Soldering cable question

[nicksydney]

Hi,

I'm planning to use my mobile charger power supply to power up my breadboard (no more batteries) and tried to use extra cable so I can 'plug' the cable into my breadboard. My question is when I try to solder the power supply wire with the cable in the picture (breadboardCable.jpg) it does not want to 'stick' and I also tried using CAT5 cables (CAT5.jpg) same thing it does not want to 'stick'.

Solder tip is fine as it is new and soldering is working fine as I can solder on a protoboard, can anybody suggest what should I do or maybe I should use some other kind of cable ?.

Thanks for the help.

 

[JimB]

If I understand the problem correctly...

You are trying to solder the red and black wires which you are holding in your hand, to the end of the black wire with pins and mouded plastic at each end.
The problem is that the solder will not stick to the pins on the black wire.

Possible solutions.
1 The pins on the end of the black wire may be plated with come metal which does not like solder.
Scrape off the plating with a sharp knife or use a fine file to remove the plating and expose the (hopefully) brass pin, which should solder very well.

2 The pins could be made from some weird "monkey metal", which will never solder whatever you do to it.
Cut the wire between the two pins and solder you Red/Black wires to the copper wires which (used to) connect the two pins.

JimB

 

[unclejed613]

or he's trying to solder the wires without stripping the insulation off of them. the chemical reaction between the copper and the insulation forms an organic salt of copper that doesn't take solder......

 

[Menticol]

Why you don't try a common Western Union splice? Then cover it with shrinking tubing, and you are good to go

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_union_splice

 

[audioguru]

I think the problem is that the solder is made "over there" where nearly everything they make DOES NOT WORK!
I usually buy English Erisin solder because I like its smell. Recently I bought American Kester solder that also works well but doesn't smell as nice.

"Over There and Smell??
I have some stripboard that is made "over there". It stinks like animal DUNG, especially when trying to solder to it.

 

[be80be]

Find a can of tip cleaning flux and clean the tip with before you solder and bet you have better luck.

 

[nicksydney]

Thanks all will try to use sand paper to file the end point and see if that helps, if that does not help will try the Western Union Splice.

Cheers

 

[phalanx]

From your picture, the wire is definitely taking solder so that part is fine. My guess is due to the pins larger thermal mass, you are not getting enough heat into it for it to solder properly.

Try this:
1. Wrap your power supply wire around the pin a few times so it stays put.
2. Get a medium sized blob of solder on the tip of your iron.
3. Touch the blob and the iron to the joint of the wire and the pin and hold it there for a few seconds (the solder blob helps with heat conduction).
4. Feed more solder with flux into the joint until it looks right.
5. Remove the iron and let the joint cool.

If it were me, I would splice and heat sleeve the connection.

 

[audioguru]

From your picture, the wire is definitely taking solder so that part is fine.

I disagree because it looks like the opposite:
The insulation is melted and the rosin flux in the solder has burnt into charcoal.
The cheap soldering iron is too hot and has also burnt off its tinning (if it ever was tinned).

My 47 years old Weller soldering iron is temperature controlled. Today I used it again and the insulation and rosin flux in the solder did not burn. The tip is tinned the same as when it was new many years ago.

 

[be80be]

Im with audioguru it's burning off the 2% flux

Like I said get a can of tip cleaner and clean the tip with it right before soldering and he'll be good to go.

Make's a world of a difference with a cheap iron but dip in the cleaner and wipe the tip and solder fast makes one real usable.

The cleaner I use tins the tip and has flux in it to. So you clean wipe the tip and solder 2 or three pins and clean agin.

 

[nicksydney]

Like I said get a can of tip cleaner and clean the tip with it right before soldering and he'll be good to go.

What kind of tip cleaner you normally use ?

 

[nicksydney]

What kind of tip cleaner you normally use ?

I normally clean the tip using wet sponge, looks like that's not enough ?

 

[phalanx]

I disagree because it looks like the opposite:
The insulation is melted and the rosin flux in the solder has burnt into charcoal.
The cheap soldering iron is too hot and has also burnt off its tinning (if it ever was tinned).

I agree with you that the wire/solder/flux was overheated but you can see in the last picture that solder flowed in the stranded wire so now it looks like solid core. The overheating was more than likely due to leaving the iron on the wire for way too long when the soldering process wasn't going as expected. This is fairly common with less experienced solderers especially when trying to work with components that have vastly different thermal masses. Carpet burner irons definitely aren't the best tools out there but they are certainly capable of performing this soldering job so long as the operator has some experience.

 

[KeepItSimpleStupid]

Hey, 63/37 is a BAD alloy to use to put wires together especially for a first timer That solder doesn't flow period. You take the heat away and it solidifies. You really need to use 60/40. You got a solder with flux, so that is a good thing.

You also picked a non tin plated wire. Copper oxidizes and it won't solder well. If you have ever done plumbing and tried to solder copper tube without mechanically sanding the copper, it won't work.

The standard rules apply for soldering. Tip clean and tinned. Apply heat to the more massive part. Do not drip the solder onto the connection.

What can you do about it?

Take your cat 5 wire and do the following for practice:
Strip the end of two wires or a loop (your only practicing) 1" or so
Get a little vinegar and add some salt to it. Enough to dip the end of the wire in. The copper wire should come clean instantly. Rinse with water.

Cross the wires in the center and twist one toward the insulation of the other wire and do the same to the other one. The Western Union splice.

If you can suspend the splice. Heat from the bottom and apply solder along the length of the top of the wire.

The wire you really want is tin plated copper and the solder you really want id 60/40 assuming non-ROHS.

You should see a big difference if you use the Vinegar and salt technique or scrape a solid wire with sandpaper or a razor blade. A non-acid flux might be required, but really should not be. The solder could also be sub-par.

What I am saying is that you picked a difficult combination to solder for your first time. It's like trying to solder a 2" copper tube when you have never done a 1/2" copper tube. Silver soldering is an art too and so is say joining two pieces of quartz or borosilicate glass tubing together and so is welding (TIG, MIG and stick). All different and I've done them all. AT work, I was the only one that didn't have trouble silver soldering.

 

[be80be]

I use this stuff but its Radio shack brand
View attachment 68137
**broken link removed**
The cheap irons burn off the tinning and this stuff puts it back on it cleans the tip and tins it then wipe
with your sponge keeps you in good shape to solder some pin then clean and go back to soldering

 

[phalanx]

I normally clean the tip using wet sponge, looks like that's not enough ?

The tip tinner that be80be is talking about is used in addition to your sponge. The sponge is used while soldering to wipe excess solder and burnt flux off the tip usually after every few joints. Tip tinner is used less frequently and has chemicals in its formula to help get rid of oxidation on the tip of your iron which can make soldering difficult or impossible. It usually contains tin or lead particles to put a nice coating on the tip to protect it. I normally use it after first firing up the iron, periodically while soldering when the sponge stops being effective, and then once before I shut the iron off.

I also favor using a brass shaving sponge as opposed to a wet sponge. I find it's a little more agressive at getting crud off the tip of my iron.

 

[audioguru]

I also favor using a brass shaving sponge as opposed to a wet sponge. I find it's a little more agressive at getting crud off the tip of my iron.

Crud?
Do you use your soldering iron to burn carpets or melt plastic? I don't and my temperature controlled soldering iron tip lasts for years even when I leave it heating all day for hundreds of days.

 

[phalanx]

Crud?
Do you use your soldering iron to burn carpets or melt plastic? I don't and my temperature controlled soldering iron tip lasts for years even when I leave it heating all day for hundreds of days.

So you have never in the history of your soldering accidentally touched something with your iron that you shouldn't have? Do you have special tips and solder that never requires a periodic wipe on a sponge? Some how I don't think so.

I don't see anywhere where I said my tips fail early. My Metcal is around 5 years old and the original cartridges are still good. My Weller is over twice that age and I've only had to replace 1 of the 3 tips I bought with it.

 

[nicksydney]

This is the soldering station that I'm using (in case anybody is interested to know)

**broken link removed**

 

[nicksydney]

Went to the local electronic store to pick up heat shrink tubing (transparent) and did something like a western union splice and this is what I came up with it.

Tested the power supply and managed to get 5.3v reading. Mission accomplished