hows my soldering

[abarth_1200]

Just soldered up my W139 charger to accept RCR123 cells comparing it to darkzero's work, what do you think, did i get the wires in the right place, i know its not as tidy as his work i just want to make sure i dont short anything before i go firing it on charge

Any constructive criticism welcome as how to better solder:twothumbs

 

[Nos]

hmmmm, its seems to me like you solder on too low temperatur, or heat the points too short.

it does help when you put some solder on the wires and heat them...in the second step you can solder them on the circuit board.

there is a video on youtube, "how to solder properly" it helped me a lot

 

[PhotonWrangler]

Not bad, although it looks like you're not heating the pad enough. It appears that the hot solder is landing on a cold pad and the temperature difference is causing the solder to bead up rather than blend into the surrounding pad's solder. It's a very common occurrence when you're erring on the side of caution in not applying enough heat to the board. I've done that a zillion times and I've simply reheated the joint, including the pad, to reflow it and fix it.

 

[abarth_1200]

i was being very cautious with the heat incase i did fry the board.

I did one thing right which was put solder on the wires first

cheers:twothumbs

 

[PhotonWrangler]

Caution is always a good thing. I've accidentally lifted many traces off of PCBs from heating them too much.

Oh, and the very first time I ever saw a soldering iron, it was a soldering pencil sitting on a desk in a hobby shop. It looked interesting so I picked it up to see what it was. By the wrong end. My fingers were burning for a week afterwards.

 

[Ray1968]

What does this soldering accomplish? Does it eliminate the need for spacers or something?

 

[TITAN1833]

What does this soldering accomplish? Does it eliminate the need for spacers or something?

I'm thinking the very same thing,mine charges them with spacers.

 

[abarth_1200]

exactly that, this way i dont need to carry the spacers with me when i go camping because chances are i would probably loose one, im not going to loose the charger am i

 

[TITAN1833]

exactly that, this way i dont need to carry the spacers with me when i go camping because chances are i would probably loose one, im not going to loose the charger am i

Ah in that case good idea,I wonder why they don't wire it like that in the first place as it makes sense to do away with the spacers :thinking:

 

[Black Rose]

a related question...what guage wire did you use for that mod?

 

[abarth_1200]

i just found an old piece of wire in my garage and chopped it up, it read 600V on the side and the plastic wrap was pretty thick so im hoping it will do the job, darkzero used 300V wire for his

i gessing they dont wire in these contacts is because it will put the price up therefore not as many would get sold of this model plus the RCR123 size model the W138

 

[Ray1968]

How do the batteries fit in the charger?

 

[darkzero]

As mentioned looks like your soldering temperature was too low on those two lower joints. Other than that, it looks fine. You did a good job & there's no reason to do it over. :thumbsup:


For those who are wondering, it allows you to do this:

 

[Ray1968]

Do you just bend those contact points out?

 

[DonS2346]

It looks like you didn't tin the wires before soldering them to the pads. Also looks like you didn't apply enough heat to melt the solder. Did you use flux?

You should try to use teflon coated wire because it will stand more heat than the wire you used. When the insulation pulls away from the wire, like yours did, it could raise problems when working in tight quarters.

But, hey, if it works, don't worry about it. All you need is some practice.

 

[VanIsleDSM]

I see you've got CSA (Canadian Standards Association) wire all the way in Scotland! I didn't know CSA was so international, quick google changed my mind.

As for the rating of the wire, the voltage isn't what matters in this case. You want to look at the gauge of the cable, then google "wire gauge table" and check to see what your gauge of wire has for current handling. With the low currents of the charger, you wouldn't need much, though the thicker the wire, the lower the voltage drop across it, and the more accurate the charger can be.

As for the solder, nobody even thought to ask, is it lead based or no? If not then that's pretty close to as good as it gets, and I'd suggest getting some lead based solder, as it's much easier to work with, and flows very well.

 

[abarth_1200]

yep jsut bend the clips out but not too far otherwise the cells going up and down the way wont stay in place.

DonS2346- i said earlier that i did put solder/tin? on the wires first.

The tube the solder came from said five core flux and it had a picture on the front with the solder wire and 5 holes in it where the flux is, it also says savbit alloy so gessing its not lead.

Im gonna have a play about tonight and get some more practice, its actually quite relaxing:thumbsup:

 

[Mr Happy]

The tube the solder came from said five core flux and it had a picture on the front with the solder wire and 5 holes in it where the flux is, it also says savbit alloy so gessing its not lead.

Multicore Savbit alloy is the best solder you can buy -- and yes, it is indeed tin/lead solder.

Any problems you have making a joint with that solder must be down to your technique, I'm afraid

 

[abarth_1200]

damn no excuses now lol:sigh:

 

[1dash1]

Ah in that case good idea,I wonder why they don't wire it like that in the first place as it makes sense to do away with the spacers :thinking:

My understanding is that the first production models did, indeed, have the terminals powered up.

However, they discovered that the two bays were too close together. Cells touched each other and, under certain conditions, shorted out. The fix (separating the bays) was too costly. Relying on disclaimers (expecting customers to use the bays prudently) was problematic.

The elegant solution (in my opinion) was what the manufacturer has done. It made the bays available only to those who have some basic soldering skills. Presumably, if the user has the wherewithall to solder the bays, then the user is also sufficiently knowledgeable to understand and manage the risks.

Whether the manufacturer intended this solution is another matter. It's possible that they were simply trying to shave costs and this was the cheapest solution. In any case, whether by design or by intention, I think it's a good solution.