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topic: How to locate a dry joint?
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How to locate a dry joint?
by anonymous Apr 18 2008

Hi, I watched your video and thought this would be a the best place to ask:

How do I locate a dry joint on a PCB?

I have an appliance which works intermittently, and after asking at other forums the general consensus is that there is a dry joint on the board somewhere. How do I isolate the dry joint and what is the best method for removing the old solder and re-soldering?

Thanks in advance

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Re: How to locate a dry joint?
by scott (admin) Apr 18 2008

I don’t know of an easy way to find out, but here’s what I’d try:

If there aren’t too many joints, re-melt all of them briefly with the soldering iron. Adding a touch of new solder might not hurt either. You could try hitting the board with a heat gun to see if that can force the problem to happen. Temperature changes expand different parts of the board differently. If you can get it to consistently not work, finding the problem is a lot easier.

Parts damaged from static electricity or over heating can exhibit random behavior sometimes, so it may not be a joint.

Best of luck, let us know if anything works.

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