Soldering Question

[quantass]

Just recently my Zoltrix TV Max tuner capture card had its standard TV F-connector torn off. Removing the PCI card and pulling off the top of the TV tuner component revealed a broken connection. I decided to solder the severed conenction back together (the F-Connector to the PCB end) but after reinstalling the card found there still was no TV tuning input coming in!? I eventually got fed up and began desoldering the broken end attached to the PCB and replacing the broken off F-Connector with a new TV Coaxial connector (Type F-61A chasis mounts).

The PCB connection area is a millimeter-diametered circular opening surrounded with silver. I cant tell if the silver color goes deeper than the surface area. My plan was this: to take the new TV Coax connector end (a thin .5" protruding end) and bend it so that it laid flat on top of the PCB silver opening. After soldering & testing the capture card: No TV cable input.

Can someone tell me what Im doing wrong? During soldering Im cleaning off the iron head, thinning, and so forth. I figured once I had the connection made (be it flat on the PCB area or within the hole) and then applied solder to fill in the gaps a solid conduction connection would be made. What gives?

[Bovon]

Being an electronics person in both work and hobby's for over 50 years, I certainly can appreciate what you are attempting to do.

What you have was probably damaged more than the eye can see when the connector was torn off. Also, most circuit boards today are multi-layered boards...when circuits are soldered to from the outside layer, that must be a precision soldering job most times.. a small amount of solder "bleeding" over inside somewhere can bridge (short out) other circuits.

If the board is repairable, it probably will be a job for a skilled technician with knowledge of the circuits on that board..and good test equipment with the experience to use it..in other words, a factory trained technician.

You could get lucky of course..but to tell you what to do from here based on your description of the problem area is a stretch!!

[JonathanB]

If it were an old PC, I would dare experiment like this. But if it's a bit new, I would rather replace the damaged card. Might not worth the effort except for learning.

[Nathan G.]

I am not sure i understand you problem but.....
You did not mention what you are doing with the shield/ground connection?.... ok you attached the center conductor back, but you also need to connect the shield (outer conductor) to something. Or maybe i am misunderstanding your problem.

Also look for stress fractures on the PCB when replacing damaged connectors..... sometime they are hard to spot...
:)