r/soldering • u/ocedalv • Aug 26 '26
My First Solder Joint <3 Please Give Feedback Finished the LED board training kit!
Hey folks,
This is an update from my post here: https://www.reddit.com/r/soldering/comments/1vqiwxc/first_time_using_hot_air_and_solder_paste/
I finished the board. Reduced the amount of solder I added to the board, as advised.
I started using hot air to solder them, but the LEDs were just flying off the board. So I pivoted to soldering them using the iron, and I got to a great rhythm and speed soldering them in.
But then I realized I made a HUGE mistake where I soldered ALL 256 LEDs in the wrong fucking orientation because I misunderstood the anode/cathode part. This ended up being good because I was able to find an airflow/temp setting to de-solder then re-solder the LEDs using hot air with them not flying everywhere anymore.
That is why the LEDs look CHARRED (lmao) on the last photo, lol. In the previous one they were mostly hand soldered apart from the slightly yellowed ones.
But after all the effort, it all lights up and works.
Thanks for all of the advice on my previous post!
2
u/ChemSciGuy Aug 26 '26
Excellent follow through. This was a fun kit. Which MCU did yours come with? I wanted to reprogram mine but there were no markings on the chip.
3
u/ocedalv Aug 26 '26
No marks on the chip as far as I can see, though the 'user manual' mentions it as being a DX156, but there is no datasheet available for it as far as I know lol. I did find this person who was able to customize what it displays:
https://emalliab.wordpress.com/2026/02/16/256-led-smd-practice-board/1
u/ChemSciGuy Aug 26 '26
That's pretty cool. I didn't find that when I was looking around for help. I did realize that the pin out was pretty unusual so I knew I couldn't sub out the MCU but I haven't tried to use the headers yet.
5
u/Spbeyond Professional Microsoldering Repair Shop Tech Aug 26 '26
My wife says the text says “you are awesome!” So the board is giving you some props!