Damaged Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W

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I was removing the headers from my Raspberry Pi Zero 2W and sccidentially removed another component (circled in red). I haven’t tried powering it on as I don’t want to do anything potentially distructive.

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I’ve checked the reduced schematics but it’s a logical not a physical view. I asked over at the raspberry pi forums and someone said it was L3 (the inductor for the core SMPS). Based on the schematic I need to get a 470nH SMT inductor.

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Before I try and track that down could, doeas anyone know if that’s the right component? i.e. is it the L3 indictor? It’s a bit of a last ditch attempt, and I probably wouldn’t try if the boards were easier to get, but I hate to just discard it.

Am I in over my head? Probably :laughing:

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I think you can get some info from here: Identify Raspberry PI Zero 2 components. - Raspberry Pi Forums

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Thanks! That list being verified by a RPi engineer was the best thing. I really need to get better at searching :man_facepalming:

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Hi Doug and Tepalia,

Interesting topic! Given the price, I haven’t seen too many attempts to repair a Pi but it definitely makes sense given the parts shortage!

Thanks for jumping in and helping out Tepalia :slight_smile:

Liam

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Thank you. I am not hopeful about RPI repairing either. But of course it deserves a try. Raspberry Pis are more expensive than ever nowadays :frowning:

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HI doug
Just interested. If you were removing the headers how on earth did you manage to remove that component. If you haven’t destroyed it you may be able to put it back. Doesn’t matter which way around it goes (provided it IS the 470nH inductor).
Cheers Bob

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Hi Bob,

It’s right next to the headers, honestly I’m not sure how I did it, just that it wasn’t there afterwards, I didn’t notice till a day or so later. That’ll teach me for cleaning up my work space :rofl:

The frustrating thing is that it’s something like a 50c part, but I can only find it online in packs of 10 + $15 shipping. From Digikey, Element 14, & Mouser. Digikey does have free shipping over $60, but it’s getting to the point of it not being worth it.

Cheers,
Doug

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Hi Doug,

If you have any older/Pi’s that have let out the magic smoke lying around you could definitely grab the inductor from that, I thought the Pico might have a similar inductor but it uses a 2.2uH coil for its SMPS.

Liam

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I hadn’t thought of that. I’ve got a couple of the original Pi, I don’t know if they still work, I’ll have to look up the schematic.

Thanks :smile:

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Hi Doug

I am not sure how you managed that either. Were you waving the soldering iron around madly or were you maybe using a hot air tool to remove the header. A little bit of carelessness with that would probably remove anything within reach.
Cheers Bob

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I had done a thing with an extra row of header pins on the inside, so it was sitting over the inductor, it came off when I was removing that. The idea is to get extra pins incide the case, so I can connect up some buttons while my Pi has the inky Phat on it. See here for the first version GitHub - baralong/inky-gadget: Scripts etc for the pi zero with inkyPhat

Here are a couple of iterations of the inner row of pins
versiopn 3 or 4

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Honestly I think I could have saved a lot of time by finding someone to make a custom circuit board with the headers pre attached. I have thoughts on new types of hats and shims etc. Unfortunately I’m having to shelve the Pi playing for a few months while I work on some other projects. There’s a Lego show in October I need to finish my build for. (yes, I have too many hobbies)

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It looks like you heat gunned the crap out of it!

Its just an inductor, a similar value will do, you could even make your own inductor and solder it on!

Chip shortage? Apparently one is going on but… not yet felt it’s impact

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Hi Craig

If it is part of a DC/DC converter a similar value won’t do.
Cheers Bob

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Ok well, swap a 300uh for a 330 or 400uh, most times it won’t make the slightest difference, your efficiency might go down or even up slighy…

But it will work.

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Hi Doug,

If you’re keen to learn KiCAD (or other EDA software) there’s tons of great resources around, once you’ve got the basics down its real easy to pop together adapter boards and quick QOL improvements for projects

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Thanks, I’ll have a look. Also aliexpress came to the rescue, it takes a while, but it’s cheap :slight_smile:

Any recommendations for board manufacturers? Does core offer the service?

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Hey Doug,

Would something like this work for your project: Pimoroni Pico HAT Hacker | PIM300 | Core Electronics Australia
There are a few different ‘form factors’ to these breakouts, but they can be a little hard to find if you aren’t exposed to the massive range of parts every day!
To make it easier in the future what do you think some good search terms might be?

Also in the future, if you’re keen to see if a product with X features or have questions about the range we’re always here to help!

Everyone’s knocked about some SMD components assembling and disassembling stuff, especially with how annoying getting header pins off can be!
Liam

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When i was in tafe doing soldering courses, header pin removal was as simple as a pair of pliars and a soldering iron and remove each individual pin vs heat gunning…

Using a heat gun is fine if you have the experience not to get it so hot the components around the pins drop off, requires a knack or technique which can only be learnt through practice

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I didn’t use a heat gun, it probably came off because I had a coard sitting right on top of it (the 3rd row of pins, see pics above) also rattatching the 3rd row.

That said: it’s been 30+ years since I did my soldering coure at tafe. I’m picking it up by trial and (lots of) error. I’ve think my main problem is too much heat. And I’ve also killed a few things with the heat gun.

There’s definitely a chip shortage, just try to find a Raspberry Pi 4 or Zero 2W

Remember, uncle Ben was misquoted: With great power comes lots of heat :wink:

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They would have been great, if I’d known they existed, and if I knew that’s what I needed. Since my original post, I bought a couple of the the pico HAT Hacker sas I’m sure they’ll come in handy, and they’re pretty cheap

Getting here was quite a journey getting to where I am with it. I shared a link to the first version, FLIRC case, zero2w, configured as a smart USB gadget, and an inkyPHAT to show device details. I just wanted to add some buttons.

My first attempt was to try to connect to the unused headers under the hat. My first mistake there was forgetting to mirror the pins as I was looking underneath. After that I had it “kind of” working, but it was a bit fragile.

Then I realised the buttons and addressable LED chould be attached to the case and I could just connect to the pi’s pins directly. Also a bit of a pain, so I decided on a third row of pins bridged to the pi’s pins, then several attempts at that.

After all that was when I discovered the pico hat hacker. The biggest (and self imposed) constraint has been fitting it in the FLIRC case. Not a lot of room, and it’s got a built in heat sink on the processor, then I have to fit the button board under the inky PHAT above the case.

Thinking it through, if I was going to start again… a trimmed down Pico HAT Hacker overlapping the pi, then cutting a hole in the FLIRC case to allow headers through (removing the heatsink), then connecting that to the button board like that would have been heaps eaisier. I guess I could have also used a different case too.

I’m more of a software guy, but I’ve been enjoying playing with the hardware.

They say necer trut a programmer with a screwdriver, I’ve got a soldering iron :wink:

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