problem with soldering rooster esc

[SuperDutyScaler]

my yellow and blue motor leads are too short for my king hauler, so i tried to add longer motor leads tonight and i cant get the factory lead to melt of the rooster? do i have to remove the purple heat sink first or does novak use special high heat lead from the factory? and no im not going to add a length to the end of the factory wires, soplease dontpost that option.

[fhhhstix]

The solder is plain old silver solder and the wires should unsolder fairly easy assuming you have a hot enough iron as the size of the wire will require some heat.

Travis

[pigeonfarmboy]

What watt soldering iron are you using? Definitely tin the tip of the iron before trying to melt the solder. If you're unfamiliar with that term just melt some solder on the tip of your iron to coat it in melted solder. The factory Novak stuff does seem to take a bit more heat to get melted. Suppose it's the reason everything they do is still handmade!

[Ken Orme]

Originally Posted by fhhhstix

The solder is plain old silver solder and the wires should unsolder fairly easy assuming you have a hot enough iron as the size of the wire will require some heat.

Travis

Why would anyone "silver solder" an electrical connection on our stuf??????

Ken

[Espeefan]

Silver solder has a higher melting point, which is good for high current applications. Most solder sold through hobby shops today does not contain any lead at all. Reason being there is a trend to get away from all things containing lead, for safety reasons. There is a huge difference in the soldering ease of your typical 40/60 solder (that's 40% tin/60% lead) vs. silver solder. Thankfully, 40/60 solder is still readily available in hardware stores.

If you are having a problem with melting the factory solder joints, you probably don't have enough heat. Also, the heat sinks are definitely soaking up the heat your iron is trying to put into the joints. Remove the heat sinks and give that a shot. Ever notice how hot the heat sink is after you've soldered a joint to the board?

I would recommend you use a soldering iron that puts out at least 35 watts. Sometimes 35 watts isn't quite enough for all jobs, like soldering capacitors to motor cans, or building battery packs.

It's also possible your iron's tip is worn out or just plain dirty/corroded. Cheap irons use cheap tips, which wear out very fast. If the coating is gone, it's time for a new tip. Always, always tin your tip, whenever you put the iron back into the holder, and before you unplug the cord. Anytime you are not using your iron to make a joint, keep the tip tinned. Clean it before you make a solder joint, and then tin it when you are done. Do this and your tip will last a long time, will stay clean, and will always be more efficient at transfering heat. That's the name of the game.

[doodlebug]

A wet sponge help's with cleaning the tip. Espeefan summed it up nicely! Alot of the new solder isn't worth #$%^. I want the good old lead back!
Some type's of wire just don't want to be soldered. I use a soldering gun with home made tip's out of 12 copper wire.
Later, Neil#2 aka doodlebug.

[SuperDutyScaler]

my solder gun is a 45W and trust me i can solder, i solder copper ever day at work. ive done plenty of wireing on my r/c trucks over the years but i have neverdone it on the esc itself before. i tried again earlier today and i still cant melt it off the rooster? i have my solder sponge to keep it clean, i tinned the end and tried nothing works on that dam Novak factory solder! what if i took off the heat sink first? would that hurtanything? or will it burn my ESC up?

[SuperDutyScaler]

ive been trying for two weeks now to do this and im about to just call novak, send it back and pay them to install longer motor leads on the rooster! i got water in one of my oldsuper rooster's in my Juggernaut 2 truck and theircustomer service is top natch.

[mtdriver]

You need more wattage. Whats happening is that as you touch your iron to the board, all the heat is soaked up and the iron doesnt have enough power to re-heat quick enough.

I use a Weller 50 watt digital station, top 3 r/c tool investment ever.

I dont know what Novak would charge but let me know if you would like me to do it for you. Ive never had speedy turn arounds from them. It would be free, just supply me shipping funds. I solder for a lot of people I do r/c stuff with and also did lots of soldering when I worked at the LHS. If not, no hard feelings.

Good luck whichever way you go.

[Espeefan]

Definitly pull the heat sinks. I mentioned you should do that in my reply, way back.

[pigeonfarmboy]

45w isn't terrible but then again I leave my Weller cranked @ 85w for 12ga. wire jobs like this.

[SuperDutyScaler]

thanks mtdriver, and sorry espeefan i didnt read your first post all the way through. ill take the heat sinks tomorrow and try again

[kyleandtavion]

Originally Posted by mtdriver

You need more wattage. Whats happening is that as you touch your iron to the board, all the heat is soaked up and the iron doesnt have enough power to re-heat quick enough.

I use a Weller 50 watt digital station, top 3 r/c tool investment ever.

I dont know what Novak would charge but let me know if you would like me to do it for you. Ive never had speedy turn arounds from them. It would be free, just supply me shipping funds. I solder for a lot of people I do r/c stuff with and also did lots of soldering when I worked at the LHS. If not, no hard feelings.

Good luck whichever way you go.

I couldnt agree more. A nice deluxe soldering Iron will make your work easier and help you do a better job.