soldering help
Posted: 25 Jul 2009, 12:21
hi, sorry if my need for rudimentary basic help isn't what this forum section was intended for.
If you've seen my other posts, you'll know that i'm a bit of a newbie when it comes to tinkering, electrical & soldering stuff.
I tried soldering today, & i'm having a hell of a time. I watched a few basic soldering videos on youtube...seemed simple enough. But i think i need some tips.
first of all, i picked up a battery operated soldering iron with two settings (850F & 950F). However, are wired irons better? i'm asking because in the youtube videos, they refer to tinning the iron before starting by touching the solder to the iron & it melts & smokes right away. When i try this, i'll hold the solder on it for a while 30-40 sec & then it may or may not melt. and when i'm trying to solder, i understand you're suppose to heat the two things you want to solder & just touch the solder to those things (no the iron tip). But for me, it's like it's never hot enough, so i end up touching the iron tip...& even then, the solder doesn't immediately melt.
i've been trying to solder wire tips to the battery casing & all i can get is a round ball of solder around the wire but it won't make a connection to the casing. Even though this 'ball' of solder seems 'stuck' to the metal part of the casing, it's not conducting.
It's gotten pretty bad, i've managed to start melting the plastic of the battery casing & the insulated part of my wire has fused into the plastic casing. So I'm not sure i can rip the wire out, cut a new free end & start again.
Anyway, any ideas what i'm doing wrong? Could it be the solder i'm using? I'm just using the small coil of solder that came packaged with my soldering iron.
Again, the biggest issue is, it seems like i can heat the wire hot enough to melt solder around it...but the metal contacts of battery casing doesn't seem to get hot enough to melt the solder to it.
Honestly, i wonder if i'm better off just taping/glue gunning the wires.
thanks!
If you've seen my other posts, you'll know that i'm a bit of a newbie when it comes to tinkering, electrical & soldering stuff.
I tried soldering today, & i'm having a hell of a time. I watched a few basic soldering videos on youtube...seemed simple enough. But i think i need some tips.
first of all, i picked up a battery operated soldering iron with two settings (850F & 950F). However, are wired irons better? i'm asking because in the youtube videos, they refer to tinning the iron before starting by touching the solder to the iron & it melts & smokes right away. When i try this, i'll hold the solder on it for a while 30-40 sec & then it may or may not melt. and when i'm trying to solder, i understand you're suppose to heat the two things you want to solder & just touch the solder to those things (no the iron tip). But for me, it's like it's never hot enough, so i end up touching the iron tip...& even then, the solder doesn't immediately melt.
i've been trying to solder wire tips to the battery casing & all i can get is a round ball of solder around the wire but it won't make a connection to the casing. Even though this 'ball' of solder seems 'stuck' to the metal part of the casing, it's not conducting.
It's gotten pretty bad, i've managed to start melting the plastic of the battery casing & the insulated part of my wire has fused into the plastic casing. So I'm not sure i can rip the wire out, cut a new free end & start again.
Anyway, any ideas what i'm doing wrong? Could it be the solder i'm using? I'm just using the small coil of solder that came packaged with my soldering iron.
Again, the biggest issue is, it seems like i can heat the wire hot enough to melt solder around it...but the metal contacts of battery casing doesn't seem to get hot enough to melt the solder to it.
Honestly, i wonder if i'm better off just taping/glue gunning the wires.
thanks!