It's Aluminum (Zinc) solder. You're going to need aluminum solder (zinc) in order to fix it. Pick some up from your local Home Depot or Lowes. Make sure to get the kind with a rosin core, not acid. Clean up the flux residues with 80% or better Isopropyl Alcohol.

For the past.... lots of years, I've been using a 40w RS iron and a few years ago got a Weller 140/100w gun. I'd always been able to make due with them, but the 6 second rule was a distant thought, as it would always take forever to solder larger items.
I was working the other night trying to solder some bullets onto 12awg and took my frustrations out on the gun after wasting 10 minutes on one joint and never being able to get the solder to flow when putting them together. It's now a pile of bent and broken plastic and metal. I picked up a Hakko FX-888 and a wide chisel tip from Fry's and can't believe the difference it made. I had all 3 connections done in just a couple minutes. The longest part was waiting for it to cool enough to take it out of the 3rd hand without burning my fingers. I feel kinda cheated. :) I started at about 650° and actually had to turn it down to about 575°.
Awesome station and I'm an idiot for not getting one sooner.

For some reason when you said you were a navy Solder master I kept seeing the scene in Crimson Tide. A commander is in the CON when the XO goes over the intercom asking about communications. He turns it off and asks "what's he expect us to do?" The guy working on the fried radio goes "Shit electrons?" Funny.

Anyway, good guide. I've been soldering for years, my family are ham radio operators so lots of iron time. Yet I still learned a few tricks.

Thanks
You just save my battery

Are you talking the tab on the connector or the the little tab directly on the battery?

Without seeing the battery I can not be sure, but it may be the type of metal it made from. Some metal does not like to take common solders.

Do not over sand, the tab may be coated in a thin layer of metal that bonds to solder bu the base metal will not.

Be sure to use flux and try tinning everything first.

Returning the battery for replacement or refund may be the only choice.

Its the little tab off each cell they look like aluminum foil and its the one connect between cell one and two not the connectors side. I use Winddrake suggestion (silver solder) and it seem to bond but I think I need a bigger gun because my Hakko won't hold the temp and the silver will solidify right the way.

Idiot no... misinformed maybe :p Glad its working for you.

I missed these other messages... looks like someone knew the answer, I wasn't sure. :lol:

That was good LOL.

Yeah, special solder... silver solder might not work. And there are several types of silver solder, some for electronics and some for other uses. The ones needing much higher temps tend to not be for electronics.

Some components also dissipate heat quick and that can cause issues. It can be frustrating figuring out the best combinations of heat, tip and time required. Every situation is different, without seeing it in person its difficult to know exactly the way to begin to go about it. Experience helps in those situations, unfortunately it must be gotten hands on.

I know there are guides to building your own LiPo batteries from individual cells... maybe one will tell you what solder works best for the tabs.

Let me know what you find out and what works, I will update the main post with the info to help others.

I just got a hakko 888 in and got a wider chisel tip with it also. What temp or settings should I set it at to soldet an esc and motor? Thanks

Start at 625 and go up from there if needed.

Great read Marine:)
I seemed to be doing everything wrong :D
Now that i have the info to do the job right, all i need is half decent tools and solder etc to re do my ordinary soldering jobs:sweat::lol::lol:
Thanks a heap for sharing your years of knowledge and experience with the rest of us part timers :)

Least I could do... all the help I got from others when I first got started.

Solder station
 

Same boat, got back in the hobby and had issues using old 30w stick. Bought a hakko 888 along with a chisel tip and its a pure joy to solder now. Depending on your solder mix you can look up the melting temp and start there

Glad its working for you.

It really is a big improvement... some still using old irons just can't wrap their head around that... and they doggedly stick to the old iron. :D

Shortening lipo battery leads question
 

I have just bought a new 6s lipo and the battery leads are a lttle too long,so I need to shorten. I saw a video somewhere, whereby the person fluffed both ends like the ends of broccoli and pushed the two wires together and rolled the bare wires in order to avoid a large lump where the heat shrink would be going. Can't find the video,or how this technique of splicing two 10 gauge stranded wiree together!.
Obviously I can't make a Western Union joint due to the size of this wire or I would have a 1 inch lump right where the joint is! Any other tips on splicing 10 gauge stranded(many strands) battery or motor leads? Thanks,Huck50

i would just push on the end of the bare wire alittle to get it to spread on both pieces your using then push them together and roll your finger around the wire to keep it decent while pushing in to get them tight and try to solder it as quick as you can so the wires dont back off or if you have a good solder jig/holder then your good