rosek44•2mo agoProlific Poster

A customer told me my HDMI port repairs were all failing and he was right

I had a guy bring back a PS4 I fixed 3 months ago saying the HDMI port was loose again. Turns out I was using cheap lead-free solder from Amazon and not preheating the board enough. Switched to 63/37 leaded solder and a $40 preheater from Fry's and my last 8 repairs have held up perfect. Anybody else get called out on a bad habit by a customer?

3 comments

3 Comments

paule532mo ago

Man that takes guts to admit. I had a customer call me out on HDMI repairs too. Was using a cheap iron and no flux, just soldiering away. My joints looked fine but they cracked under heat cycles. Customer brought back a Switch a week later and showed me the broken pins under a microscope. Felt like an idiot. Switched to good flux and a real soldering station. Night and day difference. Sometimes you need that reality check.

david7392mo agoMost Upvoted

Yeah that moment when you realize you've been doing it wrong the whole time really stings doesn't it?

blake_black471mo ago

@paule53 I see it different, a cheap iron can work fine if you learn the right technique instead of just buying better gear.