Soldering 6AWG wires

[MrUnlimited]

What will provide the best joint? With what soldering iron will I get the best results, 200w or 300w? I need to know for my Proteus motors.

[St3alth_Frenzy]

anything larger than 8awg i use a torch.

[siberianhusky]

Watts are important but more important is the size of the tip, a big honkin chisel tip will hold the heat better and provide a quicker better joint with less heat transfer up the wire. A little pencil tip will lose it's heat very quickly to the large diameter wire, will take longer to heat up the wire and the tip.
Not quite the scientific explination but it gets the point across, gotta size the tip to the work.
Don't like electronics work with a torch, cooks off the rosin used for flux. All I use now is 60/40 rosin core, never had a heat issue with properly soldered connectors, got problems if they heat up enough to melt solder! 60/40 melts at about 450-460F!

[sundog]

I agree with the Huskmeister, a torch can burn up the flux before it does its job. I use an older Sears dual heat (150/230w) gun with a big chisel tip and dip large wire ends into a jar of paste flux before soldering with (small diameter) rosin core solder.

[egneg]

Those motors come with 8awg - black and 10awg colored wires. I use a 230 watt gun from Radio Shack.

[carlcisneros]

I use the same gun that egneg does on all my bullet soldering.
works real nice. you just have to learn to manage the heat.

[Remmie81]

100 watt bout is voldoende ;-)

GR, Remmie

100Watt soldering Iron does the job for me easily. Just make sure you have a big tip that heats a lot of the connector.

[Fluid]

A 100W gun is far different than a 100W iron - no need for a 100W iron! I solder 6Ga down to wire just fine with a 40W iron using a 1/4" chisel tip. That and good quality solder do a quick, positive job. Be certain to tin both parts first before soldering them together. Practice is invaluable for good solder joints, tools are secondary (but still important).



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[egneg]

A 100W gun is far different than a 100W iron - no need for a 100W iron! I solder 6Ga down to wire just fine with a 40W iron using a 1/4" chisel tip. That and good quality solder do a quick, positive job. Be certain to tin both parts first before soldering them together. Practice is invaluable for good solder joints, tools are secondary (but still important).



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The parts can't be tinned first or you will never get both conductors in the bullet -they must all be soldered at once.

[iridebikes247]

I have tinned 6 gauge before and it just fit into 8mm bullet connectors. I use a 60 watt iron with a 5.8mm chisel tip and works like a charm, all strong joints.

[TheShaughnessy]

When you tin you shouldn't really make the diameter too much bigger should you? I always seem to get better flow when I tin both wire and connector.

[martin]

When i have a large wire or more than 1 wire going into a connector i tin the wire as normally & then use a pair of pliers crimping the tinned wire down all the way around the wire. You can reduce the size of the wire quite a bit doing this, i also change the shape of the tinned wire when crimping down to form a half 1/2 circle shape on each wire if im putting 2 wires into 1 connector.

[Cooper]

When i have a large wire or more than 1 wire going into a connector i tin the wire as normally & then use a pair of pliers crimping the tinned wire down all the way around the wire. You can reduce the size of the wire quite a bit doing this, i also change the shape of the tinned wire when crimping down to form a half 1/2 circle shape on each wire if im putting 2 wires into 1 connector.

Yup, I do the same. Really helps when replacing connectors that have already been soldered too.

[egneg]

I am sorry but to get 2 -10awg wires into an 8mm bullet is a tight squeeze and to tin them first would lead to failure. I have done several of these for folks that have the Proteus/Aquastar motors.

S5000127.JPG

[Cooper]

Yes egneg, I agree with you. On something like that it is impossible to tin two 6-8 gauge wires then put into a 8mm bullet, properly. It's a pain in the a$$ to do but I have been successful in dry braiding the wire, and trimming some before tinning. Most times I have to put the dry wires in the bullet cup then heat and tin/solder. I guess experience tells you if you have good penetration of solder and a thorough joint. As far as two 10 gauge wires, they fit. Tinned or bare. Guess experience and the right tools helps.