If you have flux soldering tin you can do the same as with paste
Its best to add some mass so the temperature does not raise too quick, I used a 12mm iron plate and on top 6mm black anodisated aluminium plate on my induction stove
On the Aluminium I use a IR thermometer but it works great if I heat up till solder melts and then reduce the power of the stove
My very first reflow using a sinkpad an XHP70 with a skillet and hot plate. I will purchase a Infrared thermometer from Harbor Freight to do some testing and also see how hot the sinkpad gets as soon as the solder paste turns into liquid solder.
BTW, Harbor Freight is having a good sale right now in my area, so I can purchase an Infrared thermometer with a coupon for $17.99! I guess that’s a good deal…lol… :question:
Nice job Willie. That looks pretty darn good for a first attempt. Looks like the emitter is sitting down all the way. I see the extra solder beads were pushed out the sides, and the dome is still in tact. What more could a guy ask for
Thanks! Appreciate the compliment! I just followed what you had said in your video and it came out almost as good as yours…hehehe I did test it afterwards using a 3.7V lion, but that wasn’t enough voltage. So I put another cell in series and that did the trick…lol Only ran it for a few seconds. Wow, I touched the bottom of the sinkpad to see how warm it was and my it gets hot…lol :smiling_imp: BTW, Thanks for your tips and videos! :+1:
I had “Curious cases of Benjamin Button” recently with newest batch of noctigons. Symptoms were that after re flowing everything was tested and works flawlessly(mode selection and everything) and when you assemble it to flashlight I got High mode only :smiling_imp:
So atiny is trying to change modes(i can hear high pitch noise) but high mode still remains…
That happened around 5 times out of 50 emitters so I guess it could be that what Mitko mentioned.
I did not try yet but I think electrical insulating thermal glue like AA or Fujik(if it really must be used) can resolve this issues if they ever happen to you.
Indeed, sometimes you wont be having a short connection but just a modes lost( it stucks on high), or like on some of my drivers offtime memory function disabled
I’ve had a similar result when there is power bleeding off to ground to led negative on the driver board. High mode always.
If there is a short of some kind in the MCPCB the best solution would be to just dump the mcpcb and use another one. Trying to prevent a short with thermal epoxy would likely result in having to use a layer so thick it would negatively effect the thermal path.
Wow that is great, thank you!
I particularly appreciate the intentionally casual technique, and lack of precision shown, to highlight the effect of surface tension with the wetted solder.
Very illuminating video, I had no idea that the leds could tolerate that duration of time at the solder’s melting point, or that thermal shock was the greater issue. I would have hurried it and had poor joints and raised, heat shocked emitters if I’d tried it on my own experimentally.
This is something that I’ve been putting off learning to do, I’m now quite inspired.
Thanks again.