Tips on soldering fragile sensor

Thread Starter

sa bassesse

Joined Sep 7, 2008
7
I have a small (1cmx1cm) sensor whose pins do not provide an easy way to attach for e.g., a wire for an easy soldering to a protoboard (see the attached figure).

To make the matter worse, the sensors' pin metal is very fragile. While soldering with a 15W soldering device, I have realized that they easily heat up and detach. I was wondering if anyone has a tip/suggestions on how to solve this. I've already burned four testing sensors and my teacher and my teammates are not too happy about it. Please give your suggestions on how I should go around these limitations.
 

MrChips

Joined Oct 2, 2009
30,707
The chip package is for surface mount assembly. You need to create a pcb (printed circuit board) and mount the chip using solder paste and a SMT heat gun.
 

Thread Starter

sa bassesse

Joined Sep 7, 2008
7
The chip package is for surface mount assembly. You need to create a pcb (printed circuit board) and mount the chip using solder paste and a SMT heat gun.
Thanks for the reply! You're right. Looking at the sensor (see the below figure),

it is impossible to use on a breadboard. Thanks for the info
 

Attachments

bertus

Joined Apr 5, 2008
22,270
Hello,

You could make a kind of breakoutboard for the sensor.
I made a little sketch (not on scale), to give you an idea how you could make it:

PS25251_breakoutboard_idea.png

Bertus
 

Sensacell

Joined Jun 19, 2012
3,432
Cut a square hole in a piece of single sided copper clad PC board that just fits the sensor. (small drill bit and files will work fine)

Isolate 4 "pads" around the edges of the sensor with a Dremel tool, close to the pads on the device. Carefully solder short bits of #30 AWG wire between the sensor and the copper pads. Solder longer lead out wires to the pads for connection to your circuit.
Use a small TEMPERATURE CONTROLLED iron to do the soldering!!!

Encapsulate the back side with epoxy to retain the sensor and protect the connections.

Tricky, but much faster than making a PCB, and you don't need to master "reflow soldering" then.
 
Last edited:

Thread Starter

sa bassesse

Joined Sep 7, 2008
7
Cut a square hole in a piece of single sided copper clad PC board that just fits the sensor. (small drill bit and files will work fine)

Isolate 4 "pads" around the edges of the sensor with a Dremel tool, close to the pads on the device. Carefully solder short bits of #30 AWG wire between the sensor and the copper pads. Solder longer lead out wires to the pads for connection to your circuit.
Use a small TEMPERATURE CONTROLLED iron to do the soldering!!!

Encapsulate the back side with epoxy to retain the sensor and protect the connections.

Tricky, but much faster than making a PCB, and you don't need to master "reflow soldering" then.
Thanks a lot for your suggestions!
 

Sensacell

Joined Jun 19, 2012
3,432
With so many parts only being avalable in SMD packages these days, one needs to have some clever tricks- especially if you need to get stuff done fast.
 

tindel

Joined Sep 16, 2012
936
Cut a square hole in a piece of single sided copper clad PC board that just fits the sensor. (small drill bit and files will work fine)

Isolate 4 "pads" around the edges of the sensor with a Dremel tool, close to the pads on the device. Carefully solder short bits of #30 AWG wire between the sensor and the copper pads. Solder longer lead out wires to the pads for connection to your circuit.
Use a small TEMPERATURE CONTROLLED iron to do the soldering!!!

Encapsulate the back side with epoxy to retain the sensor and protect the connections.

Tricky, but much faster than making a PCB, and you don't need to master "reflow soldering" then.

I haven't heard of this method before - I'm trying to envision it, and I think I have the idea, but was hoping perhaps you had a picture of such a test set prior to epoxy. I'm always looking for new techniques - and have often resorted to building a PCB board for parts this size thinking it is the only sure fire way to get something that works.
 
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