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Where to get the ground from a mouse hack

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goofy:

The lead that you've identified to the far right of the 5 horizontal points (which is the one four points over to the right from the one that I marked) traces over to the center pin of the 3-legged transmitter node that I removed.

Now, from everything that I've read, that center node is the power lead, correct?

Unfortunately, I don't have a volt meter to test this with.

SirPeale:

Using the diagram here: http://www.networktechinc.com/technote.html

Find which pin is the ground pine.  Get your multimeter, and figure which wire corresponds to that pin.  Don't rely on wire color, that can be a costly mistake.

What I did was to unsolder the wire alltogether from the hole, wrap the two ends together, and solder it back into the hole.

krick:


--- Quote from: goofy on September 26, 2004, 10:43:13 pm ---As for melting the solder points, I thought that happened because I was just no good at desoldering. But, maybe it is because my iron is too hot (probably both). My iron is just a cheapo from Radio Shack and is marked as 23W. I'm also just using a little desoldering bulb to suck up the solder after heating it (looks something like the little suction bulbs for cleaning babies noses).

--- End quote ---

You should pick up a "solder sucker" from Radio $hack they help a lot with desoldering...
http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&product%5Fid=64-2098
Spring loaded makes for easy one-handed operation.

It's also handy to have some clip on heatsinks to prevent you from melting wire and other components...
http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&product%5Fid=276-1567
Helps stop wire insulation from melting from the heat.

As far as the iron wattage goes...
Everybody says to use a 15 watt iron.  I have two 15 watt irons and I always end up going back to my trusty old 30 watt iron (a piece of crap 15+ year old unit from Radio $hack)

With 30 watts, you have to be careful that you don't hold it on too long but if you prepare properly, you won't have to.

I'm not a soldering expert by any means but here's some tips that I find useful:
[*]MOST IMPORTANT: make sure that your iron's tip is properly cleaned and tinned with solder.
[*]Use good solder.  I use .032dia 60/40 rosin core and I have good luck with it.
[*]If you can, it sometimes helps to pre-tin your wire ends before putting them through the holes.
[*]Keep an old wet washcloth or wet sponge handy and wipe the iron tip often.
[*]De-soldering is easiest if you add extra solder to the joint first, then heat it up and suck it away with the solder sucker.  It's all a matter of giving the sucker something to "grab" onto.
[*]I sometimes "cheat" by touching the solder to the iron first to make a little "bubble" of solder on the tip just before touching it to the component I'm trying to solder.  I find that this often "primes the pump" so-to-speak and allows the heat to transfer much more quickly, shortening the solder time.
[/list]

goofy:

OK, another question here. I've traced the leads and the point labeled 5 in the diagram above traces out to the +5V power according to the PS/2 Pinout diagrams at (http://www.bbdsoft.com/keyboard.html) and (http://www.networktechinc.com/technote.html). This is as I expected so it was nice to be confirmed.

Now, the point labeled 4 traces out to the GND from those diagrams. However, the point labeled 1 traces out to the ring around the 6 pins in the ps/2 connector (the part that plugs into the computer, well the ring that circles those 6 pins). Wouldn't that be the ground? However, according to the pinout diagrams in the above mentioned websites, the point labeled 4 in my diagram should be the ground. Does this seem correct?

Thanks for all the help, I really appreciate it. I just want to make sure I'm doing this all correctly.

Also, thanks for the soldering suggestions, those will really help.

Cheers.

Bgnome:

i am not an electrician so take this info with a pinch of salt.  my understanding is that they are both grounds, but not continuous.  the ring/shell of the connector is earth/ground whearas pin 4, as you have labelled it, is the circuit ground.  like in the situation where trackballs sometimes have a green grounding wire sticking out of them which is meant for an earth/ground, they still have a separate ground wire meant for the optics.  bottom line, use pin 4.

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