As the question suggests I've stupid question to ask about binding posts.
The speaker connectors on the UcD modules are sized to take either 1.25mm or 2.5mm cable. clamping the wire into the connectors is child's play but soldering the other end on decent sized speaker posts is a nightmare.
either my iron is just too small but I really struggle to make the joint and the merest puff of wind and the joint breaks. smaller posts and smaller wire works fine, but having imported these damn things from HK I don't want to give up just yet.
Do I just need a bigger soldering iron capable of keeping the solder 'wet' long enough to fix, or am i missing a trick here.
regards
The speaker connectors on the UcD modules are sized to take either 1.25mm or 2.5mm cable. clamping the wire into the connectors is child's play but soldering the other end on decent sized speaker posts is a nightmare.
either my iron is just too small but I really struggle to make the joint and the merest puff of wind and the joint breaks. smaller posts and smaller wire works fine, but having imported these damn things from HK I don't want to give up just yet.
Do I just need a bigger soldering iron capable of keeping the solder 'wet' long enough to fix, or am i missing a trick here.
regards
give us a play by play of your technique, first thing that comes to mind is that your not cleaning and tinning the leads correctly.
The tinning all goes fine, it the attaching to the binding posts that does work. The more solder I add the bigger the lump on the end of the wire gets.
I've tried holding the iron against the posts but they don't get hot enough to melt the solder on the wires. it's as if the mass of the tinned wire and the thickness of the posts combines to make it impossible for everything to be hot enough to adhere one surface to another
I've tried holding the iron against the posts but they don't get hot enough to melt the solder on the wires. it's as if the mass of the tinned wire and the thickness of the posts combines to make it impossible for everything to be hot enough to adhere one surface to another
Sounds like your iron isn't powerfull enough to heat the posts to a high enough temp. to melt the solder to them.
Big posts can sink a lot of heat. Soldering them is not easy. You need a hot iron and a big tip.
One thing you can do is to remove all parts you can from the post. The less metal mass there is, the quicker you can heat it. If there are parts you can't remove, at least make them loose - it helps.
If that fails, time for bigger iron!
One thing you can do is to remove all parts you can from the post. The less metal mass there is, the quicker you can heat it. If there are parts you can't remove, at least make them loose - it helps.
If that fails, time for bigger iron!
I think that the leads are working as efficient heatsink in your case. You need at least 250 degree Celsius for exclent welding. If the mass of your heated part of iron is approx. the same as the mass of the cable the the temterature of connected material is lowered by factor of 2 faster then you can make a good job.
Another possibility is to heat up the iron to 500 deg. Celsius
I hope this help,
Ladislav
Another possibility is to heat up the iron to 500 deg. Celsius
I hope this help,
Ladislav
Big lugs take a lot of power to heat up for a good solder joint. It sounds like you aren't getting it hot enough for the solder to flow properly. You need a higher wattage iron and larger tip. I don't solder many large lugs, so can't justify a big iron, but the inexpensive butane powered torches with a soldering iron tip do the job just fine. Weller makes a nice one, or there are lots of ok imports.
Gentlemen
Many thanks for all your comments.
As you say, and as I suspected, I need a bigger iron or smaller binding posts.
The only other thing I could do is find a way to mechanically fix the wires to the posts. Time for a trip to Maplin.
Thanks again
Many thanks for all your comments.
As you say, and as I suspected, I need a bigger iron or smaller binding posts.
The only other thing I could do is find a way to mechanically fix the wires to the posts. Time for a trip to Maplin.
Thanks again
iwf said:
These things do the job and they are on special offer... a real bargain, I can't live without mine:
Turn it up
You can even get a blow torch attchment!!!
Last time, when I was soldering a wire to a thick sheet of copper I used two irons simultaneously. I helped me to make a good job. Maybe you could try the same.
Ladislav
Ladislav
thanks again guys.
I'm off to Maplan tomorrow and will look at both crimping and bigger irons.
just one final question.
Am i right to be using speaker cable to connect the amp modules to the lugs?
I'm off to Maplan tomorrow and will look at both crimping and bigger irons.
just one final question.
Am i right to be using speaker cable to connect the amp modules to the lugs?
I had the exact same problem with my WBT binding posts and purchased an 80 Watt soldering iron, which worked just fine. And I found this to be quite a bit cheaper than a gas soldering set.
Speaker wire is a good choice to connect the UcD-outputs to the binding posts. Try to get the twisted kind, in order to minimize the potential coupling of stray fields back to the UcD-inputs.
Kurt
Speaker wire is a good choice to connect the UcD-outputs to the binding posts. Try to get the twisted kind, in order to minimize the potential coupling of stray fields back to the UcD-inputs.
Kurt
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