What wattage soldering iron ???

[Mouse]

Hi there

I have been trying to solder some xt60 connectors to a brushless speed controller with no success at all and have destroyed 3 so far.

It seems like the iron is not getting hot enough to melt the solder even though it is supposed to be 100 watts, mind you it is over 15 years old and has trouble making a drop of water evaporate so I think I am holding it to the connectors to long and melting the plastic.

Tomorrow I need to get a new one and would like to know what wattage I should be looking for.

Thank you

Bill.

[Tim A]

Bill 60 watts should be sufficient, although I use a125watt iron that's years old, the secret is to plug another XT60 into the one your soldering to act as a heat sink. Not one attached to a battery either - Boom!

You need an iron that will melt solder quickly holding it on the connector too long trying to get enough heat in will melt the plastic before the you have a good solder joint though.

[PaulH]

Bill, the real secret is rapid heating of the solder, without having to hold the iron on the joint for ages thus melting the plastic. My 60 watt is okay, but the 100watt single temperature iron I have, really makes all my jobs easy, from soldering plugs to making up landing gear. Having a couple of different shaped tips, say one pointed and one chisel, makes it perfect for any task.

[Mouse]

Thank for the advice

just been searching online near me and 60 watt irons don't seem to exist, however 40 watt ones are about everywhere.

would 40 watt be o.k or should I hunt around for a 60 watt one. or is this a case of bigger IS better and go for the biggest I can afford ???.

Bill.

[PaulH]

Bill, Don't waste your money on a 40 watt, you'll end up with the same problem. Bigger wattage is better, try for a 60, or 100 watt iron. Buy a fixed heat iron. Cheap variable heat irons rarely give a constant temperature, while most medium priced single heat irons, have a very quick temperature recovery when using them for extended times, or making multiple subsequent joins.

[PaulH]

Tesco direct have a cheap Chinese one, which I've seen in Australia and know it does work, a mate has one. On the other hand you can get a Weller for around £35, they are known to be very reliable and also carry a great variety of soldering tips, I'd probably say value for money, but still a bit expensive. Interestly doing a quick Google search in the UK came up with just a fraction of the choice we have here in Australia, especially in relation for good reasonably priced tools from China and the rest of Asia.

[Piers Bowlan]

Hi Bill, it is all about the amount of heat in the tip of your soldering iron, not temperature. So you need 100w or even 200w and a really big copper bit in the end of your soldering iron. Tin the wire to be soldered and the plated connector in the XT60 plug. Push the wire into the metal plug and apply heat to the side of the tinned plug. The solder will melt and the wire will slide into the hole in the plug. As he said you must plug a male and female plug together when soldering or you will ruin a lot of plugs.

[Dylan Reynolds LaserCraft Services]

You may find you need a new tip not a new iron, I had this problem as well untill the tip was replaced. I also bought a variable heat soldering station which I now use more than any of my others, at £45 I find it excellent value for money and it works great, never had a problem yet with temperature consistency.

[Allan Bennett]

The size of the bit is just as important as the irons wattage. If the bit is too small it doesn't matter how many watts the iron is, for the bit will be cooled immediately by contact with the relatively large connector and wire that you're trying to solder. You then have to hold the bit on while the iron gets it back up to temperature.

My regular soldering iron is an Antex 50W with several interchangeable bits. With a 6mm (I think) bit I can solder 14g wire onto my Deans Ultra connectors okay, and I use smaller bits for PCBs, servo wires, etc. I also have a 80W iron for larger wires and for making wire undercarriages.

Another thing that's vital for a quick solder job is proper tinning of the two halves before you try to make the joint, using multi-core solder.

[Peter Miller]

I have a 40 watt iron that will actually solder bound joints on 8 SWG piano wire.

I still have my 60 year old Henley Solon 75 watt iron with a bit about 3/4" wide. Workd but takes a along time to heat up.

[Roderic Craig]

why does no one mention flux? Flux it and the solder just flows

[ken anderson.]

bill-i'm using an 80 watt model from BRC hobbies.....it's a goodin.....you could weld ships plates with it..... also have a look on 'google' get one of the gas pencil torches for a few quid..mine was £4.00 inc postage......

ken Anderson ne...1 ......ship building dept.

[Martian]

as has been said it may need a new tip also try removing the tip you may find the contact surfaces of the tip and the tip socket to be coated in slag after all these years resulting in a poor thermal connection,worth a try

[Martyn K]

I agree that the problem may be technique or cleanliness.

The bit should be shiny clean - any trace of black - it needs cleaning

The bit should be properly tinned. Get the iron up to temperature and place a spot of multi core solder on the tip. It should flow - if it globules then the tip is dirty even if it appears clean.

Make sure the tip is properly wetted - liquid solder visible on the tip.

Now pre-solder (aka tinning) the wire - same rules apply - it must be clean and if the solder doesn't flow it isn't clean enough,

When you have a clean tip and the wire is tinned, clamp your connector (by the pins if male - or add pins into the holes if female so that heat is conducted away) - a 'helping hand' is brilliant for this sort of work). You can also hold the wire in place with a helping hand leaving you with 2 real hands for the next bit..

Now sandwich the wire between the iron and the connector - count to about 3 to let the heat flow - add the solder into the joint - it should flow straight away, simultaneously remove the iron and solder - the soldering process should not take more than about 5-7 seconds per connector. Let it cool before you attack the next one.

You should be able to cope with a 40W iron for this type of work - they are more manageable than the larger wattage irons, but a larger 100W iron will be better for piano wire soldering up to quite a large gauge.

Martyn

[Martin Harris - Moderator]

I keep getting told by the sages that my Weller gun hasn't got a hope of soldering heavy guage connectors and piano wire undercarriages as it only has a tiny tip with no heat capacity.

Well, guess what - I keep making bright shiny  joints on Deans and XT60s that stay together and only a week or two ago I soldered up a Magnatilla undercarriage with my getting on for 45 year old Weller for someone, which has been very favourably commented on.

I suspect that the "instant" capability replaces heat as fast as the job is extracting it so negating the need for a thumping great lump of copper (or more commonly coated iron these days) .

My best tips for soldering power connectors are to use high silver content solder (that's not "silver solder" by the way which seems to have a better affinity for gold plated connectors. Also, tin the iron immediately before making the joint for better heat transfer and always ensure that the solder is applied to the job and not the iron.

Edited By Martin Harris on 06/11/2013 17:09:24

[Andy48]

A proper XT60 will not melt with a hot iron. I think part of the problem would seem to be a cheap compatible XT60 made of an inferior plastic.

Another problem could be the gauge of wire. Some batteries use a 10AWG silicon wire, or maybe you are using too big a speed controller. XT60s are only rated at 60amps.

Finally I use an instant heat soldering gun for XT60s and all heavy lead situations such as this. £22 from Toolstation with free delivery.

[Plummet]

In my quick scan through the messages above no-one has mentioned thermostatically controlled soldering irons.

An uncontrolled high wattage iron may get too hot.

A low wattage iron may just about get hot enough, but will quickly cool if touching something cool.

Thermostatic irons have plenty of wattage to be able to solder big jobs, but will not get too hot.

They are more expensive than uncontrolled irons, but having used them all my working life, I would never use any other type.

I have 2. A 40W Weller iron, that I use for most jobs. (WHS 40) I have another, which I rescued from a scrap bin nearly 40 years ago. It is 60 watts. It uses a bit that is magnetic up to a certain temperature, At the set temperature it loses its magnetism, and switches off the power.

You should be aware that in industry the solder is now lead free, and needs a higher temperature than the old tin-lead solder. If you are using an older iron with the new solder you can have problems.

I still have a good stock of the older solder.

Plummet

[John Privett]

All the XT60s I've soldered have been with a 30W iron. It may well be easier with a bigger one, but a 30W will certainly do the job. (And proper old-fashioned solder of course - which I see you can still buy despite the prophecies of doom about it disappearing completely, which prompted me to buy a lifetime's supply of the old stuff!)

[TinPot Pilot]

I find that this is much easier to use than than solder wire, just apply with a toothpick, and a 30 watt iron is more than adequate (mine came from Argos about 30 years ago ).

[Andy48]

Posted by John Privett on 06/11/2013 20:35:31:

All the XT60s I've soldered have been with a 30W iron. It may well be easier with a bigger one, but a 30W will certainly do the job. (And proper old-fashioned solder of course - which I see you can still buy despite the prophecies of doom about it disappearing completely, which prompted me to buy a lifetime's supply of the old stuff!)

Its not the XT60 that causes the problem, its the gauge of wire you are soldering to it. 14awg or thinner is easy with a 30w soldering iron, 12awg or 10awg is considerably harder as heat is conducted away far faster and a 30w is just not enough.

[Peter Beeney]

Yes indeed, Plummet, I was also thinking much along the same lines. I have a gas iron, driven by butane, and very nicely made into the bargain, this is temperature adjustable and if you remove the tip it then becomes a small gas torch. My bench top electric iron is also thermostatically controlled, and like you I wouldn’t want to change. I also have a slightly larger gas torch, as often used by plumbers for soldering copper pipes. This was a relic from work, (I’ve now been retired for 20 years and 6 days!) and you can still get the Primus bottles refilled. I generally used mine for soldering the connecting lugs on larger electrical cables back in those days.

I too did a bit of soldering, from tinning the ends of one foot by half inch aluminium bus bars with abrasive solder, this requires a real man sized torch, together with the man sized gas bottles, down to replacing components on printed circuit boards. Mostly relay contacts and smaller wires etc. type of stuff, though. Nowadays it’s often repairing items such as indoor models, Mini Vapors and the like, that have set upon by a bunch of schoolboys!

So one small benefit of this is that I still have some lead / tin flux cored solder as well, some very fine gauge, like a piece of thread, plus the normal size, and one in the middle. It does help to use the best gauge for the job. When I use to make my own flight packs, nicads and nimhs, I used silver loaded solder, slightly different to work with, and in many cases such as repairing and tinkering with various battery packs and components for modelling mates I’ve always used Powerflow flux.

Lead / tin solder is still easily available if you want, Hobby Craft for instance, I happened to notice a 250g roll there for around £21 only yesterday. I think it’s perfectly in order to use it for any repair jobs. I don’t know if there are any longer term issues with compatibility on newer components, but I think that’s unlikely to concern me very much now, anyhow…

I like to try and complete soldering jobs in a reasonably swift one-off; if I have to fiddle around, especially on a PCB, say, I can soon find the track beginning to deteriorate and lift off the board. Also adding just enough solder to make a satisfactory connection is enough for me. Trying to plaster a bit more on can also lead to more problems. Practise and more practise helps, check the jobby carefully under a good light, with a magnifier if necessary, ‘dry’ - bad, and ‘wet’ - good versions soon become obvious. Also the old adage ‘cleanliness is next to godliness’ always hold good, too, time spent getting a nice shiny surface if required to run the solder on is never wasted.

Apologies for wandering away from the OP, this is only just a spot of general conversion…

PB

[Mouse]

Hi there and thank you for your reply's.

The iron that I have is a Hilka 100 watt pistol type iron but I do not seem able to get the tip to tin, I have tried several times to clean it with a fine file and fine wet and dry paper and have heated it up and dipped it in flux but the solder will not stick, it just turns to little balls.

I am now wondering if this iron is faulty and is switching its self on and of to much and not holding temperature or could my flux be to old and dirty, (it is a paste for lead free solder).

I have found a shop near to me that sells several types of irons but that has me more confused as a 100 watt pistol type iron like I already have is also rated at 400c but a 80 watt pencil type iron is rated at 530c ????, I would have thought the higher the wattage the higher the temperature.

I also have one of the butane pencil type irons but have had no luck with soldering XT60s with that, I think that the heat is drawn out to fast for it to keep up to temperature as on thin wire like you find in vehicle's it works o.k.

Could you please give me your options as to why a lower wattage iron reaches a higher temperature and what is the best way to clean a tip.

Thanks for your time.

Bill.

[Peter Gain 1]

Bill,

I have three Weller irons. My old iron is marked "Made in USA", this has worked perfectly for many years. 2 recently acquired Wellers are not marked with their country of origin. This usually implies that the product is Far Eastern. These irons have a thin coating over the bit. OK until one needs to re-file due to wear. Once the coating has been filed away the bit will not tin, it behaves as you describe.

I replaced the bit with a piece of copper rod purchased from a reliable UK supplier. After filing to shape the iron now performs correctly. I can only assume that new Weller irons are Far Eastern & have a low grade copper bit.

Noggin End Metals are reliable & do not have a minimum order value.

Hope that this helps.

[Andy48]

One should not file modern iron coated bits. With care by the average user, they should last a long time.

[Shaunie]

Anyone who has done a great deal of soldering can make a perfect joint with a bent screwdriver, a blowlamp and some decent solder.

We all know a poor workman may blame his tools, but it's much easier to do good work with good tools! If an occasional solderer wants to do a nice job, get a thermostatic iron of a decent wattage for the job. 45-60W for regular stuff 100W for fat wires or undercarriage. Don't get me wrong, one of my most used iron is a Portasol gas iron, it's always there in my toolbox when I go out on site but I wouldn't expect anyone to use one well without practice, it is necessary to manage the temperature manually, if you can do that it's fine, if not you may get poor results.

The important thing is to get the joint up to temperature promptly, make the joint and leave. To achieve this you need a reserve of heat energy, largish tip and/or high Wattage, but don't want to overheat the job, have a thermostat. Preparation is important get everything where you want it and make sure it's scrupulously clean. I have never ever made a joint in dirty wires by toasting it for ages and using loads of solder honestly. RS components sell a flux pen, bit like a felt pen and I use one quite a lot so I can flux a joint before it gets hot enough to oxidise. Not got the stock number at the moment but I will post it tomorrow.

Don't file an iron plated tip it will die very quickly. Keep the tip clean, bright and well wetted with solder, don't mix tin/lead and unleaded solder, you will get unfavourable alloys forming. I've had no trouble thoroughly cleaning the tip between leaded and unleaded solders but I'm sure some would say keep different tips for each.

I've used Weller stuff since the 80's and like it but now that I work for myself I am using Xytronic irons and they are just as good. Electronic temperature control is nice as you can adjust the temperature to suit the job.

Shaunie