Having trouble soddering new plugs - any advice

[Tidybuoy]

I'm replacing the main wire harness plug fittings due to an unfortunate error on my part. Does anyone have any advice for soddering this type of fitting (see below), some of the wires are pretty small diameter and after I finish soddering from the top, the wire is still loose.





Any advice would be great!

[James Brown]

clean, use plenty of flux, tin the wire, heat the pin hot. or you can buy pin ends already soddered to short wars but then you have to splice them in, might be just a pain in the ass as this is.

[dentist90]

Part of the problem may be that the pliers are acting as a heat sink: the pin gets hot but any heat reaching the copper is transferred to the pliers. If you were trying with an electric soldering iron try a little butane torch instead, and aim a bit of heat on the plier tip as well.

[timmy2]

Heat sink is your problem. Use a "helping hands" style electrical clip to hold the terminal. Harbor freight has them.
Once the solder starts to melt and move into the void, move and hold the tip of the iron to the edge of the terminal so it and the wire heat up together and while feeding more solder to the pool, allow the solder to all melt and form a pool. Then pull away the iron and let it all cool.

[T77911S]

what timmy said

I tin the wire if it will still fit in the hole.
I just hold the wire up so the connector does not fall off. I have done enough soldering where I can hold the wire and the solder in the left hand and the iron in the right.
start with applying solder to the iron, that helps to transfer heat to the connector and wire.

you don't need a lot of flux. sometimes I will just dip the tip of the solder in paste flux. I try not to use flux but there are times that it is needed.
that looks pretty clean, tin the wire and you probably don't need any

[Dr DIY]

My main plug is cracking and will need replacement the next time I pull the motor. I was hoping to pull the pins and transfer them to the new plug without resoldering. Is this realistic? I haven't actually pulled the plug apart but it appears doable.

[911tracker85]

sorry for the ignorant question, but what do you mean by 'tin the wire'?

[blucille]

Dr DIY....yes, just transfer the pins

911tracker, tin the wire means to apply a coat of solder to the wire before trying to solder it to the pin

[MBAtarga]

Tinning wire means to precoat the wire with solder - which allows the solder to wick up within the multiwire strands. Then when ready to solder to the pin, as soon as the temperature is high enough to melt solder, any newly applied solder will quickly mechanically connect the pre-tinned connector pin with the pre-tinned wire.

[Tidybuoy]

Originally Posted by Dr DIY

My main plug is cracking and will need replacement the next time I pull the motor. I was hoping to pull the pins and transfer them to the new plug without resoldering. Is this realistic? I haven't actually pulled the plug apart but it appears doable.

Yes, you should be able to transfer the existing pins to the new plug. In my case, I melted the primary power wire when I connected the voltage regulator incorrectly. Thanks to Timmy2, I have all new wiring at the rear but I wanted to change out the pins since some of them are now bad.

[Tidybuoy]

Thanks for all the advice, I think I can get it right the second round.

Last Question: Going to Home Depot at lunch, is there any specific sodder that I should be buying. The sodder I was using is what came with the soddering iron but I'm going to need to buy some more since that was just a sample size. Same question for flux. I suppose I can bring my glasses and read the labels too.

[timmy2]

If you can find 60/40 rosin core get it.

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by timmy2

If you can find 60/40 rosin core get it.

I posted a thread several years ago asking the question of what type of solder I should use. I posted a pic of my plumbing solder gear.

My ass was handed to me (in a nice way)

I don't think you can find electrical solder at Home Depot or Lowes.

I went to an electrical place that had a wide array of stuff. They said I needed this (pic below) and rosin stuff in a bottle. Bottle was a lifetime supply but I spilled it. I still solder with the skinny wire but it works fine without the rosin.

Timmy2, is the 60/40 rosin core skinny like this wire? Mind you I electrically soldered with plumbing solder for 40 years before posting the question so I am a full noob wrt solder.

[Tidybuoy]

I found "electrical" solder at home depot. I also got a small tub of flux.

I spoke to one of our mechanics at my plant and he told me they have everything I need so I will stop by our maintenance dept and see if it is any different. I think I am good to go and I will probably practice a bit on my bench top before I take the plunge. Thanks for all the tips, it's helpful.

[timmy2]

60/40 Rosin Core Solder | eBay

Bob, rosin core means the core is loaded with the cleaning flux so you don't have to apply more to both the wire and terminal to clean. The flux mentioned is first used to clean really dirty terminals or wire, so the solder will bind properly. I clean old terminals with flux and then always use rosin core solders
It is available in many diameters, likely even the size in your obsessively clean hand in the photo...