soldering heavy guage wire

[Balders]

Hi the collective knowledge of the forums.

I've taken delivery of some batteries today, and the cables are so blooming thick that I can't seem to heat them up enough to get solder flowing, let alone then mate them up and flowing to the connectors (yes I've tinned it).

My soldering iron is a 60W job, which has had plenty of ummph in the past for all my XT60's, but I'm thinking would a "pencil" gas torch help to get enough temperature in a precise enough position or am I barking up the wrong tree?

[debrooker]

I use a cheapo antex 100w iron, which does the trick on 12AWG cables

[raptorheli2]

60w although not the best for big batts (is it 10 or 12awg wire?) should be upto the job.

i use an antex 80w for 10awg and a 40w on 12-16 and 25w below this.

the key is you want a "glob" of solder between the wire and iron then it should heat up quickly allowing you to feed solder onto the wire. if you just hold the iron onto the wire it will never work.

hope that makes sense.

cheers

[tiddler]

100 watt does the job 60 watt is just too piddly

[Balders]

60w although not the best for big batts (is it 10 or 12awg wire?) should be upto the job.

i use an antex 80w for 10awg and a 40w on 12-16 and 25w below this.

the key is you want a "glob" of solder between the wire and iron then it should heat up quickly allowing you to feed solder onto the wire. if you just hold the iron onto the wire it will never work.

hope that makes sense.

cheers

Certainly tried the "glob" route, and did manage to get solder into the wires, but just no joy getting both connector and wire up to enough temperature.

Might try again tomorrow.

[LipolyGone]

I use a cheapo antex 100w iron, which does the trick on 12AWG cables

Yup got me an antex too, less than £15 on ebay.
Solders turnigy 6s 2600 pack cables for breakfast.

[Balders]

These are Turnigy 6S 40C 5000 packs that I just picked up from the postoffice today.

[Bart101]

[Dedcalm]

I use a temp controlled 48W iron for all my soldering - I just vary the temp depending on the job at hand. For 12AWG wire I run the iron at 400C whereas for smaller jobs, pcb's etc I use 350C. Trial and error will find the right temp Of course if you dont have a temp adjustable iron then the only option is to get a higher wattag iron for bigger jobs.

[LipolyGone]

These are Turnigy 6S 40C 5000 packs that I just picked up from the postoffice today.

Sorry meant to say 5000 6s turnigy with the 5.5mm bullets.
Not saying its easy but the only thing you will worry about is burning your fingers

[electricsceadu]

just the job for you

[Vic.P]

Go for a butane pen torch for the bigger stuff, they heat everything in seconds and once you get the hang of it it's a breeze to solder with and puts the heat right where you need it.
With the big bullets i put the tinned wire in a clamp pointing up, hold the tinned and globbed bullet over it with a bit of downward pressure using thin nosed pliers and heat for a couple of seconds untill it slips on and the jobs a good'un.

[Kozmyk]

I use both.
From "Which soldering iron?"thread

One good thing I've found with the torch is that, on bullets, you don't get any solder on the outside of the connector that you can when using an iron.

[pchristy]

If you only have a "low" wattage iron, then you need a BIG bit on the end with plenty of thermal capacity. Otherwise, the cables suck all the heat out of it, and it doesn't have enough power to replace the temperature fast enough.

Personally, I use a Weller solder gun for heavy duty work - one of those things that looks like a pistol, with a loop of copper for the bit. I've even used that for soldering up 8g piano wire for undercarriages and cabane struts!

Try here:

Weller - My-Tool-Shed.co.uk - Tools & Accessories

[Balders]

Thanks all, I've ordered a mini-butane "pencil" torch, hopefully that will help. The wires I checked this morning are 8 AWG