Yngmar
Well-Known Member
Good advice. Couple extra tips:
The flux has another very important function: Conducting heat. This is extremely important when soldering stranded wires (which most boaty wires are). The flux runs between the strands and conducts heat, ensuring all the strands end up being soldered, not just the ones in touch with the tip. This is why, when tinning a stranded wire, you touch the solder on the tip to melt some of the flux-cored solder and have the flux flow into the strands.
When buying solder, the whole specification is Sn63Pb37 - that's the percentage of tin (Sn) and lead (Pb). Especially important as there is both Sn60Pb40 and Pb60Sn40 solder available.
My recommendation is Felder "EL" type solder, which is SN63PB37 with a no-clean flux (meaning it can be left after soldering and will not cause corrosion). It also doesn't "bubble" and spray around like some cheaper flux does. Last bought mine at RS. Can be used for anything on a boat, except perhaps copper pipe
Also good to have a separate tin of rosin around to tip the wire in prior to soldering. This is especially useful if you're working with existing wires that may have some corrosion on it already (chemical cleaning also works, but on mild corrosion the rosin will work fine and is a lot easier/faster).
In my toolkit I have a small gas powered iron/hot-air/gastorch - it's sufficient for most electrical work and very small and convenient. With the solder tip unscrewed it outputs hot air for heatshrink and with another bit removed it is a gas torch for, uhm, starting a campfire? I also have a battery powered one which I bought out of curiosity, but found it pretty frustrating (you have to hold down a button to heat it, the batteries don't last long and it doesn't get quite hot enough when they're even a bit low), and an ancient Ersa soldering station with two size irons that attach to it for different jobs - mostly used for delicate electronics work, but more faff to get out, plug in and set up. Had that one for 20 years now.
Tips are wiped on a wet sponge by the way. Keeps them clean, lasting longer and working better. You can also abrade a knackered tip and re-tin it, although usually only a few times.
Soldering is an especially handy skill to have for people cruising on used boats. We have lots of untinned copper wire, which tends to corrode, but can be revived with flux and solder or in extreme cases chemical cleaning (acid dip + neutralize). Often it's sufficient to do the rosin dip mentioned above and use sufficient heat until the corrosion boils off, once tinned it can be crimped again. Yes, this isn't best industry practice, but you'll not have a replacement wire to hand underway or the time to pull it in and have to make do, or it's part of some ridiculously priced wiring harness that only comes in untinned copper anyways.
The flux has another very important function: Conducting heat. This is extremely important when soldering stranded wires (which most boaty wires are). The flux runs between the strands and conducts heat, ensuring all the strands end up being soldered, not just the ones in touch with the tip. This is why, when tinning a stranded wire, you touch the solder on the tip to melt some of the flux-cored solder and have the flux flow into the strands.
When buying solder, the whole specification is Sn63Pb37 - that's the percentage of tin (Sn) and lead (Pb). Especially important as there is both Sn60Pb40 and Pb60Sn40 solder available.
My recommendation is Felder "EL" type solder, which is SN63PB37 with a no-clean flux (meaning it can be left after soldering and will not cause corrosion). It also doesn't "bubble" and spray around like some cheaper flux does. Last bought mine at RS. Can be used for anything on a boat, except perhaps copper pipe
Also good to have a separate tin of rosin around to tip the wire in prior to soldering. This is especially useful if you're working with existing wires that may have some corrosion on it already (chemical cleaning also works, but on mild corrosion the rosin will work fine and is a lot easier/faster).
In my toolkit I have a small gas powered iron/hot-air/gastorch - it's sufficient for most electrical work and very small and convenient. With the solder tip unscrewed it outputs hot air for heatshrink and with another bit removed it is a gas torch for, uhm, starting a campfire? I also have a battery powered one which I bought out of curiosity, but found it pretty frustrating (you have to hold down a button to heat it, the batteries don't last long and it doesn't get quite hot enough when they're even a bit low), and an ancient Ersa soldering station with two size irons that attach to it for different jobs - mostly used for delicate electronics work, but more faff to get out, plug in and set up. Had that one for 20 years now.
Tips are wiped on a wet sponge by the way. Keeps them clean, lasting longer and working better. You can also abrade a knackered tip and re-tin it, although usually only a few times.
Soldering is an especially handy skill to have for people cruising on used boats. We have lots of untinned copper wire, which tends to corrode, but can be revived with flux and solder or in extreme cases chemical cleaning (acid dip + neutralize). Often it's sufficient to do the rosin dip mentioned above and use sufficient heat until the corrosion boils off, once tinned it can be crimped again. Yes, this isn't best industry practice, but you'll not have a replacement wire to hand underway or the time to pull it in and have to make do, or it's part of some ridiculously priced wiring harness that only comes in untinned copper anyways.