It is corrosion, and the repair is very possible. But it looks like the corrosion is around something that was not soldered before. Where is the actual button? Where do those holes go to?
Thanks!
I will try to trace where it goes; the position of the corrosion makes it very awkward to reach because it is almost behind the plastic and I think that removing it would be quite difficult (for me!).
I will look for an electronic repair shop to make the repair, but I would like to be able to repair it myself too. I might go and practise the repair on an old PCB to see whether my skill is as high as 'moderate'.
Thanks again.
I would not remove the LCD. There is no need to. Everything you need for a fix is accessible with LCD in place.
I am surprised that the board is not conformally coated.
The motorcycle environment is harsh. Is not only plain moisture ingress, but that the road may still contain salts used during the winter season.
Plus many owners pressure-wash their bikes, and you'll have soaps and other chemicals.
Conformal coating isn't all win-win. For instance if there is a electronics failure, the board can be virtually un-repairable depending on how tough that coating is.
Don't touch the LCD pins; I can virtually guarantee that you'll do more harm than good unless you're already experienced in this type of PCB rework./quote]
I hear you loud and clear! I'll give up before I take the soldering iron to those pins!what make and model bike is it?
Yamaha Super Tenere XT1200Z.
I found a local tech repair company who went to the bother of setting up a website but don't answer the phone or reply to emails, so I'm back here!
In the attached photo there is a copper ring, after cleaning it up I can't get continuity across it from one side of the board to the other. Can somebody explain this component to me including its name please? To me, it looks like a copper 'rivet' which should have continuity across the board. There is another switch with the same setup and I do get continuity across that one.
ps. the photo you've attached of a wire link is horrible.
Hanging a wire that fat and heavy off a couple of tiny vias is just asking for them to be ripped off the board under vibration, and that'll leave the board in a state which is much harder to repair. All those spare copper strands waving about in the breeze won't do any good if they touch anything else either; at the very, very least they should have been trimmed back to the insulation.
If that's the repair you need to do, use 30AWG solid core wire as advised above, and tack it to the PCB with superglue so it doesn't flap about. A couple of tiny dots are all you need, don't go mad with the glue, and don't get any on the solder joints just in case you ever need to repair them.
So I can just superglue the new wire in place??? Brilliant!
Well, it's fixed!
No doubt the experts would have done a lot better job, but for me it has been interesting and rewarding. It has also saved a whole lot of money and prevented a usable component form being thrown away.
The photo shows the wire I soldered between the two points.
Thank you to everybody who helped me.