How do I get started in repairing consoles as a hobby? What’s the best tutorials or resources in electronic repair, soldering, etc? What equipment do I need? I’ve built computers before but never gotten down in to the “meat” of electronic repair. Thanks!!
Get a decent soldering iron, solder, flux, desolder wick and desolder pump, a screwdriver kit with all the attachments(search amazon for electronics repair screwdriver kit theyre about 20 bucks), a voltmeter that has a continuity check, and of course solder. As for projects search ebay for Video Game Console and filter the results to list only “For parts or Repair”. Try your hand at re capping a sega game gear, look for things with no power as i find those are easier to troubleshoot.
I got started by doing mods on my retro systems and word got around and eventually people were asking me to fix common problems xbox RRD, PS4 over heating, etc. If youre into retro try the mm3 mod for ps1 and work up to modbo for ps2. That should get your technique dialed in along w a few game gear re caps. Soldering technique just takes practice, you can search YouTube for “Soldering for beginners” for tips. Also check out the console repair subreddit on reddit.
7 Likes
Awesome! Thanks for the advise and tips!
I just started on repairing old remote controls. I’m doing TV’s, laptops, games consoles, mobile phones and everything else now really.
2 Likes
Try a weller brand soldering iron, 40 watts. Theyre lile 30 bucks on ebay. Theyre a good brand and a good first iron.
2 Likes
Where can you buy the parts (i.e. capacitor, resistors, voltage regulators, and such). And how do you know which one to buy specifically.
You don’t want a soldering iron mate you want a rework station they are much better than soldering irons and are much more regulated they are what are actually used to build the devices in the first place so it would make sense to use it for repairs you will also need good quality solder and many other tools watch some of the tronicfix videos to see what he uses
I buy mine off amazon or ebay, as far as figuring out the value of it, sometimes its on the part itself or i try to find a schematic or i just google search a parts list
1 Like
I suggested a simple yet quality iron,as he stated “as a hobby”. A good re work station is very pricey. Some people are willing to spend large sums on a hobby, but I didnt see the point in purchasing a decent re work station for close to 300 USD. I did my first mod with a 7 dollar iron from a discount hardware store, and upgraded my iron to an xtronic digital thermostat iron after I became more confident in my soldering skills to tackle more complex and precise projects.
1 Like
The Yihua 853D is a good low-end, cheap rework & soldering station. I’d recommend it for beginners.
2 Likes
I recommend just keeping/buying some junk boards that you can steal these parts from when needed. If you find a part that you end up using a lot of then it might be worth it to try and find it for sale online somewhere but most of the time a junk board will have what you need.
You might read info on making good soldering joints. I have learned from making and repairing tube amps and radios that the soldering joint can become a trouble spot for high freq interference which shows up as noise and hiss. I know we are talking about console repair but in the case that you end up doing more or broadening your goals; good solder joints are key to good repair and something you should definitely work on as you go. Steve points out other factors of the solder joint in his videos which are always informative. 
3 Likes
Than you all for the information! You’ve been very helpful!!!
I got a decent rework station for about 150 au dollars and it does the job for me when I need it
Well what I want to know is how do you know what type and kind goes on the board? Cause tiny parts doesn’t always have a number. And even with a number (like 103 looks to be common), I couldn’t find it online.
I use to have a Console Rental Shop way back in 1998.
When most of my SNES and PSX started to have some troubles I started to tinker with them.
since then up until now Console Repairing became my bread and butter 
Reballing GPU on Xbox360 and PS3 and now APU for the PS4s and XBoxOne is my main work currently on my Shop , I now have an Asssitants working on some soldering jobs.
And yes get a decent Rework Solder Station to have a better soldering output especially on Board Level Repairs , it is a worthy investment even as a Repair Enthusiast.
1 Like
Or the yihua 8786d that’s the one I own
1 Like
What is your success rate on PS4 BLOD repairs? Where are you located?
PS4 BLOD on Fats (CUH10xx , CUH11xx and CUH12xx) Reballing is easy .
80-90% success rate
on Slim (CUH20xx) it’s PITA . the board is so thin that board warping is frequent.
30% for Reballing its not always the APU. Sometimes even with a good reball it’s still BLOD I have no time checking RAM chips one by one.
Haven’t received many Pro’s but i’m 2 out of 5 (*again maybe RAM issues)
I’m from the Philippines
2 Likes
When reballing, does the solder balls size matter? ebay sellers say for their stencil to use .6mm or .55mm
lead or lead free solder?
Only asking because I’m trying to start local, and I need some tips from someone with experience.
Plus
I bought a few lots to start and hopefully I wont have to put a console away in a box for parts because I cant reball it
1 Like