Isopropanol alcohol. Fill the bottles about 50% with IPA then break up one of the rosin pucks  and put different amounts in the bottles... Will give you some really good flux for very cheap, and different grades for different work... Thin and low content for clean work, High content thicker for dirty work and wires. Ebay Colophony flux and you should see the little tins, It's a brittle tree sap. You can also just dip the tip in it. Smells divine.

I need a new tub of flux, some of that metal cleaning wire stuff, basically all the bits except solder, 

SRA Rosin Paste Flux #135 with a Soldering Iron Tip Cleaner with Brass Coils

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B098PYNNDP/

Thermaltronics TMT-TC-2 Lead Free Tip Tinner (20g)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00NS4J6BY

MG Chemicals Desoldering Braid #4 Fine Braid Super Wick with RMA Flux, 5' Length x 0.1" Width, Blue

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008O9VLA2/

 

Seem like the best 'budget' options available, and even that is more than I can really afford right now.

Edit: Just picked up the braid since I noticed that was cheap and I have prime. will save me from cutting wires shorter and shorter every time I replace a plug or something.

Edited February 1, 2022 by paradoxum

[Iceni]

I wouldn't bother with paste flux (solder mistake picked up on below). It's fine for some applications, but for electronics where you want to put the solder where it's needed without excess the liquid types are easier to use. Like I say make your own it's very cheap. One of those tins has enough flux in it to last many years for the casual user.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/ROSIN-electronics-solder-COLOPHONY-Purity/dp/B077WF6QTS/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=colophony&qid=1643719514&sr=8-3

 

And a bottle of IPA (it's good for cleaning gearboxes as well so get a decent bottle). It's also good for cleaning the joint after soldering.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Trade-Chemicals-Isopropanol-Alcohol-99-99/dp/B08FCK988C/ref=sr_1_11?crid=M798NPBAHMRX&keywords=ipa+alcohol+99.9+isopropyl&qid=1643719574&sprefix=ipa+a%2Caps%2C69&sr=8-11

 

Tip tinner, really not needed. Dip in the colophony and just tin like normal.

Brass sponge... £3 for 3

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kleeneze®-KL072177EU-Antibacterial-Scourers-Utensils/dp/B0881STRPJ/ref=sr_1_3?crid=287VAQN3M02LN&keywords=brass+sponge&qid=1643719755&sprefix=brass+sponge%2Caps%2C70&sr=8-3

 

 

 

 

Edited February 1, 2022 by Iceni

[paradoxum]

3 minutes ago, Iceni said:

I wouldn't bother with paste solder.

paste flux do you mean? 

I didn't know there were different kinds. I'll get that 40g tin then. 

 

Got a liter of 99.9% iso alch already, great for cleaning gears and gearbox when doing a clean start build.

 

Thanks for the cheaper sponges, but I need something that' gonna hold them, like https://www.amazon.co.uk/Soldering-Cleaner-Wire-Type-Holder-Cleaning/dp/B07MHSTGRW/

Edited February 1, 2022 by paradoxum

[Iceni]

Just now, paradoxum said:

paste flux do you mean? 

Yup I meant flux... Getting carried away there. I do tend to edit a few times after posting as I'm good at making small mistakes like that!

That flux is a hard brittle tree sap. It's melted into the tin and you can usually just crack it into fragments at the edges for making the liquid leaving the bulk of it solid. If you want a solid block and a broken block buy 2 they normally have multibuys on the same product.

[Lozart]

22 hours ago, Iceni said:

It's not just the tools, it's the whole system.

I picked up a load of ex MOD gear a few years ago dirt cheap, Among it was a lovely roll of the really thick masking grade 3m kapton tape, and a few full rolls of Omega 63/37 with fast flow flux 2% flux. It blew my mind just how much better these products were than the standard store bought products.

That solder is £40-60 for 500g's compared to £20 for some cheap lead free stuff from amazon. But holy shit it's a night and day difference.

Equally flux. You can't solder without it. Well you can but it looks like shit - See above. A couple of cheap rosin blocks is a couple of £. A few dropper bottles (ask anyone you know who vapes), and some Isopropanol alcohol. Fill the bottles about 50% with IPA then break up one of the rosin pucks  and put different amounts in the bottles... Will give you some really good flux for very cheap, and different grades for different work... Thin and low content for clean work, High content thicker for dirty work and wires. Ebay Colophony flux and you should see the little tins, It's a brittle tree sap. You can also just dip the tip in it. Smells divine.

 

 

100% this. If you're using good flux cored solder though you shouldn't need additional flux. Also - you can get the Omega stuff for about £30 a roll if you shop around but yes, it's proper gear.

Also - when I mentioned the whole apprenticeship thing, we spent weeks and weeks just doing soldering exercises! We were expected to work to aircraft grade standards at the time so we also learned about the joys of looming and lacing but that's a whole different story!

[andrey]

So much headache...I will give you my simple fix in the evening, let me arrive home and upload a video.

[Shamal]

On 02/02/2022 at 10:31, Lozart said:

 

 

100% this. If you're using good flux cored solder though you shouldn't need additional flux. Also - you can get the Omega stuff for about £30 a roll if you shop around but yes, it's proper gear.

Also - when I mentioned the whole apprenticeship thing, we spent weeks and weeks just doing soldering exercises! We were expected to work to aircraft grade standards at the time so we also learned about the joys of looming and lacing but that's a whole different story!

I spent some time as a wireman in controls engineering in my early days.

Numbering cables and point to point wire wrapping and,as you say,looms and lacing. Lovely work when its finished. Very rewarding.

[andrey]

[paradoxum]

Thanks will check this out later.

[paradoxum]

On 04/02/2022 at 19:22, andrey said:

Dang man. I just got around to watching this and I guess you missed the rest of the thread where I've determined that the balance connector board is perfectly fine  (It even has balance error when you try to charge a lipo with no balance I was sitting there like "oh nice an easy fix - it's turned on and not apart!" hehe.

 

Edit: Okay holy shit. I tried it anyway, and it works. I don't know how, I mean there's a video of me right there checking all the traces and it's fine. But it works. Thanks for that, one less thing I need to re-buy now.

 

I suppose my idea about trying those 'balance connector boards' would have actually indeed worked, since they plug into the large connector.

Edited February 8, 2022 by paradoxum