Learn a Trade - Soldering

So, earlier this spring, our TV began making interesting sounds, following by interesting pictures. First, it began to pop every time we turned it on. Then, our screen came on, but with a multi-colored rainbow of pixels.

We did some hunting online, and guess what? TONS of people have had the same problem with their 2007 or 2008 Samsung LCDs. Turns out that they used a 10V capacitor where they needed at least a 12V. The result is this (bad capacitors circled):

Image by Mike Jablonski.

So, we did some more interwebs research, and many kind amateur and professional electricians showed us how to fix it.

Off to RadioShack, where we bought 25V capacitors, a soldering gun and solder. Then we also had to watch lots more videos to learn how to solder. Tricky business. We watched several older guys quickly strip off existing solder, exchange capacitors, and solder the new capacitors on in maybe five minutes, including all their explanation.

An hour later and Ryan and I successfully removed are bulging culprits and replaced them with shiny, appropriately-sized ones. Success! I wish I could say it was just like painting plus stinky fumes, but it might have been a bit more complex.

We told the story to my Dad, who has been soldering motherboards and cards and who-knows-what-else for over 25 years. His response was, "Oooooh, I love the smell of solder. It's like smelling comfort food." Let's set the record here: I may have learned the basics of a new trade, but I don't want to practice it so much that I fondly enjoy the smell of burning solder.