Heat the work: not the solder

[mtroxel]

Yea my soldering skills are marginal. But I know enough to see that this fix might last about 2 days. But with the ambient temps in the 30° F range, do I just have to admit that I’m not going to get this pad hot enough to get a good flow? I’m sure I’m working against the mass of that 30° F back window glass.

Could I get it hot enough in the summer or am I just dreaming? I've never tried conductive glue. Is that an option here?

[Novarider]

Is there supposed to be a picture attached? Can you post a pic of the iron tip? Are you thinning the tip of the iron and what you are soldering? Using Flux?

[mtroxel]

Is there supposed to be a picture attached?

Yep. Fixed it. I did use flux, but no way can I get that hot enough.

Done some research. Permatex makes an adhesive just for this application. You have to be very diligent about your prep, and temps have to be higher than they are right now so I'll wait and use this if/when we ever get spring weather here.

https://www.permatex.com/products/sp...-tab-adhesive/

[old guy]

For what it's worth I have used conductive glue before and it worked fine.

[earhythmic]

As someone that solders often, that picture makes my soul hurt.

[mtroxel]

For what it's worth I have used conductive glue before and it worked fine.

Good to know. From what I read its all about the prep.

As someone that solders often, that picture makes my soul hurt.

Yea it's ugly. In my defense, you have to heat a small pad at the edge of a 30° window. Not gunna happen.

[earhythmic]

Yea it's ugly. In my defense, you have to heat a small pad at the edge of a 30° window. Not gunna happen.

Yeah I gotcha. My funnest one was essentially hanging upside down to solder together some broken pins on the cam adjuster harness.

Some quickie tips: keep a dab of solder at the tip of the iron, it helps with heat transfer. Then tin both parts you’re trying to connect (prepped with flux). You don’t have to heat the parts hot enough to melt the solder, just hot, then touch the solder to the tip of the iron and it’ll run where it needs to and adhere. Glossy solder means it’s good, dull means it’s cold and will break off. Once you get both sides tinned you just touch the two parts together, kiss it with the iron, and they’ll melt together for a perfect, clean connection.

[Novarider]

Good to know. From what I read its all about the prep.



Yea it's ugly. In my defense, you have to heat a small pad at the edge of a 30° window. Not gunna happen.

Could be your iron. A good adjustable iron makes a huge difference. When I first started I had a cheap $15 iron and I struggled with soldering but once I got a good adjustable iron it made all the difference in the world.

You could heat up the glass from the outside with a hairdryer. Then the 30 degree glass wouldn't be sucking heat away from the connector.

[mtroxel]

You could heat up the glass from the outside with a hairdryer. Then the 30 degree glass wouldn't be sucking heat away from the connector.

I did think about that.

keep a dab of solder at the tip of the iron, it helps with heat transfer. Then tin both parts you’re trying to connect (prepped with flux). You don’t have to heat the parts hot enough to melt the solder, just hot, then touch the solder to the tip of the iron and it’ll run where it needs to and adhere.

And I did tin the tip. Tried to. But when the tip is pointing straight up vertical, even if you do get a flow on the glass, the flow just runs down the iron...just like the tin bulb did. I"m not the worst, but I'm not the best. If it can be done, I'm not the one to do it. I'll wait till its warm and use the Permatex conductive glue.

[mtroxel]

So for anyone searching, I got this today. Soldering that wire to the pad on the glass is a fool's errand. Today I took one of these, bent it about 45°, then used a file to flatten up my contact point with the glass. Soldered my wire in there. Then tinned it up good with solder, then held it to the glass with a pick and heated it up until I had a good flow. Worked great. It probably helped that the car had been in the sun on a 60° F day. When I tried this a couple weeks ago the glass was more like 30° F.

[jfo]

No pic...should there be?

[mtroxel]

No pic...should there be?

Hmmm....I can see it from here......

[jfo]

Interesting...appears in Chrome but not Firefox. Appears to be related to Firefox settings and Audizine being an insecure site.

[mtroxel]

Appears to be related to Firefox settings and Audizine being an insecure site.

Not sure about that. Audizine is a secure address. So I went to my old Win 7 box i use as a server because I know it has F-Fox on it. It showed in the old 38.0 version that was on there. Then I updated F-Fox all the up to the latest version (52.0?) and my pic still shows. So I'm not sure what's going on there.

[captain_video]

That's weird. I can't see the photo in Firefox, but it shows up in the Edge.

I have also used the Permatex conductive glue and it works fine.

[jfo]

Not sure about that. Audizine is a secure address. So I went to my old Win 7 box i use as a server because I know it has F-Fox on it. It showed in the old 38.0 version that was on there. Then I updated F-Fox all the up to the latest version (52.0?) and my pic still shows. So I'm not sure what's going on there.

The latest is FF Quantum 59.0.2. Both FF and Chrome show Audizine as an insecure site The pic won't show even when I disable the protection in FF. It shows in Chrome even though it's also indicating it's insecure, so there must be protection settings that are different.
This pic is the only time I've experienced this in FF so far....strange.

[mtroxel]

OK, I see it now. It is a setting...sort of. Cause the image shows on my F-Fox but if you click on the little yellow thing by the https, it tells you some of the content on the page is insecure. That would be the image stored on my hosting. Maybe I finally need to break down and buy a certificate.