Mike,

If you're talking about printed circuit soldering, the smaller gauge of
solder is better because it's quicker to heat up & melt.  Make sure it's
rosin core, NOT acid core.  Yes, you want to use a small iron with a small
tip (like 1/8" dia.), but it's relative to the job at hand - it's just as
bad to try to use a wimpy iron because it takes too long to melt the solder
and get the "flow" you need for a clean joint.  You need a hot, well tinned
tip which will transfer the heat quickly.  If "well tinned" doesn't mean
anything to you, ask & I'll try to describe what I mean.

One of the secrets is touch time.  If you have to hold an iron on a printed
circuit very long, it's likely going to damage it.  As someone already
warned, you can destroy the adhesive holding the print to the board and
cause it to lift.  The copper will survive but now you have a mess that's
best left to an experienced tech to repair.

I don't have enough time to make more sense, but if the above sounds
complicated, it's really not, but it DOES take experience.  If you can,
practice on something to get a good flow of solder and a good joint without
destroying everything in the process.  Then you can have the confidence to
do what you need to do.

I certainly don't mean to be insulting but soldering PCBs (or flex circuits)
properly really is something which requires experience.  Fortunately, the VW
stuff is relatively crude (ie, not "fine line") so it's relatively easy to
work on.  It will survive some mistakes.

//Jack

Date sent:              Sat, 11 Sep 2004 13:56:47 -0700
Send reply to:          Michael Rule <manikmike@YAHOO.COM>
From:                   Michael Rule <manikmike@YAHOO.COM>
Subject:                LED solder gauge
To:                     vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM

> Hi All,
>
> A question for the Electronics Guru's:  what gauge solder do you recommend
> when replacing vanagon LED's?
>
> Thankyou,
> Mike
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------
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