I thought the pics in post 12 showed both parts were tined properly since they are shiny and clean.
Much bigger iron is needed, I agree with Jon that that is not a good solder joint. The bigger iron may/may not reduce melted insulation since the joint will get to soldering heat more quickly. There is a reason I like teflon insulated wire.
The joint should be full of solder that has clearly formed a good bond with the wire and the binding post. No evidence here of good solder flow into the connection.
The joint should be full of solder that has clearly formed a good bond with the wire and the binding post. No evidence here of good solder flow into the connection.
As I said the pics in post 12 are only the tinned wire and tinned post. The joint is not soldered.
My experience in this regard is rather limited, so take my advice with a grain of sand. I've only soldered stuff from .002 inch to 3 inch diameter, using tin/lead, tin/silver, and tin/indium, and several quad alloys using fluxes from R to RA (nasty stuff that has to be radically cleaned)...onto copper, aluminum, lead, nickel, stainless, nichrome, and inconel, ..so I'm a relative newbie...
Pre-tinning I use a lot, especially with wire into the xlr cups, and rca cups. The good thing is, it's easy and can produce good joints if you have sufficient flux during the final connection. Of course, it's not a good mechanical connection as the solder is the only thing holding the parts together.
I've pre-tinned #4 awg class H stranding single conductors to allow a tight fit into a drilled hole in copper(note I used kevlar string to hold the stranding to diameter), but the dangerous thing is, fine copper strands can be compromised by the solder pot dipping due to scavenging, so this is something to be concerned about. (well, I actually only did it twice to teach the tech, so he has far more experience than I..
The best of course is to provide a mechanically good connection first, then solder.
Pre-tinning #10, #6, whatever, certainly helps guarantee a good intermetallic bond, but even with that done, flux is required to finalize the connection.
John
Pre-tinning I use a lot, especially with wire into the xlr cups, and rca cups. The good thing is, it's easy and can produce good joints if you have sufficient flux during the final connection. Of course, it's not a good mechanical connection as the solder is the only thing holding the parts together.
I've pre-tinned #4 awg class H stranding single conductors to allow a tight fit into a drilled hole in copper(note I used kevlar string to hold the stranding to diameter), but the dangerous thing is, fine copper strands can be compromised by the solder pot dipping due to scavenging, so this is something to be concerned about. (well, I actually only did it twice to teach the tech, so he has far more experience than I..
The best of course is to provide a mechanically good connection first, then solder.
Pre-tinning #10, #6, whatever, certainly helps guarantee a good intermetallic bond, but even with that done, flux is required to finalize the connection.
John
There must be a limit to what can be soldered with an iron for electronic work. Perhaps you need to call a plumber 🙂
Could you solder to a ring which has a solder tab and mount that mechanically tight to the larger post.
Could you solder to a ring which has a solder tab and mount that mechanically tight to the larger post.
The post and wires are soldered and continuity from the pcb speaker outputs to the binding post is good. So I connected the mains to the amp and the LED installed on the front panel lights up. I then connected the amp to the preamp and speakers and played a CD. There was no sound. So I checked the power86 and all inputs showed 25.81vac. The outputs results were 33.1vdc. I checked the power inputs on the parallel86 boards and results were 33.1vdc. I checked the XLR outputs, on both pcbs, putting the - probe on the ground terminals and the + probe on the output terminals and results were 0.032vdc - 0.035vdc. What could cause this?
Amp fault.
Check with another amp, even a meter will make the speaker crackle if set in resistance mode, so your wiring problem is resolved.
Tell us amp make and model.
Is it power86 / parallel86?
Check with another amp, even a meter will make the speaker crackle if set in resistance mode, so your wiring problem is resolved.
Tell us amp make and model.
Is it power86 / parallel86?
you need 100 to 150 watts of power to solder that. There should be a clean meniscus between the wire and the post.
Every poster that has responded has been very good. You should listen to them.
John
It is power86 and parallel86. I connected another amp and the sound is good. So I reconnected the parallel86, turned on the cd player and preamp and started the CD playing. I used a multimeter and put the - probe on the - XLR input and the + probed on the + input and the meter showed 0 volts. I'm thinking the problen is with the home made pseudo XLR cables.
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The pseudo XLRs checked out good. So based on the fact the other amp worked that would indicate that the preamp is outputting it's V RMS voltage correctly. Based on that it seems the parallel86 is not accepting the preamp voltage output. Could that be possible? To verify the preamp output voltage is getting to the XLR end of the cable I thought that with the cable plugged into the preamp and the XLR end unplugged could I measure preamp voltage output using the multimeter?
When doing most general soldering etc hi-fi, cars, etc,..I look upon tinning components as follows:- You have to hold the iron on the lead/wire/etc. longer due to the heat soak, so by tinning each item individually you are only loosing heat from the iron for that particular component.
Once you have each item tinned, when you then "join" the items together, you are only raising the temp to the get the solder "tin" on each item/component to melt..this temp is usually lower/with a lower iron one time than when you initially "tin" the items individually.
Thats the way I see things...
P.S. I generally use just just a basic Antex soldering iron, but I have several different tips for it etc small point, wide, chisel, small chisel, etc....& I only tend to use "Shenmao" silver solder with flux built in...& use a PCB board flux cleaner spray on components..
Once you have each item tinned, when you then "join" the items together, you are only raising the temp to the get the solder "tin" on each item/component to melt..this temp is usually lower/with a lower iron one time than when you initially "tin" the items individually.
Thats the way I see things...
P.S. I generally use just just a basic Antex soldering iron, but I have several different tips for it etc small point, wide, chisel, small chisel, etc....& I only tend to use "Shenmao" silver solder with flux built in...& use a PCB board flux cleaner spray on components..
Tom told me he uses an E-Switch PV6 switch on his modulus86 amps. His build includes an ISS module which I don't use. So the attached sketch shows how I plan to use the PV6 switch. I think that soldering wires from the right and left channel Power86 + outputs to one tab on the PV6 and then soldering the wires that go to + inputs of the Parallel86 on the other PV6 tab would be a good setup. Based on that setup I believe the IEC, which has a switch, can be left on because no current will flow until the PV6 is turned on. Does that make sense?
