Headlight relays, soldering question

[Fred Munro]

Tom;

If the legs were red hot and the tip wasn't warm, the nuts connecting the
tip to the gun probably weren't tight enough. SJ's soldering tips were right
on, particularly about the heat bridge. Soldering won't work without it.
First you apply solder between the tip and the joint and then to the joint
when it heats up.

HTH

Fred Munro
'94 S4


-----Original Message-----
From: quattro-bounces at audifans.com
[mailto:quattro-bounces at audifans.com]On Behalf Of TWFAUST at aol.com
Sent: April 20, 2005 9:07 PM
To: quattro at audifans.com
Subject: Re: Headlight relays, soldering question



In a message dated 4/20/2005 4:05:16 PM Eastern Standard Time,
audi at humanspeakers.com writes:

> By the way, I'd guess that your soldering iron does not have enough
> power to get 12-14 gauge wire up to 6-700 degrees.  I use several 100
> watt soldering stations in my work, with self-regulating tips for steady
> temerature, and they are barely up to soldering 12 gauge wire.  I've
> also noticed that when a tip goes bad, resulting in a constant "on"
> condition, and heats up to orange-red hot, it won't solder properly any
> more

The gun is rated at 140 watts, but it is on a long cord. I suppose I am an
amateur solderer. Other than a lot of 1/2" pipe, I haven't done any
electrical
soldering since I was 11 or 12.

I suspected that the tip was bad. The "legs" were getting red/orange but tip
temp was barely enough to melt the solder (rosin core) when I applied it
directly. Where is "tinner's acid" when I need it? I think the EPA did away
with
that about 15 years ago.

Tom

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