@Hoaz
The basic idea of âtin the wire and the connector, then melt them togetherâ is correct. But youâve got to get everything HOT.
The solder on the wire should melt and wick into the wire to the point where the wire isnât any bigger than before it was tinned, and the connector should have a smooth, shiny, mercury-like puddle of solder on it.
(Also make sure your solder has flux in it. If not, you need an external source of flux, such as this.) Flux is very important, and you basically can never have too much.
Another VERY important safety tip if youâre soldering live (E.G. battery pack) wires: Solder one wire, heat shrink it, and ONLY then start working on the second. Having both conductors exposed at the same time while youâre working on them with a metallic object is a major nono.
@Hoaz Soldering is always tricky at first so you should practice on cheap connectors and wires. @MysticalDork is totally right.
You absolutely need 40/60 flux core solder
a soldering jig also comes in very handy
I use evrything i linked and i think they are great products. You can also get them from any website.
Plenty of videos on Youtube on how to solder.
There are 3 main steps
Tin the wire
Fill your connector half way with solder
Heat your solder in the connector and then slide your tinned wire inside and let it cool
You guys are absolutely correct. I have a cheap 30W Solder with a peak temp of 300 degrees. Thin tip. The only reason why I bought it was because it had rave reviews, and because it only cost 10 euros.
I did not use any flux, so I will definately get that. Fortunately, this is just connected to the VESC at the moment, and so it wonât cause any rookie issues. I will give this 30W another shot w/ Flux. IF that does not work, I will invest in a higher quality one! Though, I should probably get a new XT60 and thermal tubing too.
sounds like youâre using a low powered solder iron. You need a lot of heat for putting 12 awg on connectors like this. A lot of heat, and brevity. A lot of heat melts the solder quickly, and being breif doesnât give it time to melt anything else. So basically, way hotter iron, and work faster. And donât be afraid to use junk connectors like this to practice soldering skills. But donât put that in a board, it or you or both will die.
Charged battery to 48.0v average cell voltage was 4.02v. Unplugged charger and came back 30 mins later and it says 47.89v average cell voltage 4.98v is this normal?
Typo? If you meant 3.98 then yes itâs normal. Your batteries is cooling down and starting to show actual voltage. Your smart bms is also bleeding the imbalances. You can stop it from doing so if you want.
See you already got a lot of good direction from people here but didnât see this shared yet, thereâs a thread dedicated to soldering techniques and getting started things for soldering here How To Solder - The Thread
XT-90s and thick wire suck up a ton of heat so are a hard thing to learn on initially, Iâd suggest just soldering some thinner wires to each other first to get a feel for how it should go then just realize you need way more heat energy (watts) and time to make the same thing work on much thicker wire and big metal connector that is dissipating a lot of heat quickly.
Also when you solder XT60 or XT90, keep male and female plugged together. This ensures that if the pins get really hot, they wonât become misaligned.
Yes, I recommend getting a 5-pack of connectors. Theyâre useful to have, in all shapes and sizes. Iâve got a whole drawer in my organizer dedicated to various RC style connectors - bullets from 2mm to 8mm, small Molex or picoblade connectors for micro quads, as well as XT30s, XT60s, and XT90s, and beyond.
As for heat shrink, Iâve got three drawers in my organizer dedicated to small (1-6mm), medium (8-20mm), and large (25-35mm) heat shrink tubes. Can never have too much, especially when you can get like a 200-piece kit of assorted sizes for like $7.
gives so much peace of mind when everything is perfectly balanced
