That device is a Starlink dish that's been modified to fit into a flat mount for placement on top of a vehicle. It's not really a prototype, but an end user modified device. That connector is the Ethernet interface with Power over Ethernet. The other similar pinned connector is the motor control connection for rotation and tilt of the dish (before it was modified).
I find it bizarre how they flagged someone who created an account - provided full name, business name, address and phone number - something they could quickly look up and see that you're an established repair shop (with a popular UA-cam channel) and still gave you a hard time. Yet, they happily sent the same items to a "guest customer"? I would think the person checking out as a guest would have something more to hide than the person making the effort to create a business account and passing on their full details. Very silly of Digi-key.
I don't know their process, but I'd imagine that for guest customers they check every order so that it doesn't contain anything "risky". When creating an account, maybe they perform a one-time check, and once passed, they wouldn't do the checks in the future orders. Just my theory.
That is exactly it. There is a new account verification process. Likely to eliminate duplication of one that has been closed for things like non payment issues. @@enginerd80
I honestly believe this to be true. I’ve ordered several ESP32s from both Digi-Key and Mouser without issue even with a registered personal account. However when I started a company and ordered an ESP32 dev board with a business account I had to fill out a bunch of paperwork for both companies basically a CYA for them acknowledging that I understand export requirements, etc. I believe the rules are different for individuals on the checking requirements because it’s default to assume if you’re selling to an individual you’re selling to the end consumer. If you sell to a business they may resell it and the distributor doesn’t control where it’s resold to. So they make you fill out that paperwork for traceability so if it does end up somewhere it’s not supposed to and the govt starts asking questions, the distributor can point and say “hey we did everything in our power to ensure they understood the rules and we waive our liability once it leaves our dock”. I’m not saying this is right but it is the way it is because the govt.
A quote from a software specification of a telecommunications subsystem decades ago: "If the bit is in use its value is 1, otherwise 0." (The bit in question was in a bitmask but anyway.)
I had a similar issue with DigiKey where they were claiming I was on a "US Denied List" simply based off my name. I provided them ID and eventually got the chip I ordered but they need to do better than blindly assume based off a name.
Excellent work again Alex , many many years ago mid 90s I did a lot of very close SMT work , using a stereoscopic microscope , and the issue was " tremble" , so I made a few reverse pantograph manipulators to reduce the movements I made to allow very accurate positioning and close work , then you just have surface tension to deal with, the most useful thing was a spring biased holder to make a component or pad stay put , we didn't have the UV setting glues or solder paste , just liquid flux and determination , I even made a IR heater with barn doors to allow selective heating and removal of components
I remember making those types of repairs when I had a summer job during my years in university while earning my EE degree. The worst ones were where some yahoo with a Weller soldering 'gun' tried to remove DIP packages from PCB's without the use of solder-wick. I would find a half-dozen traces torn off the board and quite a few through-holes that were torn out. I used wire-wrap wire and a DS100 soldering station to clean up the mess, tack down to what was left of the traces and glue that in place while installing a replacement DIP package. The PCB's cost thousands of dollars (1980's dollars) so four or five hours of labor and it was still worth it. I think our cut-off point for repairs was more than 8 hours of labor on any board.
Thank you so much for your videos and your time brother. I’ve been watching religiously for a few years now and you’ve helped me up my soldering game by a metric ton. I’m an electrician by trade and I also love fixing electronics around the house and for family. You’re an inspiration and I wish you and your whole family nothing but success and happiness. You work so hard and that’s a dying trait with some of the new generation. Again, thank you and selam from Australia. Big fan Ali, you’re a legend.
You did an excellent job on those wires and putting them on the parts the pcb board and you use the color so it won't do short circuit if moved or anything. Truly outstanding work
Alex…you are the man! Don’t change a thing on your channel. You are realistic! You make mistakes just like me when or anybody else, but your success rate is incredibly high! Keep it up my friend
I had a similar experience with Digi-Key. I needed to send them some extra ID and proof for them to ship my order and I’m in Australia with a pretty common name. I doubt it was any suspicion to do with your name - I think their security measures are overly strict for everyone.
It's because it's a business account. Tax records, itar compliance, credit. Like digikey is thorough and reliable. Their records are meticulous, and they are great to work with. This is just part of setting up an account with them. It's not personal.
I also had a negative experience with them recently-- when I placed an order it didn't empty my cart, it was like it never completed, and it didn't appear in my order history so I placed the order again. However, within a few minutes the original order went through, so I had a double order. I immediately contacted their customer service to cancel the order and was told it had been processed, and so that wasn't possible. Seriously, within 15 minutes?! Mind you, it took several days to ship, so I don't know what they did that couldn’t be canceled. Next time I'll use another distributor, completely ridiculous!
This man is an electronics surgeon. A lot of people watching this video don't know how hard what he did in this video is. I tried to replace a micro USB port with ript traces on a device. That was a nightmare. I could not imagine how hard this would be for somebody like me. His skills are on a completely different level
I learned a lot watching this video: Use of UV-cured solder mask to hold down wires before soldering a small connector part is brilliant. You can't fix what you can't see, so for a job like this a microscope is a must. Unless you are a serious hobbyist, you would go to Northridge Fix for this job, as Alex has the tools and skills for anything you can throw at him.
It's common practice with digi-key. A 14 years a go they denied sending some parts to Europe (and as now it's important - by Europe I mean EU) claiming that it was "restricted to export" (early MCU with WIFI). We get those parts from microchip directly without ANY problems.
Great to see that you are keeping the differential pairs coupled by following the path of the original traces. This should keep the signal integrity and thus the device working reliably.
Alex, your link to the microscope takes us to a micro-HDMI cable instead of the microscope. Just wanted you to know. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and time with us. Great video!
Dear alex once again it is a good example for this type of problems and it is a masterpiece. Eventhou i watched it with my welders google s for UV protection :)))
Happens to all of us mate, with digikey anyway. I had the same series of questions when my order included some high power IXYS mosfets that are used for among other things, high power radio transmitters, lasers and orbital solar arrays. ended up buying a similar part from mouser with no questions asked, as i'm a regular customer. I'm Australian btw.
First, this was one of the most fun video's I've seen. i'm impressed with the work flow, the confidence, and the perfect temps for the soldering iron, flux being applied liberally and ensuring every possible point is perfect. I learned much just from watching the workflow. First time finding the channel, so thanks for totally making a simple repair a fun show to watch. My hunches on this deice.. If this is a communications device, It's probably digital and should be totally fine. I know with analog devices there was always the risk of capacitances being an issue in the traces. Thus the board layout always took into account the capacitance in the traces adding to the subtracted from the schematic's required values as they can change values. It doesn't look like an an antenna, nor does it appear to be a broadcasting device (as nothing looks like high power / wattage) so if it is broadcasting it's probably still going to be on frequency since the amp boards would a different board / unit. I'd also bet they have another on order while this is repaired, which it will be promptly replaced with, and this fixed will be kept as a backup. Now I gotta watch more of your channel!
I'd always tie to the far connector foot, not to a trace. I think I'd super glue the body of that ripped connector down. People will yank on it. Kynar wire, then Kapton tape for strain relief. For connectors, think mechanical strength first, then the electrical will follow. Too much strain relief is just enough. -10 year QCOM Wireless R&D Tech. Nice to see you work. Cheers, --bd
I appreciate you sharing your skills. PCB repair is an important skill....In the past I have repaired boards with failed components in the field...admittadly much larger thru hole components :) in these cases there was no option, as the PCB's were soldered to hundreds of wires in the chassis, and the pcb was 2'x3'..... not to mention that spares just did not exist.
That is a starlink dish, that is being converted to a vehicle roof top mount, (you cut the back out of it, so it sits flat on the roof of the vehicle.)
That work is incredibly small and fine. I wouldn't be wrong to compare this with vascular surgery or something like that. Great job. Wish you all the success.
Yes it is similar except in huge problem when you working on electronic device the worst senario it will fail and mostly not the end of the world but micro surgery , any mistake , you damage a nerve or ending human life , and that really the end of the world for you and the patient .
Well Alex, we live in a world of idiots, we have our fair share in the UK too. The only thing we all can do is avoid the idiots and let them drive their businesses into the ground. Keep up the good work.
I have lot of trouble with custom clearance here in Greece when order from Digikey. All in all I had to pay twice the invoice for import tax, import sales tax and UPS clearance for what I had to sign a three years contract with UPS. Mouser is much more easy since they ship to proxy in Munich Germany (no customs issues at all to Germany). And from Germany it is redirected to Greece which is within Europa (also no customs).
Sadly its because your name is on a prohibited trade list, these can be anything from terrorists to those who commit financial fraud and as you can imagine the name is fairly common. I worked for an American company overseas that sold items that fell under ITAR, this list was scanned for every order, to proceed it either had to be manually reviewed or id requested to prove you were not the listed individual. Its dumb but thats how it is.
@@tissuepaper9962 is likely the condition of parole or something like that where someone will be released from prison but they can’t do trade in the industry they were arrested for doing illegal things in
Sad that prejudice is still rampant. Great repair! I have been in the same situation with PC boars many times, and I use 30 gauge wire wrap wire to repair such trace tears, once the tracks are repaired, I epoxy over them to keep them in place and to protect them as well. I didn't have the microscope, but I did have a magnifier visor!
That was a nice fix, however wires could be too thin. This is Starlink ethernet with power, and it is also used to heat the dish in the winter, it is up to 200 W on those wires ~48V. About 1A per wire. Not too much, but could be take into consideration for future Starlink repairs.
I was thinking the same as both of you once he whipped-out those puny wires and again when he started cutting them to random lengths. The size of the original traces should've been a big clue. Hopefully he learns from the comments, just as many commenters learn from him.
The wires are narrower than the tracks but I suspect they are thicker so their cross sectional area might be pretty close. Also those were not high current tracks unless the board has extremely thick copper. As long as he follows the routing of the original tracks the signal integrity should be OK. I would be more concerned about impedance mismatches due to the different profile of the wires and traces but they're fairly short runs...
Your video looks great and I'm a factory level repairer who finds design flaws or tolerance issues that lead to product rejection. Your video looks great and I'm a factory level repairer who finds design flaws or tolerance issues that lead to product rejection or fix, but not enymore, because they fired me. Designer protection is somehow special in electronics and we fix all that junk. Designer protection is somehow special in electronics and we fix all that junk.
The ground via stitching, and the way the traces hug each other indicates that each of the pins were originally differential pairs. Do you do anything special to insure they maintain length and impedance matching when replacing the traces?
Yeah he could have done a slightly more careful job to run the wires in the “valleys” left behind by the torn-out traces, and to length-match (and minimize) the stubs at the ends.
Account issue will most likely be OFAC related and triggered by your name. UK based, but at a previous employment we had massive problems making payments to taxi drivers using a payment method linked to America due to this, so much so we eventually changed our payment method.
It looks like the connector has been physically ripped off of the board by the looks of the other traces. edit: I just realized the really cool thing about this channel. You can send something to Alex to be fixed and if you are lucky, you will be able to watch as he does it!
Love the work you have done Alex. I have learned alot from your videos. It is sad a company had this view on a name ordering parts. Keep on Keepin on Brother!
Many years ago, I lived internationally and was ordering some developer tools software from Apple. There was an export control section. It was *impressively detailed*. I don't remember 100% the list, but it had yes/no questions for 5+ areas: Do you, or your facility work on uranium enrichment, plutonium enrichment, heavy water, chemical or biological weapons. I was just imagining someone asking their boss, hey, do we enrich plutonium, or *just* uranium, to make sure they got the questions right? :)
@@craigknights Years ago, one of the common questions when checking bags for international travel was “Are you certain that your bag contains no electrical or electronic items?” Umm…no, I’m certain that it *does* contain some. I’m fairly sure it *only* has electronic items :)
Pretty sure Dave Jones of EEV Blog has mentioned Digikey's ID checking crap being a pain before too. I expect name didn't help, but it seems to be a pain of any working with Digikey. I avoid them myself prefering farnel, mouser, rs-online....
What you had happen (most likely) was you got flagged by a piece of software doing what's known as "denied party screening" - basically, there are lists of people, entities, governments, etc. that the US says businesses cannot sell to, for various reasons. Sometimes it's because of trade restrictions, sometimes it's sensitive technology, and sometimes it's because of lists of people who the US doesn't like. For each transaction the business makes, they run it through this software and the software says "hey I don't think you're supposed to do business with this entity because it might match something on a list". I'm not going to make any comment about why or how your transaction got flagged, but I've seen it happen more than once. Generally speaking when this happens it triggers either a blanket denial of the transaction, or sometimes the business can reach out and try to establish identity in order to complete the sale. Sounds like in this case they may have tried to work with you but their process sucks. I'm glad you managed to find a workaround!
OMG. The soldering stations you use are something I can only dream of affording. They are amazing. Just like your repair videos. Thank you and God bless!
The connector has a plug that has a positive locking mechanism, most likely somebody tried to pry it open and off the board it went. Never underestimate the potential for destruction when someone becomes impatient😮
How about the customer just pays the normal costs incurred that it takes to make the repair with parts? There's no reason to become a self-appointed punisher and overcharge for the repair. The customers fault brought the shop business, the reason it is there.
@@additudeobx From a business standpoint, you're absolutely right. But I've been helping people with electronics components and PCs since I was 14. And for me it's an emotional thing every time I see people treating "innocent" electronics so shamefully.
I did love Alex’s statement “all items are in stock unless the item is not in stock”
Goes nicely with "If you do not start, you're not going to finish" :)
better line would have been "all items are in stock, unless your name is Adolf, then we'll have to check and get back to you"
I chuckled to that too. I think he means that if the item is not in stock, it will show as such in the shop.
@@dghtr79_36 a fine addition! :D
the gold is where its at, and wherever you go,there you are.
That device is a Starlink dish that's been modified to fit into a flat mount for placement on top of a vehicle. It's not really a prototype, but an end user modified device. That connector is the Ethernet interface with Power over Ethernet. The other similar pinned connector is the motor control connection for rotation and tilt of the dish (before it was modified).
I think you are right, I've seen that board before.
It could be a company planning on making and selling a 3rd party mod for starlink for van-life people or truckers.
Your explanation does not explain dog$hit for the average joe, who will read this and understand basically nothing.
@@NarutoEternal566 Google 'starlink flat dish mount' ... you'll get pictures, videos of the mod being performed, etc.
@@NarutoEternal566 It's exactly the right answer. Why would the average Joe be watching this channel?
I’m middle eastern too, I take it as a compliment when everyone assumes you’re an explosives engineer
Friend of mine who is from Northern Ireland told me he is asked all the time if he ever was with the IRA.
He's an English Lit. teacher 🤣
xDD
It's probably because of the Iran sanctions.
😂😂😂
I find it bizarre how they flagged someone who created an account - provided full name, business name, address and phone number - something they could quickly look up and see that you're an established repair shop (with a popular UA-cam channel) and still gave you a hard time. Yet, they happily sent the same items to a "guest customer"? I would think the person checking out as a guest would have something more to hide than the person making the effort to create a business account and passing on their full details. Very silly of Digi-key.
I don't know their process, but I'd imagine that for guest customers they check every order so that it doesn't contain anything "risky". When creating an account, maybe they perform a one-time check, and once passed, they wouldn't do the checks in the future orders. Just my theory.
That is exactly it. There is a new account verification process. Likely to eliminate duplication of one that has been closed for things like non payment issues. @@enginerd80
I honestly believe this to be true. I’ve ordered several ESP32s from both Digi-Key and Mouser without issue even with a registered personal account. However when I started a company and ordered an ESP32 dev board with a business account I had to fill out a bunch of paperwork for both companies basically a CYA for them acknowledging that I understand export requirements, etc.
I believe the rules are different for individuals on the checking requirements because it’s default to assume if you’re selling to an individual you’re selling to the end consumer. If you sell to a business they may resell it and the distributor doesn’t control where it’s resold to. So they make you fill out that paperwork for traceability so if it does end up somewhere it’s not supposed to and the govt starts asking questions, the distributor can point and say “hey we did everything in our power to ensure they understood the rules and we waive our liability once it leaves our dock”.
I’m not saying this is right but it is the way it is because the govt.
they are idiots, that is the reality of current times...
They do this with every order we've made with digikey. It's bizarre but consistent
"All items are in stock unless the item is not in stock". Now that's what I call accurate, helpful customer information! 🤣
A quote from a software specification of a telecommunications subsystem decades ago: "If the bit is in use its value is 1, otherwise 0."
(The bit in question was in a bitmask but anyway.)
I had a similar issue with DigiKey where they were claiming I was on a "US Denied List" simply based off my name. I provided them ID and eventually got the chip I ordered but they need to do better than blindly assume based off a name.
We are we are on the same boat
It’s about sanctions on certain countries
Barack Hussein Obama will not get his hobby chips :)
yes, they don't like Jesus
It’s the same as a black guy in a expensive car get stopped by police because of his skin color.
That’s not ok by digikey…..
Excellent work again Alex , many many years ago mid 90s I did a lot of very close SMT work , using a stereoscopic microscope , and the issue was " tremble" , so I made a few reverse pantograph manipulators to reduce the movements I made to allow very accurate positioning and close work , then you just have surface tension to deal with, the most useful thing was a spring biased holder to make a component or pad stay put , we didn't have the UV setting glues or solder paste , just liquid flux and determination , I even made a IR heater with barn doors to allow selective heating and removal of components
i honestly would have thought if the pad was gone, that was basically it - this was the work of a pure surgeon.
bloody good work!
"all items are in stock. Unless the item is not in stock." Best statement ever.
I remember making those types of repairs when I had a summer job during my years in university while earning my EE degree. The worst ones were where some yahoo with a Weller soldering 'gun' tried to remove DIP packages from PCB's without the use of solder-wick. I would find a half-dozen traces torn off the board and quite a few through-holes that were torn out. I used wire-wrap wire and a DS100 soldering station to clean up the mess, tack down to what was left of the traces and glue that in place while installing a replacement DIP package.
The PCB's cost thousands of dollars (1980's dollars) so four or five hours of labor and it was still worth it. I think our cut-off point for repairs was more than 8 hours of labor on any board.
Thank you so much for your videos and your time brother. I’ve been watching religiously for a few years now and you’ve helped me up my soldering game by a metric ton. I’m an electrician by trade and I also love fixing electronics around the house and for family. You’re an inspiration and I wish you and your whole family nothing but success and happiness. You work so hard and that’s a dying trait with some of the new generation.
Again, thank you and selam from Australia.
Big fan Ali, you’re a legend.
👏🏻 legend
You did an excellent job on those wires and putting them on the parts the pcb board and you use the color so it won't do short circuit if moved or anything. Truly outstanding work
Thanks Alli, You are an amazing technician, thanks for sharing your skills and wisdom.
Alex, many thanks again for showing your work style and giving your experience to us.
Alex…you are the man! Don’t change a thing on your channel. You are realistic! You make mistakes just like me when or anybody else, but your success rate is incredibly high! Keep it up my friend
I had a similar experience with Digi-Key. I needed to send them some extra ID and proof for them to ship my order and I’m in Australia with a pretty common name. I doubt it was any suspicion to do with your name - I think their security measures are overly strict for everyone.
I wonder if it's for ITAR compliance.
why would a mechanics and IT shop even care about ITAR? They don't even sell any form of explosives components or weapons parts at all.@@JD-mo4fv
Considering you can order as anonymous, which should be shadier, it’s probably not a “security” thing
It's because it's a business account. Tax records, itar compliance, credit. Like digikey is thorough and reliable. Their records are meticulous, and they are great to work with. This is just part of setting up an account with them. It's not personal.
russian sanctions
Haha. No bombs for Alex
I also had a negative experience with them recently-- when I placed an order it didn't empty my cart, it was like it never completed, and it didn't appear in my order history so I placed the order again. However, within a few minutes the original order went through, so I had a double order. I immediately contacted their customer service to cancel the order and was told it had been processed, and so that wasn't possible. Seriously, within 15 minutes?! Mind you, it took several days to ship, so I don't know what they did that couldn’t be canceled. Next time I'll use another distributor, completely ridiculous!
So you double ordered because the 1st order didn't "go through" in minutes 😂 genius
Play to process orders very quickly
This man is an electronics surgeon. A lot of people watching this video don't know how hard what he did in this video is. I tried to replace a micro USB port with ript traces on a device. That was a nightmare. I could not imagine how hard this would be for somebody like me. His skills are on a completely different level
I tried to replace a mini usb port on a blue tooth speaker I loved. RIP speaker.
I learned a lot watching this video: Use of UV-cured solder mask to hold down wires before soldering a small connector part is brilliant. You can't fix what you can't see, so for a job like this a microscope is a must. Unless you are a serious hobbyist, you would go to Northridge Fix for this job, as Alex has the tools and skills for anything you can throw at him.
It's common practice with digi-key. A 14 years a go they denied sending some parts to Europe (and as now it's important - by Europe I mean EU) claiming that it was "restricted to export" (early MCU with WIFI). We get those parts from microchip directly without ANY problems.
Great to see that you are keeping the differential pairs coupled by following the path of the original traces. This should keep the signal integrity and thus the device working reliably.
I absolutely live for watching your videos Alex. Your work is absolutely beautiful.
Alex, your link to the microscope takes us to a micro-HDMI cable instead of the microscope. Just wanted you to know. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and time with us. Great video!
your manual dexterity and fine motor skills are impressive.
Dear alex once again it is a good example for this type of problems and it is a masterpiece. Eventhou i watched it with my welders google s for UV protection :)))
Its a pleasure watching you do component replacement, I used to do it as well!
I love how the plot twist is that he just ordered the component as guest, **The more you know**
I am so sorry you had to go through this! I may not purchase from DigiKey anymore.
Happens to all of us mate, with digikey anyway. I had the same series of questions when my order included some high power IXYS mosfets that are used for among other things, high power radio transmitters, lasers and orbital solar arrays. ended up buying a similar part from mouser with no questions asked, as i'm a regular customer. I'm Australian btw.
Wow. This is very intricate work. Really shows at the end when you have your fingers for comparison
First, this was one of the most fun video's I've seen. i'm impressed with the work flow, the confidence, and the perfect temps for the soldering iron, flux being applied liberally and ensuring every possible point is perfect.
I learned much just from watching the workflow. First time finding the channel, so thanks for totally making a simple repair a fun show to watch.
My hunches on this deice..
If this is a communications device, It's probably digital and should be totally fine. I know with analog devices there was always the risk of capacitances being an issue in the traces. Thus the board layout always took into account the capacitance in the traces adding to the subtracted from the schematic's required values as they can change values.
It doesn't look like an an antenna, nor does it appear to be a broadcasting device (as nothing looks like high power / wattage) so if it is broadcasting it's probably still going to be on frequency since the amp boards would a different board / unit.
I'd also bet they have another on order while this is repaired, which it will be promptly replaced with, and this fixed will be kept as a backup.
Now I gotta watch more of your channel!
I'd always tie to the far connector foot, not to a trace. I think I'd super glue the body of that ripped connector down. People will yank on it. Kynar wire, then Kapton tape for strain relief. For connectors, think mechanical strength first, then the electrical will follow. Too much strain relief is just enough. -10 year QCOM Wireless R&D Tech. Nice to see you work. Cheers, --bd
I once tried to order a component manufactured in Europe, where I live. I've been told that this component could not be exported outside the US...
The United States government allows the import of certain things but not export
I appreciate you sharing your skills. PCB repair is an important skill....In the past I have repaired boards with failed components in the field...admittadly much larger thru hole components :) in these cases there was no option, as the PCB's were soldered to hundreds of wires in the chassis, and the pcb was 2'x3'..... not to mention that spares just did not exist.
That prototype looks a lot like a phased array antenna, the same kind of antenna used for the Starlink system.
*Precisely. It is a StarLink antenna with AZ/EL mount removed. Cheers!*
Was "Starlink" not in the video title when you wrote this comment?
@@daveeckblad No it was not.
'Starlink Repair'@@xThirdOpsx
Not quite, it’s actually a prototype phased array antenna for the Starlink system.
Your soldering skills are impeccable. 👍
These Starlink antennas are works of art. When i decommission mine I'll be putting it on a wall or displaycase.
The skill in this video is amazing.
That is a starlink dish, that is being converted to a vehicle roof top mount, (you cut the back out of it, so it sits flat on the roof of the vehicle.)
Awesome surgery! I do same type of repairs.I just discovered your channel and will be watching.thanks very much for videos!
Whoa!! That is madd big 😅 glad you found the connector item @Alex
About microscopes, it’s also the optics. Amazing to see stuff like this that would appear magic to people just a few decades ago.
Even just the method by which I am watching this is way beyond the sci-fi tech of my youth.
That work is incredibly small and fine. I wouldn't be wrong to compare this with vascular surgery or something like that. Great job. Wish you all the success.
Same as vascular surgery. LOL
Alex's hands are so stable I think I can see his pulse.
Yes it is similar except in huge problem when you working on electronic device the worst senario it will fail and mostly not the end of the world but micro surgery , any mistake , you damage a nerve or ending human life , and that really the end of the world for you and the patient .
Yeah I’d be doing electrical work and say oops 😬 and then I would go no worries, I’m not a brain surgeon haha
The big difference is that you don't have to do the work hot, knowing that if it ceases to be hot a million plus dollar machine breaks forever.
Great job working around the issues!
That one, for some reason, is my favourite repair video so far! The micro-craftsmanship is excellent - and I'm not even an electronics engineer!
I am sorry that you experienced discrimination in ordering parts. That is so disgusting. You're a good man doing good things for people.
Well Alex, we live in a world of idiots, we have our fair share in the UK too. The only thing we all can do is avoid the idiots and let them drive their businesses into the ground. Keep up the good work.
This means a bomb will drive them to the ground ?
@@blizardbill do you even use your brain?
Digikey is a multi billion dollar company, I don't think they're going anywhere soon because of some bad process that they need to correct.
The profiling plus maybe ITAR. A lot of electronics are ridiculously considered “arms”. Especially anything aerospace.
without idiots people like me and northridge wouldnt have jobs
As always an excellent job.....better than factory.....!!!
My respect....!!!
I have lot of trouble with custom clearance here in Greece when order from Digikey. All in all I had to pay twice the invoice for import tax, import sales tax and UPS clearance for what I had to sign a three years contract with UPS.
Mouser is much more easy since they ship to proxy in Munich Germany (no customs issues at all to Germany). And from Germany it is redirected to Greece which is within Europa (also no customs).
Wow, so awesome, skill involved is amazing; renew my faith in humanity to go the distance.
Sadly its because your name is on a prohibited trade list, these can be anything from terrorists to those who commit financial fraud and as you can imagine the name is fairly common. I worked for an American company overseas that sold items that fell under ITAR, this list was scanned for every order, to proceed it either had to be manually reviewed or id requested to prove you were not the listed individual. Its dumb but thats how it is.
It's clown world!
Can't understand how ITAR is even Constitutional considering that we supposedly have the right to free association and to make contracts.
@@telx2010 not necessarily the list is there to have a purpose
@@tissuepaper9962 is likely the condition of parole or something like that where someone will be released from prison but they can’t do trade in the industry they were arrested for doing illegal things in
@@UKsystems its purpose is to help create clown world.
Amazed, your like a Doctor!
Sad that prejudice is still rampant.
Great repair!
I have been in the same situation with PC boars many times, and I use 30 gauge wire wrap wire to repair such trace tears, once the tracks are repaired, I epoxy over them to keep them in place and to protect them as well.
I didn't have the microscope, but I did have a magnifier visor!
What prejudice? Not in 'MURRICA, that's for sure.
Your work is Impeccable! I enjoy watching your videos very much. And Yes I bought some items from your store.
You are getting very artistic with your wires. Half way through I was thinking about a screen shot.❤
masterful work. I wish my hands were steady enough to pull off such soldering craftmanship.
That was a nice fix, however wires could be too thin. This is Starlink ethernet with power, and it is also used to heat the dish in the winter, it is up to 200 W on those wires ~48V. About 1A per wire. Not too much, but could be take into consideration for future Starlink repairs.
Also, since the wires in the matched pairs weren't exactly the same length, it might have issues trying to run at higher speeds.
I was thinking the same as both of you once he whipped-out those puny wires and again when he started cutting them to random lengths. The size of the original traces should've been a big clue. Hopefully he learns from the comments, just as many commenters learn from him.
The wires are narrower than the tracks but I suspect they are thicker so their cross sectional area might be pretty close. Also those were not high current tracks unless the board has extremely thick copper.
As long as he follows the routing of the original tracks the signal integrity should be OK. I would be more concerned about impedance mismatches due to the different profile of the wires and traces but they're fairly short runs...
It's just amazing how you have steady hands working on those tiny connections!!!
Very nice repair job !
Big shame for Digi-key. Definitely shows up the ingrained bias.
Your video looks great and I'm a factory level repairer who finds design flaws or tolerance issues that lead to product rejection. Your video looks great and I'm a factory level repairer who finds design flaws or tolerance issues that lead to product rejection or fix, but not enymore, because they fired me. Designer protection is somehow special in electronics and we fix all that junk. Designer protection is somehow special in electronics and we fix all that junk.
The ground via stitching, and the way the traces hug each other indicates that each of the pins were originally differential pairs. Do you do anything special to insure they maintain length and impedance matching when replacing the traces?
Yeah he could have done a slightly more careful job to run the wires in the “valleys” left behind by the torn-out traces, and to length-match (and minimize) the stubs at the ends.
@@tookitogo Exactly what frequency do you think these traces were operating at?
That was cool how you repaired the PCB like! Good as new. The right tools does the job right! Good stuff
You can’t use that connector to built a nuclear weapon, it’s not shielded against neutron flux.😂keep the great videos coming.
could be used in a russian drone
No but it can be used in a Star link at tack drone
I remember seeing this posted on Reddit asking for advice. Nice job fixing it!
I have seen something like this before. This could be a satellite antenna. The structure is similar to a Starlink satellite antenna.
I'm learning so much and enjoying your videos.😊
If it makes you feel anymore re-assured, I went through the same thing with Digit-Key. My last name is Brown.
Well it is totally obvious that that is a fake name. You should have said Smith.😂
Wouldn't want to sell to Emmet Brown
You always make it look so simple and easy. Very nice
Account issue will most likely be OFAC related and triggered by your name. UK based, but at a previous employment we had massive problems making payments to taxi drivers using a payment method linked to America due to this, so much so we eventually changed our payment method.
*Smartly, you found a work-around. Cheers!*
I'm amazed by the knowledge
Couldn’t resist the opportunity to shame a vendor 🤣
because Digikey is too big to be this petty or careless
It is pretty fucked up.
Probably tried to order on 9/11
@@plonk420 no they are being careful with business accounts. A business account is a big process to set
You are werry good to you job, love to see you work. 🙂
That is a great fix. Think this will ever get them to consider their designs before ANY development!
20:00 '...when did you see a piece of art looking good? ...' :)))
It looks like the connector has been physically ripped off of the board by the looks of the other traces.
edit: I just realized the really cool thing about this channel. You can send something to Alex to be fixed and if you are lucky, you will be able to watch as he does it!
Locking connector + impatient gorilla = PCB carnage
impressive work. enjoyed watching.
I always wondered what Leon ended up doing after he gave up being a hitman. 😅❤
Hhhhhhhh
*Ha, ha! Like many others here over the years, you also saw "The Professional" and Alex's resemblance to Jean Reno. Cheers!*
Love the work you have done Alex. I have learned alot from your videos. It is sad a company had this view on a name ordering parts. Keep on Keepin on Brother!
This is not a prototype device. It is a regular Starlink antenna PCB that has been pulled out of a Starlink dish.
👍nice work, learn every time I see a video from you dear Ali.
Many years ago, I lived internationally and was ordering some developer tools software from Apple. There was an export control section.
It was *impressively detailed*. I don't remember 100% the list, but it had yes/no questions for 5+ areas: Do you, or your facility work on uranium enrichment, plutonium enrichment, heavy water, chemical or biological weapons.
I was just imagining someone asking their boss, hey, do we enrich plutonium, or *just* uranium, to make sure they got the questions right? :)
Or when travelling to the US. "Do you plan to try and overthrow the government?"
@@craigknights Years ago, one of the common questions when checking bags for international travel was “Are you certain that your bag contains no electrical or electronic items?”
Umm…no, I’m certain that it *does* contain some. I’m fairly sure it *only* has electronic items :)
Kudos to you and big boss!
Pretty sure Dave Jones of EEV Blog has mentioned Digikey's ID checking crap being a pain before too. I expect name didn't help, but it seems to be a pain of any working with Digikey. I avoid them myself prefering farnel, mouser, rs-online....
All the US regulated shops run through the same backend. Mouser do this also. Exactly the same enforcement. It's not the shop itself.
@@Jasonsadventures ...and yet, people seem to have a small fraction of the issues with the others...
Dave's issue was even with element14, an Aussie subsidiary of a UK company and the US watchlist still effed things up
@@_BangDroid_ Isn't element14's main distribution center in New Jersey, though?
Alex, Digi-key has the right to ask you those questions…. Cus you’re the BOMB!! 🎉
They have a good profiling web security.
We all know Alex is capable of fixing and building a nuclear bomb or something.
Never seen this kind of repair before, super intriguing and alex is super hilarious
Isn't it better to add some glue around that connector?
WOW! you are GOOD!!!! I tell my friends with broken phones, ipads, key fobs, play stations, scanners......send to you!!!!!!!!
What you had happen (most likely) was you got flagged by a piece of software doing what's known as "denied party screening" - basically, there are lists of people, entities, governments, etc. that the US says businesses cannot sell to, for various reasons. Sometimes it's because of trade restrictions, sometimes it's sensitive technology, and sometimes it's because of lists of people who the US doesn't like. For each transaction the business makes, they run it through this software and the software says "hey I don't think you're supposed to do business with this entity because it might match something on a list". I'm not going to make any comment about why or how your transaction got flagged, but I've seen it happen more than once. Generally speaking when this happens it triggers either a blanket denial of the transaction, or sometimes the business can reach out and try to establish identity in order to complete the sale. Sounds like in this case they may have tried to work with you but their process sucks. I'm glad you managed to find a workaround!
Personally, my workaround would be to take my business to Mouser, who doesn't entertain this ITAR fuckery.
The pricesion, the steady hands , this is no longer but Talent ! !😅
Secretly you are building a portal towards 9th dimension 😂
So he can find all the screws and tiny components that fell off the desk? :D
Brought back a lot of memories. Thanks m8.
Looks like a microwave antenna. Sure it's not a modified Starlink dish?
your soldering skills are really miraculous ,good job
user modified starlink dish
OMG. The soldering stations you use are something I can only dream of affording. They are amazing. Just like your repair videos. Thank you and God bless!
oof sad to hear about digikey doing this
Hope they see this video. Keep up the good work my friend.
If someone manages to ravage a small connector like this, then they should pay three times the usual price as punishment!
The connector has a plug that has a positive locking mechanism, most likely somebody tried to pry it open and off the board it went. Never underestimate the potential for destruction when someone becomes impatient😮
How about the customer just pays the normal costs incurred that it takes to make the repair with parts? There's no reason to become a self-appointed punisher and overcharge for the repair. The customers fault brought the shop business, the reason it is there.
@@additudeobx From a business standpoint, you're absolutely right. But I've been helping people with electronics components and PCs since I was 14. And for me it's an emotional thing every time I see people treating "innocent" electronics so shamefully.
@@additudeobx are you familiar with the human custom known as "comedy"?
@@sergejkoch1432 - Now that's Comedy right there!!!
JazakAllah hu khair posting this type of video it helps person like me who wanna be like you Master,Hussain ur working style teach us many things.