Small wire, small connector - small fix?

pookdolie

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So, here's the scenario (I might be able to take a picture later). Tech 101 here...

I've got a small plug, roughly the width of a dime, which plugs into a PCB for the spinner in a poker machine. One of the small wires going into the plug has yanked out.

I'm trying to get that wire to go back in there, and stay. What's the best way to do this? I could try soldering it back in, but the wire is tiny, the little metal clasp inside the plug where it came out is tiny, and the clasp is recessed inside the plug, so I'd melt the plastic, right?
 
Pop the metal pin out of the housing, solder, and reinsert. On the flat side of the connector, look for little slots where you can stick a staight pin in to press in the catch to release the connector pins.

-Ian
 
There should be a retaining pin on the metal crimp left inside the housing. You need to disengage the retaining pin with a small screwdriver or something similar and then it should gently pull out of the housing.

Pictures would help.

(2000 BTW!)
 
Pop the metal pin out of the housing, solder, and reinsert.

There should be a retaining pin on the metal crimp left inside the housing. You need to disengage the retaining pin with a small screwdriver or something similar and then it should gently pull out of the housing.

Yes - I've gotcha. This seems like it'd be the *right* way to fix it.

Problem is, the plug is tiny and the metal pin is even smaller. The surface area of the metal parts is the width of about ten human hairs.

Seems like solder would be too tenuous to hold...?
 
Yes - I've gotcha. This seems like it'd be the *right* way to fix it.

Problem is, the plug is tiny and the metal pin is even smaller. The surface area of the metal parts is the width of about ten human hairs.

Seems like solder would be too tenuous to hold...?

Yeah you're gonna have to replace the crimp with a new one. Or find another connector that would be compatible.

Or if you really don't care about liability, cut and strip the wires and solder them directly to the male header. But I didn't tell you to do that. :p
 
Yeah you're gonna have to replace the crimp with a new one. Or find another connector that would be compatible.

That's what I'm trying to avoid, `cause I've got a feeling this thing isn't "standard". It's part of a mechanism that flips cards like one of those old 1970s clock radios (the time digits).

Or if you really don't care about liability, cut and strip the wires and solder them directly to the male header. But I didn't tell you to do that. :p

...and that's the other option. It might come to that. Gahhh!
 
Okay - soldering didn't work. The small header pins on the board didn't like the solder, and neither did the wires I cut off of the connector.

Any other way I can try connecting the wires to the pins? Butt splicing? Barrel crimp connectors? (They'd have to be small.) Electrical tape?
 
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