Soldering

[BCSteel]

So I thought I'd try my hand at soldering today by putting deans connectors on my esc and battery. Most of the smaller batterys that I can get for a decent price are deans connectors so I made the switch. Several things went wrong. First, I forgot to put the shrink tube down the wires first. Then I attached one on backwards. And to top it all off, I put the male end on the battery and the female end on the esc Ffs. There's always tomorrow to fix it all I suppose.

[Phins Fan]

Give yourself a little credit. At least you have the grapes to try it yourself. It amazes me how many people bring simple soldering to our LHS because they dont want to be bothered with it. The $ they make from this alone is crazy. IMO pace yourself. before you get ready to solder go thru the steps of eyeballing everything. Shrinktube, presoldered the connectors, the right connectors in the right areas, etc, etc.

[RcKirb]

x2 on what Phins Fan said ..I used to be one of those people that would walk into my LHS just to get soldering done ..after a few times of that and getting teased by locals I said screw it can,t be that hard , so I went out and got me an Iron and a plastic vise and all the other essentials and tryed it out ...I tell ya my first few joints look horrid and bubble gummed all to hell,but like wine gets better with time and trial and error

like Phins said better to have everything out and ready to go and visualize everything before hand

[40 grit]

You just told my first experience with soldering word for word. Best thing I got out of it was the realization that I needed to pay better attention. And the next time, and the times after that all went very well. The only way to learn how to do it right is to first learn how to do it wrong.

[Cope]

one mistake alot of folks make is to blow on the joint to cool it.
Do no do this.
it creates micro cracks leading to failure.

[Bansh88]

I used to work for a shop that made High Voltage supplies. Soldered for hours a day. It's fun. I never tired of it.
Scored a nice soldering setup from my current employer. Get some liquid flux. A drop on your connection will make it all nice and shiny plus makes the solder flow

By the way. I hate Deans! Converted to traxxas plugs this week.

[Grundy]

Believe me when I tell you that even after many years of doing the same thing over and over and over, you'll make one or two of those same mistakes again.

[BCSteel]

I figured there be some people out there with a similar experience and a few with the common sence tips that I failed to observe.

Its been a while since I've been such a rookie in a hobby that I've chosen. Its actually pretty exciting learning everything new and starting from the very beginning of everything.

[lemonhead]

I started the same way as you. One thing I learned is Check, and then double check. But atleast your trying and will only get better

[Trubble]

Originally Posted by BCSteel

So I thought I'd try my hand at soldering today by putting deans connectors on my esc and battery. Several things went wrong. There's always tomorrow to fix it all I suppose.

Hey, kudos to you for trying to go Deans, I've completely destroyed every one I've ever touched. If you can get 'em to work, then you're a better solderer than I am.

Then again, 5 of the 11 vehicles in my stable are Traxxas, and the Hyper Mini STe has a Velineon in it. Plus I had nearly 20 battery packs I'da hadda change over...... to a connector I can't seem to master? No thanks, I'll stick w/ my Traxxas connectors.

[BCSteel]

Well I got them all hooked up. It doesn't look pretty but the connections seem strong and everything is working.

My other two trucks are traxxas but take batteries that are much larger than I'm going to put into the crest and the batts for the crest already come with deans so it seemed like the easier way to do it.

Thanks for all the suppoert guys, I appreciate it.

[Soundlzrd]

Good on you for trying! I tried when I was much younger. Now that I am getting back into rc, I buy from my LHS with the understanding that I need the deans installed. They don't give me crap about not being able too, and they don't charge me. I've been thinking of learning, just not sure where to start.

[Tmaxxed]

I've been soldering for at least 25 years and I still once in awhile get everything soldered up then..... CRAP, no heat shrink. It happens. I use deans on everything. Just have to be quick. Tin the wire and the plug, let it cool a bit. Then set the iron on the plug and the wire on top pull out the iron set wire on joint, then iron on top of the wire for just a couple seconds. Whole process should take about 5 seconds. It's easy after you do a few. Get it to hot and the plastic will melt as I'm sure you know. Practice makes perfect.

NOTErized!

[jjwiggs]

Originally Posted by 40 grit

You just told my first experience with soldering word for word. Best thing I got out of it was the realization that I needed to pay better attention. And the next time, and the times after that all went very well. The only way to learn how to do it right is to first learn how to do it wrong.

Too funny! I just soldered my first plug and after burning my finger , I finally got the thing soldered. Boy does it look like crap... Not sure I have much future as a solderer and it looks so easy. Oh well, like the initial poster said, there's always tomorrow.

[SHOtime]

Originally Posted by Trubble

Hey, kudos to you for trying to go Deans, I've completely destroyed every one I've ever touched. If you can get 'em to work, then you're a better solderer than I am.

Then again, 5 of the 11 vehicles in my stable are Traxxas, and the Hyper Mini STe has a Velineon in it. Plus I had nearly 20 battery packs I'da hadda change over...... to a connector I can't seem to master? No thanks, I'll stick w/ my Traxxas connectors.

Deans are a pain in the dick, I just switched to them from traxxas connectors since Im running smaller packs and the deans are considerably more compact than the traxxas.

Kudos to the op for giving it a whirl. Deans are a rough place to start, so good job getting it done. The silly mistakes will always happen.

[boisetrucker]

I have spare male and female deans connectors with a wire soldered on that I use as a jig in case it gets to hot on the piece I am soldering it will keep the plugs lined up and I don't burn my fingers.

Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk 2

[scorpiondave]

These jigs work good.

The Jigs Up

"The Buzz" Soldering Jig holds 8mm bullets!

[stanmondz]

always a good idea to connect 2 plugs just to make sure the tabs stay inline.
iv done up some of my best joints on a deans only to find out the tab shifted a little and randomly looses connection.

most of mine end up taken apart to put the heat shrink on, slide it as far away from the joint as you can, it'll shrink to the wire if its to close, i got some like that to, people ask what the random black bands are on some of my wires

[BCSteel]

Originally Posted by boisetrucker

I have spare male and female deans connectors with a wire soldered on that I use as a jig in case it gets to hot on the piece I am soldering it will keep the plugs lined up and I don't burn my fingers.

Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk 2

That's what I ended up doing. Worked well.

[jollyjeeper]

Originally Posted by BCSteel

That's what I ended up doing. Worked well.

I watched a youtube video on how to solder Deans. It recommended connecting the male and female together while soldering. I learned that too much heat and too much solder is a bad thing. I managed to fuse the plugs together. Went back to LHS and bought a whole bunch more because I'm learning and plan on switching all my stuff to Deans. Soldering is the final frontier for me. I won't feel like an RC expert until I get it down.