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Teach me the basics of soldering

M

master7045

Senior member
I need to solder some broken wires that run between the car and the door in my Grand Cherokee. I've tried the butt connector route, but that didn't work out well. I live near a Home Depot & Harbor Freight so if there is something cheap I can pick up that would be a huge plus as I don't really see myself using this very often. Thanks!
 
All you will need for a fix like that is rosin core solder and a soldering iron. Get the soldering iron hot, hold it to wire for a second and add solder. Done.


Edit: Oh and some electrical tape to insulate the connection.
 
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brianmanahan said:
i recommend boot camp to be an effective soldier
Click to expand...

hotgirlisdisgust.gif
 
First put the solder on the individual wires.
Then wrap the wires together.
Then heat the wrapped wires to melt the solder between them.
 
chusteczka said:
First put the solder on the individual wires.
Then wrap the wires together.
Then heat the wrapped wires to melt the solder between them.
Click to expand...

This. I'd also recommend picking up some shrink wrap tubing from Radio Shack if you have a hair dryer (or even better, a heat gun). Looks like this: http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062662

shrinktubing.jpg


They'll have the size you need, usually comes in variety packs that can fit any regular wire gauge. You're looking for one that will fit over your soldered connection, but by just enough to easily slip on. Too massive and it won't shrink enough, too small and it obviously won't fit to start with. You can also cut it to the length you need, just be mindful that it's going to shrink and conform to your connection's diameter, so leave a little slack with regard to length.

Before you solder the wires together, slip the tubing over one of the broken ends and slide it out of the way. Temporarily tape it in place to be sure it doesn't slide around while you're soldering. Then after the soldering's done and you've tested the connection, slide the tubing over the connection and hold a hair dryer on it for a few minutes (as high-speed and hot as it'll go), moving it around the tubing to distribute the heat as evenly as possible. The tubing will constrict around the solder-job, sealing, insulating the connection and helping to crimp it. It's effectively a permanent rubber seal unless you cut it open.

A more bush-league option is simple electrical tape, although you might have to replace it at some point in the future depending on moisture exposure.
 
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Test the heat by applying thump to soldering iron. This way when you accidently touch thumb to iron later, you'll have already built up resistance. (no pun intended).
 
Thanks to most of you for the suggestions. I'll upload a pic to show what I'm dealing with. I think the gauge is a little too thick to use the hook method, but thanks for the links and videos. I have tons of speaker wire laying around so I'll start using that to practice. Is something like this 30 Watt Soldering Iron plus this rosin core solder good enough for this job? I'll def be picking up shrink wrap and a heat gun as well for this job. I'm sorta looking forward to learning how to solder, I'm sure it'll come in handy at some point in my life.

EDIT: here is the photo from the post I created on JeepForum
354154d1330401129-woring-harness-driver-side-door-image-1904270894.jpg
 
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Use the soldering iron to heat the wire enough to melt the solder directly on the wire and on the contact point. This will prevent cold joints. Next, place the soldering iron on the wire and the contact point and watch the solder ooze together. You're done.
 
I personally enjoy leaving the wires not twisted, mashing them all together, and then twisting them together. Then heat the wire itself before any solder, and then add solder and flow it to the end of the insulation. Don't forget to put heat shrink on BEFORE you solder them together. Just remember, always heat up the piece before adding solder.

A 30W iron should be plenty for most wires.
 
Melted solder is drawn towards the heat, so don't try to heat/paint the melted solder directly onto the wires...heat the back of the wires, touching solder to the front and the heat itself will draw the solder across the wires for a thorough bond. It took me a long time to learn this.
 
that picture is a mega fail, unless part of the joke is to spell "interViews" wrong, in which case, I apologize for not fully understanding internet jokes. Also, that is probably what my solder skills will amount to, and I'd give myself a pass on a pass/fail scale.
 
If you solder it at the joint where it's broken it's only going to break again.

lets say you have ______________________ _________________________
where the space is the break.

Might be better to do ______ ________________________________ ________

since the new solder points this way won't be bent and pressured as the previous.

Any soldering experts chime in ?
 
ussfletcher said:
All you will need for a fix like that is rosin core solder and a soldering iron. Get the soldering iron hot, hold it to wire for a second and add solder. Done.


Edit: Oh and some electrical tape to insulate the connection.
Click to expand...

BOOOOO ! hisss....bad!

Electrical tape will come off with humidity and temperature changes and as it dries out over time, leaving you with a potential short circuit and fire hazard.

Use heat shrink tubing for insulation instead.
 
isekii said:
If you solder it at the joint where it's broken it's only going to break again.

lets say you have ______________________ _________________________
where the space is the break.

Might be better to do ______ ________________________________ ________

since the new solder points this way won't be bent and pressured as the previous.

Any soldering experts chime in ?
Click to expand...

I wouldn't define myself as an "expert", but that's why you strip and overlap/twist the wires together/crimp and THEN solder. You're not making a joint between wires out of solder, you're soldering to secure and fill in the gaps of a solid connection.

See how this guy's doing it for one way: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L61LJcz7H6g&t=5m10s
 
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irishScott said:
I wouldn't define myself as an "expert", but that's why you strip and overlap/twist the wires together/crimp and THEN solder. You're not making a joint between wires out of solder, you're soldering to secure and fill in the gaps of a solid connection.

See how this guy's doing it for one way: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L61LJcz7H6g&t=5m10s
Click to expand...

But that would still rid the wire of flexibility. Since now instead of it being strands it's essentially a single thick wire.
 
Use rosin-core eutectic solder on a Western Union splice. Finish by insulating with heat-shrink tubing. Make sure you slide the tubing on before you start the splice.
 
isekii said:
But that would still rid the wire of flexibility. Since now instead of it being strands it's essentially a single thick wire.
Click to expand...

Rids it of flexibility at that precise connection, yes. It can still bend elsewhere. If you rely on solder to effectively replace a piece of wire (ie: make a ball of liquid solder and shove the two wire ends into it) it will fail under even mild physical stress, as the solder is not hard/adhesive enough to hold the connection on its own.

Now you could do a sort of hybrid technique where you cut a segment of wire and use it as an intermediary like you originally suggested, only mating the two ends of said segment like the guy in the video I posted.

So you'd have:
_________------------------_________________

Where the __ junctions are solidly splice/twisted/crimped/whatever and then soldered. This would permit flexibility at no cost to integrity, but it does more than double the workload. So if flexibility isn't critical I'd just splice/twist the broken ends together and solder/shrink wrap.
 
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