Great thread, very informative. I've always hate soldering, thought I didn't have any "natural ability". Turns out I was just doing a few things incorrectly.

Here's my latest attempt, Very happy with the results!

Not too bad... a little more practice and you will have it down.

Always glad to see people improving their skills.

Thanks for this.

Will lightly sanding the tabs on a deans conector help the solder take?

Will plumbers flux work? I have tons of that.

No need to sand, plumbers flux may be for acid core based solder or other. If you want to try it and see if it is compatible do so on a test piece. Some flux and solder compounds are not compatible.

Thanks. Ill just go get some flux when i get the right solder....

Update

When i went to radio hack to get solder a dad and his boys walked in looking for solder....for deans plugs....having the same problem.....shared the knowledge i learned here....about 63/37 solidifing faster....about flux.....felt awesome to pay it forward.....

Success!!!!!!
I followed all the advise here and soldered the deans right up! Flux and the right solder made all the difference.
Even switched to my el-chepo iron (25watt pen type) instead of my 40/100watt gun.
http://www.rctech.net/forum/members/...urecomment3329

The gun seems to only be heating if pressure is applied to the tip which i noticed after I tinned the first wire. Any ideas what could cause this?

Yeah plumber flux is more acidic... It can work, but is not ideal.

As was said, some combinations are not very compatible.

And it is always good to pass along what you learn.


Your soldering iron woes may be due to a faulty heating element, or the tip is bad. A new iron may be needed.

Keep up the practice, you are doing good, and practice will make you better.

I always use a flux dispensing pen, bit like a Sharpie, to apply flux;



Always gives excellent results, and is also great for cleaning up PCB's that have a lot of grime etc on them.
Then when cleaning up, if you want to remove any I use one of these;

Thanks for putting this up and keeping with it Marine6680. I just recently found it and after reading about the difference in 63/37 solder decided to pick some up. Hard to believe that slight shift in the mix makes such a big difference in the connections but I checked some that I did just a few days before I got the 63/37 to one I did after and it does look different and feels different.

Oh and really long time lurker and this got me to do my first post here.

Those Flux pens can work pretty good. Definitely less mess when using them. I find them less helpful on old dirty connections as they do not deposit enough Flux to break through a lot of corrosion/oxides.

How many years has them been going now? A long time...

I am just glad I can help people.

My ESC has pre-tinned wire, as does the bullet connector I'm going to solder on. Should I just overlay one on the other and heat them up? I know usually it's recommended that you wrap the two ends together but I can't in this case.

Without seeing the components, I can not tell you much.

If the connector is designed for a lap solder joint, then align the wire as appropriate, heat the connection and add a little solder.

FYI, it looks like the LRP HighPower (RRP of £180.99 here in the UK) is a rebranded Quick202D (which can be found for £98).

The included tip might be a good deal smaller, though, but even counting the price of an additional tip, still a good deal!

Always good to pass on good deals. Thanks