Is this soldering ok?

[nyawton]

Sorry to be so simple, I have recently soldered my ESC, I decided to build in a connector for the BEC so it can easily be changed, help with wire routing.

Firstly to do this I twisted the wires and soldered them together.

I think I could probably do with a more powerful Iron, as I ended up having to get a kitchen blow lamp to make the pool of solder in the connector, then quickly flashed the end of the twisted wires to get them hot and dunked it in the pool until it cooled, then tided up the outside.

I have pulled, hard and cannot get it to budge, I know its not pretty but nothing heat shrink cant sort?











Thoughts would be appreciated, thanks

[RC/DC_5000]

Looks pretty dry. I'd recommend that you try again as practice makes it perfect.

Don't twist the wires together. Just strip them to the depth of your bullets, and then fill the bullet with a little flux and solder. Then tin the two stripped wire lengths.

Heat the bullet like a bowl of solder... heat the wires... then stick the wires into the bowl of solder and let it cool. You should get the wire housing flush against the bullet and the solder should all be shiny.

You have a ton of loose, exposed wire and likely air in your solder joint. Its not all melted together and shiny.

Shiny solder means its all sealed and fully melted together.

[oliver1071]

It's strange it doesn't look like any solder wicked into the fibers of the wire. Mine will suck in a ton of solder. I'd definitely get a better iron and wouldn't trust that connection.

the Hakko soldering irons are great http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&key...l_7kdsafsea7_e

[RC/DC_5000]

Yes exactly... he didn't tin the wires beforehand. The wires are totally dry.

OP, you need to melt solder into the wire's ends... The solder literally gets sucked up into the wire housing even. It totally solidifies about 5mm of the wire's end.

You just put solder on the bare wire... hold the heat on it... and then let it melt up into the wire strands. That is the first step... before you even try to make the connection.

[jbobb1]

You really need to redo those. Nothing but bad things will result otherwise.

[atkin]

My favorite soldering bookmark:
http://www.tjinguytech.com/soldering

[jbobb1]

Here's another good one:

https://www.helifreak.com/showthread.php?t=398853

[oliver1071]

I don't understand the male and female bullets either. Typically the both females are on the power /Battery side and both males are on the esc side. Same thing with the deans connector you'll potentially have to hot exposed pins if those bullets are connecting to a battery.

[jbobb1]

Originally Posted by oliver1071

I don't understand the male and female bullets either though typically the both females are on the power /Battery side and both males are on the esc side. Same thing with the deans connector you'll potentially have to hot exposed pins if those bullets are connecting to a battery.

Exactly!

[oliver1071]

It's cool though at least you're asking. And the configuration could work but if you don't follow the standards and order batteries/chargers/para boards etc. You'll find that nothing will connect to your soldering job. You could mod the batteries to work but Parallel charging cables and boards would be a real pain to swap bullets.

[Abenn]

I agree about the need to redo it. But when you fill the bullet with solder, and dip the wire ends in (post #2), don't just let it cool down. Keep the heat on and feed in a bit more flux-cored solder to make sure it's fully penetrated the wire strands. Then let it cool down, without moving.

I don't like exposed bullets on power connections but, if bullets are used, male and female are quite common, so that you can't connect the wrong way round (so long as you always put the male on the same lead ). The only problem is you can connect one to the other, and short the battery.

By convention, the battery side of a Deans connector should be the female, so it's less likely to short if it touches any metal.

Lastly, make sure your heatshrink completely covers the female bullet plug, and let it extend about 1/2" up the combined wires, to help prevent strain on the joints.

[RC/DC_5000]

Well if you tin the wires ahead of time... the wire will already by saturated with solder. There isn't need for anymore. Its a sequence. A standard solder job always starts with tinning both ends of the connection. That includes saturating 5-10mm of the wire's end with solder.

Like how your Castle ESC comes from the factory. Those are tinned wires.

If you add the solder on last.... as you say... thats a recipe for a cold solder joint. Colin Bell from team Align has demo videos on Youtube and explains a cold solder joint and how to solder bullets. When you start adding solder after the fact... thats inviting a cold solder joint.

[Abenn]

Originally Posted by RC/DC_5000

Well if you tin the wires ahead of time... the wire will already by saturated with solder. ... If you add the solder on last.... as you say... thats a recipe for a cold solder joint. ...

I agree. I should have written more clearly:

When I wrote about adding solder last, it was on the basis that the wires and the bullet have already been pre-tinned fully, as described by others. Even when pre-tinned, there is rarely enough solder to fill the cup, hence my practice of topping it up with solder while the two parts are held in a "helping hand" device.

[nyawton]

Thanks everyone, I really appreciate the feedback. I'm off straight out for a new soldering iron to start with, I currently have a small gas one, the gas just doesn't last long enough. Bad excuse :-)

Few points taken and noted.

1, the deans connector, its obvious now that needs to be swapped for a femail, rookie mistake, thanks.
2. the bullet connectors will actually be encapsulated in a plug, like this https://www.fast-lad.co.uk/store/images/Q.C.0042.jpg
3, all wires tinned first so it sucks the solder up

I will re do them today and hopefully post an improved version, thanks again. :-)

[Abenn]

If it's not too late, treat yourself to something that will cover all types of jobs. I have an old Antex 50W iron, similar to this one apart from the rating, with an assortment of different size bits. Large bits for connectors and heavy wires; small bits for PCBs etc.

[nyawton]

Here is version 2,

I purchased a new soldering iron, It did the job great but unfortunately I had to return it as it died after 10 mins, the second did the same so borrowing a friends now.

This time I saw the solder suck into the strands as mentioned and all looks shiny. All wires were pre tinned.

I connected both wires together before dunking into the bullet connector, but as soon as I did I saw them separate, but figured its fine as it just proves all the solder flowed super hot, and it will just bond anyway?

The solder got a bit messy on the connector but this cleaned up, I also had to cut the connectors plastic a bit to make it all fit in but covered with heat wrap. Hopefully this will be fine now but again thought are much appreciated

[Abenn]

That looks better As you surmise, it doesn't really matter if the wires separate so long as they're totally encapsulated in solder.

[Relisys190]

I would trust those joints.

Keep practicing and you'll get really good at it.

Good luck.

[RC/DC_5000]

That is so much better... and I definitely agree, it takes practice for us all. Soldering is a hobby within itself.

[KSHeli]

Originally Posted by nyawton

Here is version 2,

I purchased a new soldering iron, It did the job great but unfortunately I had to return it as it died after 10 mins, the second did the same so borrowing a friends now.

This time I saw the solder suck into the strands as mentioned and all looks shiny. All wires were pre tinned.

I connected both wires together before dunking into the bullet connector, but as soon as I did I saw them separate, but figured its fine as it just proves all the solder flowed super hot, and it will just bond anyway?

The solder got a bit messy on the connector but this cleaned up, I also had to cut the connectors plastic a bit to make it all fit in but covered with heat wrap. Hopefully this will be fine now but again thought are much appreciated

Part of the problem is the all metal clamping system you are using. The jaws and the setup are pulling heat away from your iron and not allowing the bullet to heat up and hold the temp to melt the solder. I use a block of wood ( short piece of 2x4 or such). Drill a shallow hole so that the top of the bullet extends above the wood. The wood is an insulator of sorts and helps slow the heat removal from the bullet allowing you to put more of the heat from your iron into the bullet and wire. You get better/cleaner solder joints easily this way. Just be sure to hold your iron on the bullet after inserting the wire to be sure that the solder in the wires is melting also. I'll insert the wires, apply pressure to the wire and wait until I feel the wires give a little before removing the iron.

Get some rosin flux and apply a small amount to wires and the bullets, this makes soldering so much easier (helps transfer heat and flux flow) even though most of the fluxes we are buying is rosin core.

Be sure to wipe the wires off after with alcohol, if its water soluble flux just wipe them down with a wet rag, to remove the excess flux after soldering the excess flux will corrode the wires, shortening you connections life.