How to connect wire to circuit board without soldering

Imagine a situation when your circuit board works perfectly in one minute and stops working in the next minute. When this happens, the likelihood chance is broken or damaged wiring of the printed circuit board.

So, what’s the fix then?

Well, you can quickly re-solder wires of the PRC boards and LEDs to avoid expending on buying a new circuit board. But for this, you effectively need to know how to re-solder wires to the circuit board.

Don’t worry; the process isn’t insensitive. We will show you how to re-solder circuit board wires using circuit board soldering iron and without solder.

So, shall we begin?

Table of Contents

How To Re-Solder A Wires To Circuit Board:

Before we get to the main point, eventually, we would like to suggest useful tips. The re-soldering of wires on the circuit board is similar to what we know about how to solder the electrical wire to the circuit board.

So, you shouldn’t face many issues with the re-soldering process. However, if you have forgotten the soldering process, we will recap the process for re-soldering the damaged or cracked circuit board wires.

Things you will need:

1. Solder: This is pretty straightforward. You will need a solder for the re-soldering process. These are available in various thicknesses that usually start from 0.02mm. The thick solders are widely used for copper pipe or PCB. It is used with a butane torch. However, you will have to opt for the thin solders for detailing and repairing jobs.
2. Soldering iron: You will need a quality soldering iron to generate the right amount of soldering temperature. You can opt from the low wattage (15-40W) or high wattage (60-140W) for the soldering process. The low wattage works on circuit boards, and high wattage helps work with braided speaker wire.

Once you are ready with the gears, you can start your re-solder or solder wire to the PCB pad successfully. The steps are:

Step 1: Getting ready

Working with soldering iron is a risky process since the soldering iron can get heated up to 800°F, and it is not fun. So, you need to be ready with proper gear. It includes hand gloves, safety goggles, and work boots.

Also, don’t touch the soldering iron tip even with the gloves on to avoid accidents.

Step 2: Fixing the wire

Now, closely look at the damaged or broken wiring section on the circuit board. After that, heat the soldering iron tip adequately.

Joint the two disconnected wirings of the PCB board and connect them with a twist. Then, remove your hand and hold the twisted section with a plastic stick. Bring the soldering iron tip close to the twisted wiring.

Then, connect the soldering iron tip right on the wire. You need to hold the tip for 2-10 seconds but make sure the cables don’t get melted. Otherwise, you may need to start the soldering process once again.

Step 3: Adding the solder

Once the wires are hot enough (there will be smokes as a sign of heated wires), attach the solder on the heated location.  Hold on to it until you think the re-soldering is appropriately accomplished. Finally, remove the remaining solder and move on to the next fixing work.

Step 4: Soldering the LEDs

When you know how to solder and re-solder a wire on the circuit board, you can ardently move to the next steps. Yes, we will now talk about how to solder LEDs to the circuit board. You will need a heat adjustable soldering iron for the process.  The soldering iron tip also needs to be smaller in size.

When you are ready with the LED and circuit board, heat the soldering gun at 675°F.  You should load the circuit board on an alligator clip to avoid a direct connection with it.  Use the heated soldering iron tip to reach the required temperature both on the LED and circuit board side.

Once you have adequately heated both components, you need to create a small cracking between the metal pad and the leads. Then wait for two to four seconds briefly, and pour the solder on the crack. Once the solder is melted and appropriately poured on the damage, remove the soldering iron and the solder itself.

The LED and circuit board will easily get soldered.

How To Connect A Wire To A Circuit Board Without Solder

If you don’t ardently have a soldering iron or gun readily available at home, you may think to repair the circuit board without solder. It is an inexpensive and straightforward process. You can opt for multiple options to connect the wires without solder in a circuit board.

Method 1: Use of Alligator clips

Alligator clips are cheap and readily available in hardware or electric shops. You need first to strip the two wires end to connect them using the clips. Once the striped wire ends are accommodated in a parallel form, use the alligator clip to join them.

The use of an alligator clip for joining circuit board wires is a temporary solution. It is also the weakest of all wire connections and will often come up with loose joints frequently. Hence, you may want to seek a stronger and permanent wiring method.

Method 2: Using electrical tape

Electrical tape to connect wires on a circuit board is another inexpensive and effortless method of joining wires. Also, you can quickly get the electrical tapes in a hardware shop.

Twist the two ends of the wires and wrap them using the electrical tape. The method is suitable for permanent wire connections. Also, it is widely practiced for insulating joints to ensure safety.

You can alternatively use a crimping tool or hot glue gun to create a permanent connection of the stripped wires.

Conclusion:

When you know how to re-solder wires to circuit board, it can save you a fair amount of money. Also, it helps your device to get an increased lifetime. Therefore, we have ensured that our described methods of re-soldering the damaged wires on the circuit board come in handy for you.

Also, we have highlighted ways to joint wires without solder for further convenience.

I am Peter Gong. I have been working in PCB and PCBA industry for 15+ years now. I have been a part of the PCB revolution with my dedication to circuit board technologies and creative ideas. I write in FX PCB to impart my knowledge on PCB and PCBA for all circuit board lovers, manufacturers, and users.

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