Bad Solder Job in New MSP 432 Launchpad?

Ricardo Angeli

Hi,

I just got my MSP 432 Launchpad and as I was looking at the beautiful board, I noticed something odd. In the debugger chip, there were two spots were the pins looked soldered on together. I took a look under my USB microscope and my fears were realized. Is this normal? Should I try to desolder them or should I get this board returned? I haven't plugged it in yet because I don't want to potentially damage it.

over 9 years ago

0 Alexey Bagaev over 9 years ago

Genius 5505 points

Don't worry. This is a part of a design. Have you seen such small chips soldered by human hands? It's possible for machines only.

0 Dennis Eichmann over 9 years ago in reply to Alexey Bagaev

Guru 74080 points

Hi Ricardo!

This is OK, look here:

If you open the design files you will notice that these pins are connected together:

In between those small gaps there is no stopmask, so solder bridges will appear.

Everything is fine - plug it in and have fun!

Dennis

0 Alexey Bagaev over 9 years ago

Genius 5505 points

The only one thing you need to worry about MSP-EXP432P401R board is the behavior of IC101 chip. The C125 capacitor is needed to be isolated from external touching by human hands. Otherwise all board will be damaged by high voltage when it's USB-powered. It can be done by placing a small drop of silicon glue on the capacitor as an isolator. Trust me and do it as soon as possible.

0 Vyacheslav Prokopiy over 9 years ago in reply to Alexey Bagaev

Expert 1305 points

Alexey, could you please explain what's wrong with this LDO and C125?

0 Dennis Eichmann over 9 years ago in reply to Vyacheslav Prokopiy

Guru 74080 points

MSP432 overheating, or is this normal? - MSP low-power microcontroller forum - MSP low-power microcontrollers...

e2e.ti.com

Other Parts Discussed in Thread: CC3100 , TPS735 , TM4C1294NCPDT hi, the IC close to the usb connector gets really hot during operation -- see image below.

0 Vyacheslav Prokopiy over 9 years ago in reply to Dennis Eichmann

Expert 1305 points

Dennis, thank you for link. Now I've got the problem's root.

And it's still interesting for me: What did Alexey mean, when wrote, that this information isn't true?

0 Dennis Eichmann over 9 years ago in reply to Vyacheslav Prokopiy

Guru 74080 points

Unfortunately I don't know :\

0 Andreas Terstegge over 9 years ago in reply to Alexey Bagaev

Intellectual 280 points

I was curious and just touched C125 a couple of times. Fortunately the board was

not damaged, but I was able to produce a reboot quite soon. So obviously the circuitry is a

bit sensitive, at least...

0 Dennis Eichmann over 9 years ago in reply to Andreas Terstegge

Guru 74080 points

Hi Andreas!

Be careful with it :) As you may have read at the end of the other thread, my test-LaunchPad still works, but now draws way too much current.

Dennis

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