What kind of soldering iron do you use?

[DK5]

The better you get at soldering the less flux you will need. Flux is bad its corrosive and you need alcohol to remove rosin core flux. When soldering wires its impossible to remove all the rosin flux because it wicks up under the jacket.

Take a wire apart that you soldered a couple years ago with rosin core flux. You would be surprised how far the corrosion travels up the wire. I prefer no-clean flux its less corrosive and easier to clean up. But it is also harder to use. Practice with rosin and when you start to understand what you are doing switch to a less corrosive flux.

I will definitely keep that in mind. I hope my current setup doesn't corrode for a good long while... I'll try to use a scant amount of flux for the next ones. Might as well use what I have though for now.

 

[Fordum]

That is interesting. I use Ersin Savabit Multicore solder, got 5 different cores of rosin in it.
Fairly aggressive stuff, and I have gone back as long as 20 years with no signs of any corrosion.

I also sometimes work on radios built in the 40s, with gobs of rosin on the joints from the old Kestor44 stuff, and there is no corrosion. Terrible stink when you try to re-solder it, but no corrosion.

Of course, I have seen stuff soldered with "electrical" paste flux that had green going everywhere.

And, I saw a piece of RG8 that a guy had soldered a PL-259 on with acid core solder, and the copper braid and core were green 5 feet from the fitting.

 

[scooter122983]

use a good liquid rosin flux and you wont have any problems

 

[nsxxtreme]

That is interesting. I use Ersin Savabit Multicore solder, got 5 different cores of rosin in it.
Fairly aggressive stuff, and I have gone back as long as 20 years with no signs of any corrosion.

I also sometimes work on radios built in the 40s, with gobs of rosin on the joints from the old Kestor44 stuff, and there is no corrosion. Terrible stink when you try to re-solder it, but no corrosion.

Of course, I have seen stuff soldered with "electrical" paste flux that had green going everywhere.

And, I saw a piece of RG8 that a guy had soldered a PL-259 on with acid core solder, and the copper braid and core were green 5 feet from the fitting.

Rosin becomes corrosive when it is heated. That is what makes it "flow". In a car environment, under the hood,under carpet, heated cabin..ect it can stil get warm. Heck I even have speaker wires in the house I have soldered in the past with rosin flux. The clear speaker cables after a few years it starts to turn green under the jacket. Try splitting a jacket open of a wire you have soldered in the past. Depending on the amount of rosin flux you used and if it got under the jacket you will find corrosion.

ALL flux is corrosive that is the nature of flux. You have different amounts of corrosiveness depending on the type of flux.

Acid based flux obviously the most corrosive used for plumbing
.
Water soluable is also very corrosive but cleans up easy with water. Wires is a NO-NO for water soluable because it wick under the jacket and you can get it clean.

Rosin is in the middle its activated when heated and "can" be left on but should be cleaned. You need a quality alcohol to clean it. In a car environment where it can easily be reheated it can still be aggressive after you have made your solder joint.

"no-clean" flux is the least corrosive it also doesn't work as well as the others obviously. This is the one I prefer to use for just about everything. But you really have to be good at soldering to use it or it will just piss you off.

 

[scooter122983]

i've never seen these symptoms come from rosin flux. Never.

 

[2_wacko]

I used a Snap On works great.

 

[nsxxtreme]

This speaker wire had the tips tinned with rosin core solder about 3 years ago. Notice the green tinge running down the cable its a little hard to see as getting a picture of it wasn't easy but it kinda looks like the wire is striped. Its the darker portion of the wire. What people may not know is a lot of wire isn't copper it's aluminum or some other alloy because the wire is cheaper. Real copper shows corrosion really easily. I've been soldering wires for years and I can tell you with a great level of confidence rosin flux WILL cause your wires to corrode. Use sparingly and preferably clean with alcohol.

 

[British Slave]

Rosin doesn't cause corrosion, dissimilar metals cause corrosion.

 

[nsxxtreme]

Looks like Kester knows the problem exists http://www.techni-tool.com/content/resources/articles/Green%20Corrosion%20With%20Rosin%20Flux.html

They call it copper abietate but I guess I stand corrected even though it turns the wire green its a harmless green. I still prefer my wires not green in color This stuff will leach all the way down the wire.

Surprisingly even Nasa tackled the problem.
http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20080048252_2008046488.pdf

 

[Fordum]

I think you are using the wrong Rosin solder.......
Oops, as I was typing this, you were moving in the same direction.

This is a problem I eliminated a long time ago by finding a good solder and sticking to it.
There is Rosin, Rosin, and more Rosin.....

There are over 20 different classifications. They range from almost totally non corrosive to very corrosive.

The general classifications are:

R: which is pure rosin, no activation, very mild and noncorrosive at anything under soldering temps.

WW: Water White, which is the purest rosin. Not much difference from R.

RMA: Rosin Mildly Activated. Usually no halides, can be considered noncorrosive.

RA: Rosin Activated. This one is for tough soldering jobs, and can cause corrosion.

Then you get into the others.

OA: Organic Acid, very corrosive, water cleanable.

SA: Synthetically Activated, corrosive, cleanable with organic solvents like alcohol.

WS: Water Soluble Very Corrosive.

SRA: Superactivated Rosin. Corrosive, somewhere along the lines of WS.

IA: Inorganic Acid. Probably the most corrosive of all the Rosin fluxes. Actually had hydrochloric or phosphoric acid in it.

Almost all the solder I use is RMA.

But the solder its self that I use has some copper in it, so it tends to adsorb any loose active material when I am doing the soldering.
I do have some R solder for critical applications, but I seldom use it.
If RA solder is used, it can cause corrosion.

Kester 44, probably the most widely used electronics solder out there, is RA. If you use that, you will get corrosion under certain circumstances.

I used it briefly when I was just starting out, and it ate solder tips pretty fast.
I was working with an old electronics tech, and commented that he was not using it, and he told me that he was tired of replacing tips and having problems with voltage leakage in close joints, so he had gone to a better solder.

I found the Savabit multicore, and never looked back.

It has been so long since I worried about that, I had forgotten about corrosion with 44. I just knew I always turned it down when someone offered me some, but I had forgotten why.
In over 30 years of soldering, I never had any corrosion. But it was due to the fact that I always used the correct solder even if I had forgotten why.

 

[nsxxtreme]

If you use that, you will get corrosion under certain circumstances.

According to Nasa and Kester it's not corrosion even though it "looks" like it. Obviously enough people were concerned that they commisioned a study

I found the Savabit multicore, and never looked back.

It has been so long since I worried about that, I had forgotten about corrosion with 44. I just knew I always turned it down when someone offered me some, but I had forgotten why.
In over 30 years of soldering, I never had any corrosion. But it was due to the fact that I always used the correct solder even if I had forgotten why.

Getting a good solder is always recommended but 99% of the people here will never have access to a better quality solder. They just buy the stuff which is in the local store. The switch to no lead solder has made rosin almost ineffective anyway.