Milad's 72in LED build

[martinmcnally]

Sounds good. I tried building an LED bar to supplement my T5s unfortunately I failed miserably. I found it really really hard to solder wire onto the CREE LED points. The solder would not stick properly unless I scratched the little metal solder point on the LED, then it kind of worked but would also easily break off with a little nudge. I might try another experiment but maybe I am missing something with the soldering. I was thinking maybe you needed to drill a whole in the solder point and feed the wire though it like you would see on a circuit board with components soldered on.

Martin

[Milad]

Originally Posted by martinmcnally

Sounds good. I tried building an LED bar to supplement my T5s unfortunately I failed miserably. I found it really really hard to solder wire onto the CREE LED points. The solder would not stick properly unless I scratched the little metal solder point on the LED, then it kind of worked but would also easily break off with a little nudge. I might try another experiment but maybe I am missing something with the soldering. I was thinking maybe you needed to drill a whole in the solder point and feed the wire though it like you would see on a circuit board with components soldered on.

Martin

i haven't soldered for years but if i remember correctly its like an art.
just takes a few tries soldering a few together

also did you have pretinned wire? you dont want to heat up the led solder too much otherwise boom goes the led.

[Bloodasp]

You need to use flux. If you have to scratch the copper clad in order for the lead to stick to the board it means the copper has a thin film of oxidation that you need to clean out, otherwise you get a cold solder or it won't even stick.

[DiverDude]

Using a flux-core solder should be fine unless the LEDs are old and/or been improperly stored -in which case the copper pads may be oxidized.

Most soldering difficulties come from improper technique. It's important to remember that you are joining TWO metal surfaces with a 3rd metal (solder) and therefore BOTH surfaces must be hot enough to melt solder. A decent soldering iron is also good to have. A reasonable iron will cost a good $50 at Active. Good brands include Hakko and Weller.

-And try not to breathe the fumes from the solder; NOT good for you.

[Bloodasp]

I agree that a lot has to do with improer soldering techniques. I have yet to see solder meant for electronics without a flux core, even the lead free ones I have used always contain them, from the sound of what he said though that he had to scratch the component to get some soldering to happen he definitely needs it.
And also boring a hole through the track of an smd mounted component is not a good idea as they are normally too small that drilling a hole through them would likely cause it to peel off.

[martinmcnally]

So I just checked out my solder and its Rosin core! ah ha! Maybe I need to try this again with flux core?

I wonder if I fried the driver in the process $

[martinmcnally]

Oh no wait, Rosin is flux haha so back to squire one.