Install your RFM12B the right way the first time!


 

Bryan Mayland

TVWBB Hall of Fame
If you're going to install an RFM12B module as the last step of your build, after you've tested everything else, make sure you install in the proper orientation. I must have had something else on my mind because I had the module rotated 180 degrees. It is nearly impossible to remove the RF module once it is installed, as the solder gets up under the pads. I've tried to remove the module off a JeeNode before with no success. The copper traces on the PCB usually come up before the module comes off.

Not wanting to have to throw out a perfectly good completed HeaterMeter, I took to the dremel cutting wheel and ground the RFM module down. I got it as close as I could to the HeaterMeter board without grinding into it. This is what it looks like when you get incredibly lucky


I did end up hitting one pad and destroying it but Super Luck, it wasn't one we use.

For the record, the RFM12B module is installed oriented so the crystal on the module goes over the oval silhouette on the footprint.
 
I know when I installed mine I checked it like 5 times. Glad you go it off, though the module looks a little worse for wear :)
 

 

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