Unable to Solder to Neopixel LED strips

EL Wire/Tape/Panels, LEDs, pixels and strips, LCDs and TFTs, etc products from Adafruit

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sleepwake
 
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Unable to Solder to Neopixel LED strips

Post by sleepwake »

Hello


I'm using the neopixel strip to make an LED curtain, similar to the one in this post
https://learn.adafruit.com/1500-neopixe ... y?view=all

I came across a problem because the little conductor strips on the ends of three of the LED strips seem to have lifted, leaving no place on the strip for me to solder onto. At least when I try to solder wires onto the strip, the solder just slips around the strip like there's no place to make contact. And ofcourse because of this bad connection the leds fail to turn on. I contacted adafruit customer service and they told me to make a forum post so technicians can take a look. So here it is!

The pictures of the strip ends are below. I'm looking for a replacement of these strips if possible (4M in total), unless someone has some other idea of how to proceed.

Image
Image
Image

Thanks!

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: Unable to Solder to Neopixel LED strips

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

the solder just slips around the strip like there's no place to make contact.
This means that the solder pads are not clean. Cleaning the solder pads with a bit of isopropyl alcohol prior to soldering will help to remove any oils or other surface contaminants. Also, make sure that you are using a flux-core solder. You need flux to keep the pad from oxidizing during the soldering process.
https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-gui ... ion#step-4
For really dirty or oxidized surfaces, a bit of liquid flux on the pads before soldering can help too.

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sleepwake
 
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Re: Unable to Solder to Neopixel LED strips

Post by sleepwake »

Hey thanks for replying and sorry to be getting back to you so late but I've been out of town and wasn't able to work on it. I tried what you suggested, cleaning the pads and I am using rosin core flux. the pads will still not accept any of of the flux and will not make any connections. Not sure what else can be done. thoughts?

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: Unable to Solder to Neopixel LED strips

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

Start by reading through this guide: http://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-guid ... -soldering

Cut off the damaged pixel and try soldering to some fresh pads. Clean them first.

Also clean and tin your soldering iron tip before starting. And clean you soldering iron tip again after soldering each pad..

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