Soldering Questions

[The Last Master]

Hey a while back i bought some 0603 led's. Never soldered them till recently cuz my iron had to big a tip.

Yesterday I went to radioshack and bough a cordless iron that ran on 4AA batterys. And it heats up to 15Watts in about 10 seconds. But the longer you hold the button the hotter it gets... it doesnt keept he heat consistent 

I was still able to get 3 outta 4 leds down on my first trys! lol

They have this nice Mini Butane Iron that looks really easy to keep steady with a good size tip as well... only problem is that its gas powered not battery problem. Well another problem would be that its lowest heat level is equivelent to 30Watts.. and the highest is 70watts... would it be just as easy to solder the 0603 led's or would i have 1/4th the time to do so without burning them up?? 

Oh and the mini butane iron does keep consistent heat levels unlike the battery powered one.

 

[ryan0]

lol never ever ever ever ever x99999999 use a butane iron,just go and buy a 15w mains powered in radioshack for like 10$,use that butane torch and u might as well flush ur psp down the toilet good sir!always use flux and always clean the tip after every use!

[Maximize]

I don't know I used a butane on mine and it turned out very well

[Tec_]

why is this in the psp section?

[Maximize]

yeah easy easy

[The Last Master]

lol never ever ever ever ever x99999999 use a butane iron,just go and buy a 15w mains powered in radioshack for like 10$,use that butane torch and u might as well flush ur psp down the toilet good sir!always use flux and always clean the tip after every use!

Yea well i like this battery powered one anyways.. it heats up rather quick and cools down quick too... not cold heat so dont touch the tip and burn yourself 

But... i just always put solder on the tip and wipe it off so it looks shiney... then i do the dirty work... and after about 45-60secs i do it agian... if i was workign that whole time with it plus this iron isnt consistently on you have to press down a button to heat it up  

And its in the psp section cuz im doing my first led trigger mods... so thats why.

[The Last Master]

Ok on the back of the leds there like half a plus sign.. or an arrow so to say...

-|  like that one there... whats teh postive side and whats the negative side >.<

I read it once on a tut in this site but i dont know where it is

[4dP]

-l the point is always the negative and the flat line is positive

[The Last Master]

-l the point is always the negative and the flat line is positive

So.... Positive -| Negative    ????????

[Slimby]

Other way around.

Slimby

[The Last Master]

Other way around.

Slimby

that explains why only 1 trigger was working lmao


Thanks for the help 

[Slimby]

Remember, the arrow points in the direction of electron flow.

Slimby

[The Last Master]

Remember, the arrow points in the direction of electron flow.

Slimby

I had it working just a bit ago.. both triggers where working fine.... and then i put it together and tried flipped the hold switch... and nothing i was like :

So i took it apart and re soldered the negative connection
and still nothing.. i dunno what it is.... that i did wrong... but i wanna figure it out

[4dP]

sound like a short check your connections and use a multimeter to see the connections

[The Last Master]

I got mad and just blew my led's believe it or not.. soldering the 0603's isnt the difficult part.. i actually get em dun easy and neatly...  My problems are
1. I cant wire things properly...
2. Im apparently not tinning the tip properly...
3. Lack of knowledge for all this...

Im really just winging it and following peoples info/guides.

Im going to get back to doing this in the morning cuz i got a bit further in progress today... my main worries were soldering the 0603's at first and now i found out that wasnt so bad.

Questions though.

What is the best soldering iron that can handle 15W and other temps. And thats somewhat affordable.. Cuz i think I ruined the one from radioshack that cost me 9 bucks. [bad tinning]

and

Whats the cheapest multimeter i should get that will get the job done.

Radioshack is pretty much the only place i know that locally sells irons and multimeters... so that said...

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103534&cp=2032058.2032235.2032305&allCount=10&fbn=Price%2F%2410.00+-+%2449.99&fbc=1&fr=StorePrice%2FRSK%2F00001000%2F00004999&parentPage=family
 
That one is the cheapest and has the best ratings.

The 15W iron I have is from radioshack and ran me a little over $9

If i get another 15w should i get tinner this time.. cuz apprently using the rosin-core solder as tinner isnt working like people said it would. >.<

EDIT: also considering that solder fumes are pretty bad for your health.. im looking for a cheap fume extractor.. i already have several health issues and solder fumes arnt gunna help cure them. Sooooooo..... A nice decent priced fume extractor would be good too...

[ProperBritish]

the rosin core should work a treat, i just call it flux core cos it makes more sense. Just keep trying, and heres a guide.

Click HERE

[The Last Master]

the rosin core should work a treat, i just call it flux core cos it makes more sense. Just keep trying, and heres a guide.

Click HERE

Anyadvice on products i should get though?

EDIT:WoW omg! i think i just figured out what i was doing wrong....

I freaking had the resistor attached to the ground and the negs were coning out attaced to the resistor.. OMG

And the positives where getting wired directly to the Positive connection on the power board >.<

Ither way.. if thats was the only problem i hope to god i didnt mess up the power board and i can have my trigger mod done tommorow

[4dP]

loi theres your problem so did your led blow or not you'll be able to get that done now if you start on it loi it shouldn't have done anything to your powerboard just your led if it blew out

[The Last Master]

lol well theres your problem *hick voice* so did your led blow or not you'll be able to get that done now if you start on it loi it shouldn't have done anything to your powerboard just your led if it blew out

  LMAO yea man.. hopefully the board is still good.. and nah i blew the led's on purpose with a 9v battery.  Plus yellow was so like yesterday.. *had 50 leds 5 diff colors and used up the yellows cuz it was the least fav color* ...im gunna use green leds now.

Butt, i will be hitting this up agian tomorrow i already have my triggers reprepped.. removed the glue and leds..

Now im just gunna rewire this ... and tomorrow ima build myself a fume extractor with a carbon filter. And im gunna buy a multi-meter... but I dont know which one to buy? They all speak of ranges.. theres digital and analog, theres yellow and black, theres cheap and expensive...   

Ither way advice on what to get as to a new iron in the near future...
and a New Multimeter that I could get tomorrow would be greatly appreciated.

[psp_nl]

Any electrical soldering iron with fine (chisel, screwdriver) tip and 15-30w will do.

[The Last Master]

Any electrical soldering iron with fine (chisel, screwdriver) tip and 15-30w will do.

I just gave up.. man im pissed... im having alot of trouble keeping track of whats positive and whats negative once the wires are soldered and the led is glued into the trigger button.  Its very irritating becuase i only have 1 color of 30gauge wire. BLUE.  I need to get a diffrent color so that i can tell whats what once the button is prepped.. and Im pretty sure i messed up both my negative ground connection and my postive connection on the power board.... But i wont know until i get a multimeter for sure...

Theres like a peice of solder stuck inside of the whole for the postive connection   for the Hold Trigger Mod... And on the back side of the board for the positive connection, you can't even see the copper ring anymore... the hole right next to it is still there but i was trying that one too and niether light would light up

Im not gunna try this on the psp agian for a good while..

I need to buy another color wire, i need to buy a multimeter, i need to wire teh whole thing outta the psp for practice and I need to rest up on this

[Slimby]

Okay, here's what I do. I get the LEDs prepped, and I bend the end of the positive wire round so I can tell that it's positive. Remember, do one LED at a time, don't get distracted, and don't you dare give up.

Slimby

[4dP]

you could always look at the bottom of the led to see which is which

also you can use a maker to change the color of the wire so you can distingush between the 2

[The Last Master]

Okay, here's what I do. I get the LEDs prepped, and I bend the end of the positive wire round so I can tell that it's positive. Remember, do one LED at a time, don't get distracted, and don't you dare give up.

Slimby

Yea... i aint giving up..  but I aint gunna work on it for a while... im going to come back and work on it in about 2 weeks or so once im cooled down and not pissed off ...

Too add to the frustration my st*ped f'in bipolar clumsy azz biatch of an aunt knocked over my $600 dollar Ibanez Guitar....

So i immediatly just went nuts... and im extremely, angry, sad, frustrated and annoyed atm.

 

[ryan0]

Yea... i aint giving up..  but I aint gunna work on it for a while... im going to come back and work on it in about 2 weeks or so once im cooled down and not pissed off ...

Too add to the frustration my st*ped f'in bipolar clumsy azz biatch of an aunt knocked over my $600 dollar Ibanez Guitar....

So i immediatly just went nuts... and im extremely, angry, sad, frustrated and annoyed atm.

 

cool an ibanez i used to have an rg300 with floyd rose an emg and a sustainiac (bout 500 euro in mods)!god i loved that guitar but sold it for a gibson les paul biggest mistake of my life
neways dude that happened to me then i got hooked on modding bigger consoles like ps2's and xbox'[s,modding psp's just doesnt suit some people

[prettierwendead]

i stongly recomend calming down b4 u mod cos once i was modding a psp and it all went wrong and in a little girly fit started jabbing the motherboard with the soldering iron needless to say i destroyed a perfectly good motherboard and the soldering iron hasnt been the same

[[HoP]]

@ BUTANE SOLDERING IRONS

some of them are good... it depends on where the excess heat is dissipated... if the heat is directed at a 90degree angle to the tip, when you tilt it to heat your work... it will fry surrounding things or melt wires insulation or whatnot....


i have seen some pretty nice ones, expensive however!

[ryan0]

lol i also get angry while modding and i have an anger management disorder lol,when the led's in my xbox werent bright nough i ripped them out which shorted the psu which already had a bridges fuse and i had to buy a new one lol and u dont wanna know the state my psp is in