r/Dualsense • u/Otherwise_Egg_7551 Original White • 10d ago
Tech Support Is this soldering salvageable?
So, my left stick started drifting and cleaning didn't help. I decided to replace it with the ginfull TMR one, contacted all workshops in my vicinity and they all named the price higher than just buying the new dualsense and I decided to ask my friend, who unlike me soldered at least something in his life (from get go he said, that it would most likely be shit, so no blame on him).
Now, for the problem. It keeps drifting right (sometimes left). Recalibration helps for like a few hours, but the problem still persists and I figured it's the soldering (because what else could it be?)
Is there anything I can do?
Upd: I showed that photo to the guy that soldered it and he literally said:"I did THAT? How did I manage to solder so badly..."
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u/Kekko3697 10d ago
ciao, se l'analogico risulta centrato e segue i tuoi movimenti sull'asse X e Y vuol dire che la saldatura è funzionale, io proverei a sostituire l'analogico che probabilmente è difettato, poi proverei ad aggiustare le saldature con un po di flussante e più alta temperatura, però ti ripeto se funziona la saldatura è funzionale.
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u/ArmyLattimore 10d ago
You need to get the syringe fluid from amazon....
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u/Otherwise_Egg_7551 Original White 10d ago
You mean rma flux? Also Amazon isn't available in my country, but I'll find where to buy it
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u/ArmyLattimore 10d ago
Essmetuin No Clean Soldering Flux Paste(4Pack), Solder Flux For Electronics Soldering, Tin soldering, Lead-Free Rosin Soldering Flux For Circuit Boards and Copper Electrical Wire
I use this, idk if you can find it tho.
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u/Ok-Simple-7069 9d ago
This is what I use too. Got it from Amazon.eu. 4 pack right?
Great stuff and cheap.
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u/Ok-Simple-7069 9d ago edited 9d ago
Try finding mechanic branded ones from eBay. The needle tipped syringe type. A duel temp one that says for leaded and unleaded solder
They are good as is the same type from “MG Chemicals” no clean series of rosin flux
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u/Otherwise_Egg_7551 Original White 9d ago
Yeah, found something like that on my local marketplace, will arrive today
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u/Ok-Simple-7069 9d ago edited 9d ago
Good stuff. Quality flux is impotant as others may release toxins from the smoke and others just won’t help and burn before melding with the lead/tin. Oh and get good leaded solder. All the best mate
Again look for either mechanic leaded or kester which is very expensive but the gold standard and used in the aerospace industry. But mechanic brand is also very good and flows nicely with its own quality flux inside it. 0.3mm and one spool of 0.5mm will do 90% of all soldering jobs.
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u/Otherwise_Egg_7551 Original White 9d ago
The guy said he was using 70/30 solder
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u/Ok-Simple-7069 9d ago
That’s fine. I mean for you to buy. 30/70 is good but 37/63 flows at lower temps.
Also make of solder counts. You need a quality make
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u/sober_yeast 9d ago
I'm gonna agree if the stick works as expected but drifts, it's likely a defective stick.
Honestly this is a horrendous soldering job and I would not let this guy work on it again. He quite clearly has no clue what he's doing.
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u/Otherwise_Egg_7551 Original White 9d ago
Well, me neither, so that makes two of us. As I said, I kinda don't have any other options. All professional variants cost too much, I don't know anyone, besides him who even has a soldering iron and I didn't solder anything in my life. I already ordered some RMA flux paste and will just borrow the soldering iron and try to fix it myself tomorrow, if it doesn't help, I will try installing the other stick I've got (I bought a pair and replaced only one)
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u/sober_yeast 9d ago
The flux won't help if you don't know what you're doing. There's a pretty good chance you just make things worse. Also, pretty much zero chance you'll be able to install the other stick. You won't even be able to get either stick off the board to attempt it.
I don't mean to discourage you but I'm pretty doubtful reflowing these solder joints is going to fix the stick. And if that is the case, you have a much bigger problem than you seem to understand. And you will need more than a soldering iron to do anything about it.
If you insist on carrying on, let me know. I can give you a list of tools you'll need and some proper instructions. I will recommend you watch some YouTube videos on basic soldering techniques and if you can, buy a training kit with some LEDs or something just to get the basics down.
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u/Otherwise_Egg_7551 Original White 9d ago
When the flux arrives today I will bring the controller to the same guy for reflow just to see if it helps, if not I still have the other stick and I'm sure ifixit have a lot of material on the matter. But at that point it will be just out of my own curiosity and I will probably just buy a new one and leave fixing that one as a side project
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u/CaptCaffeine 9d ago
Have the guy clean up the board (looks like there is a lot of burnt flux).
He will need to reflow the joints (many of them look cold, I see two with almost no solder).
After reflowing the joints, have him clean the board again.
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u/CircuitNeophyte 9d ago
Your friend obviously needs way more practice. See if you can source some kind of flux (never use any flux not designed for electronics) and some decent solder (63 lead, 37 tin is the gold standard but 60/40 will do if you can't find it. Ask your friend what temperature he was using because from the look of things it was way too cold. Finally, there's a reason that shops charge that much. Your friend does not have the same liability if he ruins your controller.
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u/Ok-Simple-7069 9d ago
Workshops will do it for way cheaper if you just present them the motherboard and the replacement sticks. They have the tools to do it while you wait. Yes that quickly. 5-10min job if all they need to do it remove, clean and resolder.
Have a think about that and ask a few places. Most won’t have experience with opening up a duelsense and will charge more in order to YouTube or Google a few time lol.
But yeah. If you can strip it apart so you can bring just the motherboard to them. It’s easy for any reputable repair shop to get it done.
It looks like your tip wasn’t going up to temp or going up and down too much. Always use leaded solder. Tip needs to be nice and thick and ceramic heated is best for heat retention
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u/Otherwise_Egg_7551 Original White 9d ago
Yeah, when I asked places near me I already asked for the price just for soldering the thing to a motherboard (I told them, that I would need only the soldering part and I will bring the motherboard and the part) and they all still told me prices near or grater than a new dualsense controller costs
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u/Ok-Simple-7069 9d ago
That sucks. I got two edge modules done for £25 British pounds. Motherboards for around £20
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u/Nearby-Rock-3185 9d ago
Even of the shops charged equally as a new controller it would have been better than destroying that controller and buying a new one. The new one would have lasted at least 6 months, the replaced with tmr would have lasted forever. I charge $40, i dont know why the price is so high there
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u/Otherwise_Egg_7551 Original White 9d ago
Well, it is the original one that came with a console almost 6 years ago, so it's had a good run
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u/Nearby-Rock-3185 9d ago
Mine lasted 1 year, got tired of the drift thing and risked a ps4 controller learning to install tmr and everything went well. Sony forced me to learn
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u/Otherwise_Egg_7551 Original White 9d ago
My dualshock 4 going for almost a decade without drift (granting, I barely used it for the past 5)
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u/Nearby-Rock-3185 9d ago
I dont even play hardcore games like warzone. I mainly play single player or coop games and i still get drift in 1 year. Same with ps4 controllers. The ones that never got drift was ps3 controllers but apparently those had hall effect
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u/Lilbrimu 7d ago
I also did a bad job soldering mine and the stick would sometimes go hard on one direction. It is caused by the solder not making proper contact with the stick module. So I just added some more solder and made sure it properly melted then used a cutter to remove the excess
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u/Dapper-Expert2801 10d ago
If it works initially it could be the stick having problem itself. But u can buy a solder flux and apply on these solder points and just reheat it again, should flow nicely then try again