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Great write up. If anyone out there is hesitant to drop 40 bones like I was, I found this alternative that seems to be working fine. Probably not as good as the Kester stuff though.Your soldering iron wasn't the the problem. It was your solder. Give me once chance to try to change your mind about soldering. If this doesn't drastically improve your soldering experience, I will admit defeat and bother you with it no more (I won't bother you with it either way as I'm not particularly prone to haranguing, I just thought it had the ring of a neat and tidy bow to finalize the exchange).
I know it's more than just five bucks but I'm adamant that this is one of the most worthwhile investments in a quality tool that has the potential to wholesale change your relationship with soldering which, personally, I consider to be one of the core skills that anyone who works with electronic stuff on a regular basis should at least understand two or three basic concepts that will make that skill your tool and not your nemesis.
Do yourself a solid and order this 1lb. spool of Kester 63/37 solder. The 0.040" diameter is great for all RC needs and all your general soldering needs. It's slim enough to take care of smaller jobs but thick enough that you can still fill a QS8 connector cup fast enough that it isn't annoying. Kester makes great quality solder but this particular solder consisting of 63% tin and 37% lead is better than the rest due to its non-eutectic properties. I won't bore you with the details, but what that means in how it behaves when working with it is that, unlike a 60/40 solder which requires that the solder joint remains absolutely motionless after you remove the heat from the soldering iron and the solder has cooled and crystalized otherwise the possibility of cold solder joints rises drastically, 63/37 solder doesn't care, you can jiggle it about, move the wires into their final position while the solder crystalizes and you still get a nice shiny, solder joint virtually every time with no risk of producing a cold joint.
If you've never used leaded rosin-core solder before, I promise you that you will never use lead-free solder again unless you're in a life and death situation...and even then you'll think about it for at least half a second. Leaded solder with a rosin core has a lower melting point of 183°C which means it melts fast, it stays melted easier and, unlike lead-free solder which is the biggest PITA to re-flow once it has cooled and crystallized, no such problems with this solder. De-soldering lead-free solder jobs sucks. It's like it just doesn't want to melt again. Yeah sure, you can brute force it with a torch but, if you're soldering anything with plastic on it like battery connectors, forget about it. To say that this solder is life changing admittedly sounds a bit over the top. But even if you just solder one or two things a week, I don't think its hyperbole. Ok, maybe it doesn't "change your life", but at bare minimum you'll look forward to soldering things because it turns a chore into a joy.
The only two other things I'd mention briefly regarding soldering that is a basic part of good practice that don't cost you any time but make it all work even better. Always make sure to turn the temperature up high enough if you have an iron with a thermostat (it's better if it's a little hotter than a little cooler and you'll know if you're pushing the temperature a bit high if your solder looks like evaporating off the tip of your iron as you touch the solder to it) and keep the tip of your iron clean by wiping it off either on a wet sponge or in a copper brillo pad briefly before you touch the iron to your work and after you're finished heating the solder joint. Last thing is always put a tiny dab of solder on the tip of the iron before you hold it to your work to heat it as this increases the contact patch across which the heat can flow by 10 or 100 fold. The difference in heat transfer is amazing.
That's it. Oh right, here's the solder. It's $40 for a 1lb spool but that spool should last you at least two or three years, probably a lot longer. https://amz.run/6Pfv
View attachment 280046
And if anyone wants to learn more about soldering, this post is a lengthy but worthwhile read.
You got me curious since I also have those motors, so I checked the logs.Castle log says the 1415 pulls around 700 Watts and the 1512 almost 900 Watts.
I'm seeing 1500W from the 1415 on 4S in a Tekno SCT410.3.
I'm seeing 1800W from the 1512 (1800kv) on 4S in a Typhon TLR.
And, since no one asked, that same Typhon TLR was pulling 2600W on 4S with a 1515 installed.
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