Soldering Spade Connectors

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Heltor Chasca

Out-riding the Black Dog
I have pre-purchased a Dynamo hub powered USB charger from Igaro. I have been sitting on my hands for this little piece of magic for my audax bike for an age. Finally it’s here.

In my excitement I have been reading up their owners’ manual so I have an inkling of what I am doing before I set it up. I think it’s all pretty straight forward. However, this paragraph doesn’t sit well with my comprehension skills. I have minimal soldering experience so it’s MY BOLD that I am stuck on. Can you help?

From their owners’ manual:

Schmitt SON Hub Connection
4.8mm spade connectors featuring a piggyback tab (for lights) are provided. Slot the two medium pieces of heat-shrink over the bare wire, place the wire into the connector so that the bare metal is just coming out at the top and crimp in place. Position the connector pointing upwards so that molten solder will run towards the ground and then solder the bare wire to the connector. Slot the heat-shrink over the connector and heat into place.
 
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midlife

Guru
Presumably it's so no solder goes onto the spade part of the connector which will stop the spade seating?
 

snorri

Legendary Member
This "pointing upwards" sounds as if it may be precautionary to prevent solder running over the spade and setting (going cold) which would make it difficult to insert the spade in to the terminal . I don't understand why it does not tell you to hold the terminal horizontally.
If the wire is properly crimped on to the connector it should not need to also be soldered, , or if soldered it need not be crimped doing both sounds like a case of belt and braces.
Woops, I've been beaten to it^_^!
 

slowmotion

Quite dreadful
Location
lost somewhere
If you are new to soldering, have a look on YouTube for advice. If you are using an electronics soldering iron, it takes a while to heat up a crimp connector before the solder will flow properly. Only apply the solder when the joint is hot. Put the solder on the joint, not the soldering iron. Use tin/led solder, not lead-free which is a nightmare to use. It doesn't flow nearly as well as conventional solder. You can buy a couple of feet of it on Ebay very cheaply.

Good luck.
 

CXRAndy

Guru
Location
Lincs
Tin the end of wire first, this will aid solder joint. Soldering is easy with a little practice. Use a couple of spare connections to try on to improve technique.
 

midlife

Guru
Tin = Pre apply the melted solder / flux to the end of the wire. Then just heat the wire and the spade together to form the join. That's what I understand :smile:
 

CXRAndy

Guru
Location
Lincs
Tin = Pre apply the melted solder / flux to the end of the wire. Then just heat the wire and the spade together to form the join. That's what I understand :smile:
:okay:

If one piece is already soldered adding a little solder to the joint just flows more easily making a tidy good finish. My career many moons ago TV repairs for 20 years
 
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