Recommended Soldering Kit & Tutorials (for Arduino, Electronics, & Radio Control)

By Gabriel Staples
Written: 14 June 2014
Posted to blog: 3 Aug. 2014
Last Updated: 26 May 2018
History (newest on TOP):
-20180526: Added Velleman desoldering review & link.
-20170415: converted basic Amazon links to Amazon Affiliate links; updated many of the solder links too, and prices on many links
-20161126: updated many links, incl the broken ones from Radio Shack; also added several new sections, including bonus soldering irons, rosin flux, high-power irons & torches, acid-core solders & acid fluxes, & how to tin a soldering iron tip.
-20141008: added an advanced "drag soldering" link at bottom
-20140905: added more soldering iron links, & solder tip tinner/cleaner link, as well as quite a bit more info.
-20140830: added more info about soldering irons "for Radio Control" use; also added "intermediate" links to the soldering tutorials section at the end

Related Articles:

• Heavy Duty Connectors and Large Gauge Wire, & XT60 Soldering Experiment - using my $8, 60W Hobbico iron from Tower Hobbies
• The Power of Arduino <-- be sure to check out the various really useful Arduino-related links at the bottom of this post!  They have helped me a ton.
• The Goal of a Lifetime
• Arduino micros() function with 0.5us precision - using my Timer2_Counter "Library"
• Arduino Power, Current, and Voltage Limitations
• Quick Tip: 4 Ways to Power an Arduino
• Parallel Charging Your LiPo Batteries
• Beginner RC Airplane Setup
• Thunder AC680/AC6 Charger & Computer Data-Logging Software
• All articles on my blog with the label "Arduino" - http://electricrcaircraftguy.blogspot.com/search/label/Arduino
• Thunder AC680/AC6 Charger & Computer Data-Logging Software
• Parallel Charging Your LiPo Batteries

Here is a list I put together to help people get into soldering & electronics.

DIGITAL GENUINE HAKKO FX-888D, from Adafruit.com

Keep reading below for more info.

Heavy Duty Connectors and Large Gauge Wire, & XT60 Soldering Experiment

By Gabriel Staples
Written: 22 Feb. 2013
Last Updated: 2 March 2014
-added links to full soldering tutorials

Related Articles:

• Beginner RC Airplane Setup

Background:
So, tonight I decided to do an experiment to see how large of wire could be used with my favorite connector, the genuine XT60, from HobbyKing.  Ultimately, I determined that a careful hand and hot iron (60W recommended, as my "Beginner RC Airplane Setup" document explains here) can easily handle wires at least up to 7 AWG, which is a very large diameter wire.  In my experiment, I twisted two 12AWG wires together, to make a 7~8 AWG-equivalent wire, which I then soldered to an XT60 connector with no problem.  A smaller diameter wire, such as a 10 AWG, can easily be soldered to an XT60 connector with this iron linked above (as this is the exact iron I used).  However, as 10AWG wire is capable of carrying currents much greater than 60A, you may be interested in using the larger XT90 connector, on which 10 AWG wire comes standard on a HobbyKing XT90 parallel harness or serial harness.

Various Large-Current, Large-Diameter-Wire Connector Descriptions, & Links:
XT60-style connectors are my favorite, hands down, for my personal use.  The 60 means "60 Amps," so as long as your *continuous* current is 60A or less, use these connectors, with any wire up to about 7 Gauge or so (though 14AWG wire is large enough to do the trick).  Anyway, for 60A or less continuous, or ~100A peak (<=30 sec), XT60's are the way to go.  For 90A continuous, or ~140A peak, use XT90's.  For 150A continuous (250A peak), use XT150's.  Also, as a side note, 10 AWG wire is designed to easily handle a high voltage 90A continuous current over short distances (you can verify using this online calculator here, with values of 1% loss, 22.2V DC, 90A, and 0.3m cable length), but again, if your system pulls <60A continuous, feel free to use XT60's, even for wire such as 10 AWG or as large as 7AWG. 

• XT60 Connectors
• XT60 Parallel Cable (comes with 16AWG wire)
• XT60 Series Cable (comes with 14AWG wire)
• XT90 Connectors
• XT90 Parallel Cable (comes with 10AWG wire)
• XT90 Series Cable (comes with 10AWG wire)
• XT150 Connectors

My Soldering Experiment on the XT60 Connector:
-My goal was to see if large gauge wire (10AWG or larger) could be soldered to the XT60 connector, in order to use this connector to replace other large, bulky, or cumbersome connectors on very large battery packs where you need less than 60A continuous current draw.  (Note: if you ever replace battery connectors, be very careful not to short out the battery leads by cutting off both wires on the battery connector at once.  Rather, cut off and solder one wire at a time to a new connector).
-Results: I successfully soldered the equivalent of 7AWG wires onto an XT60 connector.  I did not try to solder wires any larger, as this was large enough for the purposes of my experiment.