I'm glad someone else said this. Multimeters inject voltage and small current into a circuit to determine the readings. This why it is hard to determine the readings you are seeing without knowing what they are supposed to be. Inductors will always show as low resistances as they are designed to filter/condition current, when used in conjunction with a resistor and capacitor, they create a frequency filter.
You make these calls and second guess yourself thinking it was luck but you are a very intelligent guy and you have learned so much over the years you need to give yourself more credit! I do love how you stay humble tho. Such an awesome guy!
@dudewhoareu Yes, well said. Steve is one awesome fella, but just needs a bit more confidence in himself. "Can I Fix It", 9 times out of ten, he can. Unless it's one of those disgusting "blob chips" or a part that is not obtainable, but that would beat all of us. C'mon Steve, YOU CAN KICK ASS AND FIX IT DUDE. Thanks for your comment Sir. 🤜🤛🫡🫡🫡🫡🫡🫡🫡😊😊😊😊😊
Just want to thank you for your videos. It has been a source of inspiration for me for a while. I've been fixing some stuff like Game Gear, PS1 or NDS and your videos taught me a lot. My brother is currently dying at the hospital after a tough fight against leucemia. Your videos are the only thing I bear watching tonight while I can't sleep
Spectacular fix! 😊 Regarding the short/no short; You might be charging a capacitor with your multimeter. (Think of the multimeter as a very small bench power supply.) So the capscitor flows back and makes it look like a short for a moment Thats one of the many reasons its hard to measure things in circuit.
Steve. I don't know where these beats come from but I love them. I was bobbing my head at work subconsciously with this video on in the background. I forgot I was listening to a song about your viewers for a min.
7:07 your multimeter has to inject voltage and a small amount of current to the system. this can charge up a few capacitors. and resistance is technically a voltage drop. the resistance of your multimeter is pretty high, so there is just a little little current when measuring a resistance. so the multimeter is reading the voltage drop, that's available in the circuit.That's also the reason why often measured resistances go up and down while you're reading them. 9:05 Coils: coils are frequency dependent. Just measuring the resistance is just not always enough. If the leads inside a coils are touching, you still read 0 Ohm, but the frequency related resistance is not the same as before.
Dude, i literally just stumbled on you 3 days ago and these videos are something I thought I never needed. I’m addicted 😂 love your dry sense of humour too. Keep it up. Genius!
@ 11:44 - it is a measure of inductance, 2R2 means 2.2uH (micro Henries). The resistance across the coil will be very small: the only time (!) the resistance is important is if the coil has gone open-circuit (high resistance).
You want to know something? When I first started watching this channel, those patreon songs were such 🔥🔥🔥 that I thought you were paying a musician to make it for you. It probably took at least like maybe around 10 videos before I realized it was you 😂
Steve, best I remember and I might be wrong but when checking coils, you need a meter that reads henry's and micro henry's. Coils are like that wire you use to make jumpers it has a coating on the wire that makes up the coil. Often times, they get hot, melt the coating and dead short. Using a meter that has henry's on it might help you. Idk.
11:40 xRx values are in micro Henries (μH) Three digit values are in nano Henries (nH) or micro Henries (μH), depending on manufacturers choice First two digits are the value Third digit is the multiplier (or number of zeros added to the value) If there is an R, its acts as a decimal point, and there is no multiplier Examples: 472 = 47*102nH = 4700nH = 4.7μH (Coilcraft) 472 = 47*102μH = 4700μH = 4.7mH (Bourns) 4R7 = 4.7μH
Wherever you see a small inductor, with a small black IC nearby - that is a power supply for one of the power rails. You should get a good steady DC on one side of the inductor. The other side will have rapidly switching square wave, which might show as DC on a multimeter. Better to look with an oscilloscope.
13:04 During a lot of time I thought you were saying "let it solder" instead of "leaded solder" as a joke, cause english is not my first language. I think I'll continue to listen to it as "let it solder" if u don't mind 😂. Fantastic job!
Short no short, charging a cap but is usually visible or switching on a MOSFET so leads the right way around Sir!! Inductors (coils) basically are a dead short at DC so hard to measure unless they are open but at AC its another kettle of fish, you would need to test at about 100 Khz AC. Resetting the trans optical wave differential oscillators time vector circuitry using heat was a cracking idea !.....cheers.
Something to consider so you don't end up having to do this again, is to add a small heatsink to the chip. My opinion is the excessive heat and cooling down causes this failure over time. I have devices in my home that I have also improved cooling on, still work many years later.
Do this as a test, it should explain why you get continuity that disappearsd Grab a random capacitor, test for resistance on lowest range, you should see a near short that changes resistance the longer you are connected, now reverse the leads, you'll get the same When you test for continuity, you are charging capacitors, leave the leads on longer if it looks like a short when testing. You need an LCR meter to check coils, prferably out of circuit
nicely done, sir. I strongly suspected the HDMI input myself, mainly because we didn't see you inspect it I guess. Glad it's working though, those pandora boxes are some fun cool things for portable head-to-head arcade goodness.
Hey man, great fix! Are you sure that replacement coil fits under that heatsink? The main chip might be overheating after a while for not making appropriate contact.
Must be tempting to see if reflowing like that would fix some of the other projects you've had to shelve in the past. Reflow compilation video? :D Can I get a _RE_ flow! ...sorry.
I believe those coils are measured in micro-henries and the generic electronic parts/transistor testers/identifier should be able to verify the value. (The measurement involves determining Inductance of the coil (by using an applied voltage), so a measurement of continuity doesn't really show the value of the micro-henry).
I know your Huapar broke and youse fixed it. Good fix vid that one too btw. I want one as the equivalent Flir is ridiculously higher priced (they aren't worth it imo) but the price for the Huapar has moved further north since your fixed-it video. More like £360+ after vat.
Something basic to keep in mind; Most parts tested in-circuit have different results when removed and tested off circuit. Especially don't trust resistance readings while in-circuit, electricity always follows the path of least resistance.
As others have said: Capacitance and inductance are temporary energy storage. Putting your probe on a board can cause current to flow, filling up a capacitance on the board, and beep but stop when it’s full. Just like using a hose with a rubber gasket across it, it can only stretch so far and flow stops or it keeps going and something breaks.
I'm wondering if that dinky little aluminum plate just isn't a big enough heatsink for that Rockchip and it had a broken solder ball from heating and cooling.
Well done. The only way to test inductors properly (in my opinion) is out of circuit (unless you have a schematic or another device to compare it, you never know what else is connected). Continuity (not open circuit) using Ohms etc, inductance (shorted turns etc) using an LCR meter.
Ya gotta spring for an LCR meter so you can properly measure inductors and capacitors - which need to be measure under an AC load as they are reactive components.
Hi Steve all your videos are amazing 👏 very professional and you are master of the master can you have a look at my Sony MZ-DH10P minidisc player it was working and just stopped working no power to it ? It will be very very good video for UA-cam as there is no videos of this minidisc on UA-cam please kindly let me know thanks waiting for your reply Thankyou
Looking for one of these portable screens, which one do you use? I need one that does both USB C and HDMI, oh and most of them unless is a noname one don't seem to have a headphone socket. Sorry to be a pain but you list all your kit but that came on the screen and I thought I'd ask!
Is the outer case metal? Because if you check for shorts with the board resting on a metallic surface, you could easily have everything register as a short.
I would guess if you're getting a short then going back and checking and it's not there, your power from your multimeter is charging either a coil or something in circuit to cause that issue. Iirc, EEVBlog has spoken about such things in the past.
7:15 what is happening when you have the multimeter in continuity (or Ohms), is it's trying to pass a small DC current between the leads. When it can't, it displays OL (Open Loop). When it can, it measures the voltage drop across what's between the leads and translates that to an Ohms value*. That's fine for measuring resistors, but if you measure a capacitor (or a resistor with a capacitor in parallel), it will measure as an effective short until it's nearly completely charged (only then does it become harder to add charge and you begin to see a voltage drop). So it'll beep when the capacitor is discharged, but then stop doing it after a while (or multiple attempts) as the little current from the multimeter has charged the capacitor. Edit: coils can fail in two ways without losing DC continuity: the core can crack, introducing a change in permeability, meaning it resists magnetic flux more, reducing it's efficiency as a coil.The coil you replaced might have mechanically cracked due to whatever (stress due to uneven cooling during production?), which might have been "a problem", but not "the problem". Turns can also short together (a coil is a bunch of thinly insulated copper wire wound tight around a core, if the insulation breaks down, turns become "shorted"), which makes the coil act as a transformer where the secundary side is shorted, iow. all the energy you put into the coil gets dissipated as heat, making it self destruct. You've seen this in earlier fixes. Now read the above 10 times to make sure you don't forget again... (*): or a beep or not. When this happens depends on the brand of multimeter, but, usually a beep means it's less than 25 Ohms and no beep means it's more than 150 Ohms. What happens in between is undetermined: it might beep, it might not. It might oscillate the beep on and off. Again, depends on the brand.
Stez, coils are measured in henries, or micro henries, mostly. Coils work using INDUCTANCE. Your meter may have an inductance measuring mode. If not, then inductance meters are available over the internet. Just look out for any meter, handheld, pocket wonders from China, or anything that measures inductance. By the way, inductors are probably better measured out of circuit if possible. Hope this helps(?) Nina ❤️❤️❤️❤️❌️❌️❌️❌️❌️
@@StezStixFix i know how it feel , did that on my xbox one x retimer chip did work for a few months till it die again. but on xbox it's a common issue, i do the same freaking ask myself a lot while doing electronics repair/projects can't help myself but try. LOl good video cheers
Couple of things to remind yourself in situation like that; It was already not working when you started. If it is not working at all, you can't make it work less.
Sometimes Dave.. you just gotta go with the reflow....
😂
....... get out
@@hteekay Nope I'm here all week 😁
I will
If a short disappears and turns into a rising resistance, chances are your multimtr (sic) is charging a cap somewhere
I'm glad someone else said this. Multimeters inject voltage and small current into a circuit to determine the readings. This why it is hard to determine the readings you are seeing without knowing what they are supposed to be. Inductors will always show as low resistances as they are designed to filter/condition current, when used in conjunction with a resistor and capacitor, they create a frequency filter.
Yip.
I'm learning soooo much of you guys. Cool
You make these calls and second guess yourself thinking it was luck but you are a very intelligent guy and you have learned so much over the years you need to give yourself more credit! I do love how you stay humble tho. Such an awesome guy!
@dudewhoareu
Yes, well said. Steve is one awesome fella, but just needs a bit more confidence in himself. "Can I Fix It", 9 times out of ten, he can. Unless it's one of those disgusting "blob chips" or a part that is not obtainable, but that would beat all of us.
C'mon Steve, YOU CAN KICK ASS AND FIX IT DUDE.
Thanks for your comment Sir.
🤜🤛🫡🫡🫡🫡🫡🫡🫡😊😊😊😊😊
There's no resisting a zero ohm resistor! Your face when that worked should be your channel icon! Great honest reaction
Just want to thank you for your videos. It has been a source of inspiration for me for a while. I've been fixing some stuff like Game Gear, PS1 or NDS and your videos taught me a lot.
My brother is currently dying at the hospital after a tough fight against leucemia. Your videos are the only thing I bear watching tonight while I can't sleep
sorry to hear that
Spectacular fix! 😊
Regarding the short/no short;
You might be charging a capacitor with your multimeter.
(Think of the multimeter as a very small bench power supply.)
So the capscitor flows back and makes it look like a short for a moment
Thats one of the many reasons its hard to measure things in circuit.
That irrepressible smile at 21:49 was so sweet and defines why we do stuff like this
Steve. I don't know where these beats come from but I love them. I was bobbing my head at work subconsciously with this video on in the background. I forgot I was listening to a song about your viewers for a min.
Wow, a bad BGA solder! You don't see those too often, knowing how the factories work! Great repair!
Some more of that fibrous material came out when you re-flowed the main chip. 20:40 - right hand side of the chip.
Man Steve, you are getting good at repairing this stuff. Your videos are an anticipated highlight of my weekends. Keep'em coming man. I love it.
You are the hero of resistors marked zero.
7:07 your multimeter has to inject voltage and a small amount of current to the system. this can charge up a few capacitors. and resistance is technically a voltage drop. the resistance of your multimeter is pretty high, so there is just a little little current when measuring a resistance. so the multimeter is reading the voltage drop, that's available in the circuit.That's also the reason why often measured resistances go up and down while you're reading them.
9:05 Coils: coils are frequency dependent. Just measuring the resistance is just not always enough. If the leads inside a coils are touching, you still read 0 Ohm, but the frequency related resistance is not the same as before.
Steve, you look absolutely adorable with this shirt! It suits you ☺
Ooo you big screaming woofta 😂😂😂
@@ED-209UHD Yes, very much! 💅
@@Rapha2587 Topman I’m glad you didn’t take offence it’s one of my uncles fav sayings I like to replicate at times 👍
Dude, i literally just stumbled on you 3 days ago and these videos are something I thought I never needed. I’m addicted 😂 love your dry sense of humour too. Keep it up. Genius!
Seems like a crawler went under the chip and fried itself, the body parts shorted something until the reflow cleared everything.
A literal bug!
@@technoman9000 Finally, someone used 'literal' correctly on UA-cam.
@ 11:44 - it is a measure of inductance, 2R2 means 2.2uH (micro Henries). The resistance across the coil will be very small: the only time (!) the resistance is important is if the coil has gone open-circuit (high resistance).
Love you videos - the surprise on your face when things work is great….. well done, I’d still replace the internams with a pi5 ❤
That was the most luckiest fix I ever seen. so awesome Dave I love it ❤🎉 congratulations
You want to know something? When I first started watching this channel, those patreon songs were such 🔥🔥🔥 that I thought you were paying a musician to make it for you.
It probably took at least like maybe around 10 videos before I realized
it was you 😂
Way to go Steve! Yo man, a win is a win. Truth be told, I'm always rooting for ya. Can't wait for the next one.
Steve, best I remember and I might be wrong but when checking coils, you need a meter that reads henry's and micro henry's. Coils are like that wire you use to make jumpers it has a coating on the wire that makes up the coil. Often times, they get hot, melt the coating and dead short. Using a meter that has henry's on it might help you. Idk.
11:40
xRx values are in micro Henries (μH)
Three digit values are in nano Henries (nH) or micro Henries (μH), depending on manufacturers choice
First two digits are the value
Third digit is the multiplier (or number of zeros added to the value)
If there is an R, its acts as a decimal point, and there is no multiplier
Examples:
472 = 47*102nH = 4700nH = 4.7μH (Coilcraft)
472 = 47*102μH = 4700μH = 4.7mH (Bourns)
4R7 = 4.7μH
7:10 Likely a capacitor charging up off the meter..!
Wherever you see a small inductor, with a small black IC nearby - that is a power supply for one of the power rails. You should get a good steady DC on one side of the inductor. The other side will have rapidly switching square wave, which might show as DC on a multimeter. Better to look with an oscilloscope.
13:04 During a lot of time I thought you were saying "let it solder" instead of "leaded solder" as a joke, cause english is not my first language. I think I'll continue to listen to it as "let it solder" if u don't mind 😂. Fantastic job!
Short no short, charging a cap but is usually visible or switching on a MOSFET so leads the right way around Sir!! Inductors (coils) basically are a dead short at DC so hard to measure unless they are open but at AC its another kettle of fish, you would need to test at about 100 Khz AC. Resetting the trans optical wave differential oscillators time vector circuitry using heat was a cracking idea !.....cheers.
Something to consider so you don't end up having to do this again, is to add a small heatsink to the chip. My opinion is the excessive heat and cooling down causes this failure over time. I have devices in my home that I have also improved cooling on, still work many years later.
Do this as a test, it should explain why you get continuity that disappearsd
Grab a random capacitor, test for resistance on lowest range, you should see a near short that changes resistance the longer you are connected, now reverse the leads, you'll get the same
When you test for continuity, you are charging capacitors, leave the leads on longer if it looks like a short when testing.
You need an LCR meter to check coils, prferably out of circuit
You must have the magic touch steve well done 😊
It is fuseless to resist a zero ohm resistor ...
Love your videos... Thank you for your content...
i think you are successful because you engage with people not many do that
excellent work as usual steve
sometimes it can be simplicity even when its not obvious sometimes stuff need reflow when you don't even realize it
nicely done, sir. I strongly suspected the HDMI input myself, mainly because we didn't see you inspect it I guess. Glad it's working though, those pandora boxes are some fun cool things for portable head-to-head arcade goodness.
Hey man, great fix! Are you sure that replacement coil fits under that heatsink? The main chip might be overheating after a while for not making appropriate contact.
Recomend to add termal pad to the heat sink ! Or update the heat sink !
nice pandora box😊
Must be tempting to see if reflowing like that would fix some of the other projects you've had to shelve in the past. Reflow compilation video? :D
Can I get a _RE_ flow! ...sorry.
I'd of liked to see the thermal temp on the Rockchip after you reflowed it, I bet the temp dropped on it lol. Cheers 🍻
I believe those coils are measured in micro-henries and the generic electronic parts/transistor testers/identifier should be able to verify the value. (The measurement involves determining Inductance of the coil (by using an applied voltage), so a measurement of continuity doesn't really show the value of the micro-henry).
Brilliant fix Steve well done glad the reflow worked 😊
I know your Huapar broke and youse fixed it. Good fix vid that one too btw. I want one as the equivalent Flir is ridiculously higher priced (they aren't worth it imo) but the price for the Huapar has moved further north since your fixed-it video. More like £360+ after vat.
Something basic to keep in mind;
Most parts tested in-circuit have different results when removed and tested off circuit. Especially don't trust resistance readings while in-circuit, electricity always follows the path of least resistance.
You should’ve checked if the rock chip was still getting hot or whether it was running a bit cooler than 37 degrees.
Today's rap was above par my friend! Good one! 👍👍 Fans in Canada.
awesome. i would glued a cooler to the chip, preventing it from getting to hot in the future
I love your show man… keep it going…… But man I have to turn down my sound till the music is done….😒😒😒😒😒
As others have said: Capacitance and inductance are temporary energy storage. Putting your probe on a board can cause current to flow, filling up a capacitance on the board, and beep but stop when it’s full. Just like using a hose with a rubber gasket across it, it can only stretch so far and flow stops or it keeps going and something breaks.
I'm wondering if that dinky little aluminum plate just isn't a big enough heatsink for that Rockchip and it had a broken solder ball from heating and cooling.
Love the "Phatt Island wharf" background on your computer.
Well done. The only way to test inductors properly (in my opinion) is out of circuit (unless you have a schematic or another device to compare it, you never know what else is connected). Continuity (not open circuit) using Ohms etc, inductance (shorted turns etc) using an LCR meter.
I always think with reflows, it's the memory chips nearby that get the benefit. Worth a shot either way. Nice
You should have checked that ic with the thermal camera to see if the heat decreased after the reflow
I see your videos from around a year now.. I love you fixing the "stupid" things 😅
hahahaha we all smiled when it worked . very nice steve :)
that was a great outcome for sure
Think that fiber stopped a previous flow from working on that chip?
Nice job Steve!😊
Nice work Steve ! Get in !
That is some impressive work there, Steve!
9:52 The disappointment on Steve's face with his own puns cracked me up. 🤣🤣🤣
Ya gotta spring for an LCR meter so you can properly measure inductors and capacitors - which need to be measure under an AC load as they are reactive components.
@StezStixFix Have you actually checked whether the new choke is blocking the cooling plate? Not that the chip no longer touches the heatsink?
Trust in the flow Dave!!!
Well now I gotta tweak my system and hope I get the same results.
Sorry for my ignorance but if the roc chip was faulty would it be possible to replace it?
That’s crazy, it was a good idea replacing the cracked coil anyway but a reflow working was a cool fix.
Great fix steve. Can you id the tune for me @ 20:25 plz bud
Snatches victory from the jaws of defeat once more 😂
Hi Steve all your videos are amazing 👏 very professional and you are master of the master can you have a look at my Sony MZ-DH10P minidisc player it was working and just stopped working no power to it ? It will be very very good video for UA-cam as there is no videos of this minidisc on UA-cam please kindly let me know thanks waiting for your reply Thankyou
"This thing is so big, I dont know how I am going to film it...." - Glad you did. Ta! I'm off to reflow all of the things..
You really should aquire some Lead-free solder paste for SMD rework. Makes rework a million times easier.
Another good fix there Steve 👍 - Stupid Pandora Box 😄
Looking for one of these portable screens, which one do you use? I need one that does both USB C and HDMI, oh and most of them unless is a noname one don't seem to have a headphone socket.
Sorry to be a pain but you list all your kit but that came on the screen and I thought I'd ask!
I celebrated with you after the reflow! Thank you for another great video.
What is the portable tv that you’re using?
There looked to be a piece of loose fibre that went underneath when you reflowed it?
Is the outer case metal? Because if you check for shorts with the board resting on a metallic surface, you could easily have everything register as a short.
Loving your pc background. Instant nostalgia
I would guess if you're getting a short then going back and checking and it's not there, your power from your multimeter is charging either a coil or something in circuit to cause that issue.
Iirc, EEVBlog has spoken about such things in the past.
Is there a chance it was reseating the SD card that fixed it?
7:15 what is happening when you have the multimeter in continuity (or Ohms), is it's trying to pass a small DC current between the leads. When it can't, it displays OL (Open Loop). When it can, it measures the voltage drop across what's between the leads and translates that to an Ohms value*. That's fine for measuring resistors, but if you measure a capacitor (or a resistor with a capacitor in parallel), it will measure as an effective short until it's nearly completely charged (only then does it become harder to add charge and you begin to see a voltage drop). So it'll beep when the capacitor is discharged, but then stop doing it after a while (or multiple attempts) as the little current from the multimeter has charged the capacitor.
Edit: coils can fail in two ways without losing DC continuity: the core can crack, introducing a change in permeability, meaning it resists magnetic flux more, reducing it's efficiency as a coil.The coil you replaced might have mechanically cracked due to whatever (stress due to uneven cooling during production?), which might have been "a problem", but not "the problem".
Turns can also short together (a coil is a bunch of thinly insulated copper wire wound tight around a core, if the insulation breaks down, turns become "shorted"), which makes the coil act as a transformer where the secundary side is shorted, iow. all the energy you put into the coil gets dissipated as heat, making it self destruct. You've seen this in earlier fixes.
Now read the above 10 times to make sure you don't forget again...
(*): or a beep or not. When this happens depends on the brand of multimeter, but, usually a beep means it's less than 25 Ohms and no beep means it's more than 150 Ohms. What happens in between is undetermined: it might beep, it might not. It might oscillate the beep on and off. Again, depends on the brand.
Big bottomed coils, they make the rocking world go round
you could tell he was so surprised he didn't even say "GET IN THERE!"
Double Dragon. I remember that from arcades. Two dudes fighting through the streets in coop.
A nice long video.... I love it when they are about 30 mins long :)
Nice dave
did the short appear because it was sitting against the metal casing?
Believe in youre self more pal we all love youre repairs keep it up pal thankyou 👌
"Take that Marian" - another classic StezStix Fix quote!
You remind me of Pat Benitar,just the era city lights
Excellent job young Padawan.
seen that a lot main chips that goes loose by their own heat
Nice. Trust your instinct.
Stez, coils are measured in henries, or micro henries, mostly.
Coils work using INDUCTANCE. Your meter may have an inductance measuring mode. If not, then inductance meters are available over the internet. Just look out for any meter, handheld, pocket wonders from China, or anything that measures inductance. By the way, inductors are probably better measured out of circuit if possible.
Hope this helps(?)
Nina
❤️❤️❤️❤️❌️❌️❌️❌️❌️
love the nirvana cover.
Is there anyway I can get a copy of that SD card from you? Via a link to download
Best outro. Ever. 👍
It's an over centre spring off a peco model railway point
"I'll probably do more harm than good. [ .. ] Let's reflow it." :D Yay! It worked!
Couldn't resist! I thought it was worth a go!
@@StezStixFix i know how it feel , did that on my xbox one x retimer chip did work for a few months till it die again. but on xbox it's a common issue, i do the same freaking ask myself a lot while doing electronics repair/projects can't help myself but try. LOl good video cheers
@@StezStixFix Was it a zero ohm resistor after all? /s
@@StezStixFix Almost as hard to resist as a 0 ohm resistor
Couple of things to remind yourself in situation like that;
It was already not working when you started.
If it is not working at all, you can't make it work less.