- Step 1 - Preparing the
- tool Step 2 - Perform the tinning
- Step 3 - Solder the wires
- It's important to know!
Step 1 - Prepare the
tool First you need to prepare the soldering iron for soldering wires yourself. All that is required is to thoroughly clean the stinger of solder residues or other possible contaminants. 
For this you can use a regular file. In addition, you must prepare the solder and flux, without which you can not solder the wires with a soldering iron. With regard to solder, in order to solder the veins, you can use either an alloy of tin and lead, or a special thread, as shown in the photo below. 
Flux is necessary for soldering the soldered materials evenly during soldering. In addition, the flux relieves copper cores of the oxide film, which significantly worsens the reliability of the connection. As a flux, you can use either rosin or a special soldering acid. And the one and the other option is popular with the masters. 
Another important stage of preparation is the creation of a suitable workplace. You should have a socket and a stand for the soldering iron, so that the soldering technique of the wires by yourself would be safe.
By the way, you can make a soldering iron by yourself, which does not take much time and effort. Homemade device will last you for a long time, as you can see for yourself!
Step 2 - Perform tinning
So, if you need to solder two power wires to each other, then first thing you need to remove the polyethylene insulation and tear bare strands, especially if they are very thin. The stranded conductor is first twisted before soldering, after which it is processed by flux, on top of which a thin layer of heated solder is applied. Be sure to prepare the soldering iron tip before dipping - dip it into the flux( in the same rosin as shown in the photo), and then into the tin, so that the tip is covered with a small layer of solder.
Tinning the wires for soldering is quite simple - you must first put the bare core on rosin, then warm it with a soldering iron so that the wires are submerged in the flux. After that, it must be obtained and evenly processed from all sides with solder. In order to apply a well-heated alloy of tin and lead to the surface well, twist the wire during tinning. If you need to connect the wires in the junction box, you can use acid instead of rosin for convenience. It is simple enough to apply a brush on the surface, which you need to solder. 
If the veins are of large section( thick), tinning is carried out in a similar manner. The only difference is that it is not necessary to pre-twist the wires, as in a multiwire conductor.
After you have performed the tinning, you can proceed to the soldering process. Immediately, we draw your attention to the fact that it is necessary to perform work only with electricity cut off. It's strictly forbidden to wire live!
Step 3 - Solder the wires
Well, the last thing left is to solder the two prepared wires in the switchbox. All you need is to twist or overlap the wires to each other and heat up the connection place with a soldering iron. The solder will melt and after it has solidified it will reliably connect the electrical conductors. 
Important point - during soldering do not move the wires, otherwise the connection will not be reliable enough.
It should also be noted that pre-tinning can and should not be done, but simply twist the wiring in the junction box, treat them with a flux and properly dilute. However, we do not recommend this to you, because in this case the connection will be an order of magnitude worse.
The final touch is the insulation of the cooled area. We told you how to isolate the wires. It is best to isolate each strand separately with insulating tape, and on top of it, use a heat shrink tube. On the video below you can view in detail the entire order of the soldering:
It's important to know!
Above we told how to solder the wires in the junction box, but this procedure does not work, if you need to solder contacts with a diode tape or even on a board( chip).So, provide a brief overview of the possible soldering technologies:
- LED strip connection. If you need to connect the LED ribbon, which means - to solder the contacts from the power supply with the leads on the tape( copper circles), first zaludite veins plus and minus, then treat the acid leads on the tape and drip the melted solder onto them. All that remains is to press the wires to the connection point and warm with a soldering iron. When the solder is cold, insulate the exposed area using an adhesive gun or heat shrinkage.
- Working with boards. If you decide to solder the wires on a chip, then the soldering technology will be more responsible. To solder a capacitor, a transistor, a resistor or the same LED, you need a soldering iron with a power of 5 to 20 watts. A more powerful device can overheat the board and then your efforts will be in vain. In addition, the sting should be very thin, becauseThe excess of tin will act as bridges, which in turn will "shorten".
- Soldering headphones. If you suddenly decide to repair the headphones with a 3.5 plug that often break in the connector area, then first look at the video on the Internet, which tells how to learn how to solder enameled thin wires with a silk thread inside. In short, you will have to clean the enamel to copper, perform tinning and then just solder the plug to the wiring.
This technology of self-soldering ends. We hope that now you know how to solder wires of large and small cross sections at home!
