Solder pins to a deck

To make the system more robust it could be a good idea to solder the pins to the top deck. Especially when using the Loco Positioning deck  and when the drones are supposed to fly a lot. Be aware that performing these operations will void the warranty on the deck!

solder pins to deck

There are several ways to do this. I will explain one one of them. Common for them all is that it is hard to reverse it as the solder in the holes would have to be sucked out. That is fully doable with the right tools though.

Step by Step

solder pins to deck

1- Start by gently removing the plastic part of the female deck connector. This can be done by bending the plastic upwards using a flat screw driver. You might have to do this on several places to get it loose. Don’t bend too hard as it might take the pad with it.

solder pins to deck

2- When you manage to peel the plastic part off, it should look like this. Do the same with the other side.

solder pins to deck

3- With the plastic part removed it is pretty easy to de-solder the pins as they are individually exposed. Head up the soldered pad and remove them one by one.

solder pins to deck

4- With all pins removed do the same on the other side.

solder pins to deck

5- Now it is time to solder the male pin header instead. If the deck should be used together with another deck beneath the CF2, use the long pin headers, else the short ones can be used.

Start by balancing the deck on top of the pin headers and solder one pin on each side. This so that they can easily be adjusted if they are not straight.

solder pins to deck

6- Solder the rest of the pins and, viola, you are done!