I am in the process of replacing my voltage rectifier and I am having some trouble with soldering wires. I dun know if it is my soldering skill that's crappy or my sucky 25v soldering gun. I can "tin" the wires fine but I can't seem to get the solder to melt when I connect the wires together. Please help! 

Are you soldering wire-to-wire?  If so, you need a third hand to hold one of the wires.  Then, sandwich the iron tip between the two wires and wait for both tinned wires to begin to flow.  When they do, pull out the iron and let the wires touch and blow on them.  They should fuse together almost immediately.

A make shift "third-hand" can be a vise-grip, a clamp, or a soup can sitting on the wire.

A 25watt (not volt, right?) iron is kinda small for really large wires, but it should still work.

yeah it was a 25watt, I guess I will have to return it for a bigger one at Home Depot tomorrow...

25watt is pretty weak. What size solder are you using? I find it hard to use anything under 55watts.

Quote from: mmakay on October 14, 2008, 07:23:28 PM
Are you soldering wire-to-wire?  If so, you need a third hand to hold one of the wires.  Then, sandwich the iron tip between the two wires and wait for both tinned wires to begin to flow.  When they do, pull out the iron and let the wires touch and blow on them.  They should fuse together almost immediately.

A make shift "third-hand" can be a vise-grip, a clamp, or a soup can sitting on the wire.

A 25watt (not volt, right?) iron is kinda small for really large wires, but it should still work.

Or if you have been soldering for enough years, you learn how to hold and place 2 wires with one hand, 1 wire between your pointer finger and your "Flipping the bird" finger and the other wire between your thumb and little finger.   

Fingered! 

Try to use a thinner solder. If it is too heavy of a gauge and the iron is not hot enough it will not flow properly. If it looks like it is getting dirty then it is not hot enough. Remember to put some shrink tubing on the wires before you solder then slide it down over the connection and shrink.

Twist the two wires together, and then 'tin' them together.  Oh, and I solder with a propane torch so there's NO worry about not enough heat!


What's a little burnt insulation when you're covering it anyways with heat-shrink tubing?

Quote from: Duck-Stew on October 15, 2008, 08:57:06 AM
Twist the two wires together, and then 'tin' them together.  Oh, and I solder with a propane torch so there's NO worry about not enough heat!


What's a little burnt insulation when you're covering it anyways with heat-shrink tubing?

And don't forget to put the heat shrink tubing on before you solder the wires together.  Ask me how I know... 

Make sure you are not using acid core solder or silver solder.  Hopefully you are using a thin rosin core solder. 

Here's how I solder two wires together. 

1) Make sure you slide the shrink tube over one of the wires first and slide it far up enough so that it's not affected by the heat of soldering.

2) twist the wires together nice and tight. 

3) make sure the iron has had enough time to reach its max heat.

4) touch the tip of the iron with your soldering wire to give it a slight coat.  This is how you know it is hot enough and will help conduct the heat.

5) hold the tip of the iron on the bottom side of the splice and wait a few  seconds.

6) wild holding the tip to the bottom of the splice, touch the top of the splice with the solder.  When the splice is hot enough, the solder will flow through the splice and towards the iron ensureing a solid joint. 

Not sure what kind of irons HD has in stock, but you may look at getting a decent adjustable one with a built in stand if you're looking to do this more often.  A buddy of mine had a Weller, I think, that was pretty awesome.  You could adjust the power going to the tip and it came with a nifty little stand/foam base.  I don't think you should spend more than 50 bucks or so and it should last the rest of your life. +1 on a small torch, though that kind of soldering takes a bit more practice.  If you're having problems flowing the solder onto the two connected wires, chances are you're not getting enough heat on them.  Patience, young paduan, patience.

Yeah, +1 to the shrink tubing BEFORE soldering...  yes, I've done it numerous times.

BTW, on that end... a piece of tape goes a LONG way to holding the shrink tubing far enough up the wiring so that it doesn't accidently slide down into the heated area and thereby get F'ed up.

awesome thanks a lot for the tips! I went ahead and got a 75w Weller soldering gun and the process was a breeze.