Newbie soldering help needed!

[Nutbar]

Hey, so I think I'm gonna surrender and finally try to do my own soldering. I need to solder the 5.5mm bullets onto my new Turnigy 180 amp ESC and two sets of lipos. I have no soldering equipment, and have never tried it before. What advice do you guys have as far as what equipment I should get, and good resources for getting started, and learning how to solder well and safely? Thx in advance for all responses!

[driftah]

get yourself a micro torch it will make your life easier than using an iron etc. also pickup some silver solder and appropriate heat shrink sizes,tin the connector making a pool of solder in it then heat connector and dip in wire until solder barely overflows or is level...heatshrink when cool and ur done!

[tlandauer]

Do yourself a favor: get at least a 10 pair pack, get some 10 or 12 ga. wires and do a practice run. Regardless of which method you are using. One thing you don't want to happen is to spend too long a time heating the wire on the ESC or batteries. It will be a wise investment.
Read as much as possible so you know how to identify that you are not having a "cold solder"

[Jason4636]

I perfer the iron over the torch. I pre-tin my wire's and connectors. Then heat your connector, till the soilder remelts. Then put your wire in, when both the connector & wire's soilder is remelted. I pull my wire up and down just a bit to make sure everything is soildered good. Just let it cool and put on your heat shrink.

I agree with both post up above, use silver soilder, and make a couple practice soilders before you do your batteries and esc. Just to get the hang of it. If you think you need 10 connectors, go ahead and get 20.

[Doug Smock]

http://www.circuitrework.com/guides/7-1-1.shtml

http://www.digikey.com/Web%20Export/...f?redirected=1

http://www.qsl.net/n9zia/solder.html

[RichRC]

I was told through College ( electrical Engineering) that the best way to Practice Soldering is to buy one of those small Toy Kits and build it. they are like 5- 10 dollars ish, and if you mess up, no drama use it just as a practice board. i would also pick up a DE- Solderer ( pen type) they are great in an emergency. Ps Never under estimate the Qualities of a wet sponge! lol. Happy soldering RichRC

[rpedro]

I ordered the Trakpower soldering station for the few soldering needs I have... as well as a BUZZ soldering rig...worth every penny IMHO...

[Southwest]

Well, i would buy a 40 watt iron. Next a piece of 1 x4 piece of wood, reason when soldering round connectors , you can drill holes in board of the connector size and place connectors vertically. I tin both the wires and connectors. I then heat up connectors and when hot enough, i put wires into connectors and hold till solder looks cool. I use Radio shack rosen core and never a problem and my boat voltage gets to 90 amps. I run 4mm round connectors which has a rating of 93 amps. Now if you run higher end rc equipment, you should use 5.5 round connectors. Now like the people before me, use a sponge but i have reservations on the sponge. cleaning the iron tip is a pain and to get away from that ( almost ) is the iron you buy should be heat adjustable. Now a older jent than me said to wipe off with a rag ( ouch ). Hears some for for thought; some say use leaded solder which is cleaner and to this, i would have a small fan blowing fumes away from me. Use heat shrink on wire and connector after soldering is down.

[rabosi]

Tinning iron tip is also important as well as cleanliness. For that use denatured alcohol or similar to first clean solder and connectors and then apply flux. I find the liquid flux better for these applications as it leaves less residue.

[electric]

I use a screwdriver tip soldering iron. weller 80 watt as I recall that is located at hobby lobby for soldering stain glass. Cheap to buy, have had 3 years and soldered many, many, many 5.5's .. The key is put the solder on both surfaces first, wire and connector, and then place the wire on the connector and melt the solder on both by pressing the iron tip against the bottom of the bullet. Put a drop of solder on the tip of the iron so that you get a real good heat transfer as you press the iron tip against the bullet. Without that, it does not work nearly as well.

Now here is the way I do it now. slide the wire into the connector. No "tinning". Heat up the bullet connector with your solder iron (little bit of solder on the tip for heat transfer) then feed the solder through the hole on the bullet until it "fills up" with solder. Done. Goes very fast.

[jamespl]

I use one of these http://cpc.farnell.com/1/1/49364-sol...-70-iroda.html
I heat the connector then melt solder in the fitting then just push the wire in. Seems to work pretty good for me.