Good soldering tutorial.

[SamIam71]

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[Beatin' 10+ year member]

cool video.

Just wondering, do you have to use flux when soldering ring terminals onto wire? Or does this only apply to circuit board work?

 

[Falcons 5,000+ posts]

I have an even better soldering turorial. Hydraulic crimper.

 

[SamIam71]

cool video.
Just wondering' date=' do you have to use flux when soldering ring terminals onto wire? Or does this only apply to circuit board work?[/quote']

I would think anytime you use solder you should use flux. It is easier to use rosin core solder as the flux is built into the solder.

 

[SamIam71]

LOL, 60 views that quick. You know you are a car audio addict when you make a bowl of popcorn to watch soldering tutorials.

 

[tundra06]

Good soldering skills, and a good soldering iron, are worth untold amounts of money (and joy)!!!

I picked up a Weller WESD51 soldering station (with digital temperature read out) on sale a few years ago. Best $130 I ever spent. It's good not only for car audio (as I learned last week) but also for repairing anything with wires.

Coincidentally, the WESD51 is on sale again on Amazon right now:

Weller WESD51 Digital Soldering Station - Amazon.com

(regular price $200, on for $131 now)

The Weller iron is a high quality unit, the tip is sharp and gets hot quickly. More than worth the money. The crappy $25 soldering irons are so frustrating and unpleasant to use, and make your work look like crap (speaking from experience!). Generally if someone says soldering sucks, it is because they tried a bad soldering iron that was hard to use and they did an ugly job.

Last week I fixed a couple of car starter remotes for my neighbour. The part the holds the coin batteries had worked loose, and a bit of solder made them work like new. Two years ago I rewired my truck and trailer with new connectors, and soldered joints ensured the repair will last for a long time. Last summer I did a lot of wiring work on my motorcycle (1986 Honda Shadow 750cc) and soldered and heat-shrinked all the joints.

Don't forget to get some good heat-shrink to cover all your solder joints! Transparent heat shrink is the best because it lets you visually inspect the connections. Using electrical tape is such a waste of time and risks breaking the joints from repeated flexing as you warp the tape on.