@squeept ...could i ask, when you are doing your PS3 reflows and reballs, what kind of temps do you tend to reach in order for the CPU/GPU to desolder nicely off the board? And also what temps do you find are needed for the solder balls to reflow correctly?
Watching the temp at the chip, bottom heat only to a little above 165c. Keep bottom heat steady at that level and run the top heater until a little above 225c. Putting lead back on, you could probably stop top heat at around 210c, but I tend to just do both the same to account for the tiny bit of lead free that will be left on everything and any inconsistencies or uneven heating.
Yep so the wires were a separate issue from the tan caps themselves tho so just to make that clear.
Really we probably need to know if they are still working as we haven't heard any updates yet so mayb thats important.
Im not sure what gauge wire im using exactly but i bought some figure 8 wire that was for another job so just using what i have on hand but its rated at 50V 5A. consists of 50 strands x 0.12mm. this is more than enough.
@jupiterstar any chance u can update on the consoles??
Thanks for the info, that's surprisingly low temps, much lower than i would have thought. I was thinking it needed a much higher temp to get the CPU/GPU to come off the board. How long are your time profiles?
View attachment 25674 After quite a time trying to get these caps to sit straight, I've managed to get all 4 NECs replaced with 4 Panasonic 2R5TPE470M7 Tantalum Capacitors.
They are 470uF 2.5v
So far, it runs perfectly. I've got GT5 running an continuous demo loop for the past hour and no YLOD. I do have TLOU somewhere but I'll have to dig that one up. I'll try playing Uncharted 3 soon to make sure this sticks, I may not need to do the other 4 NECs on the processor side.
By next weekend I'll be able to delid the CELL and RSX as the fan still gets very loud even just idling. If delidding doesn't work, well... I'll probably have to look into a damaged temp sensor
Edit: I ended up 'washing' the entire board in an alcohol bath. I forgot how messy flux can be. I used Amtech flux. I tried using No Clean flux but I needed A LOT of flux for these caps to make sure I can get them to stick with solder on the pads. Plus the board was also a bit dusty and remnants of the destroyed NECs were everywhere
Yeah you are totally on point, and i thought to do that when i was soldering them in, and after too, just to check they were correctly positioned / aligned because i was worried at the time they were slightly off center. Also when i was soldering them in they would move slightly, and it only takes them to move out of position a little bit to then potentially make contact with the other side.
If someone is soldering size B caps using solder wire, then i'm sure the risk isn't very high to create a short under the caps. But for me i used solder paste and it doesn't take much for the paste to touch both sides at melting point and join as one solder, because of the capillary effect, and also it's easy to add too much paste sometimes (at least for me lol) then it ends up joining both sides when it melts.
And with 64 solder points like that (32 Tans x 2 solder points each), there is more room for a mistake short circuit when using size B caps (at least for me anyway using solder paste). So when using size D caps, if there is still a YLOD after full replacement, then i would be able to check better if it's due to a short on 1 of the caps, or not, because the gap between the (+) and (-) under the the D size caps is fairly large.
Nice clean work. Looks great! [emoji106]
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View attachment 25674 After quite a time trying to get these caps to sit straight, I've managed to get all 4 NECs replaced with 4 Panasonic 2R5TPE470M7 Tantalum Capacitors.
Dunno, probably about 7 or 8 minutes, I usually just control it "by hand" since my equipment can be temperamental.
Those temps are from a thermocouple in direct contact with the chip, so it barely has to go above the melting point. The heating plates themselves will be astronomically higher.
Here's a few more hours in the Last of Us on my A01.
This game is hard to put down [emoji23]
I'm not trying to gloat here. I'm just trying to give confidence for anyone that wants to try this repair.
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Yeah i was wondering the same, does it even turn on, or does it produce an instant YLOD? I was thinking about testing this myself just to see.Just out of curiosity, what do you get when you run a ps3 without the jumper wires? instant ylod?
I can't even begin to describe how angry it makes me that you oriented the top 2 on the far right differently than the rest. I hope you get a paper cut.
Ive never used paste so i cant really say how good it is but id imagine u would just treat it the same way and only put it on one pad 1st and solder it on so u can get the positions right? u have plenty of room to add paste on the other side after so as long as u have flux and get both the board and tants to the right temp the solder will do its own job will flow and form on and around the tant caps so id imagine u still shouldn't have issues. just tweaking ur technique mayb all thats needed.

Hi I would like to know if this makes a difference as I am in the same situationHiya, good question ElGris, well after seeing the recent video from @cfreddykrueger (just after your question), i would say it's exactly the same as in cfreddykrueger's video. The YLOD starts at about 1-2 secs. Yep the fan test seemed to work fine, before and after replacing all NEC/Tokins.
I think you're right, there could be a short somewhere, because the contacts on those small size B caps aren't very far apart, so it could be the solder is making contact (bridging) where it shouldn't under the caps.
This is why, since that photo, i de-soldered everything so i could try with some size D caps like 99% of other people's success stories here. Also, after chatting with you guys about what AWG size you used for bridge wires, i decided to order some 16 AWG soild copper and see how that goes.
Will aim to update again soon, just have to wait for parts to be delivered, hopefully this week.![]()
Hi do you have any update on this pleaseWell, maybe that's the end for me? I've finished replacing all my tokins tonight on both sides of the board, tested continuity, checked all my solder points with a magnifying lens and... Nothing. Still getting a ylod. I'm going to get an oscilloscope soon so I can do some more investigating, but in the meantime I'm at a total loss. Any suggestions? Anything I missed?
HiHey don't give up. My only suggesting is adding one more jumper for the RSX and for the CELL like I did for mine.
Also... really look over both sides of the boards and all of the components. Make sure everything's still there.
It can be so easy to knock off one of those little tiny fuses, capacitors etc. Trust me I've done it before and it sucks.
I tried my hand at delidding one of my perfectly working A01's before and accidentally knocked some of these off. This was my second delid and my first one was successful so I was pretty confident.![]()
I'm not saying this is your problem but it's always a possibility.
https://gamesx.com/wiki/lib/exe/fetch.php?media=schematics:sony_playstation3_service_manual.pdf
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