Soldering prayers answered . ( Possibly )

I don't normally share " Wonder " products that pop up on social media but this does look pretty good . I never seem to have much success when I try to solder stuff so I might be looking into this . https://www.facebook.com/103360744771203/posts/117676803339597/. And it's cheap as chips . https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/274101913500

Let us know if you do and how it works

I never have much success with solder either

Don't forget to measure the resistance between ends after soldering.

That will determine the quality of the soldering

The key is good preparation and clean wires, even if using flux dirty wires will be difficult to solder, and always tin the wires before joining this ensures that the solder will take with the minimum of difficulty, as with anything practice is key

Youtube is your friend

I can't say I've had issues with solder and heat shrink.

I had a lot of trouble with soldering too. I could never seem to get enough heat into the wires to get a good connection but I cracked it. The key for me was to clean tip of the iron using one of these https://cpc.farnell.com/duratool/d03301/soldering-tip-cleaner-brass-wool/dp/SD02265 and then tin the tip with solder. Keep cleaning and tinning it until you have a nice shiny layer of solder on the tip. That creates good heat transfer into the joint. If the tip is oxidised and dull you won't get the heat transfer into the joint and you end up with a cold solder joint where the solder sits on top of the wire instead of flowing into it. Another thing that helps a lot is rosin flux which is also cheap. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Soldering-Flux-Rosin-Based-No-Clean-RMA-Resin-Kalafonia-AG-CHEMIA-35g-Metal-Can/202820445517?epid=22023830019&hash=item2f390a654d:g:myMAAOSw-v5dyhs4

I've found that flux, and plenty of it is the key to successful soldering.

So , probably a good thing to stick in your touring toolkit but not something to carry out long term work with .

There are two problems to good soldering in this context, efficiency of heat transfer (which means s clean tip with nice shiny layer of tin) and power.

Why power? If you're soldering two long wires, then what you're doing is trying to heat up two really good heatsinks to more than 200deg C. You won't do it with a cheap 30W soldering iron, because by the time everything is warmed up - all of the flux will be burnt and the tin oxidised. Also try to put the tip lengthwise (and not at the right angle to the wires) to maximize contact area and heat transfer.

Been doing that for 30 years...

And now I feel old!

There are two problems to good soldering in this context, efficiency of heat transfer (which means s clean tip with nice shiny layer of tin) and power.

Why power? If you're soldering two long wires, then what you're doing is trying to heat up two really good heatsinks to more than 200deg C. You won't do it with a cheap 30W soldering iron, because by the time everything is warmed up - all of the flux will be burnt and the tin oxidised. Also try to put the tip lengthwise (and not at the right angle to the wires) to maximize contact area and heat transfer.

Been doing that for 30 years...

And now I feel old!

I have a few ( can't remember exactly how many but more than 6) of various types and power, but my go to all purpose iron is my weller butane gas powered one, it heats up really quick has several different tips for different jobs and no power cord getting in the way, but i did get some strange looks when i went into poundland and bought 6 tins of gas for it, what can i say i'm a heavy user