Should I use this solder?

Collapse
X
 
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts
  • slerner
    Member
    • Dec 2022
    • 20
    • USA

    #1

    Should I use this solder?

    I inherited this old spool of Ersin Multicore. I'm about to recap a KRK VXT6 powered reference speaker. From what I've read, this solder is better for the job than the others I've got on hand, Kester 50/50 or Tandy 60/40.
    I'm asking though, because I don't understand much of the label and haven't been able to find a datasheet for this exact product.
    Thanks for your input.
    Attached Files
  • stj
    Great Sage 齊天大聖
    • Dec 2009
    • 30929
    • Albion

    #2
    Re: Should I use this solder?

    it's re-datasheet

    label says 1.2mm 60/40 with mildly activated rosin flux
    throw away the first few inches - the flux will have absorbed moisture.

    Comment

    • slerner
      Member
      • Dec 2022
      • 20
      • USA

      #3
      Re: Should I use this solder?

      Thank you! I've been reading a ton of articles on soldering recently and you're the first person to mention the flux absorbing moisture.

      Comment

      • stj
        Great Sage 齊天大聖
        • Dec 2009
        • 30929
        • Albion

        #4
        Re: Should I use this solder?

        it turns white if it gets wet - you can tell if a board with flux on it has been exposed to damp that way.

        Comment

        • slerner
          Member
          • Dec 2022
          • 20
          • USA

          #5
          Re: Should I use this solder?

          Good to know, thanks.

          Comment

          • eccerr0r
            Solder Sloth
            • Nov 2012
            • 8665
            • USA

            #6
            Re: Should I use this solder?

            I have a feeling only the water soluble fluxes could absorb water... the rosin/colophony fluxes ("brown stuff" versus the water soluble and no-clean fluxes) I have a hard time seeing them absorbing water?

            I would think all old solders are either rosin/colophony, acid (ZnCl2 or the like, which incidentally are bad on electronics) or no-flux. It's only the recent times with mass production and RoHS requirements that these funky solders are available...

            Comment

            • stj
              Great Sage 齊天大聖
              • Dec 2009
              • 30929
              • Albion

              #7
              Re: Should I use this solder?

              the old rosin solders turn white - trust me.
              i have to be very carefull to deflux old boards before washing them in the sink or they look terrible.

              Comment

              • eccerr0r
                Solder Sloth
                • Nov 2012
                • 8665
                • USA

                #8
                Re: Should I use this solder?

                perhaps the question is how old is old.

                Real *rosin/colophony* (brown flux usually) core solders are not water soluble and can't turn white. These need IPA to remove, water won't clean them off. (Ever have really old point to point soldered electronics? they don't have white deposits, just brown sh*t at the joints and they stay that way even after 50 years!)

                RoHS no-clean and water soluble fluxes use organic acids that should vaporize but if there is any residue that you can't see, it will turn white after being exposed to water as it crystallizes.

                Zinc Chloride (inorganic acid flux) should never be used on electronics... and this is white from the start.

                I think my RoHS solder (lead free) probably has the white organic acid flux, if I chop off a bit of the solder I can see the center flux is white instead of dark brown.
                Last edited by eccerr0r; 02-16-2023, 10:14 AM.

                Comment

                • stj
                  Great Sage 齊天大聖
                  • Dec 2009
                  • 30929
                  • Albion

                  #9
                  Re: Should I use this solder?

                  80's old
                  the flux isnt water soluable, it's absorbant

                  Comment

                  • eccerr0r
                    Solder Sloth
                    • Nov 2012
                    • 8665
                    • USA

                    #10
                    Re: Should I use this solder?

                    Still think something is very fishy here.
                    Colophony/rosin does not absorb water, it was meant to repel water in pine trees. If it really did absorb water, then there would be this white mess on these ancient 1950s radios that were using them exclusively. But instead we see the brown residue which is still as active as a flux as it was when it was applied...

                    Comment

                    • harp
                      Badcaps Veteran
                      • Jun 2022
                      • 584
                      • Planet Earth

                      #11
                      Re: Should I use this solder?

                      Originally posted by eccerr0r
                      Still think something is very fishy here.
                      Colophony/rosin does not absorb water, it was meant to repel water in pine trees. If it really did absorb water...
                      Old flux generaly are made from colophony (destilated rosin), the alcohol aka Isopropil or etanol and some other aditives like castor oil (mix with water), glicerine (also alcohol), camphor...

                      Till pure colophony is not melted in water, if is mixed with any alcohol, alcohol will allow to apsorb water. If alcohol evaporate, the rossin stay firm. Glicerine can not evaporate at all in standard electronic work, and white color might be from that reason.

                      Comment

                      • eccerr0r
                        Solder Sloth
                        • Nov 2012
                        • 8665
                        • USA

                        #12
                        Re: Should I use this solder?

                        Okay, now we're getting somewhere. Glycerin could be involved. But it itself or water does not give white deposits, it must be something mixed in the glycerin. However I'd say glycerin is more recent "new" RoHS type flux component that's not used with pine resin?

                        Comment

                        • stj
                          Great Sage 齊天大聖
                          • Dec 2009
                          • 30929
                          • Albion

                          #13
                          Re: Should I use this solder?

                          maybe it's caused by chemicals in the water.
                          the protocols of zion dictate we have to drink silver nitrate, chlorine, flouride etc.

                          Comment

                          • eccerr0r
                            Solder Sloth
                            • Nov 2012
                            • 8665
                            • USA

                            #14
                            Re: Should I use this solder?

                            I've seen some of those nasty white deposits, there's not enough of those ions in tap water to settle out in the board, and definitely less in the stuff in the water used to make the flux, so that's ruled out. Still think it only can be some no-clean or water soluble flux with glycerin and some organic acid that would cause the white deposits if not properly cleaned.

                            In any case you wouldn't be washing resin/colophony flux with water as you'd need at least IPA to clean it off?

                            Comment

                            • jiroy
                              Badcaps Legend
                              • Jun 2016
                              • 2416
                              • Lebanon

                              #15
                              Re: Should I use this solder?

                              I don't get it why people go for for cheap labels .. I still use Billiton solder since childhood and it's like dealing with silver , literally spoken . Pay more and keep headaches away ...

                              Comment

                              • stj
                                Great Sage 齊天大聖
                                • Dec 2009
                                • 30929
                                • Albion

                                #16
                                Re: Should I use this solder?

                                never heard of billiton.
                                i only use stannol

                                Comment

                                • jiroy
                                  Badcaps Legend
                                  • Jun 2016
                                  • 2416
                                  • Lebanon

                                  #17
                                  Re: Should I use this solder?

                                  Billition is originally an English company of multi resources and tasks . It merged in 2001 and became BHP Ltd. and Billiton PLC . One of the world's largest mining companies , it is involved in the production of iron, steel , copper , tin , silver , aluminum , oil , and gas . The company also has interests in engineering and transportation . BHP Billiton's headquarters are in Melbourne , Australia .

                                  Its solder is of the highest possible quality , with high standards .There are Lot of online Billiton sellers including Ebay and Amazon . Here in Lebanon , it's Naggiar Company as sole agents for Billiton .

                                  I never heard of Stannol , so it's your turn now ..

                                  Comment

                                  • eccerr0r
                                    Solder Sloth
                                    • Nov 2012
                                    • 8665
                                    • USA

                                    #18
                                    Re: Should I use this solder?

                                    Ersin seems very popular even in the USA somehow. I have a roll of silver Ersin multicore.

                                    I do have Kester solder which is a very large USA brand.

                                    I really don't have a preference, just needs to be the right flux and metal mix for the job - all solder manufacturers have different formulations too... for both metal mix and flux mix.

                                    Comment

                                    • stj
                                      Great Sage 齊天大聖
                                      • Dec 2009
                                      • 30929
                                      • Albion

                                      #19
                                      Re: Should I use this solder?

                                      Originally posted by jiroy
                                      I never heard of Stannol , so it's your turn now ..
                                      stannol is one or the worlds largest solder companies, based in germany and supplying solder and fluxes to other companies.
                                      https://www.stannol.de/

                                      Comment

                                      • jiroy
                                        Badcaps Legend
                                        • Jun 2016
                                        • 2416
                                        • Lebanon

                                        #20
                                        Re: Should I use this solder?

                                        Originally posted by stj
                                        stannol is one or the worlds largest solder companies, based in germany and supplying solder and fluxes to other companies.
                                        https://www.stannol.de/
                                        Well , it's always good to define and count the trusted companies and consequently an excellent product . Actually , I've got this habit from my older brother .
                                        What's his trick ? .. it's the higher price !! He always goes for the highest levels while always not satisfied , lol .... When buying something , he makes a hell of a mess in shops , making the sellers show most of their goods , and then asking stupidly , don't you have something more reliable and expensive ? ..
                                        He usually buys when the sellers give up ...

                                        Comment

                                        Related Topics

                                        Collapse

                                        • corrize
                                          Best way to solder LVDS connector for beginner (and qfn) ?
                                          by corrize
                                          Hello, I'm a beginner for micro soldering. Right now I have some difficult to solder a qfn 20, I guess I put too much solder on the thermal-ground pad, the result is a corner of chip wich don't touch the board (last try).

                                          I use a wire solder with hot air, I tin the board and chip before with iron and I use good flux.

                                          I will have to solder a LVDS connector (40 pins, laptop pc), I saw a solder paste in seringe, good quality (it does not scatter).
                                          See the test :
                                          https://youtu.be/bNAzC-EvqHs?t=1767

                                          With hot air from bellow the board, that's...
                                          03-09-2023, 02:57 AM
                                        • myth77
                                          UV solder mask - high temp resistent, recomendation?
                                          by myth77
                                          Can someone recommend any good UV solder mask? But i need a solder mask that will stand high temperetures. The thing is...sometimes i have a bigger cooper ripped from the board, lets say mosfet pad... i reconstract it with cooper sheet, then i "glue it" with solder mask...then i use UV light...and let it cool a bit. After, i try to clean the cooper of extra solder mask..and till that part all is ok. But, when i use a soldering iron to solder that pad/cooper...the solder mask gets weaker or destroyed and finally the pad is ripped again from the board .
                                          Is there any solder mask...
                                          03-28-2022, 04:04 AM
                                        • petemanuk
                                          BGA solder balls not connecting - help pls
                                          by petemanuk
                                          So I though in my spare time I’d set myself up repairing motherboards mainly pin damaged lga1151 sockets types.

                                          I’m using an achi ir sc pro rework station (gave up on my Achie ir6500 - don’t recommend)

                                          I’ve managed to get my rework profile somewhere in the correct region (after a lot of trial and error) to get the old sockets off and reflow new ones back on again, the problems I’m getting is not all of the solder balls are re-attaching when re-flow occurs. I know this because when socket is removed pads still look clean and have no solder...
                                          11-16-2022, 05:21 AM
                                        • acedogblast
                                          Guide to transplant MEC1503 EC chip and EEPROM reprogamming for T14s gen 2 and X13 gen 2
                                          by acedogblast
                                          This is a guide that I am writing for helping others to replace their MEC1503 EC chip if it breaks (or to get around an inconvenient prompt to the BIOS). This forum has been extremely helpful to me so I would like to contribute to help others. I will tell you right now that this task is very difficult to do. You MUST have experience and tools to do precision micro-soldering, BGA reballing, trace repair, and general laptop repair skills.

                                          There are some specialty tools needed to do this task. The replacement MEC1503 chips can be acquired from Aliexpress. Do not buy the bare chips as...
                                          11-02-2024, 05:13 PM
                                        • sircastor
                                          Solder not reflowing - what am I doing wrong?
                                          by sircastor
                                          I'm trying to fix a broken MacBook Air, and got a parts board to salvage components from. Following the suggestions of many folks here, I wanted to get in a little practice of using my hot air station (A Quick 957DW+) on the parts board so I know what kind of behavior to expect.

                                          For the life of me, I can't get anything done with this thing. I have tried multiple temperatures (from 210-425c), different air speeds, preheating the board (with the hot air, just warming it all around). I have applied what feels like excessive amounts of flux (Amtech V2-TF-559) and the solder on these components...
                                          03-03-2024, 02:44 AM
                                        • Loading...
                                        • No more items.
                                        Working...