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Why will the solder not stick????

Turbo T

Turbo T

Certified CB Rambo
Feb 2, 2011
963
141
53
Ok I am at my 3rd attempt at building home brew antennas that consist of a SO-239 and a vertical copper house wire.

I've done this twice before with good results but not now.

For whatever reason I cannot get the solder to stick to the wire or the SO-239.

I am using rosin core solder, copper house wire, fresh SO-239's from Rat Shack and I have tried both a 30 watt soldering pencil as well as an 1100 watt soldering gun. Neither will get the solder to melt to the SO-239. I have even tried flux....still nothing.

I don't know what else to do. What gives?

Below is what I'm trying to build....
 

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Crappy plating on the SO-239. I trust you have no problem with it sticking to the copper wire? Some jacks are nickel plated over brass and you need to scrape the nickel away to expose the brass. Some are just plain shit through and through. Some are silver plated which is the way to go . never an issue there. BTW you aren't using that lead free shit for solder are you?
 
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I just checked the solder...yeah it's lead free....is lead free bad to use?

I was able to get it to stick to the copper at first but not so much now.

I'm not sure what my SO-239's are, if they're silver plated or nickel over brass.....whatever Rat Shack sells.
 
The nickel plated stuff ('Rat Shack') won't solder. Use a file/light hand grinder to remove enough plating off of the surface until enough the yummy brass underneath is exposed to do the job. Then it will take the solder.
 
RS sells crappy connectors that you do need to scrape the coating off of to solder too. I and a lot of others that have been soldering for a couple decades generally do not like the lead free stuff. it has poor "wetting" qualities which means even when it is molten and really hot it does not flow as well nor bond as well as the solder containing lead. Mankind has survived all this time with a bit of lead in his solder and I am sure he will survive for a long time yet with it. I have a few pounds of 60/40 tin/lead solder stashed and a pound or two of some tin/lead solder that has 2 or 3% silver in it and that works extremely well for soldering. BTW with good quality connectors that are silver plated the solder practically jumps onto the connector it solders so well.
 
Maybe it was the solder.

I tried a different type of solder. Not sure what kind it was but it's the really thin stuff Rat Shack sells in the little plastic tube. I got it to stick this time.

The other kind was the thicker stuff I got from I think O Reilly auto parts. Comes on a plastic spool.

So now I think I will go look for some solder to use in the future that will stick. Looks like lead is in. So what's best? The 60/40 tin/lead rosin core? Or is there a better type?

And thanks for the heads up for the silver plated SO-239's. I will definitely go that route from here on out.
 
60/40 tin/lead is and has been the standard for decades and is good. Better however is the 62/36/2 tin/lead/silver alloy.

62/36/2 TIN/LEAD/SILVER .032 1/2 LB SPOOL - ACE ELECTRONICS Houston, Texas

Some even have 3% silver. I have a roll of that and only use it on hard to solder connections. In any event you MUST use a solder with a rosin core for best solder-ability. Do NOT use an acid based flux type paste. It will eventually eat through a connection carrying electrical or RF current.
 
Captain Kilowatt said:
Electrolysis requires an applied DC current. There is no DC current flow in a radiator system. Are you sure you don't mean galvanic corrosion?

Galvanic corrosion - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Click to expand...

An engine is part of any automotive electrical system and many diesel engines use a chemical dispersion canister inline with the cooling system to defeat the effects of electrolysis by chemically changing the ph level of the coolant .

This effect causes minute explosions in the outer side of the cylinder walls which eventually causes failure in that cylinder wall by means of cracks or small holes which allow coolant to pass through into the cylinder causing seizure of that cylinder and piston.

http://www.awrracing.com/media/electrolysis.pdf
 
mackmobile43 said:
An engine is part of any automotive electrical system and many diesel engines use a chemical dispersion canister inline with the cooling system to defeat the effects of electrolysis by chemically changing the ph level of the coolant .

This effect causes minute explosions in the outer side of the cylinder walls which eventually causes failure in that cylinder wall by means of cracks or small holes which allow coolant to pass through into the cylinder causing seizure of that cylinder and piston.

http://www.awrracing.com/media/electrolysis.pdf
Click to expand...

Captain Kilowatt said:
Electrolysis requires an applied DC current. There is no DC current flow in a radiator system. Are you sure you don't mean galvanic corrosion?

Galvanic corrosion - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Click to expand...


Perhaps I should have said, albeit needlessly I believe, "There is no DC current flow in a radiator system in a properly maintained vehicle in which electrical installations have been done properly." :)
 

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