After soldering my XT60 to the 4 in 1 ESC and then my capacitor to the XT60, it looks like I have either dropped some solder on the ECS or temporarily melt the solder in one thing opposite the ESC. 

Photos and hall of shame here: 
https://photos.app.goo.gl/PdgZYgBmJhmdf2ZW9

Questions: 

1. Is there a way to effectively test if I have damaged the ESC I have a multimeter and a smoke stopper but am still learning. 

2. Assuming there is a way to test and I have done some damage, is it salvageable or am I buying a new ESC?

Thanks!

Couple things:

It doesn’t look like you bridged or disconnected that surface mount capacitor (that brown thing you circled), so you haven’t fried anything yet, yay for you!

Do not try to fly it yet.

You need a higher wattage soldering iron and/or a bigger tip to solder that section where your power wires and capacitor wires connect to your esc. You’ve created a cold solder joint- in other words, you didn’t heat it up enough to get a good solid connection. If you had, you wouldn’t see the obvious joint where you connected your cap- it would be a smooth clean joint. You didn’t fully heat the solder and board connection- you only melted the top part of the solder and tacked the wires on top. That’s asking for something to either have an intermittent connection or completely break off and short something else.

When it comes to your power wires, you need a bigger/badder soldering iron. With the rest of your soldering joints on the board you want a nice fine tip and not too much heat, but you really have to crank it up and use a larger tip for this part. The larger gauge wires and the large ground plane just suck up heat, and if you try to do it with a smaller tip or without enough heat like you’ve tried, it’s just not going to work- and if you try you’ll likely end up heating up something too much and something else not enough.

Also, flux is your friend.

I’d suggest taking some wire that is the same gauge as your xt60 connector wire and practicing joining two segments together- it’ll give you an idea of how much heat you need to solder the joint quickly, without burning or destroying anything.

There are some tips and videos on how to solder. It takes practice to learn and can be frustrating at times even when you know what to do. Look up in the beginners section and you’ll see them. There are even practice FC boards available for cheap!

You have done no damage so far. The brown capacitor is unharmed and you can leave it as is rather than getting close to it and making a mess of stuff.

The XT60 pads and leads need some rework.

- Put lots of flux on the soldered joint.
- Heat your iron to at least 400 to 450 deg centigrade (I prefer my tip to be super hot) and let the iron heat up for a few minutes for the tip to properly reach temperature.
- Tin the tip of the soldering tip.
- Touch the solder blob on the first wire and once it starts melting slowly move the wire away from the pad. Do not force pull. If the temperature is right the wire will just come off.
- Add more flux to the XT60 pads and use the soldering tip at temperature to remove the old solder and constantly clean the tip. If you have solder wick then use that to aid the removal of the old solder.
- Clean the pads and apply fresh flux.
- Tin the pads with the soldering iron tip tinned and at temperature, you just need a a small puddle and keep circling the soldering tip to evenly spread the heat onto the pad and facilitate solder to flow.
- Cut off the end of the XT60 cables as solder will have risen up the wire and will make it hard. Next flux the wire and tin the wire using a tinned hot soldering tip from all sides.
- Add flux to the XT60 pads, place the wire over the pad, with a tinned soldering tip at high temperature simply touch and transfer heat into the XT60 till the solder on the wire melts and fuses with the solder on the pads.

A tinned soldering tip helps with better heat transfer. A cleaned tip helps give you clean joints. Never hold the iron on the wire or pads for more than 3 seconds and if you have to then keep moving and rotating the tip on the joint to perfectly spread the heat into the joint.

Leaded solder and flux is your friend.

Ok, so you guys are pretty much the best. Thank you!

This is all super info. I have a new soldering iron coming in a couple of days. I keep seeing this one, so I assume it doesn't suck https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ANZ...UTF8&psc=1

I picked up a few different tips:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B076QF...UTF8&psc=1

I detached the capacitor and XT60
https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipMA...JvaE1qVHhn

If it's cool with you lot, I have a couple of related questions.

- This is going to be a 5S build (parts availability). I used the capacitor with the ESC which is something around 470 (it came with the iFlight SucceX-E 45A 2-6S). I also got a Fettec spike absorber. I understand that I should probably keep the capacitor but do I need the Fettec?

- Once I resolder the XT60 (ideally so they don't resemble two Don Kings fighting metal trays) what's the best test to ensure stuff won't blow up once I plug a battery in?

Thanks again for all your advice. There's now an 11% chance I'll finish this build and put the thing in the sky without it hurtling down and taking out one of the kids on the street.

Good choices, it’s hard to go wrong with Hakko gear. It’ll serve you well for years to come.

I don’t think you need the fettec spike absorber. Pretty sure there was a recent thread that discussed it. Regardless, it’s not something that I would ever consider to be something I need/want in a build.

I don’t really trust the capacitors that come with an esc/fc, but, I may be biased- I used to do a lot of refurbishing/rebuilding of vintage hifi audio gear, and it taught me to not trust components from unknown brands or that I haven’t tested myself, because apparently there is money to be made in making counterfeit/mislabeled <$1.00 components.

I tend to stick to known good sources and brands for capacitors and any other bits that I can- but that’s just me.

To avoid blowing things up- use your multimeter to check everything to make sure that nothing is shorted to anything it shouldn’t be. Use your short stopper after that when you first plug in. If you’ve got a lower voltage battery (ie: 2s or 3s), use that for your first plug in with your short stopper and for your first plug in without it.

Kafie gave you some great pointers that I wish I had when I was first learning how to solder.

To add to that- I clean the tip of my soldering iron by sticking it into some Brillo Pad (copper pan scrapper, brand doesn’t matter), and then swiping it on a wet sponge. I then re-tin it (add some solder to the tip of my soldering iron) and proceed with soldering my joint. If I’m soldering a couple things in quick succession, I won’t necessarily repeat this cleaning process between each- but I will repeat this process after every 2 to 4 joints, or prior to and after each larger joint.

(03-May-2022, 05:58 AM)SkyPig Wrote: Ok, so you guys are pretty much the best. Thank you!

This is all super info. I have a new soldering iron coming in a couple of days. I keep seeing this one, so I assume it doesn't  suck https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ANZ...UTF8&psc=1

I picked up a few different tips:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B076QF...UTF8&psc=1

I detached the capacitor and XT60
https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipMA...JvaE1qVHhn

If it's cool with you lot, I have a couple of related questions.

- This is going to be a 5S build (parts availability). I used the capacitor with the ESC which is something around 470 (it came with the iFlight SucceX-E 45A 2-6S). I also got a Fettec spike absorber. I understand that I should probably keep the capacitor but do I need the Fettec?

- Once I resolder the XT60 (ideally so they don't resemble two Don Kings fighting metal trays) what's the best test to ensure stuff won't blow up once I plug a battery in?

Thanks again for all your advice. There's now an 11% chance I'll finish this build and put the thing in the sky without it hurtling down and taking out one of the kids on the street.

The soldering station is good value and I have been running a Hakko 936 (beware there are several clones out there for this model) for over 7 years now.

I prefer original Hakko tips and I specifically recommend Hakko T18-C2 (Hoof tip) and the T18-D24 (Chisel tip) as these seem to transfer heat very nicely.

As advised earlier the Spike absorber is not mandatory and recent discussions around some tests have proven its not any better than a good quality low ESR capacitor.  Just get the largest quality brand low ESR capacitor you can put on your build. 

Once you have soldered up everything, meticulously go over all the solder joints to ensure there are no shorts (using the continuity test method) especially between the V+ and GND pads. You can also do  continuity tests between the motor pads and there should be no continuity. During all these tests you should not plugin a lipo. 

One you have tested the ESC for shorts, use a smoke stopper or short stopper or a short saver or a power source that has over current protection. The VIFLY Short Saver 2 is an excellent device and for the price of $12 its a no brainer: https://www.viflydrone.com/smokestopper.html

A magnifying glass or loupe is also your friend. It’s amazing how easily a small random solder ball/blob can ruin your day when it falls just right- and on that note, don’t use more solder than you need to make a solid connection. Bigger blob does *not* mean better connection.

Edit- my phone somehow autocorrected that to say that bigger blob means better connection. That was not what I meant at all. Bigger blob does not mean better connection- when you have a smooth shiny cooled solder joint, that means better connection.

1. You didnt damage anything.

2. big Ground pad on ESC is hardest thing to solder on quadcopter. Its huge heatsink.

3. Flux.

4. Chisel or Bevel tip helps a lot.

4. Did I mention flux.

Ok, 

Knock-off solder tips: canceled. Legit ones: ordered. 

VIFLY De-exploder: ordered.
Say what you like about Amazon but...

Flux: noted. I actually bathed everything in it  - have just been using 99% alcohol to clean things off. I have been using a pen and the shallow tub of goop. I am guessing technique, solder iron temp and tip aren't helping. 

Spike Absorber: So pleased I don't need it! I was a spike absorber for 18 years. Anyway, enough of my ex.  I picked up a couple of these: Panasonic FM 1000uF 35v Low-ESR Aluminum Electrolytic Capacitors - Leaded, 20% Tolerance, 7000 Hours @ 105C, 12.50mm X 20.00mm. I work for a software developer and even we can't come up with names this long. 

2S/3s Batteries: I would never have thought of that but it makes total sense. 

Brillo Pads: I've been living in the US for 20 years and had almost forgotten what they're called back home! 

More to come. You lot have been supremely brilliant. TY! 

---

Ok, 

Knock-off solder tips: canceled. Legit ones: ordered. 

VIFLY De-exploder: ordered.
Say what you like about Amazon but...

Flux: noted. I actually bathed everything in it  - have just been using 99% alcohol to clean things off. I have been using a pen and the shallow tub of goop. I am guessing technique, solder iron temp and tip aren't helping. 

Spike Absorber: So pleased I don't need it! I was a spike absorber for 18 years. Anyway, enough of my ex.  I picked up a couple of these: Panasonic FM 1000uF 35v Low-ESR Aluminum Electrolytic Capacitors - Leaded, 20% Tolerance, 7000 Hours @ 105C, 12.50mm X 20.00mm. I work for a software developer and even we can't come up with names this long. 

2S/3s Batteries: I would never have thought of that but it makes total sense. 

Brillo Pads: I've been living in the US for 20 years and had almost forgotten what they're called back home! 

More to come. You lot have been supremely brilliant. TY! 

I don't think anyone's mentioned it yet, but you should also try to get hold of leaded solder if you're not using it already. 63/37 or 60/40. The lead-free stuff makes the going much harder and unless you're eating it by the roll then there's no health risks in the leaded stuff.

(03-May-2022, 07:52 AM)SkyPig Wrote: Ok, 
Spike Absorber: So pleased I don't need it! I was a spike absorber for 18 years. Anyway, enough of my ex.

Thanks for that laugh, I needed it.
Anyhow, don’t buy 2s or 3s batteries if you don’t have a use for them. I come from a background of using a variac or low wattage lightbulbs to slowly bring an audio amplifier up to operating voltage without potentially blowing out some random unobtainable matched transistor pair. It’s not really necessary here, unless you already have some on hand.

Other than that, it sounds like you’re on the right path. 99% isopropyl alcohol is *great* for cleaning bits prior to and after soldering. Liquid flux is best for boards, that goopy paste flux is easiest for poking a wire into prior to tinning it.

De-exploder is important. Glad you’re getting one. On that note, fireproof lipo storage/charging bags are a good investment as well.

A good way to tell if your soldering iron temp is too low is if you burn off all of your flux well before you finish soldering your connection.
…but, even if your temp is good, if you take too long you’re still gonna burn off all of your flux. In and out with the quickness.
If your solder starts beading up, or if your solder isn’t all melting and flowing nicely- stop, something is wrong, and more heat for longer will not help things.

You’ll be amazed at how quickly and easily you can solder your xt60 connection wires to your esc with a proper chisel tip cranked up to a high temperature. Pretty soon you’ll be posting a picture of your awesome perfect solder joint, and we’ll all be like, “ooooh! Good job!”

But yeah, practice on something you don’t care about.

Wow, ordering a real soldering iron and even canceled the fake tips order. Good call, those fake tips work great for a few minutes and then they turn to sh... All this great soldering advice and those knockoff tips would have made it unattainable like the concept of the tip holding onto solder. They're like using a tip that's completely oxidized, it can work but you'll just constantly struggle.

If it wasn't mentioned already get a heavy tip for soldering xt60 size wires. For that Hakko model it's called a T18-S3

Otherwise my choice for tips is the bent chisel, looks like T18-BR02 it's great all around soldering and gives you various angles of attack which is great when working on a quad that's already assembled and need to reach around things. Other than that an all around medium sized chisel (T18-D24) would be the only 3 I'd bother with for now.

I don't have that station, but did have it's predecessor and am using the FX951 which is probably overkill for this hobby.

German? cause ESC angst

Go to ur next HIFI/Elektronikfachgeschäft store and ask very kind for leaded solder and tell them what u want to do with this.....if ure lucky "gibt der alte dir ne kleine Lernstunde" someone helps u

...but inform u about the risks of leaded solder and some flux ingridients before

As many others told u... the iron u choose is a nice one. a few Copper Sponges and u are eqipped for long time. (i dont like these wet sponges)
AND Always Put Solder on ur Iron before cooling down