Solder Thick Gauge Wire

[fliteadmin]

Learn how to solder thick gauge wire properly with today's Fast Tip! Whether you work with scratch build RC airplanes or you're just fixing up your RTF park flyer, this tip will come in handy!

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All you need to do is smash the two thick gauge wires together.



With speaker wire (or similar) wrap the thick gauge to creating a strong joint. This makes the connection very strong even before you solder.



You'll need a solder iron that can heat properly solder your joint.



The solder will pull through the wire and create a very strong electrical connection!

Did we mention this type of solder connection is strong!? Well, it is. We hope you enjoyed this Fast Tip! ​

Let us know if you have a cool tip, or better yet post it here on the website!

 

[MrClean]

FLLUX FLUX FLUX

My goodness if there is anything that my wiring instructor ever drilled into my head its FLUX.

Always in the FLUX!

It will improve your already improved joint.

 

[AccidentalStuntPilot]

What wattage of a soldering iron should I use to solder heavy wire leads? Thanks.

 

[Ak Flyer]

The hotter the better. If your iron isn't hot enough then everything warms up including the wire. You want to be able to get just the joint hot quickly without transferring heat down the wires. This is especially true when working on esc's and things or connectors. If you apply heat for too long then you start melting connectors. A good 35+ watt iron works well. And a clean tip in good condition.

 

[Cyberdactyl]

I have used the technique described for quite a while now. One thing I would add is to lightly dab each of the splayed wire ends with some flux paste before pushing them together. The flux adds some slippage or lubrication to work the wire together and, most importantly, will then be mixed and inside the entangled mini-strands. Once you tightly wire the bundle together, and you don't add flux, you'll find the solder has a tougher time working its way throughout the entire core. With flux, the solder is able to work through with capillary action quite easily.

 

[Maximus_Noobius]

Another Noob question, but I notice that there are different types of solder at my local electrical store.
- Resin core 60%, tin 40%
- Lead free 99.3% tin

then someone mentioned "silver" solder (is that the same thing?)

Because of the massive amps that some of these motors draw, I'm wondering if the type of solder is important? ie. is it only going to melt if something goes wrong and I get a direct short?

Signed,
Your electrically challenged understudy,
Max

 

[xuzme720]

I use 60/40 rosin core and a paste flux for all my stuff. I'm not sure if it's the best thing, it's just what works for me. But, almost everything I fly right now is under 80 amps total draw...

I'm also using a temperature controlled station (Thanks HK!)here lately and that has been a big help in getting very consistent results. It also helps with smaller components like wires to VTx/VRx, etc. Been using between 750 and 800 degrees with good results on the finer stuff, just over 800 on the heavier gauges...

 

[Craftydan]

Silver solder you'll find in a hardware store is used primarily in plumbing or where it might contact food/water, but there are specialized silver mixes for electronics -- mostly overkill for what we do.

The typical electronics solder comes in leaded (60ish tin/40ish lead) and unleaded (various mixes of different alloys). Leaded vs. unleaded for the hobbyist is up to taste. On the whole leaded flows in at lower temperatures, but not by enough if you're health contentious and have a good hot iron. Also, in finer soldering work (think microelectronics) many unleaded solders "grows" whiskers over time that can short close contacts(think microns close) -- won't affect much in wiring up battery connections.

I use leaded myself, and avoid breathing the fumes and wash my hands after handling it, but I won't say my risk tolerance for this is for everybody.

One thing to watch for if you aren't picking this up from an electronics shop (which you are): STAY AWAY from acid core solder. It's probably fine for wire-to-wire splices or wire-to-connector, but can do NASTY things to PCBs. Rosin flux core really is the way to go for electronics.

 

[TheWW1FlyingAce]

There's actually a "silver" solder that's mostly lead and tin with a bit of silver (around 2%) added for extra conductivity. Whether it makes a difference or not in our application is questionable.

When looking at plain leaded solder, however, you might want to see if you can find some 63% lead/37% tin "eutectic" solder. The advantages of eutetic solder are a slightly lower melting point and a more abrupt phase change - i.e. it goes from hard to soft and back again very quickly, so there's less chance of a bad solder joint caused by parts moving while the solder is hardening. Eutectic solder is about the same price as 60/40 solder so it's worth getting if you can.

 

[Maximus_Noobius]

Thanks for your responses, I'm really glad I asked. You certainly need to be confident that the joints that provide that kind of important thing... power... to your aircraft, will stay that way for the whole flight and I think I'm a bit more relaxed now.