nitro stan

iv been tring to solder a extra cell to my 6 cell packs, and i cant for the life of me get the solder to stick and i have a hard time getting the cell hot fast enough, i lightly scuff the ends of the battery, flux it. im using a pencil torch with a medium size chisle tip, and im using 95/5 solder.

am i using the wrong solder? my torch not getting hot enough?

thanks stan

luckyp

I use a $12 weller 40 watt iron with a somewhat blunted chisel and 60/40 solder for batteries. First; clean everything, next flux, then tin the surfaces you are going to solder, lastly put a bit of solder on iron tip then put sufaces together and hold iron on top.

tom_chang79

iTrader: (13)

I use a PAIR of Hakko 936. Two irons are better at heating up an area FAST before it starts to spread/dissipate to other areas.

The poster above is right, but I want to stress that make sure you have a powerful enough soldering iron. Make sure you have a powerful iron, a cheapo 25W iron from Radio Shack will not do...

Also, I highly recommend a battery jig. It makes life ALOT easier not having to hold the cells up.

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXD182&P=7

kdeselms

I 100% agree, I went the Radio Shack route and it was a total waste of money - the first time I used the Hakko iron, it was like night and day...makes a WORLD of difference. They're a little pricey, but as much soldering as you end up doing in electric, it's worth the money.

JeromeK99

iTrader: (3)

Stan,

that 95/5 Tin/Lead is the "Eco Friendly" stuff.. bad for R/C.. takes way too much heat to melt unless you have a really hot iron...

The 60/40 Lead/Tin you can buy at Radio Shack.. I suggest getting at least the .062 thinkness. It's easy to use and also has a Rosin (flux) core as well.

You want at least a 45watt.. maybe 60 watt iron with a chisel type tip.. not a pointy one if possible. More area transfer the heat faster. You don't want to heat up a cell too much if possible.

If you don't want to spend too much money on an iron, Sears has a 45watt 900 degree iron for $10.. If the chisel tip is new ($2.99) you should be able to solder just about anything we do in R/C for a good price. I've used these irons for at least the last 10 years I've been racing.. Good bang for the buck!

Good Luck!


Jerome

crazy4wdracer

iTrader: (25)

Buy some acid flux too. That is what I use and it works great.

gmaxx07

iTrader: (1)

agree with previous post. use lots of flux and make sure you have a very strong soldering iron, especially for batteries. i tried with a 40 watt and couldn't do it. got myself a 120 watt and i can solder like a pro now.

glassdoctor

iTrader: (4)

the radio shack 60/40 rosin core solder and the $15 red handle weller 40w iron (home depot, etc) will get the job done EASY.

If you do a lot of solder work... are deep into the hobby... definitely pick up a Hakko 936-13 (has the fat 908 iron) for around $90-100

But if you are on a budget or don't use an iron very often, the weller works really well. Just don't leave it on longer than necessary, to keep the tip in good shape.

Bulldawg RC

iTrader: (65)

Get the Hakko, i have it in stock and it comes with a sweet RC Skin.

http://www.BulldawgRC.com

CarbonJoe

The Hakkos are awesome. With the ceramic heating element, they heat up in less than a minute. Before you turn off your iron, I recommend cleaning the tip with the Radio Shack tip cleaner, then immediately turning off the iron.

http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...ductId=2062721

nitro stan

heres what i use to solder

ill get some 60/40 and acid flux, and try it agian

thanks a lot stan

d4man

iTrader: (5)

You've probably already ruined your batteries by not using an iron that was hot enough. Sorry.

When I built batteries, I used (1) 80 watt Weller bought from Lowe's and it worked perfectly.

nitro stan

iv only worked with junk batteries, till i can do it, then ill try it on some decent cells

rocket-mtrsprts

iTrader: (1)

that's your first mistake
while fine for emergency or trackside service, you're wasting your time trying otherwise
get a real iron

rocket-mtrsprts

iTrader: (1)

the guys that don't use flux always insist on an iron hot enough (80w) to solder together steel plate, but realistically you can easily get by with a 40w unit

anybody that says they're soldering without flux either isn't doing any soldering, or there stuff is full of cold solder joints
suggesting there's no need for it shows they don't know what they're doing - it's used in the industry for some reason