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- Mar 6, 2015
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Built my first Eggfinder Mini and Eggfinder LCD over the last couple days, and thankfully it all worked first go!
I say thankfully because I got into a little bit of trouble on the Mini's GPS module. I had the four resistor leads soldered in place to act as 'guides' for the GPS module, but a couple were canted inboard just a bit. I had also used heaver leads since I had a slightly larger resistor lying around. Long story short, I thought I had the leads bent out 'straight enough,' but didn't. In pushing the GPS module onto the main board, I popped one of the soldered leads off, pulling a pad with it. Much to my horror, as I was turning the board around to see what happened, another lead fell off in my hand, having been popped off as well... TWO PULLED PADS on the side of the Mini board.
With a launch upcoming this weekend, there wasn't any time to just order a new one. Digging around online, I found that the two pulled pads were labeled GND 9 and NC.
The one that was supposedly not connected (labeled NC) seemed to land at the top of the Mini board, so I just ended up soldering it as usual, just in case, albeit without the solder flowing around the board to the bottom. Seemed to wick in between the boards fairly well though. Figured it was best to go ahead and solder what I could, in case I was reading the pinout incorrectly (or the wrong version, etc.) and that pad was indeed supposed to be connected.
The other pad--GND 9--was a little trickier. The solder pad on the Mini board jumped this terminal around the side of the board to the bottom. I was able to pull a single conductor out of a small wire and get it to jump around the side of the board successfully, bridging the gap that the pulled pad left behind. Seems to be fairly solid, but I'll put some strain gage lacquer on it to hold it in place, just in case.
Once that was out of the way, things went fairly well. Both units powered up and did their thing as-advertised.
Bluetooth GPS is working as well. Next items on the list are getting off the default frequency, a little more ground testing, then epoxying the GPS antenna and putting on the heat shrink.
Thanks for reading!
I say thankfully because I got into a little bit of trouble on the Mini's GPS module. I had the four resistor leads soldered in place to act as 'guides' for the GPS module, but a couple were canted inboard just a bit. I had also used heaver leads since I had a slightly larger resistor lying around. Long story short, I thought I had the leads bent out 'straight enough,' but didn't. In pushing the GPS module onto the main board, I popped one of the soldered leads off, pulling a pad with it. Much to my horror, as I was turning the board around to see what happened, another lead fell off in my hand, having been popped off as well... TWO PULLED PADS on the side of the Mini board.
With a launch upcoming this weekend, there wasn't any time to just order a new one. Digging around online, I found that the two pulled pads were labeled GND 9 and NC.
The one that was supposedly not connected (labeled NC) seemed to land at the top of the Mini board, so I just ended up soldering it as usual, just in case, albeit without the solder flowing around the board to the bottom. Seemed to wick in between the boards fairly well though. Figured it was best to go ahead and solder what I could, in case I was reading the pinout incorrectly (or the wrong version, etc.) and that pad was indeed supposed to be connected.
The other pad--GND 9--was a little trickier. The solder pad on the Mini board jumped this terminal around the side of the board to the bottom. I was able to pull a single conductor out of a small wire and get it to jump around the side of the board successfully, bridging the gap that the pulled pad left behind. Seems to be fairly solid, but I'll put some strain gage lacquer on it to hold it in place, just in case.
Once that was out of the way, things went fairly well. Both units powered up and did their thing as-advertised.
Bluetooth GPS is working as well. Next items on the list are getting off the default frequency, a little more ground testing, then epoxying the GPS antenna and putting on the heat shrink.
Thanks for reading!