Soldering help

[xgecko54]

Hey guys, I'm a n00b at soldering. I'm trying to tin the wires on my battery, but they won't heat up enough and the solder won't melt when I touch the solder to them. Any help?

[ThatGuy]

Put solder on the iron first then hold it to the wire

And make sure the iron is HOT

[Major payne]

What solder are yo u using?

[xgecko54]

What solder are yo u using?

Rosin core lead free

[Old Dog]

PM sent...

[xgecko54]

I tinned the iron & left it to press against the wire for a few minutes, the same thing happened.

Maybe the wire has some sort of coating? Or is it the shape of my iron, it's a point and not flat

[ThatGuy]

This looked helpful
 http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BLfXXRfRIzY


Also what gauge  wire are you using?

[spazz]

what watt iron are you useing. i would say you need at least a 40w to get a good solder job done

[xgecko54]

My iron is 60w, and the wire I', using 14 gauge solder

[ThatGuy]

Sounds odd that you couldn't get that set up to work.

What part of town are you in maybe you can take it you a tech and they could give it a go.

[XavierMace]

14ga wire is pretty thick to begin with and I've had some Chinese packs that just transfer too much of the heat to the cells.  Ended up cutting of some strands to make the wire thinner at the end.

[xgecko54]

I talked to old dog in PMs, I think it's the shape of my iron. The tip is round not flat, so the solder drips to the bottom and doesn't puddle. It's more for circuit boards. I can change the tip though. At least that's what I think is the problem.

[FUBAR]

Make sure everything is clean including your soldering iron tip and use flux.

[HAZE-ONE]

+1 for flux

[nukeduster]

Smaller gauge solder. 14awg is way too much solder for most applications. Even with 60watts 14awg is hard to solder with.. I use 20-22awg for most soldering. I also prefer 96/4 rosin core solder for electronics.