[TriEmbed] APA102 unsoldering

[Alex Davis]

Anyone have any success with unsoldering APA102 LEDs without ruining
them? It seems they are made of really shitty thermoplastic which melts
at about the melting point of the solder. I had one go bad in my 44x8
matrix, and I got it off by using a broad tip to reflow one side at a
time while lifting with tweezers. I'd say the package has the thermal
resistance of the sort of plastic cheap header strips are made of. It
was a ruined plastic blob by time I got it off.

As to the repair, I am thinking I will just cut an LED off a spare strip
and solder it down on top of the blank spot. It won't look as nice but
it seems like it will have the highest change of success and of not
ruining the mounting strip.

BTW these APA102 have in and out for both data and clock, and in my case
an LED stopped outputting anything on data out, causing the whole rest
of the strip to die. Thankfully it was just one unit, but it gives me
pause to consider building anything large and expensive out of these
things. My setup was working fine before I peeled off the backing tape
and glued it on to the enclosure.

Alex

-- 
"The theater of noise is proof of our potential."
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