Noob installs Wiikey! But was it a success?

[alkalinetrio]

Got my wiikey this morning, and as everyone mentions.. yes it is TINY. I was just staring at those solder pads thinking how the hell am i going to solder this. I have zero experience soldering but wanted to start somewhere, why not with my wii?
opened it up, i wanted a wire install, so i installed the wires to the wiikey and then in order on the wii. As i said, having zero experience, other than reading an article on how to solder, i thought it was a little difficult due to the size. However, i did it on my first try and as i was nearing the end, i was improving.

Started up the wii, backup disc not recognised.

Downloaded the config disc and burnt that and again, not recognised. I was feeling have i done anything wrong and getting a little worried. Checked all connections and it a seemed fine. Went on to neoasic and discovered many wiikeys turning up DOA!!!
Thought i had either fried it with my shoddy soldering ( hey ofcourse not, it was a pretty sweet first install) so i presumed i had a dead key. Before i took it out, i untaped it. unsoldered and resoldered it back and to my amazement works PERFECT. Gamecube and wii backups working great. So happy.

After a pretty dim outlook from gettting it in, it's all turned out ok.

If anyone has read this far, My wii has never been updated. IS IT SAFE TO UPDATE WITH MY WIIKEY INSTALLED?

Thanks

[grabb]

Congratulations on a successful install! You are sure to inspire lots of first time solder'ers to burn the bejeezus out of their Wii's :)
To answer your question, yes it is safe to update your firmware to the latest version.

[Hooya]

Got my wiikey this morning, and as everyone mentions.. yes it is TINY. I was just staring at those solder pads thinking how the hell am i going to solder this. I have zero experience soldering but wanted to start somewhere, why not with my wii?



How about the guts of an old sound card or cd player or something? At least get your feet wet with something else first. You got lucky my friend, either that or you were an electrical engineer in a previous life and kept some of that experience with you. I do think that soldering is pretty intuitive once you know the basic principals, but still...

Glad to her you got it installed though.

[alkalinetrio]

i was looking desperately everywhere for some sort of old PCB and kept thinking "i'll get round to some practice" while it was still on shipped status!!! But when i saw it posted this morning... i couldn't resist doing it as soon as i got it. I was very careful and took my time. Everyone's given good advice here so it wasn't a huge deal.

Hey thanks for the quick reply btw, i really oughta update soon.

and yes im thankful it all went well, and i feel for people who's don't go to plan. I would be gutted if mine didn't work.

People was offering to fit it for me for 30 pound. plus i would then need to pay at least another 15 pound on top for p&p both ways. wii's are only £179 new so worst case scenario i buggered the solder pads, sell it on ebay cos all the originals would still work and try again :P

[Disturbed_Azn]

Awesome, I still need to order my chip and solder...

Can anyone give me tips on where to get the Tri-Wing Screw Driver? Also, which solder is the right one for the Wii?

I will probably try to mod my Xbox before I do the Wii. >_>

[xllzerollx]

i also soldered my wiikey with 0 soldering skill, i was surprised it worked the first time, i expected it to be fucked up:) :)
congrats

[pugsx]

mines in the next batch any tips for a solder n00b?

[memorex]

Yeah , make sure you tin your wires before you solder them on your wii, this will make the process a LOT easier (Haven't installed mine yet , i just got it about an hour ago , not gonna try either altough i had some soldering lessons at school , my dad said he would do it :o he's got about 25 years of soldering experience

[alkalinetrio]

right firstly, on trying to solder the wires to the wiikey itself i did this. Firstly apply a tiny blob of solder to the pads on the wiikey. Dont apply solder to the iron then to the pad cos it wont take. hold the solder wire on the pad and lightly touch the solder pad with the iron, and the solder will melt onto the pad. (as said a tinned wire and tinned tip really help, basically means apply solder to the tip, then wipe off to get a thin silvery covering over the tip) try not to touch the actual solder with the iron cos it will draw it on to the tip of the iron when you want it on the pad! oh flux helps too. Search the forum and see what everyone says about it.

my pathetic tip of the day


Once you have the pads soldered hold the wire and press the end of exposed wire onto the solder. Press the wire with the tip of the iron and as soon as it melts remove the heat and let it cool. This can be fiddly and shaky when you first try so, although it sounds pathetic i did this. i rested the soldering iron handle on a book, then slowly tilted it down, kinda like a seesaw. Really found this helped cos it was so acurate and prevented shaking. i just lined it up, tilted it down til the tip touched the pad. Completely eliminated the shaking and unstability and got me through it!

[instigator]

i rested the soldering iron handle on a book, then slowly tilted it down, kinda like a seesaw. Really found this helped cos it was so acurate and prevented shaking. i just lined it up, tilted it down til the tip touched the pad. Completely eliminated the shaking and unstability and got me through it!

Funny you should mention this. I had the shakes too. I found that I was able to steady the iron by resting it under my chin as I worked! Sounds weird but I have a high desk and a low chair which puts my head/face closer to the working area. Worked for me anyway. Hope it helps someone else.

[ramborai1987]

this thread is a great resource. i just need a little more help though. when installing the wire onto a pad, does the wire need to be totally touching the pad? so i mean if my wire werent totally touching the pad but the solder connected the wire and the pad would this conduct electricity to make the chip work? sorry guys im a noob any help appreciated!

[ganon]

Well my wiikey doesnt work after install. It gives me disc read error on backups. I think desoldering and doing it again like u might work.....

edit: so u soldered on the pad first then the wires onto the soldered pad? My friend said never do that? What do everyone else say?

[ramborai1987]

Well my wiikey doesnt work after install. It gives me disc read error on backups. I think desoldering and doing it again like u might work.....

if the backup is loading but coming up with disk read error's then its probably not the wiikey. you probably have a good install so dont tamper with it. i heard disk read errors are more related to burning speeds and using good media

[ganon]

No I mean it doesnt show wiibackups at all. Here is my thread http://forums.maxconsole.net/showthread.php?t=53063 Any help is appreciated.

[alkalinetrio]

hah your friends probably right. i thought it was easier, i even contemplated quick solder but i found that even more difficult cos the thickness of the chip raises quite a way upwards away from the contacts. anyway, make sure the wires have no internal damage, and that they are all connected in the right order, just go over eveything.

i think my problem was actually shorting it somewhere. bend all the wires on the wiikey and on your wii in such a way no wires are touching. tape it down like that. after some rearranging and going over of some points it fixed mine.

apart from that i just hope your wiikey is ok! i was worried about mine turning up dead on arrival.

keep us updated. i here they are replacing faulty ones. goodluck

[alkalinetrio]

sorry noticed your question. firstly the wire doesnt have to touch the pad physically. as long as there is solder and the wires embedded in the solder you have a good connection.

i rested the solderwire onto the pad of the wiikey, then very carefully touched the tip of the soldering iron on the pad next to the solder. a tiny bit of solder attached. THEN i gently held the wire end onto the cool solder mound i'd created on the pad, and re-applied the tip of the iron gently pressing on the wire until it would suddenly melt into the small blob. thats pretty much what i did to all six pads and on the wii also...
probably not right so don't take my word, im by no means experienced at soldering but my install went ok.

[pugsx]

so do you rate the wired install over straight to the board?

think i might look into getting some help lol my history with a solder iron aint pretty lol

[ramborai1987]

i just tried some soldering for the first time and it doesnt seem that bad. i opened up an old cd drive and when i started to solder i realised the solder actually sticks to the pad and doesn't spread anywhere else. then i tried it with a wire and did it all good. feeling quite confident now and i think i'll be up for it when my wiikey arrives

[alkalinetrio]

good to hear.

i think wired is actually easier! the wiikeys quick solder pads are not 100% lined up so positioning is difficult and as i mentioned, the 2 holes are easy, but the 4 remaining pads are quite a distance from the wii cos of the thickness of the chip. You'd have to use alot of solder and more of that increases risks of slipping and bridging connections!!

take your time, whatever feels more comfortable, its up to you.

[pugsx]

well mines just arrived in the post and i was very shocked to see the size of it think im gonna defo have to get some help with this my sausage fingers will get in the way lol

[loneraven]

Awesome, I still need to order my chip and solder...

Can anyone give me tips on where to get the Tri-Wing Screw Driver? Also, which solder is the right one for the Wii?

I will probably try to mod my Xbox before I do the Wii. >_>

Yea... the xbox is pretty easy to mod, so that might be a good starting point... however, you do have to solder to an extremely tiny point.

[dragonmod]

put a wiikey for a friend and worked out perfectly fine