Having the necessary knowledge can make this install go much more smoothly without as many mistakes.


Microsoft LEDs

The Xbox 360 LEDs are different from the ones that we are using. They are capable of producing two colors - red and green, which are used to display error messages along with player numbers. Each LED shares the same positive located on the counter-clockwise end. This instructable is tasked with soldering to only the positive and green negative terminals.


Positive/Negative Orientation

In the picture below, green negatives are more counter-clockwise and red negatives are more clockwise. There have been many different revisions to the wireless board, constantly changing the direction of the red and green negative terminals. Newer Xbox 360s have the layout shown in the picture below, while older 360s may have different orientations for each terminal (such as only player 2 has green and red switched).


Body Positioning

As the pieces we are working with are so small, shaky fingers can make this a frustrating task, which by itself makes the job impossible. I suggest laying down on your chest to to handle and solder the pieces. Getting too excited, running around, or becoming angry at the process will increase your heart rate and adrenaline, and make it much harder to complete this project. If you need to, feel free to take a 5 minute break to calm down and do the job correctly.


Either way, the SMD LEDs we will install will be facing towards the center on their side (for players 1-4 the LED is sideways, the power LED however points straight up). Installing the 0603 SMD LEDs sideways makes them brighter since the light is being emitted directly into the diffusion clip's (white clip) lenses.




Removing Existing LEDs:This is the most dangerous part of the install. Impatience in removing the already present LEDs can result in the LED being torn off the board along with its terminals. FloatingMicrosoft used a small amount of solder to connect the LEDs to the wireless board. In order for us to remove the LEDs, we must add extra solder to each of the three LED terminals. Simply touch your soldering iron to each terminal and add your soldering coil to bathe the terminals in solder. Tapping the TerminalsOnce the LEDs have been floated, you must have all three terminals molten at the same time, after which the LED should just float off of the board. Tap the soldering iron back and forth between the three terminals, and the LED should be pushed off the board without requiring any extra effort from you. If you push with too much horizontal force on the LED instead of letting the LED fall off on its own, the LED can tear off its solder terminals from the wireless board, making it extremely difficult to make that LED location functional again. Cleanup with the Soldering BraidAfter you have removed the preexisting Microsoft two-color LED, remove the solder present on the three terminals. Take your soldering braid and rest it on top of the terminals. Push your soldering iron downward towards the wireless board and the solder will absorb into the braid. You should end up with three relatively clean and flat terminals.





Attaching the new SMD 0603 leds:

These LEDs are very small, and it can be hard to tell which end is the positive or negative. on the bottom of each LED there is usually a green or gold symbol pointing to the negative leg. See the pictures below for some examples.


Tin the Iron

Since you only have two hands, it would be hard to use a soldering iron, solder, and tweezers at the same time. So first we will tin the soldering iron. Apply a decent amount of solder to the iron, enough so that if you touch the iron to the LED itself (no external solder added) solder would stick to the LED.


Grabbing the LED

Use your tweezers to flip your SMD around until you have the negative side pointing in the proper direction. You will then flip it on its side, grab it with your tweezers (you should be pinching the top and bottom parts respective to the LED) and place it over your wireless board.


Soldering the Terminal

While holding the LED sideways over its terminal points, (The direction marker pointing to the green negative terminal), touch your tinned soldering iron to the LED and terminal on the wireless board, and it should hold in place. Now solder the positive end of the LED to the other terminal. Make sure there are no short-circuits where solder has connected multiple terminals together.







HOPE THIS HELPED



[img] [ Register or Signin to view external links. ] [/img][img] [ Register or Signin to view external links. ] [/img][img] [ Register or Signin to view external links. ] [/img][img] [ Register or Signin to view external links. ] [/img]