Mike, As others has mentioned, the wattage and tip size is determined by the job on hand. That is the heat dissipation and thermal mass of the component(s) and the circuit board (or wire etc) in question. Too low of a wattage or too high a wattage are equally bad. I personally prefer a slight hotter iron/tip because I can heat it up very fast. This way I can minimize the dwell time thus least chance of lifting the trace. Good soldering take a lot of practice. A common poor soldering is oxidizing the solder. The rosin is for cleaning the metal being solder as well as to prevent oxidation so it is important to lift the iron before all the rosin is vaporized. The best solder iron for the modern surface mounted electronics is heated by radio wave. They have incredibly fast respond time to regulate the heat regardless of the heat transferred during soldering. They are however very expensive. I use a magnetically regulated iron with good old heating element at home. The lowest cost irons are unregulated.
- Vince http://gipsyflies.home.comcast.net <http://gipsyflies.home.comcast.net/> 1989 Vanagon GL Camper 1993 Mazda Miata 1996 Land Rover Discovery 2005 Mini Cooper S <http://gipsyflies.home.comcast.net/> -----Original Message----- From: Michael Rule [mailto:manikmike@yahoo.com] Sent: Saturday, September 11, 2004 4:31 PM To: Vince S; vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM Subject: RE: LED solder gauge
Hi Vince, Thanks! Regarding "right soldering iron", then I'm guessing a lower wattage for smaller jobs (circuit board work) and greater for larger (general wiring of connectors etc)? Cheers, Mike Vince S <gipsyflies@comcast.net> wrote: Mike, The gauge of the solder is not at all critical as the right soldering iron. The spool of solder I use say "44" rosin core. A very wide range of solder gauge will work just fine. Just be careful not to over heat the PCB or else you may lift the trace.
- Vince http://gipsyflies.home.comcast.net 1989 Vanagon GL Camper 1993 Mazda Miata (for sale) 1996 Land Rover Discovery 2005 Mini Cooper S
-----Original Message----- From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of Michael Rule Sent: Saturday, September 11, 2004 1:57 PM To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM Subject: LED solder gauge
Hi All, A question for the Electronics Guru's: what gauge solder do you recommend when replacing vanagon LED's? Thankyou, Mike
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