Does your Omega Race board look like the above?? If so, you definitely have a problem! In the following section I'll show pictures of what appears to be a "typical" Omega Race board after the on-board battery has spent a couple decades corroding the thing.
The
boardset that came with my Omega Race mini was in good condition, and
did
not appear to have much at all in the way of battery acid damage. I
found
a listing on the Internet for a boardset that WAS the victim of acid
damage,
and decided I'd give board repair a try. I received two boards - the
motherboard,
shown above, and a daughterboard, not shown. The daughterboard works
GREAT
in my mini, and in fact a couple of sound problems I was having cleared
up after I installed it. The motherboard however, is badly damaged.
Here's
a few more pictures detailing the damage:
This is a pair of pictures showing the original battery.
Here's
where the battery originally was. I disconnected it as soon as I opened
the package. See where the A1 is? That would have been directly beneath
the battery when it was installed. It extended from yellow mark to
yellow
mark, horizontally. The acid took a couple of paths down, then
eventually
started across the board in another direction. You can see the chips
and
sockets that took the brunt of the damage.
I tried to use a solder-sucker to remove the solder and free the pins of the sockets and chips, but had no success. The pads on the back of the board are very corroded as well, and it is quite difficult to extract the solder. Once the solder is removed, more corrosion is causing the pins to stick to the board, so about every 10th pin so far won't come out at all. I had to cut the chips and sockets off the board, and attempt to heat and remove the remaining pins. Below is the first part of the carnage I caused by doing this. You can see where the acid pooled under the chip in the socket, and how corroded the pins are.
Here is a later picture, showing more of the damage, and what things looked like after I got some cleaning done. The traces beneath the non-socketed chips (right) are pretty much blown away. At this point, I think cutting away this corner of the board and creating a new daughterboard to rest on top may be the best bet for getting this thing running again.
Below
is an example of the Omega Race board corrosion damage as shown from
the
back. This is why I had a devil of a time removing the solder and
freeing
the pins. Both pictures are of the same area, but the one on the right
was taken while being held to the light. Pay special attention to the
holes
- some have daylight, some don't. You can also see the many traces that
go through this section of board, complicating the rebuilding process.
Finally,
below is an example of a corroded socket, taken close-up with a digicam
that has no macro lens. I am going to have to buy one, I keep needing
to
take close-up pics with it and cannot. Anyway, I cut most of this
socket
out. It's pretty messed up, most of the pins looked like they were
FLAKING
apart, and would not have lasted long in a strong wind. After seeing
the
damage caused by the acid, I have decided that it is not cost-effective
to perform repairs on this board. A working, "like-new" Omega Race
boardset
can be had for as low as $130. Just one of the chips I cut off the
front
of the board was $14 if bought new today, and there are about a dozen
more
that have to go before I get past the damaged sections. Add to that the
cost in time and materials to build on a daughterboard or replace each
trace, and you're talking about real money, much more than the purchase
price of a working board.
I
will
keep the daughterboard to replace the one that originally came with my
machine, and attempt to use the rest of the main board for parts, in
case
I need them someday. Unless, of course, anyone out there reading this
thinks
THEY can do better, in which case I would be happy to sell you this
board.
Copyright 2001 Madoc Owain