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29 Responses to How To Solder Power Feeds
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The trick to soldering wire feeders is quick heat, get in and back out to not melt the plastic ties. You can remove the ties below your solder joint however more trouble than it’s worth IMHO. Use a 100 watt gun with trigger. It gets hotter faster decreasing the time on the rail. Use #18 solid wire. Bent an 1/8″ right angle on the end and tin with solder. Another good unit is a resistive soldering tool. Similar to anot arc welder.
I too have trouble soldering, so I found that soldering the wires to the joiners makes things a bit easier. Hope this helps.
Why worry about soldering??? Do what I did and go all battery…..
Soldering to rails. No matter what the guage it’s all the same. Put a little flux on the end and “tin” the end of the feed wire. Clip the end (the smaller the gauge, the less tinned end you need). Bend the tinned end 90 degrees. Then tin the OUTSIDE of the rail with a little flux and solder. Hold the bent end of the feed wire against the rail, and together with a little solder, press the tip of the soldering iron AGAINST THE RAIL as close to the feed wire as possible! Solder will flow to the the area cleaned by the flux and the where the heat is applied. Good luck.
Hi Kevin
I have just finished doing an HO modular layout and ran buss wires through each module the connecting wires were the same as Steve above used and I used a 50 watt iron with a needle point tip I tinned the rail and each wire before soldering in position I drilled the base board to take each wire (this holds them in position) and bent the tip at 90 degrees and with tweezers I held the wire to the rail and applied a little solder to the tip of the iron and placed it on the wire against the rail once the solder flows I take the iron away but remain holding the wire until it has cooled enough to stay connected and the solder is shinny bright. I hope this helps with your layout. I am now in a position to start applying the scenery but that is another story.
Couple of things i do
Make sure surfaces are clean (use a fibreglass pen or suchlike)
Use a liquid flux (iget from DCC Concepts)
Place some wet/damp cotton balls either side of rail to act as a heat sink helps stop ties melting
Use a good soldering iron
Never have used any kind of heat sinck and have never melted any ties in any of my former layouts or at the train club.
Ditto – except when the soldering iron slipped (usually because I was in an awkward position and wasn’t resting my elbow or wrist somewhere firm.
First, get a good, temperature regulated, soldering iron that has a temperature adjustment. Second, get a small bottle of liquid flux made for electronics and some rosin cored solder. Never use acid flux or solder unless you want to spend a lot of time cleaning the rail afterward – they will corrode.
Here’s my method:
Dab a little flux on the outside of the rail where you want to attach the wire. Set your iron rather hot – more things are damaged by a too-cold iron than any other cause. You want to heat the rail quickly so you don’t have to remain in contact for very long. Make sure your iron is clean and tinned properly. Heat the rail and QUICKLY apply a small bit of solder to it. The flux will ensure it sticks easily. Now get the end of the wire, bend it at a right angle, and apply solder to it. Then hold the wire with the solder against the point on the rail where the solder is, and just touch it with the iron. It will only take an instant for the solder on the wire and the rail to melt and fuse together. You may want to use a tweezers or other tool in your other hand to hold the wire in place, but you don’t need a third hand because the solder is already on the rail and the wire.
I tin the bit of the iron (preferably a sharp point) then the bent wire, press the wire against the rail then apply the tip of the bit to the wire (adding more pressure to the wire/rail contact) and remove the iron as soon as the solder flows. Flux is used on all surfaces.
I do it all wrong, I solder wires to rail joiners. The rail joiners I use come in strips of 4. I tape the joiners down to a piece of hard board, strip the wire, tape the wire down so the stripped end stays in contact with end joiner, solder, cut the joiner off and then solder to the nexr joiner. I get 3 joiner/wire sets out of the 4 joiner strip, the 4th joiner gets used elsewhere.
I do as Ron does, I find it covers up any untidy soldering if it occurs and the wire goes directly through the baseboard below the joiner and cannot be seen. Pete.
The comments above are excellent. It’s easier to use a third hand and solder the joiners as Raul suggests. If you’re not comfortable with soldering you can buy soldered rail joiners with wire on ebay or a good model shop. Good luck.
Hi Kevin i to am pretty heavy handed, but what I do is run some solder along the outside of the track then strip the wire and add solder to the bare wire. Now I have solder on the track and wire then I lay the soldered wire against the solder on the track add a really hot soldering iron and the two fuse together. I know it’s the hackers way but it works for me I use all in one solder & flux with adjustable soldering iron set at 376 degrees and I don’t have any problems.I have well over 200 Metres of track and run dcc.
It is worth the money, especially for doing delecate soldering. Get a digital soldering station that you can set temperature and it will also tell you the temperature of the iron.
Maybe read a book on electronic soldering. Point to point and surface mount soldering (hot air soldering).
Also pretty much Graeme said.
Kevin, I use wire soldiered to the bottom of rail connectors and sold these wires on away from the rail. If you connect often every 4 to 8 feet there has never been power loss with this method. I have had good experience with this method. If you over heat them they can loose their spring to stay tight. I use a wiring clip to hold the connector in place. A little flux on the bottom and a light quick soldier do the same with the end of your wire with soldier on it too. Touch the 2 together and touch the soldiering iron on top of the 2 and the solder will melt the two together. Remove the soldiering iron as soon as possible holding the wire in place as much as possible. Use a small soldiering iron so not to overheat the soldiering joint. I usually use 22 gauge solid copper phone wire for these wire drops
from Newman
One key detail that will make all your soldering, welding and brazing jobs easier is that your objects you’re trying to solder together must both be up to temperature capable of melting solder. Otherwise, the solder will roll right off which ever piece is too cool and will not stick. The comments regarding quick heat are also good points. The faster you’re objects are up to temp, the less chance of melting insulation or other components because it took to long to heat the pieces up.
Fishplates are the main culprits when power is lost – slight movement or becoming ‘loose’ and the power fluctuates and can be the devils own job to sort, especially if a resolder is required. This from the experience after a number of years running a layout and eventual ‘wear and tear’ of fishplate dry joints. As I see it it is therefore best to solder the droppers onto each section of track rail.
I know an old man who solders a short piece of uninsulated wire across every rail joint rather than rely on rail joiners.
When soldering feed wires to my track, I use ‘Duzall’ Super soldering flux. Also I use 3 core solder.
I dip the 3 core solder into the duzall ,then apply to the rail, tin your copper wire the with a small soldering iron I apply heat to both for a good solder joint. Then I apply a wet rag to clean any fluz up
Peco make ready soldered rail joiners in N scale! They are a it pricey but save a lot of Hasslegood luck.
Al
Sorry should have put this link in on my first post re ready soldered joiners
http://www.ehattons.com/62347/Peco_Products_PL_82_Power_feed_joiners_Code_55_80_x4_pairs_/StockDetail.aspx
Al
Has anyone tried using conductive glue?
I use a resistance soldering iron from Micromark here is the address http://www.micromark.com/heavy-duty-soldering-pliers,7773.html with this I can feed my wire through the base strip it and bend the wire 90 d so that it fits in the groove of the rail. I then use the iron, in one hand, to grasp the rail and wire, then squeeze tight to turn on iron and immediately apply the solder until flows. Little practice and you will be soldering the feeders all over the place.
I read over the posts from others about how to solder feed wires.
They had very good suggestions and ideas, I really couldn’t say
anything that wasn’t mentioned. For me and probably most others,
trying to position a soldering iron (with the AC power cable dangling) around the layout is
a pain. I used a modified(for rechargeable batteries) Radio Shack battery powered solder iron instead
to eliminate the cord. You do need lots of quick heat for a good, safe joint, it actually worked decent.
I will say this… It’s time that someone
out there creates some kind of method for connecting feeder wires to rails,
that doesn’t require soldering at all. I tiny rail-clamp/joiner or not even joiner, that you can
lock your feeder wire into with a tiny set screw. I would gladly use it to save the pain of soldering!
I am no stranger to soldering, while working for Northrop Aircraft, I had a 40 hour weapon spec. soldering course.
We were required to solder to the most perfect joints you ever saw, and they were inspected under a microscope to pass inspection.
For now, soldering to the rails is our only option (unless you use the toy-like Tyco rail-terminals).
I hope that some day we find an easier way to connect the feeder wires…
peco electrics uk
prewired track joiners £5.50 for4 sets
this may help
Hi Kevin
My husband and I recommend that you use a really hot thin tipped soldering iron which will make you use less solder and it will flow much easier. All the best Sharon
DOUG SAYS——–
HI KEVIN
A LOT OF GOOD ANSWERS——–IN STEAD OF USEING A TWEEZWER TO HOLD THE WIRE TO THE RAIL I USE A SMALL STICK OF WOOD SO THE SODER DON’T STICK TO METALTWEEZERAND IT SON’T TAKE THE HEAT AWAY–KEEP PLUGGING AWAY KEVIN MORE YOU DUE YOU GET BETTER——HAVE FUN DOUG SASSMAN
OK, so who forgot to clean the tip of your soldering iron, and give the target area of the rail a quick wipe with solvent cleaner on a Q-tip.
No amount of heat, tinning and flux will give s long term solid solder joint. Getting proper solder in theses days of OH & S is also becoming an issue.
Have fun guys, sold(i)er on!!!