All right, here's a detailed guide to installing a Wiikey, intended for noobs. Anyone who's mature enough to handle a soldering iron and has a steady hand can do this, but follow this guide carefully and do so at your own risk. I take no responsibility for your actions.
If you have lead-free silver solder don’t use it for this installation. Use 60% tin/40% lead rosin core solder instead (or any other variety of lead and tin rosin core solder). You'll have a much easier time. Although there's a health risk associated with lead solder, you're only going to be using it for about 5 minutes, so the risk is very negligible. Solder in an open area though, and if you're pregnant, have someone else do the installation.
Equipment:
Wii
Wiikey
Tiny phillips screwdriver
Triwing screwdriver
Electrical tape
30awg kynar wire
15W soldering iron
60% tin/40% lead rosin core solder
Damp sponge
Flat-tipped long-nose pliers
Flat-tipped adjustable pliers
Scissors
Side panel of a junk computer case or any similar metallic scrap
Disassembly
Remove anything that's attached to the Wii, like the power cable, memory cards, etc. and disassemble it using the many guides found on the web.
This is a good one.
Preparation
Determine where you want to place the Wiikey once the DVD drive is completely detached. Don't secure the Wiikey to anything just yet, but get a sense of where you want it to be. I suggest placing it on the metal part about 3-4" above and to the left of the Wii soldering points. If you decide to place it at that spot, be sure to insulate that area with electrical tape.
Read the
installation PDF and find out which points connect to each other. This is probably the most important step prior to soldering, so don’t make any mistakes. Use a Sharpie and mark around the points if it will help with your understanding of the schematics or at least have a laptop or printout of the PDF handy while you solder.
Now it's time to measure, cut, strip, and route the six wires. Determine how you're going to route them before you measure and cut. If one point is in the way of another path of points, try to position one of the wires at a different angle so that the wires won’t attach to each other near the soldering points. After the routing is sorted, measure the length of each wire by running it along the desired path, add about 1/3” for wiggle room and cut. You can either prepare the six wires simultaneously or do them one at a time as you're soldering. I recommend the former, but if you do this method remember to map out which wire goes where. To strip the wires, hold one in place with the adjustable pliers in one hand and use the long-nose pliers in your other hand to nip off the ends as shown in the pictures below. Be sure to nip off only the surrounding kynar insulation, not the wire itself. It usually takes a nip on each side to remove the kynar. You’ll want about 1.5mm exposure.
Soldering
Turn on the soldering iron and when it's hot enough give it a few swipes across the damp sponge to remove any existing residue. Also remove any dust on the steel computer side panel or whatever flat metal object you’re using.
Melt some solder on the metal plate and try to divide it a few times with the soldering iron until you have tiny beads consistent to what is shown here:
Only use that amount when tinning the four closely packed soldering points on the Wii. You may use slightly larger beads on the other points but don’t be too excessive. Scrape off the beads from the metal plate if any are attached. Clean the soldering iron once again with the damp sponge then use its very tip to pick up one of the beads. The bead should immediately melt and transfer over to the tip during contact. If you were unable to have the bead at the tip, clean the soldering iron with the damp sponge and try again. While moving towards the Wii or Wiikey to tin a soldering point, keep the soldering iron in a steady position and do not rotate it. It helps to keep your elbow, wrist or some part of your arm rested on something. Carefully touch the soldering point for a few seconds until the point and bead fuse together then clean the soldering iron for the next tin. Again, this should only take a few seconds. If it’s taking longer for the bead to fuse or if it appears to not want to come off of the soldering iron, you’re either using lead-free solder or a much too powerful soldering iron. You won’t encounter these problems with the right equipment.
Since you’ve already planned out where each wire would go and made the wire preparations beforehand, soldering them becomes a much simpler task. Secure the Wiikey to the desired spot with electrical tape but be sure to give enough exposure to the soldering points. To solder a wire to one of the tinned soldering points, heat the point and wait until it turns into liquid state. Poke the wire in the point until the stripped end is fully penetrated, then stop giving heat and wait for everything to cool down. This whole process should take only a few seconds. Afterword, give the wire a slight tug to test the connection. The solder point should be smooth and shiny and cover the entire stripped end of the wire. Don’t worry about using flux – the 60/40 RC solder does a suitable job at fusing to the points and you’ll have a much harder time trying to apply it at the densely packed points. Repeat this for all the other points and remember to check your work. Look very closely at the soldering points and check for any bridged connections. If any are bridged use a soldering wick or solder sucker to fix your mistake and try again. Verify your work with a multimeter if you own one.
Finishing Up
Assemble everything back together, run the setup disc to change any settings and have fun!
Linear Mode
