Soldering Deans Connectors 

The ‘heat the joint’ method is one of those ‘if you only learn one thing’ bits of advice. But if you look at what you are actually trying to achieve (bringing the joint, solder & flux together at the right temp), there are more ways to approach soldering. Wave soldering wouldn’t exist, for example. Most people only have small irons that are intended for circuit boards and general electronic work. For larger joints, you need an iron with a fat tip, and more horsepower than most hobbyist setups. When heating large joints with a small iron, you get heat soak, and melting of plastics etc. A larger iron lets you ‘sting’ the joint so the immediate area gets up to temp faster than the heat can travel along the terminal/conductor to melt the connector. The alternative method of having a blob of solder on the iron tip, and heating until the precise point where the solder flows is a perfectly good method as long as you understand what your intended result is. Using extra flux on the joint works for me too. Ideally I will flux, then tin large terminal before blob soldering them as I get better results that way. But a bit of extra flux painted on a large terminal before charging straight in helps too. Note, this is electrical soldering rosin flux, not plumbing flux. More often though, I use a Portasol Super Pro butane iron (other irons are available) for large joints and audio connectors. This let me keep my regular iron set up for microelectronics, and gives me a heavy duty iron for when I need it most. Being ‘cordless’ makes it convenient to pull out when needed, and I don’t need to let my regular iron cool so I can change to a chisel tip. Plus it is a handy thing to have in general for auto stuff etc, where precise temperature doesn’t matter as much, and you can’t drag your car to the bench. But any big nasty plug in iron will do too, for not much extra.

Glad to help

Glad it helped

Thanks for watching 👍

My pleasure

My pleasure.

My pleasure.

Glad it was helpful

You bet

No problem going with a larger plug (higher current rating), provided you have the room to use it. Another really good smaller plug that is equivalent (current handling capacity) to the EC2 is the XT30 so you may want to look into them if you don't have enough room for the larger Deans.

@@Rchelicopterfun I received the deans today, so I will give them a try. Also, the wife bought me a soldering setup similar to yours. Thanks for the help! Will be watching some of your videos to get these done👍🏼

Glad you liked it

I don't know a thing about airsoft and what packs are used (LiPo or LiIon)? Here is my best LiPo recommendation page on my site, but it's for RC applications: www.rchelicopterfun.com/best-lipo.html Same goes for charger recommendations: www.rchelicopterfun.com/rc-battery-chargers.html

Glad I could help

@shaunsmad rcs - connector choice is current dependent. I can't tell you if these will work without knowing the maximum current load you will be pulling through them. Deans can handle up to about 50 Amps so as long as your application is not pulling more current than that - yes they will work. This article on my site about choosing the correct RC connector may also be of interest: www.rchelicopterfun.com/rc-battery-connector.html

I would desolder the deans plug on the ESC, put new heat shrink over the ESC wires along with additional JST pigtail wires, solder the small JST wire to the larger (I assume) ESC wire, resolder the combined ESC & JST wire back on the plug, slide the new heatshrink over the solder tabs, and shrink it.

@@Rchelicopterfun Thanks so much for explaining this John. I'm not the best at soldering. Any way you could do a short video showing this procedure? It would help me a lot.

There are links to good dean's style connectors on my dean's page on my website, which there is a link to in the video description. I did also add the link to them in the video description.

Everything gets better with practice. I watched about 10 different videos before I soldered anything.

Lead free solder is difficult to work with and usually gives poor results without years of practice and good equipment. Always use a good quality 60/40 or or 63/37 rosin core leaded solder for best results including but not limited to: ease of use, reliability, strong mechanical & electrical bond and much less risk of cold/brittle joints.

Sounds like oxidation contamination on the solder tab. Not enough flux perhaps or low quality flux/solder? Not enough heat to activate the flux to clean off the oxidation might be another possibility.

Now you've jinxed it - lol 😀

@darrenantoine7333 - Good question. Solder paste (flux) is generally not required when you are using a good quality rosin core solder such as the Kester rosin core solder I'm using in the video. One reason I stressed the importance of quality solder. The flux is contained within the center core of the solder so it's automatically applied as you apply the solder to the component or whatever you're soldering. If you are not using a good quality rosin core solder however, or solder that doesn't contain flux or you apply too much heat too long and boil off the built in rosin flux, then you must use extra solder paste/flux. I cover this flux topic in more detail in the flux section of my soldering for beginners page on my website if you need more information on the what, when and how to use flux: www.rchelicopterfun.com/rc-soldering.html

Are you pre-tinning the tabs first? A good tinning job is the key to a strong bond :-)

@@Rchelicopterfun Yes. Solder just runs off them no matter what I do. Numerous times I have tried and tried just to end up melting the plastic. Flux, scraping has no influence on it. I have also used different irons..40 watt, 80 watt

@@osbornephoto1955 What type of solder are you using?

@@Rchelicopterfun 4 different brands. All rosin core. My Dean plugs have 2 different metals. I do not know if this is normal or not. One side is brass or copper and the other steel...I think. The steel side is the side that will not hold solder. I even used a 80 watt iron but all it did was melt the plastic. Yesterday I ordered a set of plugs off Amazon and will give them a try.

@@Rchelicopterfun BTW: These are the original Deans plugs from a Hobby shop...not some aftermarket ones

Not enough heat (need at least an 80W iron or gun for most of this larger stuff), wrong shaped tip that doesn't transfer enough heat (wedge tips are best for RC connector jobs I find) poor quality solder, not enough or poor quality flux? Many reasons, and yes technique is also one. All covered on my RC Soldering For Beginners page on my site: www.rchelicopterfun.com/rc-soldering.html

I'm Canadian. Interesting (not really) why you selectively left out all the English words with a silent "L" such as salmon, calf, half, walk, palm, etc. However, to answer your question why only British English retains the "L" in the pronunciation, (presuming you actually want to learn something and are not just another trolling dumb ass), simply look up the etymology of the word solder and you'll find out exactly why the L is silent for the rest of us. Summation: 1. Latin origin "solidaire" had the L and was pronounced. 2. French adaptation lost the L as many other evolving Latin to French to Anglo words have in the past; in this case the Anglo-French "soudure". 3. British English re-Latinized with the L, rest of us didn't. As one English scholar wrote: solder without the "L" was "The only pronunciation I have ever heard, except from the half-educated to whom spelling is a final court of appeal ..."

I'm a United States Citizen and I pronounce it saw-der.