Soldering Iron . 25 watt or 40 watt.

[ScooterMan101]

I have been trying to solder with a huge 90 watt, wide tip ( 10 mm wide tip ) soldering iron, and it is just not too easy.

What Soldering Iron ( Weller at the local hardware store ) is better 25 watt or 40 watt ?

Which is better for XT 60 and XT 90 Connectors ?

The 25 Watt I am guessing is better or good for circuit boards ?

 

[amberwolf]

Even a 15w works for small stuff, depends on what you're after.

You might want to look thru the many previous discussions for good recommendations. Some of them are found here:
https://endless-sphere.com/forums/search.php?keywords=Soldering+Iron*&terms=all&author=&sc=1&sf=titleonly&sk=t&sd=d&sr=topics&st=0&ch=300&t=0&submit=Search

 

[wesnewell]

Yeah, I've used my 30+ year old 40W weller for years for most everything, but when it came to desoldering lipo packs with high temp solder I had to go to a 100W iron. Doing bigger connectors I sometimes used a propane torch.

 

[ferret]

For XT 60 and XT 90 Connectors 40W is the minimum, 25W will not be enough.

Avner.

 

[spinningmagnets]

I am not sure what troubles you have been having with a 90W soldering iron on XT60's and XT90's. I can't count how many of those I have soldered up over the last few years. Also, I cut open the XT90's and use the 4.5mm pins and sockets on motor phase wires, since I have a bag full of XT90's handy. It takes time to get an order from china, so once I knew I liked XT90's, I ordered a big bag of male/female sets, so I have them on hand. They are cheap when ordered in bulk.

I have a small soldering iron that would be useful for soldering on electronics, like the mess inside the controller and chargers? However, I have never done that so far. That being said, I have soldered on 12ga and 10ga Hobby King wires quite often, along with the XT connectors...I wouldn't use a soldering iron with less than the 100W and fat tip. They get the job done fast and easy, once you have the technique that works.

 

[Ykick]

People get hung up on iron wattage when it’s actually the MASS of the tip which is what allows us to properly flow solder onto large workpieces.

Think of it sort of like voltage is to speed on our bikes? Soldering iron wattage is sort of what determines “temperature”.

Mass of the soldering tip is the “amount” or volume of temperature which can sink into the workpiece.

I easily solder battery tabs and 10-12ga wire into bullets and XT’s all the time using a 60W iron equipped with a “hammerhead” soldering tip.

Unfortunately, hammerhead tips appear to be harder and harder to find. I’ve seen people make them from copper ground lugs found at Home Depot. A large chisel tip can work too but hands down the best tip is the hammerhead, IMO.

 

[spinningmagnets]

I agree with ykick, a small tip will cool off fast when it touches anything that is at room temperature. It is the mass of the tip that has the major effect, because my soldering is usually done in two seconds.

 

[ScooterMan101]

Seeing the reply's and going back and thinking about it, it is ... Not the wattage that I am having some difficulty with , it is that the big Weller Soldering Iron I have has a wide 10 mm tip,

At home depot the available Wellers are 25 watt , 40 watt, and 80 watt , which is the one I have,

other than that is the adjustable ones that are also expensive, I do not do enough soldering to get one of those,

For now I will just try to do work with a 10 mm wide tip, although it is very hard to work on XT 60s with such a wide tip. ( I am not liking XT 60's much anyway as it is hard to separate the two halfs).

Wondering why some sellers of chargers are using XT 60's , I would prefer a spark resistant XT 90 , or even 45 amp crimp Anderson's even better, but I think, actually I have some experience with the Anderson' sparking when connecting Battery to Controller , and Charger to Battery, so would put up with the large spark resistant XT 90 's .

 

[Drunkskunk]

Weller irons have replaceable tips. have to considered getting a different tip?

High wattage makes the job easier. you get less heat soak into the surrounding parts when you use a high mass/high wattage iron that can swiftly melt the solder so you get the iron off the work piece faster. When I worked at a job that involved a lot of surface mount work, we used gas powered soldering irons. the tips had to be small, so the irons were equivalent of 100w electric irons. It allowed us to work fast and not destroy the board with heat soak.

 

[Ykick]

Seeing the reply's and going back and thinking about it, it is ... Not the wattage that I am having some difficulty with , it is that the big Weller Soldering Iron I have has a wide 10 mm tip,

At home depot the available Wellers are 25 watt , 40 watt, and 80 watt , which is the one I have,

other than that is the adjustable ones that are also expensive, I do not do enough soldering to get one of those,

For now I will just try to do work with a 10 mm wide tip, although it is very hard to work on XT 60s with such a wide tip. ( I am not liking XT 60's much anyway as it is hard to separate the two halfs).

Wondering why some sellers of chargers are using XT 60's , I would prefer a spark resistant XT 90 , or even 45 amp crimp Anderson's even better, but I think, actually I have some experience with the Anderson' sparking when connecting Battery to Controller , and Charger to Battery, so would put up with the large spark resistant XT 90 's .

I often wonder why people/vendors use XT90’s? Overkill for my 30A bikes. I’m okay with XT60’s and you can re-tension the pins if they’re really tight. Be careful, not too loose or they may arc.

However, for battery-controller connections I prefer a crimp connection (APP) since solder wick can often make cables ends brittle.

You should also solder XTs/bullets with the mating connector plugged in. This will act as a heat sink and prevent excess heat running up into the connector.