GPS connection has come loose from motherboard

[Coastal Soul]

Hi There

Firstly I am not a tech-head and do not know allot about motherboards, sodlering etc. I primarily use the Solo for photo and video.

I recently was having issues with my drone not finding any GPS signals and opened up the solo to find that the GPS connection has come loose from the motherboard.

I was just wondering if anyone can assist me in what would be the best method in securing this connector to the motherboard?

how should i solder this back into place? or should i use glue

Cheers for the help. Have attached images below.

 

[CS223]

Uh that's going to require soldering.

 

[Spectre95]

Looks like the pads have solder... Yeah that will require someone with training and proper tools to fix.

 

[RickP]

You might be able to use a fine soldering tip and flux to reflow the solder on the connections and mounting tabs after placing the component on the pads. A small spring clamp to hold the socket in position will help. Solder the end tabs first to hold the socket, then work on the signal pins. If it were me, I would use 60/40 tin/lead solder on the pins. It melts at a lower temperature and is generally easier to hand solder than the lead-free solder used in most SMD boards (required by ROHS manufacturing). If you are successful in soldering it back in place, consider putting some epoxy where the component joins the board to reinforce the mounting.

A hot air tool might work but you'd need to be careful because adjacent surface mount components might be loosened by the heat.

 

[User Name]

How comfortable are you soldering? If not very, do you have a friend who might be? Soldering that won't be hard, but it would take a fine touch. I've hand soldered those connectors before, and here's how I'd do it:

Add a little more solder to the pads for the end tabs. Not a blob, but just so they look like he pads for the pins - gently rounded. Those are what will do a lot of the work holding the connector housing down. Looks like there was minimal solder there, which is probably why it came off.

I'd put a ball of solder on the tip of the iron and touch it to each of the pins, just to add a little more solder to them too. Then, place the connector on the board, line it up, push it down and just go from pin to pin reflowing the solder. Do it maybe 3 times, each time holding pressure on the connector so it'll sit down onto the pad as opposed to on top of the solder. Then do the side pads, again, holding pressure down. Maybe then go back to the pins one more time to account for the side tabs now being reflowed and the connector sitting totally flush.

That top (in your picture) side tab might be hard to reach without removing the board from the body. If you had/got a curved tip for your iron, you could probably get it in place.

I probably wouldn't glue it down afterwards. It shouldn't come off with gentle use, and if you glue it, you risk pulling up the traces underneath if it ever did come off again. If you did want to reinforce it, the only glue I'd use would be hot glue... it's sticks and it's strong, but will still peel off if you really needed to remove it.

 

[cryhavoc38]

Easy fix if you have the tools time and talent, but I'd say don't do it and have 3DR repair or replace it for you
if that one connector was improperly soldered, who is to say that there aren't others in your copter.