Soldering Help

Post by **Legacy777** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 6:18 pm

I've got the wiring harness prepped for the Link and plan to solder the wires from the stock Link harness to an adaptor board. I can solder, but I wouldn't say I'm an expert. So I'm looking for suggestions on soldering the wires to the board. The holes in the board are a decent amount larger than the wire.

Any help/suggestions are welcomed.

n2x4 · Post by **n2x4** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 6:36 pm

Go to radioshack and get a practice board to start with. PCB soldering is not at the top of my list of favorite things...

Post by **Legacy777** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 6:42 pm

That's a good idea.

Thanks!

skid542 · Post by **skid542** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 7:16 pm

Another suggestion is to get a nice soldering iron with a small tip. They make irons specifically for boards and they will make a big difference in your enjoyment of soldering such small items.

I'd also suggest getting a roll of really thing soldering wire. Again, they make wire specifically for small board work and this will drastically help you keep the solder where you want it and keep it out of places you don't.

Otherwise, take your time and be patient

.

Post by **Legacy777** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 7:19 pm

Thanks.

I did buy some thin solder, and will look into a small tip soldering iron.

n2x4 · Post by **n2x4** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 7:40 pm

Legacy777 wrote:Thanks.

I did buy some thin solder, and will look into a small tip soldering iron.

Depending on your iron, you could just get a replacement tip that's really small.

94legacy2.2 · Post by **94legacy2.2** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 3:06 am

also another trick is to tin the wire before soldering it to the board. Use flux and the clean your board when your done.
You can also tin the hole a bit to, just not to much heat if you have other componets on the board

93forestpearl · Post by **93forestpearl** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 4:49 am

Just a thought, and it may be good or bad so chime in people, but can you fold the wire over once, or maybe twice before trying to solder it? You can take up a lot of slack that way. I've done that with butt-splice connectors and have never had trouble, even when yanking on them after crimping. Granted, soldering is different, but if you are looking to reduce the gap...

BSOD2600 · Post by **BSOD2600** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 10:00 am

Since you have a large hole, make sure you don't end up with a 'cold joint' as you're filling it in with solder. For closing the gap, not much you can really do besides whats been suggested -- double/triple the wire thickness or put extra solder in the hole.

A decent guide to getting started: http://www.aaroncake.net/electronics/solder.htm

Post by **Legacy777** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 6:18 pm

Good suggestion Dan. That is a possibility.

I'll have to check out that site when I get home.....work blocked it....

Post by **Legacy777** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 3:55 am

Worked on this today. Everything went pretty well.

ScottyS · Post by **ScottyS** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 5:39 am

Good deal, in followup advise I would say when working with PCB connections:

1) tin the wire first, always
2) use an appropriate low-watt setting and tip size, you don't want to "cook" traces off the board
3) put solder in the hole first, then heat the tinned wire up, then get the hole just fluid and push the wire in, the solder from both should fuse at that point
4) don't jiggle the wire until it is certain that the joint is cool

Sounds like you had no trouble though.

Post by **Legacy777** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 9:24 pm

Thanks for the follow up. I'm sure my soldering was sloppy compared to someone that knows what they were doing, but everything seems alright. I checked out all the wiring yesterday.

I've updated my thread with the progress & pics.

http://bbs.legacycentral.org/viewtopic. ... 931#286931

thanks

tturnpaw · Post by **tturnpaw** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 11:10 pm

Use a lot of heat, apply solder to the iron first, and use gravity to apply it. One thing ive found when soldering wires and boards, is use as much heat as possible without damaging the board or insulation.

xbn377 · Post by **xbn377** » Fri Apr 03, 2009 3:56 am

I actually work at radioshack and my friend just started there and worked at a car audio shop and suggested using silver bearing solder, because it is very easy to use. He used that when he did remote start and security installs. I took his advice and i really like the silver bearing solder it flows really easy and has made soldering wires a whole lot easier. Hope this helps out!

roundeye · Post by **roundeye** » Tue Jul 07, 2009 5:14 am

silver solder melts at a higher temp, which is bad for delicate pcb traces. use the finest regular solder you can get. silver is stronger, but on a pcb, strength is not an issue. burning chips and boards is.

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Tue Jul 07, 2009 5:34 am

tturnpaw - I hope you're kidding. You should only apply just enough solder to the tip to allow it to conduct heat to the wires/components/traces you're soldering. The joint is made with fresh flux-core solder applied to the heated components. You should use an iron big enough to quickly get the components to temperature without heating everything else up, but use as little heat as possible. The glue holding printed circuit board traces to the board often melts at a lower temperature than solder.

roundeye - He's not talking about silver solder. Silver bearing solder is just regular soft solder that has silver in the alloy. In particular, Radio Shack's silver bearing solder is nearly eutectic tin/lead except that it's 2% silver.

evolutionmovement · Post by **evolutionmovement** » Tue Jul 07, 2009 1:15 pm

Good old lead. I grabbed a big roll way back when they were disposing of the stuff to move to the lead-free garbage. "I don't always solder, but when I do, I prefer lead."

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Soldering Help

Soldering Help