Would the soldering iron below work for discriminator tap?

[ramblin82]

I would like to know if the Weller SP12 "12 watt" soldering iron would work for installing a discriminator tap on both BC780XLT & BC898T scanners. I had my friend install one on an older scanner and he was using an old 30w radio shack iron but he has a steady hand. Here is the iron,

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Weller-SP1...522841&hash=item51fa162c81:g:W0UAAOSwbopZQZPV

I know it needs to be low wattage or it can damage the small solder points.

Thanks for any input.

 

[ka3aaa]

any soldering iron will work if you know how to solder.

 

[jonwienke]

The wattage isn't as important as whether or not it is temperature controlled, and you're using a tip size appropriate for the job. Too low of wattage can actually be problematic, because you have to hold the tip to the work longer, and heat has more time to flow into surrounding areas and potentially damage components.

I actually use this unit (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LX87DLH) for scanner modding. It has enough wattage to heat to working temperature in about 15 seconds, but because it is temperature controlled, I can set it to be just hot enough to melt solder without burning the circuit board. Temperature control also means that the tip doesn't oxidize as much when the iron is on but not actually in use compared to an iron that is not temperature controlled, meaning less tip fluxing, cleaning, and erosion. The tip is also grounded, to prevent ESD damage.

The iron you linked is probably OK if all you want to do is solder two wires to pads on the circuit board, but it may be underpowered for soldering the wire to an external jack. If you intend on doing more than that, get something with temperature control.

 

[ramblin82]

The wattage isn't as important as whether or not it is temperature controlled, and you're using a tip size appropriate for the job. Too low of wattage can actually be problematic, because you have to hold the tip to the work longer, and heat has more time to flow into surrounding areas and potentially damage components.

I actually use this unit (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LX87DLH) for scanner modding. It has enough wattage to heat to working temperature in about 15 seconds, but because it is temperature controlled, I can set it to be just hot enough to melt solder without burning the circuit board. Temperature control also means that the tip doesn't oxidize as much when the iron is on but not actually in use compared to an iron that is not temperature controlled, meaning less tip fluxing, cleaning, and erosion. The tip is also grounded, to prevent ESD damage.

The iron you linked is probably OK if all you want to do is solder two wires to pads on the circuit board, but it may be underpowered for soldering the wire to an external jack. If you intend on doing more than that, get something with temperature control.

Thanks, I'm probably going to purchase the soldering station you recommended. The brand is "Tek Motion" right? Because when I search for 898D on Ebay I get results that look similar to the one you linked to but are either different brand or knockoffs. One more question which temp do you recommend I set the iron to for doing a discriminator tap?

Thanks

 

[jonwienke]

The lowest temperature that melts the solder in a second or two. Different solders melt at different temps. Look up the solder's nominal melting temperature, add 25-50 degrees (note that the station uses Celsius, not Fahrenheit), and work your way up from there. If it takes more than 5 seconds to melt the solder, your tip is too fine or you need to increase the temp.

 

[allisonredford]

It doesn't really have anything to do with wattage but more of the temperature how stable it is. You could look at a cheaper Weller soldering station as well as you can adjust the temperature with those and they are generally better quality. The Weller WLC100 is a pretty good beginner one and it's really well priced on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Weller-WLC100-40-Watt-Soldering-Station/dp/B000AS28UC. Plus it has a smaller tip which should also be better for you.