Broken wires on my Eggfinder

[Swissyhawk]

Where the battery wires connect to the circuit board on my Eggfinder, the wires have broken off. This also happened last year on my other unit. The wires seem pretty thin. Is there anything I can do to reduce the likely hood of the wires breaking?

 

[DinoAP]

Yes, once you repair the wires. Secure the wires into the board with a dab of hot glue. The glue acts as a strain releif and the problem will be solved.

 

[mpitfield]

Are they soldered to the board or did you get the headers and screw your wires in? If you didn't get the headers then you might want to pick them up, solder to the board then screw your wires in place as well as tie-down your wires with some strain relief.

 

[Swissyhawk]

They are soldered to the board. What are headers?

 

[sl98]

Yes, once you repair the wires. Secure the wires into the board with a dab of hot glue. The glue acts as a strain releif and the problem will be solved.

Hot glue works great. I use it on every wire soldered to the board.

 

[mpitfield]

They are soldered to the board. What are headers?

Here are three of my eggtimers, two with top mount transistors, one with bottom mount, all with the green headers soldered for power and on the pyro channels.



Here is a pic of the same type of headers, but sized for my Missile Works screw switches



And just for reference this is how the screw switches assemble, again the header allows me to screw and clamp down my wires, my preference, instead of soldering them to the PCB

 

[cerving]

Where the battery wires connect to the circuit board on my Eggfinder, the wires have broken off. This also happened last year on my other unit. The wires seem pretty thin. Is there anything I can do to reduce the likely hood of the wires breaking?

Are you referring to the circuit board traces? The battery pads are double-sided and plated-through, so it would take a significant amount of force to pull one out of the board. If you're talking about battery pigtail leads, they can break under flex if you use solid wire, or if you have a cold solder joint. I recommend soldering them to the pads through the holes (I've seen people just tack them to the top of the pads, that CAN lead to the traces breaking off), and securing them to your sled with zip ties next to the board. If it can't move, it can't come loose.

 

[Swissyhawk]

It's the wires that broke, not the board. They broke off above the solder, where the wire itself goes into the wire insulation.

Thanks for the suggestions on the hot glue.

 

[ksaves2]

It's the wires that broke, not the board. They broke off above the solder, where the wire itself goes into the wire insulation.

Thanks for the suggestions on the hot glue.

I believe with ebay maintenance unsupported wires flex and stranded wires become solid wires after soldering. Recurrent flexing leads to eventual fracture and
the de-soldering iron or wick has to come out. Same thing can happen to the stripped wire that is screwed into headers/screw terminals but if there is excess wire, just need to strip and re-insert. If the wire can move it will eventually break which makes glue gunning and strain relief a good idea for long term
integrity, Kurt