Soldering 4MM Plugs
 

Hello,

Just picked up some Trakpower packs and I'm about to solder up the leads and I just figured I'd ask you guys what the hot setup is for soldering this type of lead (those 4mm Team Orion twisted gold plugs)?

Thanks

DM

These are what I used with great results:
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXJPY4&P=ML

I guess what I'm asking is what is the soldering technique used on these...with the deans it was very easy...tin the wire, tin the solder tab, join, add more solder, shrink wrap. With these, I can't seem to make it work if I tin the plug...it fills with solder and I can't seem to get my wire deep enough for a good fit...what did you do?

Thanks,

DM

I use the orion plugs with no problems..

I fill the plug with sauter, tin the wire, put flux on the plug, flux the wire and once the sauter in the plug starts melting i push in the wire, i hold the sauter on there for around 5 seconds so it gets hot enough and i wait till it hardens.

flux really is the key to a good solder joint. I gets the solder flowing and takes the crap out of the joint.

At what temp are you soldering? You should be able to touch the iron to the outside of the connector and get the solder flowing/melted by touching the solder to the connector. If your iron isn't getting the connector hot enough to do this within a few seconds, your iron isn't getting hot enough. Either that or it's having trouble holding its temp when you touch it to the connector.

It sounds like you aren't getting the connector hot enough to melt the solder that is inside the little socket (where the wire would sit). Once all the solder is in liquid form, the wire should slide right in.

Another thing you could try is to ( with a dremel ) cut a "V" slot in the plug - tin the wire - tin the plug and then while heating up the plug - slide the wire into the plug - the heat from a good soldering iron should be no problem - thats the way Monster Mike and I have done these plugs in the past - good luck...

Make sure that you are using a large enough tip too. I use a 5mm 700* chisel tip when I solder the 6mm plugs. If you are using a conical tip, that come standard on many irons, it may not be transferring enough heat, even though the temp is hot enough.

Yep, I agree.

The other thing is to make sure that once the wire is inserted into the hot solder in the connector, hold the iron on it long enough to wick the solder onto the wire.

Rosin Core Solder is what you want to use. Most flux is acidic (and better used for soldering copper water pipe).

And acid-core is VERY bad for PCBs!

I seem to have a different technique than most of you guys. Instead of tinning everything first, I first slip the wire into the plug. Then I clamp the plug in my vice, and touch the iron to the exposed wire/end of plug. I put some solder on to allow better heat transfer, and as each strand heats up, I add more and more solder. In the end, I get strong joints that have yet to fail me (and I've done 30+ 4mm connectors).

I do it this way because I couldn't imagine slipping 12ga. wire into a 4mm plug with solder on it already.

I've done it both ways. I like the insert wire first (a little flux on it helps) then solder. Makes it a bit easier with large wire if the fit is pretty tight. A good hot iron with chisel tip is nice. How many watts is your iron?

I keep forgetting that there is soldering stuff out there for something other than electronics. When you get your soldering supplies, don't get them at the hardware store. Most of that stuff is geared toward soldering copper pipe. For most fine soldering, I use a flux pen that I got from either circuitspecialists or digikey, I don't remember which. I also like to use silver solder. It works very well and is strong.

I made some up last night. I do actually have a pretty good iron...one with the dial base and all. I usually use 700-750 degrees. My biggest problem was no way could I get all of the deans 12 gauge wire in there. I had to strip off some of the wire to get it to fit with NO solder on it. In the end I used MetalMan's method. I flux'ed the heck out of the wire and connector then I inserted it into the connector leaving a small amount of wire exposed on top, then I applied heat and solder, it made a very nice joint, solder flowed into the connector and I couldn't pull it apart. I then put two layers of shrink and called it a day. I do feel like maybe using 14 guage wire may be a better move as no stripping would be needed. I may make some new one's up with the 14 ga stuff later.

Thanks guys.

I've never had any trouble getting tinned 12GA wire into the 4mm connections. Although, I twist the end tightly and then tin the wire just enough to get solder in between the wires so the result is no bigger than the original wire.

Time for you guys to upgrade to 5.5 or 6mm connectors!

12g installs easily.

These are made by NEU by the way. I'm sure Mike can get them.

I doubt if neu made them, they are available from several other sources.

These plugs are not the way to go. they get loose from time to time, the material deforms. While the 4mm plugs use a spring kind of thing to keep in place, this is just solid metal (brass type of stuff, not known for its flexibility.)

While they might look nice and are good for static use.. they can't stand too much abuse. If you want a good plug, get powerpoles. they are great. Too bad Deans doesn't make a 3pole plug.. they should make their plugs about 1.3 times the size they now have. That would be great IMO.

They are on the NEU website. They are a NEU product. However I can't guarantee that they manufactured them however.

I can guarantee you they are not.. :p

A little off topic, but has anyone seen their lipos? They seem to have a decent discharge curve, even at 20C. Not sure how they compare in price to the top-of-the-line cells though as I'm too cheap. :)

OK Serum,

Why won't they take abuse? What do you define as abuse?

I have them. I also have 4mm's. The 6mm's look & fit very well IMO.

Share more of what your thinking................

Once you bend the plug in the socket it's loose.. as simple as that. I used the 5.5's which have more material around the contact thingies.

They fit very well.. Bend it and it's loose..

The answer is simple: don't bend it and it won't get loose. :)

Well they probably didn't design it with "Ham Fisted" RC Bashers in mind! :005:

JK. I've had no issues with mine yet. Maybe you got a bad batch (soft alloy).

Nope, i got mine from BK, and some from Mike, and Dafni had the very same problem with his. since these plugs I am not too keen on contacts without any form of spring.

Ok, leaving aside all the big wire in small hole jokes, I wonder if the size of the hole on the 4mm connector differs from brand to brand...which one's are you using because I seriously could not fit the 12GA Deans wet noodle wire in there with no solder...please advise which brand (and PN if you have it) 4mm connector you are using.

DM

I know I have used Deans wire and the 4mm connector that comes with the MM system. I've also done it with another brand connector, but don't know the name. Sorry I couldn't be more descriptive, but I usually throw away the package once I dump the connectors in my connector tray...

If I can remember to do so, I'll briong in my 4mm connectors. I have a couple new bags of them. I can measure the I.D. of the wire insertion point.

(that sounds way to technical...sorry, I'm in an engineering mindset. Been pouring over tech specs & blueprints for 3 days straight!) :dft002: :confused: :024:

I have some 3.5 or 4mm plugs that i got from FD. I belive they are shulze plugs, the ends (shocket) are bigger than other plugs . I just stripped a 1/4 inch of deans wet noodle wire & it slid right into the plug with no problem..