What's up with my soldering

[Wrinkly]

I'm trying to add a connection to my sat nav audio line,so that i can disconnect the line without having to remove the earpiece from my helmet.
Everything works ok but when i try to solder the audio wires onto the connector to make a permanent fix,the solder becomes liquid, but just goes into a ball and rolls away,what am i doing wrong

Steve

 

[Aidan1150]

Are you using flux impregnated soldering wire? If not you will need to add flux to the equation as you solder.

 

[AberdeenAngus]

Yup, get some flux paste for the odd tricky connection.

 

[Wrinkly]

Thanks for the rapid reply, will get some tomorrow.

Steve

 

[Miz]

Have you "tinned" the connections and the ends of the wires before you try to make the connections.

 

[AdamA]

The flux probably wont make a blind bit of difference.
The wires and or connector are probably coated with another metal (often rhodium) , and normal "silver" solder will not take to them very well, if at all.
You can try taking the coating off with some fine wet and dry, but the wires are usually so thin this won't work well. Also try two irons to get things as hot as possible, but this may do more harm than good...

 

[alimey4u2]

Should have gone to Sandhurst...

 

[AdamA]

Should have gone to Sandhurst...

They don't even teach soldiering there, let alone soldering.

 

[alimey4u2]

They don't even teach soldiering there, let alone soldering.

.....

 

[Wrinkly]

The flux probably wont make a blind bit of difference.
The wires and or connector are probably coated with another metal (often rhodium) , and normal "silver" solder will not take to them very well, if at all.
You can try taking the coating off with some fine wet and dry, but the wires are usually so thin this won't work well. Also try two irons to get things as hot as possible, but this may do more harm than good...

If it's not possible to solder,any ideas on how the wires can be connected,they are very fine and almost look and feel like very fine cotton.

Steve

 

[alimey4u2]

Crimp connectors...

 

[AdamA]

If it's not possible to solder,any ideas on how the wires can be connected,they are very fine and almost look and feel like very fine cotton.

Steve

It's hard to tell from your original post tho, is the solder not taking to ANYTHING (wire or connector)?
If it's not taking to the connector, try cleaning it up with a fibreglass pen (great for cleaning bits and bobs around the bike anyhow) or some scotchbrite or wet and dry, and use more heat.
If it's just the wire, from the sound of it I'm 99% certain there is a coating on the wire to prevent corrosion. As the wire is too thin to scrape the coat off, I would suggest some mild acid solution may do the trick.
TBH tho whenever I have come across these types of wire at work I just remove them and replace with wire which will take solder. It's generally less hassle.

 

[(RIP) Yamaha1]

+1 on the fibreglass pencils - been using them for years - can't imagine not having one - I usually order 25 refils at a time!!

http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?moduleno=3932

Mike

 

[Snoopy]

I'm going to guess that the copper has oxidised. If it's a dull brown instead of shiny the solder wont take to it. Get out some wet-&-dry and sand it down if so.

Also, ensure the leads are twisted together before soldering. Just placing the two ends together and soldering is always a disaster on the bike.

 

[shugie]

I'm going to guess that the copper has oxidised. If it's a dull brown instead of shiny the solder wont take to it. Get out some wet-&-dry and sand it down if so.

Also, ensure the leads are twisted together before soldering. Just placing the two ends together and soldering is always a disaster on the bike.

I remembering being lectured, literally, by some pedantic fellow at Poly that the mechanical joint must be sound before you solder. The solder is for electrical continuity, not strength. I've never encountered much evidence to suggest his view was wrong.

 

[bustupbiker]

Have you thought about how they get the flexi type of cable tobe Flexi
most of the ( wires ) are not wires but thin pastic fibres, so don't try to solder them Problem you will have then is how strong will it be...

 

[Gs-ell]

ey up

i had this exact problem, the iron and solder wouldn't grip to anything.
took me ages to work out why, then after fluxing and beating and getting pretty piss*d i eventually looked at the iron.
The tip of the iron was completely black, could have been melted crap, either way i scraped it with wire wool 10 minutes later soldering like a microsoft robot!!

hope it helps

 

[socket086]

if you do what gs-ell says and that is not your problem then its one or two things to do. on very fine cables there is a coating you can useally burn it off with a lighter and drag the wire between a knife edge and you finger to get rid of any chareing plus you will need to tin the wires before you try and join them, if that fails to fix it you can lay cables side by side and use a copper strand to bind them together[i have used the earth wire from a bit of 1.5t&e . you can also get a bit of heatshrink to give it a nice clean finish beats tape any day.

 

[Snoopy]

I remembering being lectured, literally, by some pedantic fellow at Poly that the mechanical joint must be sound before you solder. The solder is for electrical continuity, not strength. I've never encountered much evidence to suggest his view was wrong.

He was/is 100% correct.

 

[Myke Rocks]

Re Flux.

Modern plumber's flux is particularly brilliant if you have slightly dirty wire which is diffcult to tin. Dip the wire in plumber's flux, & then dip it into some solder kept molten in a tiny "Pot", as opposed to using an iron.
This will prove if the wire is "tinnable".
If the wire comes out of the solder without being tinned, give up trying to solder it.
If it tins, be sure to wash off the flux residue thoroughly.
Do not touch your face with you fingers until after you have washed your hands, because the flux is quite aggressive.
Myke