30w soldering iron

**luke.oldham** · 10th April 2010, 23:23

would it be ok to use a 30w soldering iron to solder smd leds on my speedo dont now if it will be to hot for them.going to attempt to do it tomoz.never solderd before should be fun lol cheers luke

**luke.oldham** · 11th April 2010, 09:37

...

**stampede** · 11th April 2010, 10:02

Way too hot.

Use a temp controlled soldering station. Only safe way to do it.

(and PS, I have done a few...)

**luke.oldham** · 11th April 2010, 13:49

just done my led speedo conversion and all is good .never touched a soldering iron till now im their lucky or its skill lol.now got the bug. going do heater and radio and door etc.

**BigWilko** · 11th April 2010, 17:10

Hi Mate, i used a 60w gascat. and it was fine just have to be careful how long you leave the heat on.

**luke.oldham** · 11th April 2010, 17:52

yes i got a £4.99 soldering iron from maplins.the leds looks mint im well chuffed .and its alot easyer than i thought

**BigWilko** · 11th April 2010, 21:59

Well... lets see some pics then!!!

**Robsey** · 11th April 2010, 23:40

Well done Luke....

something I have not had the balls to do myself, desite lots of soldering and electronics experience.

SMD's are just too small for my aged eyes and fat fingers!!

Also our Vectra belongs to the missus, and she would cut my nadz off with a very blunt rusty knife if I damaged her baby...even slightly

**kman247** · 11th April 2010, 23:55

Please bear in mind the long term damage that can be caused by someone inexperienced , its not just a case of melting solder , its stress thats caused on other components and internal tracks. Unless you have a temperature controlled iron I would suggest not carrying out soldering on parts that are potentially expensive to replace.

**stampede** · 12th April 2010, 00:31

Originally Posted by kman247

Please bear in mind the long term damage that can be caused by someone inexperienced , its not just a case of melting solder , its stress thats caused on other components and internal tracks. Unless you have a temperature controlled iron I would suggest not carrying out soldering on parts that are potentially expensive to replace.

Absolutely.

The problem is that the heat on a normal soldering iron varies widely. If it's too cold, you could end up with a poor joint; if too hot then you can damage other components on the board by heat transferring through the tracks, and maybe lift the tracks by melting and boiling the top of the board.

I am very glad you've done the clocks successfully as tbh that is the bit that is going to cost you dear if you mess it up. That doesn't mean you should make a habit of using that 30w iron for SMD work as sooner or later, it's going to fry something... would be cheaper and less bother to just buy the right kit up front