Cyton, Small Chip Came off while taking out battery
Hi, I am new to this board and just setting up my Ultra Cortex IV headset. I have the Cyton board and while I was plugging in the battery and taking it out the small chip highlighted in red square came off. Please help with what to do about this, I have watched some videos on how to solder small chips back, which I can try to do if you can tell me which chip it is I can try to re-buy it, if it is an important piece. I am worried about plugging in the battery again until I fix this because I don't want to cause additional damage to the unit
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Comments
Aliahm, hi.
The schematic shows,
D7 is a TVS transient voltage suppression device, with six surface mount pad soldered connections. Were you possibly using tools / a pair of pliers and you knocked this off? Or were you just using your hands? When did you purchase this? From the OpenBCI Shop?
This device in this position is intended to prevent static discharge from damaging the 3 pins: AVDD, AGND, Bias. With the TVS removed, those functions should still work fine. Just the static protection is lost (which is very rarely used.)
Soldering a surface mount chip on your own, with no experience with surface mount soldering techniques, could cause further damage. So is not recommended. The part that was knocked off, may also have been damaged. So you should not replace with the part that came off.
William
I was using my hands, and the Cyton board I purchased from OpenBCI sometime ago and only set it up recently after moving back to the city in a new apartment due to covid. I do have soldering experience and some tools. With the static protection gone I am worried about accidentally damaging the WIFIshield or the daisy board attached to it. What are your recommendations.
Thank you for replying so soon, really appreciate the feedback.
No, the Cyton should work fine without this TVS. Extremely low / miniscule danger of damaging Cyton or other boards.
SMD (surface mount device) soldering is much harder than conventional soldering and requires special techniques. My suggestion is to just leave the Cyton as is, it will be fine.
You may want to use a magnifying lens to inspect the pads from which the TVS separated. Just check that the TVS was torn off cleanly, no leads remain attached to board.
Got it, ty much appreciated!