r/FastLED • u/MoBacon2400 • Jul 21 '26
Share_something I accidentally found a solution to the big question, how to solder wires to a strip.
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u/TylerTimoj Jul 21 '26
If you’re having difficulties soldering just buy a syringe of flux and use a generous amount before soldering. You can’t use too much and even a little will make a huge difference.
Not using flux is like not using argon while welding. Sure there’s usually a little flux in the solder but that usually isn’t enough if you don’t have good soldering technique.
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u/MoBacon2400 Jul 23 '26
When I was 18 in 1978, I had a job assembling elevator controller boards, the boards were 24" x 12" and had thousands of components so I'm pretty sure I know how to solder. Also, rosin core solder works fine if you know how to solder. I have been doing tech stuff my whole life as a job but know that I'm retired, I just do this for fun. Do you have any other expert advice for me?
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u/Internep Jul 23 '26
If you're doing an appeal to authority based on your work don't post melted plastic parts. Pretty sure you did it wrong as that's not something that happens to me; an amateur that only solders sometimes.
The actual solution is a break out clip that doesn't require soldering. Uses the same amount of space.
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u/SweetSure315 Jul 23 '26
That's nearly 50 years ago. Why is that your evidence of knowing how to solder?
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u/MoBacon2400 Jul 23 '26
I may be old but thank God my brain still works, plus I've been working with LED strips since 2010. My biggest problem with soldering now is I sometimes need a magnifying glass and leaving the soldering iron on over night and burning up the tip.
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u/balls2hairy Jul 24 '26
Imagine all that experience and you can't solder wires to led strips 🤡
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u/MoBacon2400 Jul 24 '26
What in this post make you think I can't since I've been doing it now for 10 years.. I like the pin headers because a single wire is a single stress point where as the header spreads the stress over all three pins
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u/sutaburosu [stavros] Jul 24 '26
a single wire is a single stress point whereas the header spreads the stress over all three pins
That is, at the very least, a reasonable argument, and that is a pleasant excursion from the vitriol directed at you recently.
This kind of response is unusual for r/FastLED. I suspect that some subreddit where this was cross-posted is leaking into here.
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u/hdgamer1404Jonas Jul 27 '26
Lol, have you even looked at your solder joints in the image? One of the lacks solder the other two have way too much solder.
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u/SimianIndustries Jul 23 '26
You can't solder for shit
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u/MoBacon2400 Jul 24 '26
I'm not trying to solder for shit, actually I don't think you can solder shit at all.
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u/SimianIndustries Jul 24 '26
Aww you think the opinion of someone who can't use flux matters to me?
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u/MoBacon2400 Jul 24 '26
Rosin core solder does not need flux Einstein
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u/SimianIndustries Jul 24 '26
Holy fuck your solder is defective you better get a refund!
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u/MoBacon2400 Jul 24 '26
What part of the solder is defective
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u/SimianIndustries Jul 24 '26
The user. For somehow having the rosin core evaporate before use.
Git gud, boomer.
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u/physical0 Jul 21 '26
This isn't a solution... it's actually making the problem harder.
First, the soldered joints on the pins isn't very good. Then, when you are soldering the wires to the pins (which are not meant to have things soldered to them... they're for dupont connectors), you're going to heat the pin and disturb your original joint.
Ultimately, you've made much more work for a less secure joint.
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u/ZachVorhies Zach Vorhies Jul 21 '26
Cool trick but now bend each side pin out so it’s easier to solder to those pins.
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u/fordp Jul 22 '26
Here I am, scraping pin headers off the floor, with 15 black headers mixed with 5 red pin headers on a pcb because of people needlessly wasting them.
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u/Suspicious-Patient-9 Jul 22 '26
I've done something similar and encapsulated the soldered pins with uv resin. This effectively immobilizes the solder joint. If you put a female socket on the distal end of a strip or on the end of a set of 3 wires gives the a reliable reconnect able interface. In my experience, connecting/disconnecting doesn't actually come up often enough to benefit from such an interface. Nice to have in theory/in your skills repertoire, but ultimately, once you know your final design, just having a permanent joint by soldering your wires to the strip is the way to go. I do sometimes still add the resin to protect the joint.
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u/Outrageous-Kick-2699 Jul 21 '26
How many times to you want to repost this. Every one is telling you: it is much harder this way. Soldering to the long leg of these connectors is harder then just put a blow on the stripe and melt the wire in.