Preventing Matrix Stress, Plus How Bad Did I Screw Up

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I’ve noticed that one of the 16x16 flexible LED Matrices (NeoPixel style) that I’m using has already got a fritzy solder connection. Since I’m distributing a lot of these & they’ll be carried around in backpacks, any ideas on how to de-stress some of this wiring? Hot Glue over solder joints & at first part of wire gluing to the matrix’s backing? Heavy packing tape over the joints & first bit of wire? Recs really appreciated.

Also: I am a genuinely terrible maker., which I suppose makes my students not feel so bad when they make mistakes Despite knowing “measure twice cut once”, I regularly solder things wrong, backwards, etc. And here is today’s example. I soldered the JST Xh connector to the wrong side of the sensor board :frowning: Rather than risk the nastiness of trying to desolder this four pin connector, I thought I might just ignore it for now & solder the connector on the proper side / orientation. Is this OK? Any other suggestions?

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I’m sure we’ve all been there, it’s a constant when dealing with LEDs! Strain relief is a big help.

Yeah hot glue and tape are both easy decent options. Anything to keep the bending from happening at the solder joint.

Speaking of strain relief, on the PB side we have printable cases with strain shelves. There’s loops for holding the wires down with a small zip tie. Files here:

(Also available in the shop, for folks that don’t want to print.)

Leaving a connector on that end of the sensor board shouldn’t hurt anything.

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in my experience, that 3S lipo connector has thick copper and will withstand a lot of abuse. I just wrote in another thread that the micro USB will break and tear off but that one will do just fine unless the forces are enough to break the PCB apart, in which case hot glue is not likely to help much :slight_smile: