yep. but i mostly use it for the ratio. if you want el-cheapo marine tubing you can cut up a hot glue sticks into 1-2mm slices and halve those if using small diameter wire. but before you slide the normal tubing on, slip in a few of the hot glue chips. then melt the tubing starting in the middle workign outward.
if you put in enough chips, it will seep out. but it might not make a water tight seal. i use this if 3:1 shrink dosent make sence (aka no large changes in width) and i feel there might be a need to reinforce the joint if i think it might break.
Wow, wtf are the downvotes for?! Saving money isn't a bad thing, and I know I'd rather order from temu and get it next week than aliexpress and have to wait a month or two. Sure, it *might* be cheaper, but I'm not going to even remember that I ordered it by the time it shows up.
I got some once, they weren't really the best quality. Like, not rubbery enough after shrunk. Might have been just my bad luck.
Since I don't use it too often, I do prefer to buy some in electronics store. I mean, for me a meter of it lasts a while.
Get "solder butt connectors." They're a type of precut shrink tubing with a ring of solder in the middle, which melts when the tubing is heated. As long as the wires are properly spliced (look up "Western Union splice") before the butt connectors are applied, thin wires like those don't need any solder applied with an iron.
While this is fine they are way more expensive per connection and if the desire is to learn this isn’t the way, they can’t be used in every scenario although they are really fast and easy
I still do this after a good 20 years of practice…
And keep it as far away from the iron as possible because sometimes they’ll start shrinking a little prematurely - especially if you’re preheating the wire a lot and soldering hot with lead-free.
no it's not fine
first, in any serious professional setting, soldering wires together at all is completely frowned upon. Your wire is flexible becase the individual hair-like strands inside is free to slip and slide around one-another. when you solder it together, it can't do that, so there's a huge concern about those strands breaking around where the soldered region ends.
I understand that in a hobby setting you probably don't care as much, but keep the soldered region small, like 2mm, you don't have to twist them together, it doesn't make it stronger if you do twist it together.
And don't complain that it's difficult to hold two wires together without twisting them together. Instead, rethink your method. First, tin one wire, leaving a largish blob of solder on the end of the wire. Second, tin the second wire, leaving a largish blob of solder on the end of the second wire. Third, heat up the blob on the first wire until it melts again, then slide the second wire into that blob. You can accomplish this without any "third hand" tool.
Almost every word you wrote is incorrect!
Soldering wires together happens each and every day in a professional setting.
Making a strong MECHANICAL connection is a must! Never just lay two wires side by side and stick them together.
There should be no "blobs" anywhere in soldering.
One thing that was accurate, make your connections over as small an area as possible.
if you are stressing your wire that it must need to be twisted together before soldering, you have a serious design problem. Your wire isn't a harness meant to handle loads
soldering is frowned up on all automotive, industrial, and probably a few more industries, the risk of a fracture is so high, butt crimps exist for a reason
I'm not sure what your envisioning here, but I don't know of anytime anyone would recommend using electrical harnesses as part of a support structure. That said a good MECHANICAL connection of wires to be soldered is soldering 101.
You are directly speaking to my industry when you say automotive and heavy industrial. We will choose soldering over a butt splice 95% of the time. Yes a butt splice does exist for a reason, but it is usually not the best choice. You are trying to imply that all wiring is constantly being subjected to flexing and stress along its entire length, this is rarely the case and most of us in industry are professional enough to engineer our products to place splices at very specific locations that will be designed for those conditions. True you would not choose to place a solder joint through a bulkhead or at a hinge point, but I would also hope that would be common sense.
Soldering as a connection method is used throughout the automotive and industrial product industries in order to get a high connectivity, low resistance connection, and to say otherwise is patently incorrect. Your butt splice will adversely effect the electrical properties of a connection when compared to a properly produced solder connection every time.
I've been through training that drilled through my head that a properly done crimp mashes the atoms of copper together so tightly that it's a homogenous section of metal, it goes directly against your argument of achieving high conductivity.
>a properly done crimp mashes the atoms of copper together so tightly
First: WTF are you even talking about? You're not performing atomic fusion.
Second: Show me one technical manual that uses the term "mash".
Third: Does crimping "mAsH tHe AtOmS tOgEtHeR sO tIgHtLy" that it's waterproof? Let me see you get any heat shrink over a crimp connector.
Finally, your crimp connections will encompass longer section of wiring than a small soldered repair would.
I have read that even nasa now prefers crimps to soldering in most applications that are not boards, because of the stress vibration brings to a solder joint if it is not properly “anchored” correctly.
Haha, NASA. They have probably forgotten how to properly solder, just like building spacecraft. We are defiantly NOT talking about any type air/space travel. On aircraft we would NEVER solder two wires together in order to repair/extend a wire. We would completely replace the wire from end to end, and yes the pins at each end of that wire would be crimped on.
wow spreading misinformation mich....
EVERY industry has solder procedures, from NASA, all the way down to your local electrical provider. there are processes that can make a STRONGER solder joint then bare copper.
it IS professional to solder wires in the correct way for the application.
twists do make for a stronger conenction but you need enough loops for some slip to not occor.
id say practice [the linemans splice (makezine.com)](https://makezine.com/article/technology/computers-mobile/how-to-splice-wire-to-nasa-standards/)
it makes a splice thats as strong or better as the OG wire
It's really overkill, if i recall correctly NASA uses a straight slice with just the 2 tinned wires stuck side by side. Don't quote me on that, if the NASA soldering guy is here he can correct.
yes overkill, but it serves 2 purposes.
1. builds good splice techniques. even if it dosent quite meet standards as set out for it it will be plenty for hobbyist needs.
2. bragging rights. that you can splice to nasa standards.
It’s because solder (if flowed correctly with enough flux to keep out contaminants) will be stronger than most multicore wires anyway. If the wire breaks under strain, 99.9% of the time the break will be adjacent to the solder, not the solder itself. Twisting the wires together adds bends and kinks that become weak points under strain
Aviation standard. Solder connections are rarely used in any place that doesn't have protection from vibrations or cycling. In some cases, solder splice is acceptable, but it's nore likely to be a solder sleeve. Solder can make the connection brittle and prone to fatigue failure.
Keep in mind that active flux can be quite harsh on the plating of your iron tip. Make sure you have got rid of most of it with brass wool or a sponge before putting fresh solder on the tip.
Not only that, but flux should be cleaned from wherever you applied it - such as the parts you’re soldering. IPA for rosin flux, distilled water (deionized preferred but that’s really it working with ESD devices) for water soluble. Use a q tip or bristle brush and dry immediately. While no clean flux doesn’t have to be cleaned, it’s still good practice to
Sigh...
Had it been tinned copper, then OP wouldn't have used that much solder in the attempt to make it stick.
Mystery silver-stranded a.k.a. "Chinesium" wire is cheap, and if you get a roll of wire with no markings from your local bargain bin, then it's usually mystery silver strands for the core.
"Cheap" is keyword here, industrial or hobbyist. Keep that in mind.
Soldering is fine 😊 the joins are much longer than they need to be (not a big deal).
Some suggestions for next time: offset the joins of each wire (it will help keep the cable fix smaller and more flexible, and reduce the risk of contact from wear over time) and pop a bit of shrink tube before you join the ends and then shrink it after soldering.
Good job on a first soldering fix!
1 or 2mm of contact would be plenty and I would stagger the breaks so they don't have chance of rub
I'm also assuming you're using heat shrink, or even multiple layers of heat shrink
Sure, I understand. I use an old Wen 250 with a piece of 10 gauge solid copper wire bent in U shape as my "soldering tip" and its far thicker than 1mm. I'm still able to do this type of 1 or 2mm bared wired soldering. Place 1, 2 or 3 heat shrink pieces on one of the broken wires. Bare 1 or 2mm of each wire to be soldered. Flux and tin each exposed area. Bring wire pieces together and touch the tinned area of each (erm somewhat quickly). Solder flows and connection is made. Apply heat shrink 1, then 2, then 3. If each heat shrink is longer than the last you'll only have 1 seam. Hope this helps. I'm away from home atm and unable to provide video example.
It looks absolutely fine, good first solder job!
Did you twist the wires together first or just spliced them straight?
I always take as long leads but use a U turn hook and twist them over each other, that way it's a solid connection even without solder. Oh and run the naked wire through solder paste before twisting them. Iron under the wires and wait till the wire accepts the solder and it gets wicked right inside.
If they stick together and electrons flow, it’s good. If you want to get really fancy, grab some spare wire and practice the Western Union Splice. I would imagine it would be more difficult with stranded wire but it makes a tight coil that soaks up solder nice, the wires mechanically hold each other, and it shortens the amount of exposed wire.
https://preview.redd.it/bqcvosv0jpad1.jpeg?width=460&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c8e8933d14c2027649d52639d036507b545850d9
These joints are good but most end up being too big to fit into shrink tube. Not many choices at the store. Unless you have many sizes. Not to long ago I ended up buying those 20ft rolls of every size for about the 2ft per year that I need. But worth it.
perfectly functional I've had apprentices who didn't do this well their first time, but two things i see right away is that you used too much solder (you can see it clumping in spots) and the splices are too big.
you shouldn't need to hold the iron there long enough to melt the insulation having a properly cleaned and tinned tip will help with heat transfer and the more you do the quicker you'll get. when splicing i usually leave 5-6mm or about a 1/4 inch of copper exposed.
Honestly not bad because I can not do that myself😞
I don’t own flux and my soldering iron needs to be cleaned again because it’s to dirty to melt solder properly
You should get it, I've seen a couple of videos on how it works and that it is better with the paste, it doesn't cost too much, I got it for 6 euros with prime
I don’t own cash on delivery. Plus dito sa Palawan we use Shopee or Lazada. Paano i am not that motivated to order them online just because it’s like a small container maybe if I’ll buy a new solder set but as of now I can’t afford much
Thing is focus on if your learning is size, this joint does not need to be this big, generally on 1mm wire 10-15mm of stripped insulation is all you need.
Also when you're twisting then try not to leave any tails, the little single strands of wire hanging out are going to cause issues. It'll poke though any insulation you apply, heatshink can get caught and split. With tape it's less obvious and can just push through after some vibration.
Best case it gives moisture a way in and your joint corrodes, worst case it shorts and blows something.
You'll inevitably end up with some when you're starting out, either redo them. Or squash the tails down with some pliers.
15 years as an Auto elec
Not bad for your first time.
Remember that a solder joint has two components, electrical and mechanical. Your job met both requirements good electrical bond and strong mechanical coupling.
Looks fine, a few spiky bits i can see which suggests not enough heat in some places. Overall good for a first attempt.
Tip: you don’t need to have such long sections of wire in your splices. 5-10mm is fine.
Concur. Not bad for a first attempt. They get better and better over time and practice!
*definitely agree on having a shorter splice. it's easier to manage, protect, and less chance of breaking. electrically, OPs work will be fine.
**I would be a lot harsher if the person was an EE, of course lol.
Not terrible but a good rule of thumb is to try and expose less of the wire, take both stripped wires and either push them together and twist or just twist them...
there are various techniques you can learn but make sure to get some shrink tubing if you can or some quality 3m electrical vinyl tape that won't back off the wires
too long. YOu only need to solder a cm of wire at most. You also have sharp jaggies sticking out ... also no good. twist the wires tightly together next time. And it looks like you forgot to put on heat shrink tubing before soldering. Rookie mistake.
Ideally it is far too long and looks like it might be a bit of a cold joint. I’ve seen worse. Run it u til it fails (if it fails) unless it’s a critical application
If wire length isn't an issue this could and should have been shortened to a single connection that was 1/5th the length of this one or less. Or if the length is needed, a stub extension wire with a joint on each end should be used and heat shrink on the outside of that.
The biggest problem with a joint like this is that the solder turns it into a non flexible length. It may not be a problem if the wire isn't meant to move, but it will make for a potential weak spot at the end of the inflexible section.
Not the worst, you will learn the more you try. I recommend staggering your joints so they lay together nicer and don't forget the heat shrink next time.
to me, the black is perfect, but the white and red have a few troo many pointies for me. trim the pointies down with some flush cutters, and shrink wrap them and they are golden,
Good job on your first solder although you could’ve make it shorter. i personally would avoid having some spiky solder and that stringy copper bcs yeah might poke something if it’s sharp enough and can cause some shorting.
Comments,
1, Soldering is good, it is well heated.
2, the open connection is too long, mostly 1/5 inch is enough
3, not sure if that orange thing is soldering paste? If yes, too much paste
It'll work. Next time make the joints smaller (about 1/3 that length), and heat shrink them. Another trick is to stagger the splices so they don't all line up side by side.
It should be fine. There is a tool called helping hands that would make easy work of this.
It has 2 alligator clips on both ends that makes lining them up so much easier.
The only thing you are missing is some heat shrink over the soldered connections and you are golden.
aren't you not supposed to solder wires together because there is a mechanical weak spot where the flexible wire meets the ridgid solder soaked wire? To be robust it would need strain relief beyond what typical heat shrink tubing would provide I think.
The solder connection is good but that's sooooo much exposed wire. If this is for practice then great but do not do this if it's on a project. Use shrink wrap or hot glue or something
Looks good. My only suggestion would be to not cut all the wires in the same spot/length. If possible, cut the wires about an inch from where the last repair ends. That way, none of the repairs have the possibility of coming in contact with one another.
For first time soldering? Everything is ok as long as it works. Is it going to break? Pretty much guaranteed, but you get to do it again, hopefully gaining some knowledge of why it broke in the process and doing a better job of it the next time.
Look up "lap splice soldering" for an example of how its done and how it should look when properly performed.
Soldering is a skill, and like all skills can only be acquired and improved through practice & repetition.
Yes, I would work on making your splices shorter. I don't always mechanically join them either. If it's low current tin both wires, hold one above the other and touch it with the iron for a second
Next time stagger them so if one rubs through the shrink tube it wont short.
Clean with ispropyl or toluene (even if it looks clean..its not, previous manufacters pvc/wire making process leaves residual oils, as does your fingers when you manipulate the wire. Many first timers underestimate the power of minuscule oils and wonder why solder wont stick)
Make good mechanical connection first, hook/loop or western union joint is best
Flux wires
Solder
Clean excess Flux with isopropyl or toluene again
Shrink individual wires(tape is for emergencies only, or "a temporary solution to a future problem" lol)
Shrink bundle last (totally optional, makes it look even nicer IMHO)
If it works, it's ok.
Honestly should've used less solder, and stripped less wire, or trimmed it down after stripping. if you use that much you can make the whole joint more fragile since solder isn't very flexible.
As others have noted, the you don’t need to have nearly this length of wire actually soldered.
This will probably be fine as-is with two layers of heat shrink as long as it’s not subject to vibration or movement.
For your first time it's not bad at all. As others have said here, Use shrink tubing, the benefit of that over other things like solder butt connectors is that you just have to have a few sizes of shrink tubing and they are dirt cheap, just use the smallest one that fits, cut it to size.
For soldering wires like this flux core works a little cleaner as well as being faster and easier.
You sure used A LOT of solder for those wires over a long length, nothing wrong with that, but it is way more than necessary. Half of that would have been more than fine.
By the discoloring of the wire shielding I can tell it spent a lot of time hot, again, fine for your first time, certainly looks better than my first.
For wires like this though, get flux core solder, any cheap wall outlet soldering iron will do, Tin the tip of your iron.
Tinning your soldering iron is just melting some solder on it to improve heat conductivity. IT WORKS.
Don't forget to slide the smallest size of shrink tubing that will fit that is cut to the length of the joint over the wires.
Then touch the tip of your tinned iron to the wires you want to solder, hold some solder against the wire that is not in direct contact with the iron.
When it melts it will permeate the wire quite fast, as soon as it does, pull away and you're done, just pull the heat shrink tubing over the joint and use a lighter or heat gun to shrink it.
Also if you want stronger joints without using so much length, fray the ends of your wires, push the ends together, then twist, that gives the solder much more surface area to bond to between each wire, as opposed to just where the wires are twisted together.
Don't need to expose so much wiring.. solder a small area instead of such a long length of exposed wire. Heat shrink before the solder helps. Also if your worried about metal from each wire touching the others you can stagger locations so when pulled taunt they can't touch..
i usually braid and heatshrink or crimp and heatshrink but this is nice for a first time soldering are you wrapping in electrical tape or is your shrink off camera would love to see it all done and covered
That depends on how you define okay. It's looks a bit messy but hopefully no cold soldering points. You can always add a little flux and heat it up to h ave the solder reflow a bit better.
I wouldn't be too worried though. What are these cables used for?
These are long and brittle, 1-2mm is best, make sure to use flux that surrounds the entirety of the exposed metal to shield it from oxygen gas in the atmosphere, else you will get cold welds which is why you see those two little wire frays sticking out of the solder.
A bit excessive, but nothing inherently wrong with it. It will work fine. As others have said, shrink tubing would be a great addition. Electrical tape in a pinch is fine, but the tape will fail after a while.
Um....at least the wires are soldered together. As you get better, you'll learn how to not have a huge length of wires to run the solder across. You realistically only need like a quarter of each wire exposed, wrapped around each other, fluxed, then soldered.
Since it's your first time, I'll go easy. If this was a job by an experienced tech, I'd can their ass.
Make your twists tighter. You want the joint to occupy as little space as possible, without adding too much bulk heat shrink cannot go on. Your connections look solid, but you might have overdone the solder. Just use enough for it to soak into the wires, and that’s about it.
It should work. You can go get some packages of heat shrink tubing just by the right size you can usually get them at any auto parts store in a pack of like a couple hundred for a couple dollars. That's probably somewhere near 18 gauge wire to 22 gauge so get the heat shrink tubing and put it over the soldered pieces and all you need to do is use like a torch lighter or even a lighter and just go over the heat shrink tubing quickly all around it. There's tons of videos on YouTube that can show you how to do this. Also if you have a 3D printer, you can build what's called a soldering wire holder which places your two pieces of wire to where it will hold them right next to each other and you just solder the ends and it makes it much easier. I believe you can buy some of these as well at a store but I'm not sure of the correct to name of them. Also, I would start over and you only want to cut about an eighth of the wire off of the end on each side because those wires are too long on the exposed part. You don't need to twist the The wire strands around. Just hold the two ends to where they are touching and put your soldering iron and solder right over top and you'll get a good soldering connection.
Decent for your first try. you should shorten the leads a bit and as mentioned elsewhere, use heat shrink. for outdoors, use adhesive lined waterproof heatshrink. Also, I just use rosin core solder instead of paste flux. twist the wires together, melt a small blob onto the tip then bring the tip under the wire to be soldered. The molten solder will help bring the wire up to temp faster. Add more solder by melting it on the exposed wire (use the work to melt the solder not the iron) until the joint is covered. trim any sharp points with cutters. slide the heatshrink over the joint and heat.
Better than my first time lol. I don't even solder wires much anymore. If I can I just use solder seal wire connectors they're amazing. Just strip the wires, insert each end into the tube, heat the tube up with a heat gun (I use a lighter most the time lol) then throw a shrink tube over and call it a day
put a shrink tube around it and it will be fine
I didn't have one, I used some insulating tape. Thanks anyway. :)
Tubing is better, the tape adhesive will become gooey with age and will eventually fail.
I'll buy it then, I forgot to get it.
Pro tip: You can get precut sets of different sizes from AliExpress for only a dollar or two.
If you are anywhere near an ACE hardware they carry it.
harbor frieight as well. i always buy marine tubing from them for that sweet, SWEET 3:1 shrink ratio.
Bonus: marine tubing usually has the sealant that bubbles out nicely and seals up the ends really well.
yep. but i mostly use it for the ratio. if you want el-cheapo marine tubing you can cut up a hot glue sticks into 1-2mm slices and halve those if using small diameter wire. but before you slide the normal tubing on, slip in a few of the hot glue chips. then melt the tubing starting in the middle workign outward. if you put in enough chips, it will seep out. but it might not make a water tight seal. i use this if 3:1 shrink dosent make sence (aka no large changes in width) and i feel there might be a need to reinforce the joint if i think it might break.
Temu has it for hella cheap, too.... also, if you're near a harbor freight, super cheap there, too. That's what I use.
Yeah I got a fuck ton from Temu for cheap
Wow, wtf are the downvotes for?! Saving money isn't a bad thing, and I know I'd rather order from temu and get it next week than aliexpress and have to wait a month or two. Sure, it *might* be cheaper, but I'm not going to even remember that I ordered it by the time it shows up.
Ace or Harbor freight, you have it today and support America. I suspect that’s why you’re being downvoted.
I uploaded you just for the word fuck ton 🤣🤣🤣
*upvot3d (damn speak to text)
I got some once, they weren't really the best quality. Like, not rubbery enough after shrunk. Might have been just my bad luck. Since I don't use it too often, I do prefer to buy some in electronics store. I mean, for me a meter of it lasts a while.
Personally I much prefer rolls that I can cut to size. A lot less waste most of the time
They sell precut shrink tube assortment kits at harbor freight too, and decent quality. I think it was only like 6 or 7 bucks for the one I got
Get "solder butt connectors." They're a type of precut shrink tubing with a ring of solder in the middle, which melts when the tubing is heated. As long as the wires are properly spliced (look up "Western Union splice") before the butt connectors are applied, thin wires like those don't need any solder applied with an iron.
While this is fine they are way more expensive per connection and if the desire is to learn this isn’t the way, they can’t be used in every scenario although they are really fast and easy
TIL, there’s a name to everything. I’ve been splicing wires like that without realizing there’s a name for it. 😂
Heh, you said butt
Butt refers to the ends of wires. Do not use them on your ass!
Human centipede
I've never had any luck with those.
For the future it will be easier to put the tube on before connecting the ends.
Unless the wires can be disconnected somewhere beyond the soldered joints, it is too late. You will have to de-solder in order to get the tubes on.
Also, put the tubing on one end down the line before you solder!
Everything eventually fails.
Remembering to put the shrink tube on BEFORE soldering is a lesson you learn once and then forget ten times. Who can vouch for this?
I feel seen.
absolutely i cant tell you how many wires i need to redo in my engine bay right now just cant do it till im home
I still do this after a good 20 years of practice… And keep it as far away from the iron as possible because sometimes they’ll start shrinking a little prematurely - especially if you’re preheating the wire a lot and soldering hot with lead-free.
Only ten? LOL...
no it's not fine first, in any serious professional setting, soldering wires together at all is completely frowned upon. Your wire is flexible becase the individual hair-like strands inside is free to slip and slide around one-another. when you solder it together, it can't do that, so there's a huge concern about those strands breaking around where the soldered region ends. I understand that in a hobby setting you probably don't care as much, but keep the soldered region small, like 2mm, you don't have to twist them together, it doesn't make it stronger if you do twist it together. And don't complain that it's difficult to hold two wires together without twisting them together. Instead, rethink your method. First, tin one wire, leaving a largish blob of solder on the end of the wire. Second, tin the second wire, leaving a largish blob of solder on the end of the second wire. Third, heat up the blob on the first wire until it melts again, then slide the second wire into that blob. You can accomplish this without any "third hand" tool.
Almost every word you wrote is incorrect! Soldering wires together happens each and every day in a professional setting. Making a strong MECHANICAL connection is a must! Never just lay two wires side by side and stick them together. There should be no "blobs" anywhere in soldering. One thing that was accurate, make your connections over as small an area as possible.
Exactly
if you are stressing your wire that it must need to be twisted together before soldering, you have a serious design problem. Your wire isn't a harness meant to handle loads soldering is frowned up on all automotive, industrial, and probably a few more industries, the risk of a fracture is so high, butt crimps exist for a reason
I'm not sure what your envisioning here, but I don't know of anytime anyone would recommend using electrical harnesses as part of a support structure. That said a good MECHANICAL connection of wires to be soldered is soldering 101. You are directly speaking to my industry when you say automotive and heavy industrial. We will choose soldering over a butt splice 95% of the time. Yes a butt splice does exist for a reason, but it is usually not the best choice. You are trying to imply that all wiring is constantly being subjected to flexing and stress along its entire length, this is rarely the case and most of us in industry are professional enough to engineer our products to place splices at very specific locations that will be designed for those conditions. True you would not choose to place a solder joint through a bulkhead or at a hinge point, but I would also hope that would be common sense. Soldering as a connection method is used throughout the automotive and industrial product industries in order to get a high connectivity, low resistance connection, and to say otherwise is patently incorrect. Your butt splice will adversely effect the electrical properties of a connection when compared to a properly produced solder connection every time.
I've been through training that drilled through my head that a properly done crimp mashes the atoms of copper together so tightly that it's a homogenous section of metal, it goes directly against your argument of achieving high conductivity.
We are discussing in r/soldering not r/crimping.
>a properly done crimp mashes the atoms of copper together so tightly First: WTF are you even talking about? You're not performing atomic fusion. Second: Show me one technical manual that uses the term "mash". Third: Does crimping "mAsH tHe AtOmS tOgEtHeR sO tIgHtLy" that it's waterproof? Let me see you get any heat shrink over a crimp connector. Finally, your crimp connections will encompass longer section of wiring than a small soldered repair would.
I have read that even nasa now prefers crimps to soldering in most applications that are not boards, because of the stress vibration brings to a solder joint if it is not properly “anchored” correctly.
Haha, NASA. They have probably forgotten how to properly solder, just like building spacecraft. We are defiantly NOT talking about any type air/space travel. On aircraft we would NEVER solder two wires together in order to repair/extend a wire. We would completely replace the wire from end to end, and yes the pins at each end of that wire would be crimped on.
We are discussing in r/soldering not r/crimping.
wow spreading misinformation mich.... EVERY industry has solder procedures, from NASA, all the way down to your local electrical provider. there are processes that can make a STRONGER solder joint then bare copper. it IS professional to solder wires in the correct way for the application. twists do make for a stronger conenction but you need enough loops for some slip to not occor.
If no tube can use some hot glue to isolate and protect. Not best but would likely work in a pinch.
Don't you need to do that prior to soldering though?
good enough for the girls I go out with.
😂😭
Go watch Ave on YouTube. Funny Canadian machinist guy, lots of variety of interesting topics. He says that
“I said to the wife, do you want a quickie, or the full two minutes”
Ave is awesome, seconding that.
Just checked AvE out. His use of the word "bumfuckery" got him a new sub. Appreciate the recommend!
What's wrong?
The exposed copper is too long, you want it to be the shortest possible. 1cm or less
Okay, I'll try next time. Thank you!
id say practice [the linemans splice (makezine.com)](https://makezine.com/article/technology/computers-mobile/how-to-splice-wire-to-nasa-standards/) it makes a splice thats as strong or better as the OG wire
It's really overkill, if i recall correctly NASA uses a straight slice with just the 2 tinned wires stuck side by side. Don't quote me on that, if the NASA soldering guy is here he can correct.
yes overkill, but it serves 2 purposes. 1. builds good splice techniques. even if it dosent quite meet standards as set out for it it will be plenty for hobbyist needs. 2. bragging rights. that you can splice to nasa standards.
It’s because solder (if flowed correctly with enough flux to keep out contaminants) will be stronger than most multicore wires anyway. If the wire breaks under strain, 99.9% of the time the break will be adjacent to the solder, not the solder itself. Twisting the wires together adds bends and kinks that become weak points under strain
Someone on the ham world mentioned that NASA only allows crimped connections, not solder. Possible truth?
Aviation standard. Solder connections are rarely used in any place that doesn't have protection from vibrations or cycling. In some cases, solder splice is acceptable, but it's nore likely to be a solder sleeve. Solder can make the connection brittle and prone to fatigue failure.
not necessarally. it depends onm how you splice
If this was steel wire, it would be a good idea to apply active flux and use less solder.
I didn't really think about it, the wire was silvery in color. Thanks anyway! :)
Keep in mind that active flux can be quite harsh on the plating of your iron tip. Make sure you have got rid of most of it with brass wool or a sponge before putting fresh solder on the tip.
Not only that, but flux should be cleaned from wherever you applied it - such as the parts you’re soldering. IPA for rosin flux, distilled water (deionized preferred but that’s really it working with ESD devices) for water soluble. Use a q tip or bristle brush and dry immediately. While no clean flux doesn’t have to be cleaned, it’s still good practice to
Yes, exactly what this guy says. 👆
Spray on flux cleaner is a god send. Get several bottles and replace them when they run out.
I will keep it in mind
just use no-clean flux. and then cleaning is optional.
The problem is that it's steel wire, and no-clean isn't going to accomplish anything for you except a bigger mess.
now i havnt seen all types of wire, but for electrical/hobbyest use, i have never seen steel used. its usually copper or aluminum plated copper.
Mystery cheapo silver-stranded wire. Might as well be pot metal for all we know.
and for industreial purposes true. but for hobbiest purposes it will do. its ususally copper cored. and they coat it in aluminum to save a few cents.
Sigh... Had it been tinned copper, then OP wouldn't have used that much solder in the attempt to make it stick. Mystery silver-stranded a.k.a. "Chinesium" wire is cheap, and if you get a roll of wire with no markings from your local bargain bin, then it's usually mystery silver strands for the core. "Cheap" is keyword here, industrial or hobbyist. Keep that in mind.
The wire is almost certainly tinned copper if it was silvery in color.
Soldering is fine 😊 the joins are much longer than they need to be (not a big deal). Some suggestions for next time: offset the joins of each wire (it will help keep the cable fix smaller and more flexible, and reduce the risk of contact from wear over time) and pop a bit of shrink tube before you join the ends and then shrink it after soldering. Good job on a first soldering fix!
Perfect thanks!
1 or 2mm of contact would be plenty and I would stagger the breaks so they don't have chance of rub I'm also assuming you're using heat shrink, or even multiple layers of heat shrink
1mm? I dont think I've ever had a soldering iron with a tip that fine.
Sure, I understand. I use an old Wen 250 with a piece of 10 gauge solid copper wire bent in U shape as my "soldering tip" and its far thicker than 1mm. I'm still able to do this type of 1 or 2mm bared wired soldering. Place 1, 2 or 3 heat shrink pieces on one of the broken wires. Bare 1 or 2mm of each wire to be soldered. Flux and tin each exposed area. Bring wire pieces together and touch the tinned area of each (erm somewhat quickly). Solder flows and connection is made. Apply heat shrink 1, then 2, then 3. If each heat shrink is longer than the last you'll only have 1 seam. Hope this helps. I'm away from home atm and unable to provide video example.
It looks absolutely fine, good first solder job! Did you twist the wires together first or just spliced them straight? I always take as long leads but use a U turn hook and twist them over each other, that way it's a solid connection even without solder. Oh and run the naked wire through solder paste before twisting them. Iron under the wires and wait till the wire accepts the solder and it gets wicked right inside.
Thank you! Yes I twisted them at the beginning, I will try as you say to put them in the solder immediately!
in the solder? did you use a solder pot?
You should've added heat shrinking tube before soldering, but otherwise... Acceptable i suppose. Might break from bending
I didn't have the tube, I used insulating tape, it shouldn't bend because it's inserted inside an aluminum tube. Thanks anyway! :)
If they stick together and electrons flow, it’s good. If you want to get really fancy, grab some spare wire and practice the Western Union Splice. I would imagine it would be more difficult with stranded wire but it makes a tight coil that soaks up solder nice, the wires mechanically hold each other, and it shortens the amount of exposed wire. https://preview.redd.it/bqcvosv0jpad1.jpeg?width=460&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c8e8933d14c2027649d52639d036507b545850d9
Looks like that's for solid core cable and not stranded. It's be a bitch to do with stranded wire
it can be used for stranded, but you do need to twist it before hand.
These joints are good but most end up being too big to fit into shrink tube. Not many choices at the store. Unless you have many sizes. Not to long ago I ended up buying those 20ft rolls of every size for about the 2ft per year that I need. But worth it.
perfectly functional I've had apprentices who didn't do this well their first time, but two things i see right away is that you used too much solder (you can see it clumping in spots) and the splices are too big.
Yes, it seemed too much for me too, but for the splices I was afraid that the plastic would melt, next time I'll make it shorter. Thank you!
you shouldn't need to hold the iron there long enough to melt the insulation having a properly cleaned and tinned tip will help with heat transfer and the more you do the quicker you'll get. when splicing i usually leave 5-6mm or about a 1/4 inch of copper exposed.
I will keep it in mind
Honestly not bad because I can not do that myself😞 I don’t own flux and my soldering iron needs to be cleaned again because it’s to dirty to melt solder properly
You should get it, I've seen a couple of videos on how it works and that it is better with the paste, it doesn't cost too much, I got it for 6 euros with prime
I know it’s just not common around here. We had like 3 hardware stores near here and none of them know what flux is
Can't use Amazon?
I don’t own cash on delivery. Plus dito sa Palawan we use Shopee or Lazada. Paano i am not that motivated to order them online just because it’s like a small container maybe if I’ll buy a new solder set but as of now I can’t afford much
I understand
Other then what others have said, avoid the sharp edges with more flow. Sharp edges can pierce insulation and cause shorts
Thing is focus on if your learning is size, this joint does not need to be this big, generally on 1mm wire 10-15mm of stripped insulation is all you need. Also when you're twisting then try not to leave any tails, the little single strands of wire hanging out are going to cause issues. It'll poke though any insulation you apply, heatshink can get caught and split. With tape it's less obvious and can just push through after some vibration. Best case it gives moisture a way in and your joint corrodes, worst case it shorts and blows something. You'll inevitably end up with some when you're starting out, either redo them. Or squash the tails down with some pliers. 15 years as an Auto elec
I've seen way worse first time jobs. You have some learning to do, but it's not hideous.
Looks fine. When possible it's a good idea to stagger the cuts so they don't line up.
Looks good enough for government work. Definitely get some shrink wrap to keep them from shorting out
Joints look fine, just a bit long but NBD unless this needs to be flexible. Heat shrink tubing will make you feel like a pro when you start using it.
Why did you solder so much. 2mm is enough already
Why so much soldered wire? Smaller cuts would be my suggestion for less soldered cable. Unless there is a reason for them being so long.
No, now I understand, I'll make smaller cuts
Your good but either trim the wire or use less solder
I’d recommend a little shorter and doing a lap solder. Can probably google it.
Not bad for your first time. Remember that a solder joint has two components, electrical and mechanical. Your job met both requirements good electrical bond and strong mechanical coupling.
It’s decent, but you need to clip those sharp spikes as they can poke through the heat shrink tube.
Heat shrink tubing has left the chat.
Soldering is clean, so good there. But....the leads are way too long, and there's no heatshrink tubing.
You should make your wire leads waaayy shorter. They don’t need to be long at all to connect. Put some flux of the end of the wires and get at it!
Looks fine, a few spiky bits i can see which suggests not enough heat in some places. Overall good for a first attempt. Tip: you don’t need to have such long sections of wire in your splices. 5-10mm is fine.
Concur. Not bad for a first attempt. They get better and better over time and practice! *definitely agree on having a shorter splice. it's easier to manage, protect, and less chance of breaking. electrically, OPs work will be fine. **I would be a lot harsher if the person was an EE, of course lol.
Another photo https://preview.redd.it/ulcmhzkhyoad1.jpeg?width=2268&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6ce80360596f4ea55d77c66081edbc84d6bccc33
Soldering itself looks fine but why did you leave the exposed copper soooo long?
Not terrible but a good rule of thumb is to try and expose less of the wire, take both stripped wires and either push them together and twist or just twist them... there are various techniques you can learn but make sure to get some shrink tubing if you can or some quality 3m electrical vinyl tape that won't back off the wires
too long. YOu only need to solder a cm of wire at most. You also have sharp jaggies sticking out ... also no good. twist the wires tightly together next time. And it looks like you forgot to put on heat shrink tubing before soldering. Rookie mistake.
the longer the soldered portion is, the stiffer it makes the wire and more prone to breakage.
Yep, all this is what I understood about my mistakes
Stagger the splices
Red ones not bonded. Tin wires first then re-work.
👀 Ooofah
That’s about what my first solders looked like too. A little heat shrink and they’ve been fine.
It's not stupid if it works
Personally I don’t twist the wires before, I swist them together and then solder them
Ideally it is far too long and looks like it might be a bit of a cold joint. I’ve seen worse. Run it u til it fails (if it fails) unless it’s a critical application
No.. but youll get better. Keep this picture so you can look back and see how far youve come later
Where is the shrink tubing? It should be on the wire before you start so you can slide it up and shrink it.
It’s perfect. Just need to wrap them to prevent shorting. Heat shrink tubing is pretty easy.
That’ll work. I’ve soldiered hundreds of times and mine don’t look that much better. But some shrink sleeves tho. Looks way more pro.
If wire length isn't an issue this could and should have been shortened to a single connection that was 1/5th the length of this one or less. Or if the length is needed, a stub extension wire with a joint on each end should be used and heat shrink on the outside of that. The biggest problem with a joint like this is that the solder turns it into a non flexible length. It may not be a problem if the wire isn't meant to move, but it will make for a potential weak spot at the end of the inflexible section.
Not the worst, you will learn the more you try. I recommend staggering your joints so they lay together nicer and don't forget the heat shrink next time.
“When did his house burn down” “It burned down… wait how did you know his house burned down?”
Clean off the flux with IPA and add a shrink tube tube or tape (as others have mentioned).
You are stripping way too much wire and putting too much solder on. Small clean connections look more professional and use less material
to me, the black is perfect, but the white and red have a few troo many pointies for me. trim the pointies down with some flush cutters, and shrink wrap them and they are golden,
Good job on your first solder although you could’ve make it shorter. i personally would avoid having some spiky solder and that stringy copper bcs yeah might poke something if it’s sharp enough and can cause some shorting.
Comments, 1, Soldering is good, it is well heated. 2, the open connection is too long, mostly 1/5 inch is enough 3, not sure if that orange thing is soldering paste? If yes, too much paste
It'll work. Next time make the joints smaller (about 1/3 that length), and heat shrink them. Another trick is to stagger the splices so they don't all line up side by side.
Did you heat the wire and let the solder sink into it?
It should be fine. There is a tool called helping hands that would make easy work of this. It has 2 alligator clips on both ends that makes lining them up so much easier. The only thing you are missing is some heat shrink over the soldered connections and you are golden.
Dude it’s 10x better than my first solder.
aren't you not supposed to solder wires together because there is a mechanical weak spot where the flexible wire meets the ridgid solder soaked wire? To be robust it would need strain relief beyond what typical heat shrink tubing would provide I think.
Perfecto 🤌
heat shink heat shrink heat shrink
Just the soldering part, if this is 1st time ever, not bad at all
The solder connection is good but that's sooooo much exposed wire. If this is for practice then great but do not do this if it's on a project. Use shrink wrap or hot glue or something
Looks good. My only suggestion would be to not cut all the wires in the same spot/length. If possible, cut the wires about an inch from where the last repair ends. That way, none of the repairs have the possibility of coming in contact with one another.
Need to trim sharp edges and like other comments shrink tube if the other ends aren’t connected.
Imo, if you're just trying to join 2 wires together, use wire nuts or crimp beans. That will definitely work though, depending what you're doing
Y not use a coupler but yes great job
For first time soldering? Everything is ok as long as it works. Is it going to break? Pretty much guaranteed, but you get to do it again, hopefully gaining some knowledge of why it broke in the process and doing a better job of it the next time. Look up "lap splice soldering" for an example of how its done and how it should look when properly performed. Soldering is a skill, and like all skills can only be acquired and improved through practice & repetition.
Too much exposed wire .
Yes, I would work on making your splices shorter. I don't always mechanically join them either. If it's low current tin both wires, hold one above the other and touch it with the iron for a second
It will work if you cover those up with some electrical tape or put heat shrink on next time
Looks good. Doesn’t have to be that long. Just cut and strip 1/4” (6mm) twist and solder. If using the shrink tube be sure to slide it on first.
No
Needs more solder for your solder
If it's just for practice, then yes, but just twisting them together or using clamp tubes is a better way to connect these
That's fuckin NASA level bro your good!
Next time stagger them so if one rubs through the shrink tube it wont short. Clean with ispropyl or toluene (even if it looks clean..its not, previous manufacters pvc/wire making process leaves residual oils, as does your fingers when you manipulate the wire. Many first timers underestimate the power of minuscule oils and wonder why solder wont stick) Make good mechanical connection first, hook/loop or western union joint is best Flux wires Solder Clean excess Flux with isopropyl or toluene again Shrink individual wires(tape is for emergencies only, or "a temporary solution to a future problem" lol) Shrink bundle last (totally optional, makes it look even nicer IMHO)
If it works, it's ok. Honestly should've used less solder, and stripped less wire, or trimmed it down after stripping. if you use that much you can make the whole joint more fragile since solder isn't very flexible.
No, you need to put some insulation on it. Insulating tape for a start.
You can seal it with a hot glue gun too. Been doing it for years.
Your much better than me
As others have noted, the you don’t need to have nearly this length of wire actually soldered. This will probably be fine as-is with two layers of heat shrink as long as it’s not subject to vibration or movement.
For your first time it's not bad at all. As others have said here, Use shrink tubing, the benefit of that over other things like solder butt connectors is that you just have to have a few sizes of shrink tubing and they are dirt cheap, just use the smallest one that fits, cut it to size. For soldering wires like this flux core works a little cleaner as well as being faster and easier. You sure used A LOT of solder for those wires over a long length, nothing wrong with that, but it is way more than necessary. Half of that would have been more than fine. By the discoloring of the wire shielding I can tell it spent a lot of time hot, again, fine for your first time, certainly looks better than my first. For wires like this though, get flux core solder, any cheap wall outlet soldering iron will do, Tin the tip of your iron. Tinning your soldering iron is just melting some solder on it to improve heat conductivity. IT WORKS. Don't forget to slide the smallest size of shrink tubing that will fit that is cut to the length of the joint over the wires. Then touch the tip of your tinned iron to the wires you want to solder, hold some solder against the wire that is not in direct contact with the iron. When it melts it will permeate the wire quite fast, as soon as it does, pull away and you're done, just pull the heat shrink tubing over the joint and use a lighter or heat gun to shrink it. Also if you want stronger joints without using so much length, fray the ends of your wires, push the ends together, then twist, that gives the solder much more surface area to bond to between each wire, as opposed to just where the wires are twisted together.
Don't need to expose so much wiring.. solder a small area instead of such a long length of exposed wire. Heat shrink before the solder helps. Also if your worried about metal from each wire touching the others you can stagger locations so when pulled taunt they can't touch..
i usually braid and heatshrink or crimp and heatshrink but this is nice for a first time soldering are you wrapping in electrical tape or is your shrink off camera would love to see it all done and covered
That depends on how you define okay. It's looks a bit messy but hopefully no cold soldering points. You can always add a little flux and heat it up to h ave the solder reflow a bit better. I wouldn't be too worried though. What are these cables used for?
No, god no. The solder hasn’t even flown correctly.
These are long and brittle, 1-2mm is best, make sure to use flux that surrounds the entirety of the exposed metal to shield it from oxygen gas in the atmosphere, else you will get cold welds which is why you see those two little wire frays sticking out of the solder.
Not bad but you should get some shrink tube it’s really cheap and a lot better than tape
Does the trick
A bit excessive, but nothing inherently wrong with it. It will work fine. As others have said, shrink tubing would be a great addition. Electrical tape in a pinch is fine, but the tape will fail after a while.
soldering job looks fine, you just don't need to use that much length to join some wires. But the joints looks solid, well done!
Um....at least the wires are soldered together. As you get better, you'll learn how to not have a huge length of wires to run the solder across. You realistically only need like a quarter of each wire exposed, wrapped around each other, fluxed, then soldered. Since it's your first time, I'll go easy. If this was a job by an experienced tech, I'd can their ass.
Up votes for everyone 🎉
https://preview.redd.it/vp6s5uwqwgbd1.png?width=244&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e682c3d15eb7c890d172cf76deac4389655691d7
Make your twists tighter. You want the joint to occupy as little space as possible, without adding too much bulk heat shrink cannot go on. Your connections look solid, but you might have overdone the solder. Just use enough for it to soak into the wires, and that’s about it.
Why wouldn’t you crimp the wires? Wouldn’t it give a better connection?
It should work. You can go get some packages of heat shrink tubing just by the right size you can usually get them at any auto parts store in a pack of like a couple hundred for a couple dollars. That's probably somewhere near 18 gauge wire to 22 gauge so get the heat shrink tubing and put it over the soldered pieces and all you need to do is use like a torch lighter or even a lighter and just go over the heat shrink tubing quickly all around it. There's tons of videos on YouTube that can show you how to do this. Also if you have a 3D printer, you can build what's called a soldering wire holder which places your two pieces of wire to where it will hold them right next to each other and you just solder the ends and it makes it much easier. I believe you can buy some of these as well at a store but I'm not sure of the correct to name of them. Also, I would start over and you only want to cut about an eighth of the wire off of the end on each side because those wires are too long on the exposed part. You don't need to twist the The wire strands around. Just hold the two ends to where they are touching and put your soldering iron and solder right over top and you'll get a good soldering connection.
You forgot the heat shrink tubing - unless you're planing to rubber dip them.
Might want to jack up your house insurance
Not bad actually. Just work on controlling those pokey bits. You want it smooth
Decent for your first try. you should shorten the leads a bit and as mentioned elsewhere, use heat shrink. for outdoors, use adhesive lined waterproof heatshrink. Also, I just use rosin core solder instead of paste flux. twist the wires together, melt a small blob onto the tip then bring the tip under the wire to be soldered. The molten solder will help bring the wire up to temp faster. Add more solder by melting it on the exposed wire (use the work to melt the solder not the iron) until the joint is covered. trim any sharp points with cutters. slide the heatshrink over the joint and heat.
Yes
Thank you :)
Yes, good job.
Use crimps instead
What the fuck
Better than my first time lol. I don't even solder wires much anymore. If I can I just use solder seal wire connectors they're amazing. Just strip the wires, insert each end into the tube, heat the tube up with a heat gun (I use a lighter most the time lol) then throw a shrink tube over and call it a day
Oh ya perfect