What wattage solder iron you use?
 

I need a new iron. I've always used the pen type irons. I've got a bunch of Deans to solder. Several years ago I bought a bigger iron for soldering Deans as my old Weller iron just didn't heat the terminals fast enough .. the new larger Iron worked great .. but I lost it and need to replace it. I don't remember if it was 60watt, 80watt, or even larger. What do you guys use? Thanks

Re: What wattage solder iron you use?
 

I've got 3 different irons, but I use my 60w $10 iron with a chisel tip the most.

Re: What wattage solder iron you use?
 

Yeah my bigger chisel tip was what I ended up using most as well. I 'think' mine might have been 60w too .. but I'm not positive .. it might have been 80w too. So hows your 60 watter do on Deans or even XT60's?

Re: What wattage solder iron you use?
 

I use this...

https://hobbyking.com/media/catalog/...alog/24790.jpg

https://hobbyking.com/en_us/solderin...warehouse.html

low coin - works fine

Re: What wattage solder iron you use?
 

Is that a pencil tip or chisel tip? Its hard to tell from the angle of that pic. For soldering to the wide flat surface of a Deans connector I've always had the best results with a chisel tip. Certainly can't beat that price if it works well and will hold up for years. How high do you set the dial on yours for soldering on battery connectors? Ohh and thanks to you and the others for taking the time to reply "thumbsup"

Re: What wattage solder iron you use?
 

I use a chisel tip as well. Can't remember the wattage off hand, 60 or 80 watts likely. I find the low wattage irons don't heat the wire fast enough.

Re: What wattage solder iron you use?
 

I've used the same 40 watt Weller iron for damned near 20 years now. The tip was a pencil for the first few years of its life but that wore into a cup that I ground into a wedge about 8 years ago. I just picked up a new pencil tip for it a couple months back so now it's like new again. Worked great on dean's and new it's great on xt60's since I switched last year.

Re: What wattage solder iron you use?
 

I've used a Hakko FX-951 75 watt soldering station for probably the last 8-10 years now. For heavy duty jobs, I use a large 45 degree tip. Just changed the motor leads on my HH PP, no problems at all. Great piece of kit.

Re: What wattage solder iron you use?
 

I don't remember... thought it came with a small pencil tip.

I prefer using a chisel tip as well...
so I purchased a small and large chisel tip separately.

I found my tips at what used to be called Radio Shack...
but ebay lists/sells them, including assorted replacement tip sets for small coin.

HobbyKing likely sells them as well... but I didn't look.

Same tips utilized for the Hakko soldering iron/station I believe.

The replaceable tips are hollow and the iron's heating element protrudes up into the tip
and are secured onto the iron by the threaded retainer ring.

BTW: The tips are a consumable item. So don't expect them to last forever.
I'd recommend purchasing some spares to have on hand.
Excessive/continual heat cycles shortens the tip's consumable life usage.
Continual cleaning - re-tinning takes its toll ;-)

Think I set my transformer around 370* - 375* using 60/40 rosin core.
I think the transformer's adjustment is fairly accurate.
But I honestly haven't checked it for temp accuracy.

60/40 is supposed to melt at 370 *F ( 188 *C )

tho' it will depend on the melting point of the solder utilized.
An overly large solder diameter could also require more heat.
Plus the ambient air temperature could play a role too.

Mine is re-adjusted to the degree that melts the solder promptly.
But not too much over that temperature is required to connect two properly tinned ends together.

If you're heating up thicker metal tabs to tin... you may wish to temporarily set the temps higher.
But be forewarned...
Prolonged exposure to heat can result in melted plug plastic, wire insulation
and the premature burning away of the rosin/flux possibly causing a poor solder connection.

Heated for too long... the tinning can also bleed farther up the wires then is necessary, creating a solid wire way beyond the solder joint.
A good solder contact should be shiny and free of burnt discoloration/contamination.

Generally ya tin on one end, then the other... then melt the two tinned solder ends together for the join.

remember... yer not soldering plumbing pipe using a torch. Lol

Re: What wattage solder iron you use?
 

I use Goot 60W Solder iron small and light in size. hot enough for me. "thumbsup"


<a href="http://s32.photobucket.com/user/teng17/media/20170612_1922501_zpsploy1t4v.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d36/teng17/20170612_1922501_zpsploy1t4v.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 20170612_1922501_zpsploy1t4v.jpg"/></a>

Re: What wattage solder iron you use?
 

I used this $8 60-watt HobbiCo soldering pen for years. I really struggled with thick wires though.
TowerHobbies.com | Hobbico Soldering Iron 60 Watt

I upgraded to the ProTek TK955 soldering station and couldn't be happier. It's also 60-watts, but it's hotter, more controllable, and most importantly most consistent. The HobbiCo pen above can get cold quickly while using it. I'm not a big ProTek fan (their other stuff has failed on me and friends), but this thing works. I only got the digital version because it was on sale and I ended up getting it less than the cost of the TK950. They both go on sale frequently and with the Tower coupons they can be had for not too much.
TowerHobbies.com | TrakPower TK955 60W Digital Soldering Station

TowerHobbies.com | TrakPower TK-950 Soldering Station

Re: What wattage solder iron you use?
 

Tk60 $15

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Re: What wattage solder iron you use?
 

I used the plugin pencil types when I first got started many years back but soldering up large gauge wires in boats and go fast rigs really grinded my gears. I upgraded to a used Hakko 936 and couldn't be happier. Chisel tip as well.

Re: What wattage solder iron you use?
 

Older Hakko 888 (non-digital) great iron with temperature adjustable. Here's new digital version, high quality.
HAKKO | Soldering iron | HAKKO FX-888D

I have a HobbyKing pencil iron that plugs into XT-60 lipo battery connection for emergency field soldering, it was like cheap, havent' tried it and wouldn't use for everyday.
https://hobbyking.com/en_us/solderin...xt60-plug.html

Re: What wattage solder iron you use?
 

That is cool. I'd love to hear some reviews.

Re: What wattage solder iron you use?
 

150 watt weller soldering gun


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Re: What wattage solder iron you use?
 

Yeah thats what I was always told, but I've had the same pencil tip on my little Weller iron for over 25 years now, and thats using a nice wet sponge the whole time lol. Now grant it its not like I've used the thing every day all 25 of those years, more like maybe a half dozen times or less per year. So anyway I ended up getting the Hakko 60w .. the one with the cheap looking red plastic handle .. and it works great .. however when I turn it on it starts smoking a little bit and smells like the handle plasic is burning, but after its been on for 10-15 minutes it goes away, but fire it up several hours latter it does the same thing again .. smells like burning plastic .. then goes away after its been on for a while, anyone ever experienced anything similar with a Hakko? This is my first Hakko, I've always used Weller irons in the past.

Re: What wattage solder iron you use?
 

I have a 40 watt Weller and works great for everything from BEC leads to 8mm bullet connectors. However I can only imagine a 60 watt would be better. I would invest in a 60 watt if I was buying again.

Re: What wattage solder iron you use?
 

I have a 40/80 watt, great for big soldering like battery connector but the tip is dead and I can't find any replacement..

For smaller job I use a 35w with a thinner tip

Re: What wattage solder iron you use?
 

The problem I find with a lot of the "pencil" type soldering irons is that even when you get a high wattage version, it can heat the tip to a very high temperature, but it can't really maintain it during the job. In other words, once you start soldering, the tip temperature drops and your 80 watt iron suddenly becomes the equivalent of a 40 watt.