I was looking for tips on soldering in wires for an alarm system and saw some poor guy trying to use .062 solder. He was having problems getting it to melt. I bet he was. Felt I had to post this. For normal 16 gauge wire that is way to large. I work with solder every day and I would use .031 or .025 for this size wire. Solder is like super glue. You don't need a lot.
Also I see a lot of people applying solder to the wire first. What I like to do is touch the wire and the iron at the same time then move the solder to the wire. Also unwrap the solder off the reel. Don't try to hold the reel, hold the solder in your hand.
Saw one guy who had his top secret stripping tool for stripping a section of wire. I'm thinking he might have been using an Ideal wire stripper then taking a knife to slit it off. The Ideal strippers have a handle with two razor blades that are adjustable. They make a bunch of tools.
Post your tips and information on soldering!
I always feed the solder into the point where the iron touches the wire, the solder immediatly starts flowing into the wire, always seemed to heat up and flow faster. For stripping most wires I use a set of Tool Aid heavy duty auto T strippers, for the heavier duty I've got a set of klein strippers. Just make 2 cuts in the wire about an inch apart and cut the center out with a razor, works great for that tough as nails GM insulation. I've seen one type of stripper that is shaped like a large pen with a pin head type of cutter at the top, supposedly it works great but I can't see it being much better then a regular razor, safer perhaps though...
For super small gauge stuff I tend to break out the hot knife and scrape the insulation away, especially in tight areas where cutting the wire would mean half an hour of reconnecting (GM BCM's anybody?)
The reason you see people applying the solder to the wire is because that is the correct way to do it. This insures that the wire is up to temp and creates a better bond.
If you melt the solder and allow it to flow in to the wire the surface will cool as it hits the wire. Once the surface cools it won't bond to the wire.
Think of it along the lines of welding and having good penetration. If you don't have good penetration the weld will break. While not as critical with soldering, and you aren't melting the wire, it is still the same basic principal in that by heating the metal with the higher melting point you get a stronger bond, otherwise, it's just glopped together.
Once the solder melts into the wire it is fine. Solder conducts heat much better than the wire. That's why it's easier to touch the iron and the wire at the same time then move the solder to the wire where you already have flowing heated solder.
Of course I use a 725w iron....
Steve #1 wrote:
The reason you see people applying the solder to the wire is because that is the correct way to do it. This insures that the wire is up to temp and creates a better bond.
If you melt the solder and allow it to flow in to the wire the surface will cool as it hits the wire. Once the surface cools it won't bond to the wire.
Think of it along the lines of welding and having good penetration. If you don't have good penetration the weld will break. While not as critical with soldering, and you aren't melting the wire, it is still the same basic principal in that by heating the metal with the higher melting point you get a stronger bond, otherwise, it's just glopped together.
But, the wire heats up much faster if you begin flowing it into the wire first, then let it heat up to the point where it melts the solder on its own. Always worked faster for me doing it that way then just tinningthe tip of the iron, touching the wire and only feeding solder into the wire itself when it gets hot enough, especially for larger gauge.