type of wire to use with modchip...

[rubber2k1]

I read somewhere that there is a certain wire to use when installing the modchip. I think it was referred as "enamelled copper" wire. Will any shielded 22ga &30ga solid wire work? Cause i have some speaker wire that is 22ga shielded and has a solid wire instead of a bunch on small wires like most speaker wire. Can i get this special wire at radio shack? if i can could someone point me to the right wire cause i have looked on the RS website without any luck. thanks

[BG]

It tells you in one of the factoids at the top... Here is the copy and paste from that:

My famous 'mate round the corner' is the best installer around. The wire with which he is happiest is 34/35 swg = 31/32 awg. It is Enamelled Copper Wire, and of the strangely named sub-type 'self fluxing coating' which means that you don't have to strip it by scraping but rather by applying heat from a 25 watt/400 degrees soldering iron.

The next thicker wire, 33 swg = 30 awg is rather tricky on chip legs less than 0.2 mm apart. You do however need a hot soldering iron, 400 to 480 degrees C to strip the wire. This is far too hot for the fine work you'll be doing on the ps2 board, so you'll need two irons; the other very fine for the actual soldering.

He uses a large tipped iron rated at 25 watts for strippinmg the wire, and 18 watts, 0.1 mm tip for the soldering. For the Messiah, he cuts around 25 lengths, hot-strips one end, puts them in a neat pile, then starts work.

For power and ground he uses 23 swg = 22 AWG plastic covered wire.

To strip the wire he puts a pool of solder on the flat tip of the iron, introduce the enamelled wire then add some more multicore solder. You see a tink puff of smoke (toxic) as the enamel vaporises. Then he dips the stripped end in solder paste, sprays flux spray onto the points he is going to solder and introduces the wire end to it's point; the 18 watt iron is then used to bond the wire to its point, touching the wire rather than the point.

When soldering to legs of the CD/DVD Controller, he puts a razor blade between each leg to prevent bridging and works away from the neighbouring leg and towards the razor blade.

Whatever you do, don't solder to the VIAs - those little copper circles sometimes named as alternative points. They conduct signal either into the multi-layer board or to the other side. If you apply to much heat (easily done), the via can disappear into the board, the inside of the board is fried and your PS2 is useless.

If you disregard my advice on avoiding soldering to the VIAs then you would strip and tin your wire, dip it in solder paste, spray the VIA with flux spray and touch solder the wire end for half a second to just above the end. This is sufficient for the solder paste to take the lacquer away from the VIA and bond the tinned end to the VIA. If you linger too long with the iron, the VIA will disappear into the layers and it’s all over.

To obtain the required wire:

UK: http://www.farnell.co.uk
US/C: http://www.amidon-inductive.com/ass..._tapeswires.htm

[rubber2k1]

Yeap thats the article but can i use other wire than mentioned? Maybe as long as its a solid wire thats 22ga or 30ga shielded? I dont want to order from those companies listed thats why i wondered if radio shack carried it?

[charlie_ps2]

22 awg stranded insulated for power/ground

32 awg (not 30) any type insulated is fine if not Enamelled Copper Wire.

30 awg is twice as thick as the BIOS legs. Don't use it.

[rubber2k1]

'awg' is the same as Gauge, right?

gotcha, gonna run to radio shack to get the supplies and a new soldering tip.

thanks for your help.