Soldering the PufferFish Circuit Board

Rev 5

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Time, Tools, and Parts

Time Required: 1-3 hours depending on skill level

Tools required: Soldering iron, solder (we recommend 60/40 Rosin Core Solder in .032” (0.08mm) diameter), wire snips, wire cutters, wire strippers (manual), utility knife, Phillips screwdriver, slotted jeweler screwdriver, ruler with metric scale.

Tools Recommended:

Solder sucker or solder wick to remove solder if you make a mistake.

Parts Required: Pre-drilled Pufferfish project box, amp/voltmeter, Printed Circuit Board (PCB), electrical components, stress relief connectors (long and short) 3/8”, lock nuts. [See photo next slide]

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PufferFish Control Box - Parts Photo

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Switch connectors (20) PCB(1)

Inductor (1)

LEDs (4)

3 wire terminal block (1)

2 wire terminal

blocks (6)

Small blue capacitor (3)

Diode (1)1K Ohm resistors (4)

10 Ohm resistors (3)

Extra switch (1)

Control box lid with amp/volt meter (1), switches (3)

Control box bottom with screws (4)

Flex strain relief (1) Dome strain relief (1) Strain relief nuts (2)

Lg capacitor (1)

Examine your Printed Circuit Board (PCB)

A. Begin with your printed circuit board (PCB) and identify the places labeled for LEDs (1-4) and resistors (R1-7). The front of the board is shown here; the back of the board has very little printed on it.

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Resistors (1)

A. Insert your 1K Ohm resistor leads (wire ends) through the front of the board by first pinching the wires down at a 90 degree bend from the ceramic resistor. Orientation does not matter for the resistors.

B. Feed the leads through the board and gently splay the ends on the back of the board . This will secure them so you may flip the board upside down to solder.

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Helpful Hint: it is nice to use one of the kit motor mounts as a stand to lay the PCB on top of when you solder.

Resistors (2)

A. Solder resistors R1-4 on the back of the board; the solder joints should look like mini, shiny, silver Hersey’s Kisses. Clip the ends of the leads off with wire snips.

B. Insert the 3 large 10 W resistors into place (R5-7), solder and snip off leads.

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Resistors (3)

Your PCB should now look like this.

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LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes)

Insert your LEDs (orientation does matter.) Look carefully at the LED; it is almost circular, but one side is flat and has a shorter lead. On the PCB the LED symbol is also flat on one side. Insert the LED so the flat side matches the PCB board and then splay and solder the leads on the back of the PCB. Clip the ends of the leads.These are special bi-polar LEDS. The color will change with polarity change. A green LED will indicate power on. A green LED will also indicate a forward direction of the switch (red is reverse). If your LEDs light up in a way that is opposite to this, you many have inserted the LED backwards.

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Flatside

LEDs (2)

Your board should now look like this.

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Capacitors (small)

Next, insert the three small blue capacitors and splay the leads (orientation does not matter.) The capacitors (1 uF) are located across the top of the board in the boxes labeled C1-3 in series near the large 10 Ohm resistors. Solder and clip off the leads. The back of the board should look like this.

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Capacitor (large)

The 220 uF capacitor, a larger black cylinder shaped capacitor, does have directionality and needs to be inserted correctly into the board at C4. Note that one of the leads is longer than the other, just like the LEDs. The short side is negative. Line up the capacitor over the circle with a + and - symbol labeled C4, with the long lead lined up over the hole corresponding to the (+) positive.

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Diode

Next insert the diode on the footprint labeled D1. Again, it is very important that it is oriented correctly. Make sure the silver stripe matches the stripe printed on the board.

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Stripe

Inductor

In the last circle labeled L1, above the 220 uF capacitor and next to the diode, insert the radial inductor so that the printed side faces out (to the left side of the board).Securely bend all leads inplace, solder, and trim leads.

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printed side

Attach the terminal blocks to the Power In space on the PCBA. Attach a 2 wire terminal block to

the Power In box on the back of the board (align wire holes with the square on the board .

B. Use electrical tape to hold the terminal block firmly in place.

C. Solder the pins on the front of the board.

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Wire hole on terminal blocks line up with squares on the board.

Solder the Terminal Blocks to the METER areas on the PCB

STOPDo not solder the remaining terminal blocks at this time.

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A. Solder a 2 wire and 3 wire terminal block to the METER space on the front of the board (pins will be soldered on the back of the board).

B. Make sure the blocks are firmly in place before you solder!

Solder the Switch Connector Pins

A. Use the extra switch in the kit and mount all the connector pins neatly on the switch. Make sure they are all the same orientation.

B. Insert the pins into the switch pad of the board. Make sure the orientation of the switch pins matches the board icons. All the pins should be seated neatly in the board.

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Pin icons

Solder the Switch Connector Pins

A. Solder the pins on the back of the board.

B. Remove the switch, the soldered pins will remain in place.

C. Do this for all 3 switch locations.

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All the solder joints should look like little silver Hershey kisses.

Solder all the pins.

Your board should now look like this.

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Connecting the Volt/amp meter (1)

Disconnect the wires from the volt/amp meter by squeezing the white plastic connector and pulling; the plastic connector will slide off of the volt/amp meter pins.

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Squeezeandpull

Attach the volt/amp meter wires to the terminal blocks on the circuit board. A. You will need a slotted jeweler's

screwdriver for this step. B. Strip about 1 cm off of the voltmeter

wires, they come with about ½ cm striped off but that is not enough. These are small wires so it is best to use a manual wire stripper to delicately remove another ½ cm of sheath.

C. Twist the ends of the wire and insert into the hole on the terminal block, turn the screw clockwise until it is tight.

D. Give the wire a gentle tug to make sure it is secure.

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Connect the circuit board to the switches

A. Connect the circuit board to the switches on the control box lid. Do this gently and everything should match up well.

B. Plug the volt/amp meter wire connectors back into the volt/amp meter.

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plastic clips are plugged back in

Test the Circuit Board (1)

A. Cut 10 cm of red black zip cord wire and remove 1 cm of sheath from each end.

B. Insert the red wire into the +12V and the black wire into the GND (ground) hole of the terminal block and secure.

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Test the Circuit Board (2)

A. Using alligator clips, connect the red wire to the positive side of a 6 volt lantern battery and the black wire to the negative terminal.

B. Does your power light come on? Does the voltmeter turn on?

C. Do all the switches work? Green - forward? Red - reverse?

D. If something is wrong go to the Troubleshooting Guide.

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Power Light

If everything is working, then proceed

We now need to remove the PCB and finish our soldering. We had to test everything first because you will now solder some terminal blocks over existing solder joints. If we didn’t do this you could have a big problem later.

A. Disconnect the board from the battery.B. Unplug the voltmeter wires from the voltmeter.C. Carefully remove the board from the switches.

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Solder Remaining Terminal Connectors (1)

The PCB should now look like this.

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Trim the solder leads short in this region, the terminal block will be placed over the top of these joints. Don’t cut them too short, you still need to maintain good electrical connections.

Solder Remaining Terminal Connectors (2)

A. Solder the remaining four 2-wire terminal blocks on to back of the the PCB. Make sure the wire openings match up with the little squares on board. Use tape to hold the blocks in place, flip the board over and make sure it is laying flat on the table before you solder.

B. You might need a heavy object, like a tool to push the board down while you solder.

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Tool resting on the board to help insure the terminal pins are fully exposed.

Solder Remaining Terminal Connectors (2)

Your board should now look like this.

Nice solder joints on the front of the board.

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Go to the next step

Installing the Stress Relief Connectors on the PufferFish & AngelFish Control Box

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