Soldering LRP to Deans

[spikey_58]

Anyone got any tips. I've ruined one plug already today. After watching countless YouTube vids everything people are soldering are really thin in comparison. LRP sxx leads are super thick and proving hard especially for a first timer :-s

[Maddy]

Pre solder the sxx wires before trying to solder to the deans.
works best for me.

[shortcoursegoat]

need to get a decent power of soldering iron to be able to transfer the heat fast enough. i like to tin the deans then do the cable. i hold my deans in a small table vice, when i have tinned the esc cable i set it onto the deans an put the iron on top of the cable. with a decent iron it flows very fast so you barely have to touch it to do the job.

Deans imo are a pain to work with, my favourite is plain bullets but if you want a covered connection i would go for ec3 for 2s or ec5 for bigger stuff. I used them with some 4s batteries an never had a problem, i didnt buy the official losi ones i went for the hobbyking copies

[gainsy]

Originally Posted by shortcoursegoat

need to get a decent power of soldering iron to be able to transfer the heat fast enough. i like to tin the deans then do the cable. i hold my deans in a small table vice, when i have tinned the esc cable i set it onto the deans an put the iron on top of the cable. with a decent iron it flows very fast so you barely have to touch it to do the job.

+1
That's exactly how i did my son's, pre tinning is essential

[blue_pinky]

Appliance of science as my dad (and master solderer) always said...

Big joints need a big tip and hot iron, and just the right amount of solder in the right places to transfer the heat...without enough solder you won't get the contact area needed to transfer enough heat quickly.

Make sure the wire ends are well tinned first...put solder on the tip of the iron to begin with, then heat the wire end...that solder will then flow and transfer the heat onto the wire. As the solder on the tip starts to melt and flow into the strands, then feed in some more solder and just fill the bare strand end so all the wires are covered, but there aren't excessive blobs of solder hanging off. With large gauge wire this might take a fair bit of solder!

Pre tin the blade on the deans...put a good dome of solder onto each blade.

Then, heat the solder on the blade...keeping the iron tip in the solder (now moved slightly to the side) place the wire end onto it....the hot solder and heat from the tip should then be heating both the blade and wire...as it heats up it should flow together...

As it heats up and flows apply a little pressure to properly position and hold the wire in place, once in place remove the iron, and hold still until the joint has fully hardened.

If it's flowed nicely the joint should show a good smooth cover of solder over the wire and smooth blended joint all around the blade.

Once practiced it's actually a very quick action ony taking a couple of seconds, and just the right amount of solder.

Over heating the deans will melt the plastic body and move the blades within it....so doing it quickly and cleanly is essential...but may take some practice!!!

Some people might put the deans your soldering into its mating half to further hold the blades in place...although that does then need a touch more heat in the joint to solder it as the mating half will take some of the energy away!

Also...Too much solder will leave you with big blobby joints that increase the risk of shorting.

Practice is the key to good soldering (like with most things )!

Hope it helps

[imull]

Make sure you get hold of leaded solder (tin/lead), not leadfree, as this will make the job a lot lot easier. You'll probably need to look on Ebay for this as its not sold in many shops anymore. DON'T use plumbers solder or flux though, I've seen this a few times and it's not suited to the job.

As said above, big iron, plenty of heat, little contact time. 3-5 seconds should be the time needed to make the joint, as a rule of thumb.

[bodgit]

Dont forget to use heat shrink over the soldered joints for safety.

[spikey_58]

Thanks for the tips folks. I think I chose the hardest thing poddible for my first solder job - Deans which are a bit of a pain anyway and with the thickest cables imaginable. Nothing like being thrown in at the deep end hey.

I remembered the heat shrink - although I had to go to maplin and buy some 7mil shrink as the shrink I had was pretty much the diametre of the LRP cables so wouldnt fit over the soldered plug ends anyway. Another lesson learnt.

As for leaded - well theres another tip as the stuff which came with my iron is lead free so that may not be helping then.

[Steven Forster]

Originally Posted by spikey_58

Thanks for the tips folks. I think I chose the hardest thing poddible for my first solder job - Deans which are a bit of a pain anyway and with the thickest cables imaginable. Nothing like being thrown in at the deep end hey.

I remembered the heat shrink - although I had to go to maplin and buy some 7mil shrink as the shrink I had was pretty much the diametre of the LRP cables so wouldnt fit over the soldered plug ends anyway. Another lesson learnt.

As for leaded - well theres another tip as the stuff which came with my iron is lead free so that may not be helping then.

Make sure you keep the male and female plugs together when soldering so they dont change shape if you over heat them while soldering the wires on.............!!!

[SlowOne]

Originally Posted by dexter24

Make sure you keep the male and female plugs together when soldering so they dont change shape if you over heat them while soldering the wires on.............!!!

That's the top tip! If you have to hold the iron on for a long time because of your inexperience, then clamp one of the pins in to the metal jaws of a vice.

As dexter says fit the opposite plug to the one you are soldering on so that the metal parts hold their shape if the plastic melts a bit. On the end of the opposite plug their tabs stick out. Clamp the tab that connects to the one you are soldering into the vice. When doing the other tab, clamp its opposite number into the vice.

This acts as a heat sink, and allows you to solder easily. If, however, you hold the iron on for too long, then the excess heat goes into the vice, and doesn't overheat the metal item in the plug. It will also give you more time to position everything and melt the solder, but cool it down faster once you're happy with the joint.

Practice on a small piece of brass or steel. Cut it to the size of the tab on the Deans, hold it in a small pin vice, and try soldering a piece of wire to it. You can take it off and try any number of times by wiping the (hot) solder off the tab with a brush. HTH (and good luck!)

[spikey_58]

haha - wished I'd have known that before. As thats exactly hwo I ruined the ones and only plug I had. Heated so much it melted and the pin moved. So had to order a pack of 5 which Im waiting for in the post. D'oh!