Is this soldering iron alright?

euser1984

It's the best seller on Amazon
http://www.amazon.co.uk/CostMad-Soldering-Starter-Station-Desoldering/dp/B004MZYQZ4/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1433259045&sr=1-3&keywords=soldering+iron


I will be doing things like soldering deans connectors onto cables....

ZENER

You get what you pay for I always say. A decent 18W or 25W Antex iron will outlast this thing regardless of how many were sold on Amazon.

However if it's just to do a couple of joints and then in to the drawer then it should do the job ok.

Ken

ShRT

Yeah it'll do the job. If you want to go a little higher spec, look at a hakko 936 clone. They appear on eBay under the yihua, aoyue, and a couple of other brands.

Either way, I would recommend lead solder. The lead free stuff is harder to work with and requires higher temps.

A flux pen can also help.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00DNAHMKK/ref=mp_s_a_1_10?qid=1433269916&sr=8-10&pi=AC_SX110_SY165&keywords=flux

Just don't cut both leads at the same time when attaching a deans. You will short the lipo which you definitely don't want to do!!

+1 on hakko they're nifty.

30W is pretty feeble it'll do deans fine and little wires but it won't touch a heat sink or 2.5mm² cable.

I prefer a good gas iron myself. No lead, interchangeable hot air (heat shrink) and blowtorch heads. Dead handy for site work.

euser1984

ShRT wrote: »

Yeah it'll do the job. If you want to go a little higher spec, look at a hakko 936 clone. They appear on eBay under the yihua, aoyue, and a couple of other brands.

Either way, I would recommend lead solder. The lead free stuff is harder to work with and requires higher temps.

A flux pen can also help.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00DNAHMKK/ref=mp_s_a_1_10?qid=1433269916&sr=8-10&pi=AC_SX110_SY165&keywords=flux

Just don't cut both leads at the same time when attaching a deans. You will short the lipo which you definitely don't want to do!!

Those clones need a soldering station, no?

ShRT

lidl also have one coming up that will be a bit more useful in terms of tip shape. The conical tip on the amazon one will be hard to use

http://www.lidl.ie/en/Offers.htm?action=showDetail&id=25723
There is a flat tip with the lidl one that will make it easier to apply the heat. You ideally want to apply a hot temp for a short as time as possible. If you use the conical tip, it takes longer to transfer the heat to the area being soldered. This means that the entire surrounding area heats up aswell, including the battery wires - you only want to heat the area being soldered.
By using the flat tip, you can dump a large amount of heat into the area quite quickly and in turn apply the solder quickly. As you only need to apply the heat for a short time, it minimizes the heating of the surrounding area.

This is one of the hakko clones. A bit pricier but well worth it if you plan to do more soldering in the future.
http://www.ebay.ie/itm/312086-936-Electronic-Soldering-Rework-Station-400-Degrees-Temperature-Control-/291045808647?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item43c3ae9a07
Add one of these tips and you will be set for almost any soldering job you will want to do
http://www.ebay.ie/itm/Soldering-Tips-HAKKO-900M-T-4C-936-937-942-etc-soldering-station-B12-/321136924308?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item4ac5409694

euser1984

I like the idea of a soldering station but I'm on a budget and I'm not that much into electronics....I just want to do what's required to get flying....

This one works out at half the price of that clone - http://www.ebay.ie/itm/Antex-25W-Soldering-Iron-with-UK-Plug-XS25-/300976649126?&_trksid=p2056016.l4276
Would I be stupid not to get the station? (I'm on a budget)....It is double the price considering postage....

Perhaps, it's just a little late but I don't see any reference to a date for the LIDL one?

euser1984

Would there be any place I could go into, and just ask them if they would put a deans connector onto two batteries? That's actually all I need for the time being lol

I have the deans and shrink wrap and everything.....even the battery!!

Tony Beetroot

That one you linked there op from ebay wont have the balls to solder what you have illustrated in your op picture, would eventually heat and work but you are putting a boy in a mans pair of shoes.

Tony Beetroot

Sir Liamalot wrote: »

I prefer a good gas iron myself. No lead, interchangeable hot air (heat shrink) and blowtorch heads. Dead handy for site work.

What is the story with buying gas and how long it lasts between refills etc as had a gas one before and was just a nightmare. Work a mains one off the inverter for site work myself.

ShRT

euser1984 wrote: »

Would there be any place I could go into, and just ask them if they would put a deans connector onto two batteries? That's actually all I need for the time being lol

I have the deans and shrink wrap and everything.....even the battery!!

Yup - any of the airsoft shops will do it for you. The local place in Limerick charges a couple of euro i think but that includes the deans connector aswell. I imagine the rest are the same

ShRT

Tony Beetroot wrote: »

What is the story with buying gas and how long it lasts between refills etc as had a gas one before and was just a nightmare. Work a mains one off the inverter for site work myself.

I have an iroda one (similar to the portasol linked above) and i get approx 45 mins on a full tank although i never really paid much attention so its a very rough guess. I get the refill butane in Dealz and get at least 10 refills per can so its dead cheap to refill (1.49 a can) and a decent iron to boot. I use the lighting port on the side of the tip for doing the heatshrink so no need to swap over to the hot air tip either which is handy

Maplin seem to have them on offer every few months

Tony Beetroot

ShRT wrote: »

Maplin seem to have them on offer every few months

Sound thanks for that info, do you switch it off say if you had 2-3 minutes prep to do for next solder or keep it running low?

ShRT

I tend to just leave it running but i'm mostly doing small circuit stuff so i have it on the lowest setting anyways. If I think I won't be using it for 5 mins, i'll turn it off and kick it off again when ready.

From cold i'd say its about 30s to get to temp and about 15s-20s if its already been on. Again not definite on timings as haven't measured. I just whack it to max and then once its melting the solder put it down to lowest level.

Yeah about 45mins a tank on the gas iron but I'd refill it every 20-30 mins to keep the pressure high. The lighter fluid canisters last me months. Had it 10 years now and works great. Changed the tips once. The Maplins ones are dreadful I've seen them fall apart in a few weeks, the lidl gas one's are much better believe it or not.

I wouldn't switch it off either in the middle of a job unless I was going to be a while before I needed it.
I'd use the flue for heat shrink too, but if I was to do it right you can change the tip for hot air instead of naked flame.

Buthane is going to be far more efficient and portable than an inverter round trip.

euser1984

Alright, I do know where there is an airsoft place - why does this hobby/sport require soldering?

ShRT

euser1984 wrote: »

Alright, I do know where there is an airsoft place - why does this hobby/sport require soldering?

Most of the guns come with mini tamiya connectors and a lot of guys change them out for deans.

euser1984

ShRT wrote: »

Most of the guns come with mini tamiya connectors and a lot of guys change them out for deans.

What kind of batteries do those guns come with?

IamNotNumber

Bought this from Maplin in Blanch after years fecking about with a weller that the tips kept burning out on.Also had a few of the antex irons never found them that good.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/60w-professional-lcd-solder-station-with-esd-protection-a55kj

ShRT

euser1984 wrote: »

What kind of batteries do those guns come with?

Typically they come with an 8.4V or 9.6 Nimh
A lot of folks will change to using 7.4V or 11.1V lipo's

http://www.airsofteire.com/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&page=shop.browse&category_id=11&Itemid=26

ShRT

ShRT wrote: »

Typically they come with an 8.4V or 9.6 Nimh
A lot of folks will change to using 7.4V or 11.1V lipo's

What's wrong with NiMH?

Much cheaper get LiPos from RC-land by the way.

ShRT

Sir Liamalot wrote: »

What's wrong with NiMH?

Much cheaper get LiPos from RC-land by the way.

Nothing wrong - most prefer the higher "C" rating and greater power density though. Yup, apart from one all mine are turnigy batteries.

Makes sense, I usually go for cycle life.


Cheapo high capacity NiMH coming to lidl.

(Capacity listed on the .co.uk site: - 4 x AA , capacity (mAh): 2500
- 4 x AAA, capacity (mAh): 900))

Had a look at that ESD safe soldering station...fancy way of saying earthed appliance.

euser1984

Sir Liamalot wrote: »

Makes sense, I usually go for cycle life.


Cheapo high capacity NiMH coming to lidl.

(Capacity listed on the .co.uk site: - 4 x AA , capacity (mAh): 2500
- 4 x AAA, capacity (mAh): 900))

Had a look at that ESD safe soldering station...fancy way of saying earthed appliance.

I would have thought touching the soldering iron tip would be enough to ground you?

euser1984

The lipo packs are lighter and maintain voltage over a longer period of discharge than Ni-Mh....they last 2-3 times longer also in terms of cycles.

If your drawing a lot of voltage you will be drawing less power from the Ni-Mh battery even when it's still at half the capacity for example....I suppose then it's fair to say that Ni-Mh isn't really suitable for applications where max voltage is being drawn all the time....If you let the lipos go below a certain voltage it's bad news which is why you are never meant to discharge them fully - pain to manage tbh.

You can charge the LiPos quicker, albeit the chemistry of lipos makes them prone to going up in smoke....
Weight would be important for rc planes or helis....in my case that is important, so it's a win for LiPos. Plus consistent voltage is very important for helicopters in particular....
I think lipos are changing the rc industry away somewhat from nitro engines....although I don't think nitro engines can be bet considering the lipo does lose some voltage. You would need to incorporate that voltage drop factor into your flying....(just to reiterate, you can't discharge them fully - if you wait until you notice a drop in power before you land then you have gone beyond and may have to mess around to get the battery charging again - and you may well have damaged it)

You would need a special charger for lipos (greater than one cell) (athough my charger can do Ni-Mh, Ni-Cd, Pb & A123s also.

The reason you need a special charger is because the charger needs to maintain (either voltage or amps - can't remember) consistently across the cells. This is done via a balancer and the charger needs a data port. I wouldn't say there's any chargers with capability for Lipos that wouldn't have a dataport...

All that matters at the end of the day to me is that the lipo is simply better and required for what I'm using it for....

I use Ni-Mh for AA, AAA & D cells....I've never looked at the lithium ones because I've never felt any need.

euser1984

euser1984 wrote: »

I would have thought touching the soldering iron tip would be enough to ground you?

If it's earthed and cold, yup. I don't worry too much about ESD and grounding, I've never killed a component with static. Some types of transistors are susceptible to it, whole pcb's not so much. If I was working on FETs and processors I'd make an effort.

Bonding yourself to a radiator or plumbing is an urban legend. It can be a very poor ground. You can check the resistivity to earth with a meter, mine is 10's of kΩs.

Another thing I'd be wary of is the wired earth is often used to dump transients of switch mode power supplies so using this may not be the best solution either unless it's got some kind of passive suppression.

NiMH give twice the cycles of LiPo when you consider the full discharge capabilities.
They do weight more, have a lower cell voltage and self-discharge faster. They're fine for power tool batteries...in fact I prefer Nickel batteries for tooling....well other than my desire to run a 24V workshop off lead acid forklift cells with power tools on Anderson connections. :cool:

For RC lithium makes sense.

euser1984

Sir Liamalot wrote: »

If it's earthed and cold, yup. I don't worry too much about ESD and grounding, I've never killed a component with static. Some types of transistors are susceptible to it, whole pcb's not so much. If I was working on FETs and processors I'd make an effort.

Bonding yourself to a radiator or plumbing is an urban legend. It can be a very poor ground. You can check the resistivity to earth with a meter, mine is 10's of kΩs.

Another thing I'd be wary of is the wired earth is often used to dump transients of switch mode power supplies so using this may not be the best solution either unless it's got some kind of passive suppression.

NiMH give twice the cycles of LiPo when you consider the full discharge capabilities.
They do weight more, have a lower cell voltage and self-discharge faster. They're fine for power tool batteries...in fact I prefer Nickel batteries for tooling....well other than my desire to run a 24V workshop off lead acid forklift cells with power tools on Anderson connections. :cool:

For RC lithium makes sense.

What do you think of Ni-Cd? Memory effect overrated?

Can you detail what you mean regarding switch mode psu's?

Thanks.

I'm not sure the memory effect is overrated as much as misinterpreted, manufacturers recommend complete discharge once a month so not every cycle.

It only becomes a problem with the exact same discharge levels like leaving the battery on trickle charge or satellites in geostationary orbit on solar power.
It is a thing but easily overcome with correct maintenance.

A transient is a power spike with a duration of less than half a cycle of a 50hz AC wave.



They happen from breaking inductive loads, starting/stopping large loads, and some PWM devices. Commonly these are suppressed and dumped to earth which conceivably to me could toast a transistor you are soldering if you are very unlucky.
Of course the odds are low and situation dependant.

You gave me an idea.

Check out my Super XT5000 NiCd Advanced Pro Discharge Unitᵀᴹ I just invented for my Hitachi drill.



Rebuilt battery by the way. Bought an entire crappy 18v drill in B&Q cheaper than a new cell set. Rebuilt the Hitachi drill battery from the B&Q battery, the crappy drill I turned into a wind turbine decommissioned it and now I'm repurposing it as a solar tracker actuator.

I could integrate the Super XT5000 NiCd Advanced Pro Discharge Unitᵀᴹ into my charger on a DPDT switch if I was bothered but then I wouldn't be able to charge one battery while I discharge another.

You can also just tape down the trigger of the drill to discharge it but it'll wear the brushes down faster.

euser1984

I've mainly got GP AA rechargables.....I need about 8 more.....thinking about sanyo eneloops just to be different this time....

euser1984

Panasonic eneloops I mean.....I was looking at the lidl site and it gave no date??? They should be sound enough to give them a go sure.....

Today.

Lidl NiMH: Thursday 4th June
Lidl Soldering Iron: Thursday 4th June

might as well pick up the digital callipers too

euser1984

euser1984 wrote: »

I've mainly got GP AA rechargables.....I need about 8 more.....thinking about sanyo eneloops just to be different this time....

GP AA are 1.5V per cell
Panasonic Eneloops are 1.2V per cell

euser1984

What kind of applications need the higher voltage.....?

Anything designed to run on 1.5V's may give you a low battery alarm or not work at all.
1.2V is fairly dead for an AA.

Bulbs/leds will be dimmer, regulators may start dropping out, current will be higher so more heat for the same watts,
You might just get away with it too.

If you've got the space you can use 5 instead of 4.

Best check your specific device appliance for compatibility, you can use an adjustable PSU or some dead batteries.

euser1984

Got those batteries today - bought 12 AA's and realized when I got home that I need more! Do they usually keep enough stock for a few days?
Got a few AAA's also but it's rare I need to use them....still handy incase...

Also, got the soldering iron - I'm very happy with this as it's got the alligator clips arms included which I wasn't expecting...the calipers is a nice bit of kit too.....

I got two 9v batts also....it doesn't show the capacity on them though....I've an energizer that I checked too and no capacity??

They keep stock for several days or longer depending on the store size.

You can check PP3's with your tongue.

euser1984

What do you think of this statement I found on wikipedia:

"AAA batteries are most often used in small electronic devices, such as TV remote controls, MP3 players and digital cameras. Devices that require the same voltage, but have a higher current draw, are often designed to use larger batteries such as the AA battery type"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AAA_battery Under the "Use" heading near the top.

euser1984

I need 1.2 volts for this yoke....what kind of battery setup should I use....it would be nice to have a bit of millamps.....not sure how much it uses actually but I suppose 2AA's would do the trick.....or a D cell......


free image hosting


Something like this maybe:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/battery-holder-aa/s?ie=UTF8&page=1&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Abattery%20holder%20aa
Would there be anything else more durable - maybe some kind of closed box...with bigger wires.....

Thanks.

euser1984

euser1984 wrote: »

What do you think of this statement I found on wikipedia:

True, except AAA and AA are not batteries they're cells. Two or more cells working together is a battery. The bigger the cell the more capacity it has and greater current it can deliver.

Those holders are wired series for higher voltage. If it's just 1.2v you want then a single cell will suffice or several in parallel for more current /longer runtime.

euser1984

How can a device that has the requires the same voltage but higher current draw....I thought the current was limited by the voltage?

Current is limited by voltage with relation to resistance. V = IR. In electronics resistance is a factor to consider, in electrics it's usually negligible and power is defined by the appliance.

Cells in parallel have a reduced resistance and a larger well of energy to draw from.
Voltage of batteries is variable with regard to state of charge so the more charged it is the higher voltage.


In general devices draw energy or watts and it's a sliding relationship between current and voltage where resistance isn't a factor. P = IV


When it comes to batteries the gentler you discharge them the more power they will give you over time and vice versa. This is explained by Peukert's law. The specified Ah is only true of the rated curve and due to internal resistance and heat it's variable. If you overspec. your battery it can last much longer than the sum of it's parts.

Something else to consider is voltage drop on cable. Seeing as you are working with such a low voltage you may find that your appliance could benefit from larger wiring to reduce % power loss.