Tag: project_tag

>> time to start soldering!

• what she did
• how she did it
• what to do next time

Now that all the pieces were placed, I could start soldering. With all the time I spent planning the pieces the day before, I feared for the worst and assumed I’d take the whole day again.

guess what, I didn’t! it only took me 4 hours!

I actually only soldered once previously, so this was kinda like review. My dad lent me his soldering kit, which even had a solder remover (which was a strip of.. I think copper). Once ventilation started up, I started soldering.

Even though it kept oxidizing, I found soldering satisfying. There was a definite learning curve; I kept soldering too high and it would get stuck on the wire. As it went on I became a bit more merciless and pressed harder near the bottom of the wire.

PCB didn’t like that, but it got the job done.

I kept getting the solder stuck together (which would short circuit everything and be fried) so that wasn’t fun. Had to remove a lot of it (which was also a pain) and redo the section.

Otherwise, it was fun! Definitely recommend. Just wear a mask.

TLDR: what did I learn?

• soldering is hot. Hold the damn thing away from the nibs.
• ensure wire is taken off FIRST. It’ll get stuck.
• don’t add too much solder. It’ll get stuck and get fried.

>> moving onto the speakers, bluetooth, and everything else.

this.. was the worst.

now that the PCB piece was done, it was time to attach everything else.

The kit provided a schematic of the PCB and how it connected to the external parts, and I also had to roughly build the plastic case it came with to see how everything could fit.

This was HELL for the electrically-illiterate Yvonne.

Just like a child who don’t know their left and rights, I didn’t know my negative and positive poles. I didn’t know where switch started and the USB cord (oh yeah there’s a US frickin B cord) ended. Don’t even get me started on the speakers and wires.

I was this close.

With much consulting with chatgpt, gemini, google, father, I managed to lay out everything properly according to the schematic:

• the speakers had to be soldered onto the jumper wires coming out of the Bluetooth
• the switch was connected to the USB cord and to the PCB board’s connectors.

This took much longer than it sounded. To test the switch’s polarity, I used a multimeter with the USB plugged into my computer to check when it turns on.

I also figured out much later the kit had an online file with the god-forsaken layout given already. (OH WELL. WE BALL I GUESS!?)

I had thought the first day was bad; this day took almost 6 hours.

TLDR; what did I learn?

• Find. An. Existing. Layout.
• Multimeters are your best friend.
• I need to read schematics.

>> For my birthday, I received a Bluetooth speaker kit.

• what she did
• how she did it
• what went wrong
• what to do next time

My dad, also an electrical engineer, thought that this would be perfect for me to practice assembling parts; and he also thought having my own speaker is a plus as well. I mean, he’s not wrong; and for 20 bucks on AliExpress, it’s a pretty good deal.
I love DIY projects, but this was a beast.

The kit came with a circuit board and its circuit parts, two speakers, a Bluetooth receiver, a switch, jumper wires, and plastic casing for the outer shell. The kit itself didn’t require designing (thank god) and only needed the parts to be soldered together, then assembled via screws and casing.

The first task of the day: placing and identifying parts on the circuit board. “Not too bad” was my first thought.

This took me 3 hours.

I’m.. being very vulnerable here..

Yvonne???? How did this happen????

WELL.

NUMBER 1:

I kept checking the polarity of the BJTs, capacitors, the IC, and the microphone, knowing well it might explode if I had it on wrong. (I’m reminiscing the smell in my circuit lab..)

NUMBER 2:

I was also furiously checking the resistor color bands. This is because I once put a 100K Ohm resistor thinking it was a 10 Ohm resistor.. never again.

NUMBER 3:

And the LEDs; there were SO MANY OF THEM so I was putting them on manually while also checking polarity of those, but I ended having to redo it 3 times. Because the PCB board is nested at the bottom of the speaker, the LED lights needed to be bent a certain way to be seen..

this image might explain this better than me lmao

NUMBER 4:

The wire trimming. I wasn’t going to get to soldering today (I’d already accepted that fact (´。＿。｀) ), so I needed to prep the wires by shortening them.
I learned today that airborne wires are particularly drawn to my unprotected, unscathed face. It was, respectfully, a warzone.

Needless to say, I was very humbled.

TLDR; what did I learn?