# Modchip soldering tips \- William Quade

Canonical: <https://quade.co/modchip-soldering-tips/>
Language: `en-US`

I have installed modchips into lots of different video game consoles\. I have also done a lot of other console mods\. The list of consoles that I have modded \(by soldering\) to run homebrew includes:

- 1x PlayStation 1
- 1x PSone \(PlayStation 1 slim\)
- 1x PlayStation 2 fat
- 2x PlayStation 2 slim
- 1x PlayStation 3 fat
- 1x PlayStation 3 slim

I’ve learned a lot along the way, so I’d like to share some tips that may help your modchip installation experience a smoother one\. These tips are listed in the order I thought of them, not in any order of importance\.

These modchip soldering tips are linked to from other posts, and will be continually updated as I gain more experience\.

# Modchip soldering tips

- Tin all of the points you will be soldering to\.
- Tinning involves applying a small amount of solder to each point you will be attaching a wire\.
- The flux in the solder will help clean the point, and the added solder gives the wire something to attach to\.
- Use flux to tin copper pads that don’t have any solder on them already\.
- I didn’t figure this one out until I installed my second PS2 modchip\.
- Apply some flux on top of the pads\. Then put some solder onto your soldering iron\. With the solder on the iron, brush your soldering iron across the pads\.
- You should see that the solder sticks to the pads very easily, leaving you with nicely tinned points\.
- Just be careful not to bump any of the components on the board\.
- Isopropyl alcohol is useful for cleaning circuit boards\.
- Isopropyl alcohol can be used for all sorts of things\.
- Before you tin a point on the board you can clean it with isopropyl alcohol\.
- If you need to get rid of flux on the board you can clean it off with isopropyl alcohol\.
- Keep your soldering iron clean, and use as little solder as possible\.
- When working with such small points it is important to minimize the amount of solder being used\.
- By using too much solder you risk bridging connections, or making a messy or bad solder joint\.
- A clean iron is also important for making good contact with the solder on the point and the wire\.
- Solder the wire to the bigger point first\.
- In the context of the PS2 modchip this means solder to the modchip first, then the PS2’s board\.
- This tip comes down to the fact that a connection with a bigger object is a much more solid connection\.
- If you solder to the board first it’s much easier to accidentally detach the wire when routing it to the modchip, or stripping the insulation off the other end\.
- Plan where you are going to place the modchip before you begin soldering\.
- Sony tends to make their consoles fit together really tightly with very little extra free space inside\.
- This becomes an issue when trying to fit a modchip into the shell of the console\.
- Examine where all of the wires need to go, and where there is room for the modchip\.
- Try to put the console back together with the modchip in that position to see if it will fit\.
- Be careful when routing your wires\.
- There are many rules that involve routing your wires, and they may conflict\.
- One rule is to make your wires as short as possible\.
- Another rule is to route your wires so that they don’t cross over each other\.
- You also need to avoid routing your wires across, or really close to, screw holes\.
- Power wires typically need to be thicker than signal wires\. You can either use a single lower gauge wire, or run multiple higher gauge wires in parallel\.
- Use fine point tweezers\.
- 30 AWG wire is really thin, and it can be hard to route wires right up against the board with fingers\.
- Using fine point tweezers makes it a lot easier to work with the wire\.
- Tweezers are also useful for holding a wire or component into place while you solder\.
- Be careful when soldering the wires to the board\.
- When I installed my first PS1 modchip I pushed a surface mount component I was soldering a wire to out of position\.
- Holding the component into place with tweezers does work, but soldering to the top of the component is even easier\.
- Take your time, and keep your hands steady, to reduce the risk of bumping something out of place on the board\.
- Have the right tools\.
- Good tools make soldering modchips a lot easier\.
- Lighting is important, very bright white LED lamps are a good thing to have shining on the board\.
- Some sort of magnifying device is also useful\.
- Additional tools include a good temperature controlled soldering iron, wire strippers, and flush side cutters\.