Handle solder an XR-E or XP-E?

I was wondering if anyone had success in hand soldering either an XR-E or XP-LED. I've found a local supplier though they are just the LED without MCPCB attached.

In reading the data sheets for both they look like they would be a tricky hand solder and recommend re-flow soldering.

XP-E's are pretty easy, if you have a quality soldering station. The boards at the shoppe work well.

XR-E

scrape away the metal from the connections at the downside,
put a thin solder line on the upside contacts,
place the led and when finished, solder the wires on
not difficult
it gets a bit more tricky if You place the led and then do the initial/final soldering



PS: that is no important info, but I have kicked my soldering station about 2 years ago,
for a cheap 15 W iron doing everything better and being way smaller (better portable, needs no space at all).
If there ever is more power needed, I use a 100 W iron for that.
All soldering has improved considerably thanks to that change.

Re: XR-E

What kind of soldering station did you have?

I've yet to see a cheap iron come anywhere close to the ease of use and temperature control of a station, though you've got me on the portability.

Tekno_Cowboy, I use a simple 25w soldering iron. I've done Luxeon K2's before and have descent soldering skills. Just was not sure on how small the contact point is for an XR-E or XP-E to hand solder it.

I'm looking to do a 3 LED light and don't need to necessarily put the LEDs on an PCB if that simplifies things.

I guess I could use a hot plate if absolutely needed - never done it myself though have seen a few instructions on how to do it. I don't reflow so buying soldering paste will end up being a waste though.

Re: XR-E

Tekno_Cowboy said:

What kind of soldering station did you have?

I've yet to see a cheap iron come anywhere close to the ease of use and temperature control of a station, though you've got me on the portability.

Click to expand...

I use a Weller WLC-100 with a full range of tips for all my soldering. XR-E's are not too hard with the proper sized tips. I've even done some SMD work with the smallest tip. For around $100 you can get a full setup, soldering staion, multiple tips, desoldering bulb or braid, solder, flux.

About the only feature I've found myself missing that's available on more expensive stations is tip selection. The Weller offers a good range for most tasks, but the specialized tips for SMD work are a nice feature of the pricier stations. Those dual tips that heat both ends of SMD parts would make desoldering SMD parts much easier.

Re: XR-E

I guess I misunderstood, I meant that it was easy to reflow an XP-E to a board with a soldering iron.

The station I use is a Hakko 936. It's a great value, even if it does cost a bit more than some at $80-$100. I just used it to reflow some XP-E's to the boards sold over at the shoppe, with good results.

With one of the smaller tips, and a steady hand (meaning 5 shots of Basil Hayden's for me), you can solder the XR-E emitters without too much trouble.