Soldering Iron Wattage vs. Temperature

[TreyArc]

Good video, gives me what i want.

[TreyArc]

I meant it gets to the point without rambling.

[WarnerKrause]

Great video.

[SmileysRevenge100]

Thank you!

[macandcomputerhelp]

Thank you so much!!! This was exactly what I was looking for and was very informative.

[GuyWithGuitars1]

It's that shitty RoHS lead free crap foisted upon the world. I didn't know there was an epidemic of lead poisoning caused by solid solders in the landfills enough to legislate the good stuff (60/40) out of existence. I've screwed a number of good boards cause of the shit that has a 1,000,000 degree melting point.

[picbuck]

Great vid. It answers the Great Temperature-Wattage Question. Thanks!

[Shockszzbyyous]

uh what is 1F in c' degrees (Celsius) ???

[guywith2names]

@Shockszzbyyous google it

[tubewatcher77]

Great informative video, I was always wondering which wattage does what.

[ArchiveMods]

Any recommendations on a Soldering station for Making Jtag Xbox 360's. I m am opening a shop and i want to ensure i have good connection without damaging anything.

I have no budget.

Thanks

-Archive Mods

[jaffabend]

Thank you so much for posting these tutorials. Is there any chance you can show us how to make prototype PCBs suitable for SMD, at home?

[HenkAnnieNaald]

Well, i didnt know about the tip cleaning.

My tip wont heat properly. But can i clean it with a wet normal household sponge?

[AzzyAsi]

40W .. a bit low. From experience I managed to solder some small things (like a normal resistor with leads) with my soldering gun (250W, I use it on industrial components, 1" thick cables sometimes)

I was curious what are the downsides of soldering guns versus soldering irons like those. (I mean soldering guns, those with the "U" copper tip that heats up in a second when the trigger is pulled), most of them start from 50W to 100, 150, etc. But I do all my job around the house with such a thing.

[Thetruthishere11]

Anyone buy harbor freight iron?  any good?

And the brass scrub pad destroy the tip?

does guy in vid ever mention what he invented?

[JonDeth]

Nice video, I've owned a dozen soldering irons and having used the 40 watt iron from Radio Shack the last year or so, will never use less wattage again. It's unfortunate nobody is producing a budget iron that can endure though. My 40 watter has burned through 3 tips then finally gave out on me. The handle rivet goes loose as well and there's not adequate heat insulation on it.

Still a great iron for the money though, outlasted 3 budget soldering stations I have owned.

[real1abcda]

in other words low temperatures is better is for ppl that stay too long on the motherboard while soldering?

ps :what solder should i use for basic rom chipping? i have some silver lead free src800 and however i clean the part or attend to it , brown spots appear on the motherboard 50 sec later.... im using carefully a 30 watt and nothing is spilling over were it should not

[DigitalEngineeringCo]

Basically, the more wattage, the quicker the iron can re-heat.

[ac23AQ]

Im getting a 40 watt Weller from home depot. This video is so helpful, i can't be from expert village.

[Envergure]

Watch at 3:06. A litle steaming bit of something flies through the air. Is that normal? It always happens to me (I got cheap solder, maybe). I got hit on the arm by one and it didn't do any damage.

[Coodude26]

I dunno if it's normal but it definitely happens to me all the time. I think it's flux that boils too quickly and as a result sputters all over the place, like if you boil water for too long and it boils over.

[McGuywer]

I use a 75w iron tuned down to about 40w through a 4.7μF 400V a.c. capacitor.

[jak68]

unbelievably helpful video.

[chukchee]

For the soldering guns, you need to get a holster.

[MacsCanfly]

what about soldering guns do i have to keep them tinned

[McGuywer]

Yes you do. But due to strong magnetic field generation arond the tip, which can cause damage to some components, soldering guns aren't used for small electronics. They are for joining household wires, cutting PVC tubes etc.

[InZdust]

This is a great video. I was a bit worried my 25w iron would not suffice for doing a bit of thru-hole soldering. It sounds like it is very doable with this wattage. This video answered, *I think*, every question I had about iron wattage / temperature and how that applies to melting points of solder and effectiveness of soldering. Although, this might not apply to all irons at these wattages, it is a great rule of thumb to go off of. Awesome! Well done! THANKS!!!

[ANARCHYdashTVdotCOM]

my 15 watt iron is going straight into the garbage can

[Ibringthetruth1]

40 watts the best?

[Peetah16]

i am very very new to this. ON e question what would happen if you accidentally touched the iron.

[fireraisr]

if it's hot enough to melt metal it's hot enough to melt your finger

[Peetah16]

realy? but 600 degrees aint that hot?

[fireraisr]

your body is over 70% water if you place a soldering iron in a drop of water it boils instanly. A burn happens when the water in your cells is removed with heat. Most often this results in cell rupture which is what makes the wound.

[arseymcpherson]

Divide by zero.

[Peetah16]

Divide by zero? care to explain?

[Gamernotnerd]

You would probably scream like you just got burnt with a piece of metal that is hot enough to melt solder.

[mhaly101]

You would most likely pull your hand away before any damage. If you made contact with it for more than a fraction of second, you would have 2nd degree burns (blisters, very painful). Much longer and you'll end up with a third degree burn and need medical attention. Not very fun, but not exactly life threatening if its your finger/hand. I've accidentally touched it myself once or twice when being stupid. Pulled my hand away before any damage at all was done and just went right on working.

[ubuntututorials]

You would burn yourself... It would hurt.

[polarbear60]

You will burn a little, it's not electricity, just temperature.

[jishan22]

make a video with metric units of temperature

[icloo]

The best! Now we need a guide on repairing lands and traces, please!

[marlls1989]

can you please post it in "Normal" (Celsius) temperature for the rest of us understand without having to pause every time to convert F to Normal degrees in google.

Note: I am Brazilian, your soldering tips are awesome, great article, impossible to find a decent one into my country websites (Like any other subject, American internet is awfully rich).

[jishan22]

Replace the "Pit" with the °F temperature if you do not use US units. Then copy this in the calculator

(Pit-32)*(5/9)=

[jishan22]

At 1:20 how could solder melt if the temperatire is below 500°F?

[CuriousInventor]

63/37 melts at 361 F, see our howtosolder guide for an explanation of why iron temps are so much hotter than that. CuriousInventor / HowToSolder

[jishan22]

only about 0.2F each time?

[tilinghelp]

good info.

[1serge6969]

thanks very informative: question what would you used to make a repair on printed tv circuit board

[andrewt248]

Very interesting comparison. I just got a 40w Radio Shack pencil iron and notice a huge advantage over the cheap one I had before (probably 15w). Well worth it!

[jerbar120]

i got a 30 watt soldering iron if anyone wants to buy it

[ductonius]

Well done. Informative and a very clean presentation of information.

Everyone who wants to make an information or how-to video needs to watch this one.

[petermichaelgreen]

Quite informative, in summary

The 50W iron ran at a rather high temperature for general soldering. This is bad for the lifetime of the bit and increases the risk of overheating small components (production uses higher temps because they value contstruction speed highly and have the skill to not sit on connections for too long).

The 15W was strugling with even the small stuff like the DIP.

So if you are going to buy one of theese irons for electronic work the 25W is probablly your best bet.

[petermichaelgreen]

(self replying to get arround the stupid comment length limit)

Still if you are doing large scale construction or want one iron to handle all sizes a high power temperature controlled iron is a good idea.

[JohnLRice]

Thanks for the info, well done!

[TheBakachan]

Very informative. That's something I've been wondering about myself.

It's getting to be a moot point though. Thanks to China, now even hobbyists can afford good hot air SMD rework stations, let alone good regulated irons.

Why buy that $15 unregulated iron from RadioShack, when you can get a high-end regulated iron from Aoyue or Xytronic or somebody for $50?

I'm waiting for Aoyue to come out with a $500 desktop pick and place machine! Ha!

[djFadeOut122]

i live in the netherlands.

I have a 15, 25, and 40 watt iron.

i have used the 25 watt iron to tin and solder 2,5mm2 (something around 14 gauge) wires. that goes easily. a 4mm2 (10 gauge) goes easily too.

I think my irons create more heat then your irons. i have 230 volts instead of 115 volts.

I think my 15 watt iron has the same temperatur as your 30 watt iron (25w by me is 50w by you)

[qubei]

Nice to see some systematic tests, but I don't suppose you feel like converting F to C and adding captions with the Celsius temperatures so all of us who live outside of United States can benefit from this video too? :)

[sam3the8kid]

are the 15 watt irons betr for smt

or is a tempture regulator station beter??

[CuriousInventor]

because many smt parts draw little heat, you can get away with a 15 watt iron in many cases. But in general, a regulated iron will be better since it will be able to compensate if you are soldering many pins in quick succession. Also if you need to solder a heat sink connected to a ground plane, the extra wattage and regulation will be helpful.

[samdagreek]

Very good but I have a gas powered soldering iron

[ciphernemo]

Awesome, professional, and informative video. Thank you for taking the time to share. I've learned what I wanted to know about temp vs. wattage of soldering irons, and how it applies to various soldering work. I have no more questions regarding this issue after watching. Thanks so much!

[hansonsux]

I put a triac dimmer to my 40w iron otherwise it gets way too hot. My watt meter shows only about 12 watts to the iron when I have the temperature just right. It seems perhaps the larger mass of the element of the power reduced 40w iron keeps the temperature from "dipping" to much. Instead of a small 15w iron at full power having less mass and dipping more.

[CuriousInventor]

Interesting idea. That fits with general advice I've read about choosing tips. Ideally, you want the largest mass possible (to reduce dips like you say), the most surface area contact, and the shortest distance between the heater and the tip surface. In my experience, keeping a clean tip and using a good brand (Weller, Hakko, Metcal, OKi, JBC, etc.) of a temp controlled soldering station out-weighs the tip size / shape factors.

[CuriousInventor]

thanks and you're welcome.

[Bullwhipper]

great! very helpful. thanks a lot

[RixceU]

By the way, when you soldered with the 25 watt iron, I saw that the board you were using had individual copper pads that aren't connected to any others in any way. What are these kinds of boards used for if none of the pads are connected? Thanks a lot! Great video BTW.

[CuriousInventor]

Thanks for the feedback. That's the standard prototype board available at RadioShack. You can connect pads by applying enough extra solder to form a bridge between adjacent pads. For non-adjacent pads, solder jumper wires to the pads. I highly recommend never using one of those boards; you'll end up with a mess of wires and waste tons of time. Google 'make your own PCB' for a better way.

[staticxmako]

hey im just getting into soldering im 15 but i dont curently have one besides the one my father has

he uses it for bigger things than circut board/componets like im giong to use it for m not sure what wattage it is yet

but my qeustion is. does the voltage play a role here?

[CuriousInventor]

I'd find something else if it's more than 45 Watts. Ions usually aren't rated on voltage except to differentiate between US wall voltage and other countries'.

[staticxmako]

thanks dude but ill all ready got it im not sure what valtage i got but its a weller 25wats and it goes up to 750degrees

its all good though thanks for the helpfull video check out what i fixed 3 leaked caps

on a lcd power supply just check my videos and thanks for your time.

[jaxnnux]

Yes! Great video! I own a variable wattage soldering iron and I was always curious about the different temperatures.

[CuriousInventor]

Me too... A lot of the stuff I read said that higher wattage doesn't mean higher temperature, and theoretically, that may be all well and true, but it definitely doesn't apply to most unregulated irons.