Weird tach indication problem

[Maverick]

My only concern is soldering. I can never seem to get the solder to grab onto the wires. I hate doing it. I don't know how electronics guys do it. Any tips for this? I've got my resistors and will do this once it gets too warm to fly which won't be long. . . unfortunately.

[Geek]

My only concern is soldering. I can never seem to get the solder to grab onto the wires.

Make sure you use flux (not the flux capacitor - soldering flux) and tin the wires before trying to connect the stuff up. Tinning the wire will let the solder "grab the wires" when you go to connect them.

G

[Eric Page]

As Gary said, flux is your friend. I use often a flux pen like this when soldering wires (never use corrosive plumber's flux). You can't apply too much.

Be sure you're applying the soldering iron to the joint, heating it up, then melting the solder into the joint. Don't carry solder to the joint on the iron tip. You can apply a little solder to the iron tip to help it transfer heat to the joint, but you must add fresh solder once the joint is hot.

Be sure your iron tip is clean and tinned with solder. If solder balls up on the tip and doesn't coat it, it's not going to transfer heat well. It can be cleaned with a ball of brass wool or a damp sponge (a small tuna can makes a good brass wool holder). Don't use anything more abrasive than brass wool or you'll remove the factory plating on the tip and it'll be ruined.

If you want to make it easy to get a clean and well-tinned tip, get some tip tinner; it chemically cleans the tip and tins it at the same time. Just roll the hot tip around in the tinner for a few seconds, and voila!