Soldering MCPCB / driver wires ?

Curoius… when soldering the LED wires whats the better sequence to follow?….

A) Solder wires onto MCPCB first (outside the pill) then run the wires through the holes and solder the driver.

- OR -

B) Solder the wires onto the driver first (outside the pill), then run the wires through the holes and solder the MCPCB.

I do driver first, than LED.
Mike

I always solder the wires to the driver first (a lot of drivers from Richard come with the LED wires already soldered to the top) then assemble the driver and the MCPCB both into the pill and then solder the wires to the MCPCB.

I solder the wires to the driver first if possible, install that then bend & cut the wires to size for the MCPCB.
It may be easier to solder to the MCPCB first outside the light then do the driver leaving extra length on the wires but we don’t want that here :wink:

Solder wires to the driver first; the pads on the driver are often small and inconveniently placed. Soldering those first is much easier than trying to solder after the PCB is already mounted and you are trying to connect the short wires after they are threaded through the pill…

It varies with the flashlight. But since I have a 80W solder iron with a sort of sledgehammer instead of a fine tip, that can solder anything vertically inside cavities, nowadays with the many pill-less flashlights around, I tend to fix the driver first in place, make the wires so short that they only just reach the solder pad on the ledboard, and then solder the wires onto the ledboard last.

Soldering with a sledgehammer? :smiling_imp:

Driver first but pretin the pads on the mcpcb. If you’re reflowing your own star throw a dab of solder paste on the +/- pads while you’re at it.

Good point, forgot about that.

I second djozz. It depends on the light - if the mcpcb or the driver is in a small/difficult to reach cavity I would do that first, i.e.: integrated head C8. LED wires go onto the sinkpad first, then through holes and solder it to driver. I leave a bit of wire length so I can reflash the light without desoldering the driver and this way it also has enough leeway to assemble the light.
I have done several C8s this way and thought it was a lot easier.

On more accessible lights, say S2+, I would do the driver first, then the MCPCB.

edit: I don’t have a sledgehammer :smiley:

OK cool thanks!!

good tip on pre-tinning the MCPCB.

What would you say is the mimimum iron wattage requirement for soldering wires onto the MCPCB?

I use the $4 30W soldering iron from Harbor Freight and it works well for me. The tips wear out pretty quickly though. Not a problem, I usually buy 2-3 of these at a time. I use them to make cold-smoke generators (for smoking cheeses) which don’t need the tip… So I save the extra tips for my electronics iron…

:money_mouth_face: :money_mouth_face: :money_mouth_face:

http://www.harborfreight.com/30-watt-lightweight-soldering-iron-69060.html

Yeah, that’s why I do it that way. Having wires on the drivers conveniently attached is good motivation.

I use my Weller WSD 81 80W soldering station with a medium tip,
no problem in soldering copper stars in a light just raise the temperature to 350°C

The main thing that is important to solder a heatsink is too have a really low thermal resistance between the tip and heating element of the soldering iron.
A 30W good Weller handle can solder thinks your cheap 80W Iron cant because it has at least 5 times less thermal resistance and a good regulation.

If I get from RMM, both a driver with wires pre-soldered and a mcpcb with wires pre-soldered, could I just solder the wires red-to-red and black-to-black then use electrical tape or other insulation? Or is it really better to remove the wires from the mcpcb and use the driver wires?

I wouldn’t solder wires to wires, use either of the existing connections (solder driver wires to MCPCB or other way round). Also a bit depending on what wires are used or you would like to use. I use 18-22 AWG silicone for DD FETs.

Thanks for the input! I figured as much, but just wanted to double check with experienced people. My first build is being planned. Some other modding/building inquiries may pop up down the line.