Please Help Big Problem!
 

Ok i have a big problem, my zip zaps antenna got ripped out (of the car), and i looked at my friends zip zap to see where to solder it back on, i did, but now i have absolutely zero range. It barely moves even if the antenna is touching the antenna from the controller. Any suggestions? PLEASE HELP i can't afford another Zap for 30 bucks :-(

Thanks in advance

30 bucks? your gettin ripped:(

30 with 2 day shipping ;)

i take it you're not close to RadioShack?


sorry to get off topic, i don't know the answer to your problem:(

ur solder probably didnt make a good connection melt it and redo it, that would help!

You have a bad solder connection or you soldered it in the wrong place. Check the location again, and resolder. Here's some tips for getting a factory like connection using the dreaded stranded wire. First, cut the old, soldery, snaggled end off the wire. Strip off the insulation about a quarter inch back. Twist the wires between your thumb and forfinger to wrap em up neat. Now, this is the most important part, TIN that sucker before you do anything with it! Put the wire in a helping hand or some other method to keep it imobile and at a good soldering angle. Touch your hot iron to the stripped part of the wire wait a beat or two and then touch your solder to the wire with your other hand. Let the solder melt and slowly pull your iron down the wire and off the end. This should leave a thin coat of solder permiating the wire strand. You don't want a big glob there, just enough to coat the wire. This works best with a rosen core electronics solder. Next, find the right spot on the PCB that the antenna wire solders to. There is probably a piece of the old wire still in the thru hole on the PCB. It would be best to remove this with an old component lead or a straight pin as you melt the old solder. A solder sucker or wire braid will help clean the old solder off so you can see the left over end. You can insert your new, freshly tinned wire through the hole and solder for a factory like connection. But, if you don't want to hassle with cleaning the hole, just touch your iron to the old solder and when it softens add your newly trimmed and tinned wire on top til the two join. the tinning is the most important part. Especially with stranded wire.

I appreciate your response, but what do you mean by Tining?

Sorry, I thought I explained that. Tinning is prepping the metal to be soldered. It means applying a small amount of solder to the wire to ready it for being soldered in place. See, the problem with stranded wire is all those strands. They conduct heat at differing rates making a good solder join very hard to achieve. When you tin, you are just dealing with those pesky strands and not a combination of the strands and whatever you are soldering to which amounts to a bunch of heat sinks. Many of the strands will cold solder and not make good connections. Have you ever tried soldering a stranded wire and no matter how long you hold the iron to it or how much solder you use, the solder just won't seem to stick to the wire. Or, it sticks to only two or three strands while the others poke out at angles, unconnected and mocking you? The wire gets so hot that the insulation starts melting off and still no connection? Tinning coats the wires together into a nice uniform mass with fresh solder ready to melt into existing solder joins or new ones. A light touch of the iron to the tinned wire and the intended connection is all that is needed for a neat, strong, well conducting solder join. If you don't have rosen core solder, coat the wire with flux before you tin.

Thanks for the detailed responses, i really do appreciate it. I will try it out and let you know, although i do think this goes outside of my soldering abilities. Is there any way, if i do fail again, that i could send this out to you and you could fix it, for 5 dollars say, if that sounds fair?

I'm just really in a bind, and can't spend another 20-30 on a zap and am afraid i won't be able to fix it.

Thanks again.

It's really an easy soldering job. Give it a shot. Practise tinning on other scrap pieces of wire before you go to the real McCoy. If you really can't fix it and want to pay the postage both ways, I'll repair it for free. But, really, you can do this one yourself.
BTW, check to see if you smeared some solder over to another connection beside the antenna connection. You could have shorted your antenna.

damn man i wish i could have read you're posts 7 years ago when i didn't have a clue how to do this stuff. i had to learn how to do this all by my self (trial and error) and just soldering old boards from vcr's to other old boards from vcr's. i've never red such a clear explination on soldering like that ever. GOOD JOB

wow Azimov thanks so much. But how do i get all of this solder jsut sitting on the connection off? I want to be able to stick the antenna thru from under the PCB and then solder it on from the top (how it is done at the factory im pretty sure) but now i just have a lot of solid solder filling that hole. I try melting it and then removing it while it is still liquid but i can't because it dries in like half a second. Thanks again for your continued support!! I'd be COMPLETELY lost without you!

Go to Rat Shack and buy one of those little red squeeze bulbs. It has a white tip that is kinda resistant to heat. It's called a solder sucker and does exactly what the name implies. Just heat the glob of solder with your iron and use your other hand to squeeze the bulb then move it to the molten solder and then relax your grip quickly so the bulb can rapidly inhale. It will suck the solder right off the board.
Another method is to use a wire braid. It's a braid of fine metal strands that you touch to the solder while it's molten that kinda wicks the solder off the surface because heat travels rapidly up the braid and solder loves heat. It's trickier to use and I prefer the squeeze bulb method.
A trick that might work for you is to hold the board between your thumb and forefinger of one hand while you melt the connection with your iron in the other hand. While the solder is still liquid, tap the edge of the PCB with the molten connection on the corner of a table or board. The solder will fly off like a flicked booger and leave a nice silvery splat on your table :). If there is solder still on the connection, just heat it again until the solder balls up and tap it again. Gently, don't crack your PCB! This works, but it's really, really dangerous. The solder is very hot, so make sure you take precautions.
Your board is still attached to the car, so it may be a handful to manage this trick. i'd go and get that solder sucker and be nice and gentle with your zip.

like don't wear shorts when u do this.
there is another solder sucker that is spring loaded it looks like a long blue tube and u press the end of the plunger in till it locks and when u press the button it springs back like a big syringe it sucks really hard really fast. the one i bought from da shack has a replacement white tip so if the one u have gets all gummy and gross it gets replaced and u can also take it all apart to clean it.

sounds good i'll head out to the shack tomorrow