How do I fix this!!!??

[mandypandy3595]

So I have a metal DDR mat and the back arrow broke awhile ago. I did everything I could think of to fix it including buying a new back arrow. Finally I discovered that a little yellow wire has come loose from its spot. Now I don't know how to fix it. I'm completely clueless on this one. When I put the wire on the sensor thing it works but I don't know what to do to make it so that it only works when I step on it. Any Ideas?

[xstatic]

I am pretty sure you have to sodder it, but leave the answer up to Psisar or Abrannan. They will have difinitive answers for you.

[abrannan]

First, look up a tutorial on basic soldering online (try this one: www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2007/01/soldering_tutor_1.html )

That will give you a good overview of what's required. You'll see it's not nearly as scary as it sounds or looks.


I'm going to work off of a guess here, but it's the way most commercially manufactured metal mats are made.

So you've got a circuit board under the arrow (and the arrow has some sort of metal or foil on the underside). The circuit board has a whole lot of traces on it, but if you look closely there are actually only two, set up as either two combs intermeshed, or to lines s-curving around one another. Each trace connects to a wire. All you have to do is re-solder the broken wire to the trace it belongs to, without having any solder bridge a connection to the other trace (that would create a short circuit, and the panel will always be seen as being stepped on).

Given that it's your first soldering job, it'll probably take about 20 minutes, and you can get a basic soldering kit including everything you need (soldering iron, flux-cored solder, and possibly a stand) for about $15 at Radio Shack or even Lowe's or Home Depot.