If anyone has soldered a triple noctigon 20mm xpg2 in parallel with four jumpers- how did you go about it? I would normally tin the wires and pads for a single led star, but im thinking because of the tiny size, solder paste might be the [only] way to go , any thoughts, advice or experience greatly appreciated.
what i do is tin the pad with little solder and lay the jumper across, and clean the solder off my iron and put it on top of the jumper till it gets hot
EDIT:that's using the brass jumpers
Thanks Nitro - i was just concerned that the solder may bleed to the other jumper - but i will give it a go.
just use little little paste and little solder not a hole lot and when u lay the jumper down make sure your solder iron is also clean with no solder
I got one of these triple Noctigons and I bridged it to parallel just with solder. But… it could easily go wrong and spill over to the wrong terminals. Next time I’ll try with a piece of bare solid wire.
How I do it is use the soldering iron to add a bit of solder to the pads I need, not a big blob. Then take the jumper and a thin layer of solder to it. Now place the jumper on the pads with the side that you have added solder to and heat it with the tip of the soldering iron without adding any solder to the tip or to that side of the jumper, the solder underneath will melt and you will get the connection. If you add solder to the iron tip while you are doing this you will most likely end up with the jumper stuck to the iron tip.
BTW the jumpers are not brass, they are copper, that is just the gold (or ENIG) on their surface.
I use a hot plate to re-flow the LED’s, when doing this, I put a fairly large blob of solder paste on top of the jumper pads. When the board get’s hot enough to flow the paste, it usually covers both sections. If it doesn’t, I take it to the bench and drag the solder with my iron to complete the connection.
I used the little brass connectors, wires, and find I like just using solder the best. Easiest and fastest.
I was just saying they are not brass connectors, cut one with some pliers and see they are made from copper (actually a bit hard to see but you can feel it), anyway they are not sold as brass jumpers :)
You must be losing at least a micro amp or two plus the lost heat sink value of those little bars.
I make up for that with some Red Savina Habanero Juice on the contacts.
Just solder them on.
Use a pair of tweezers if needed to hold the jumpers a bit in place and soldering iron on the other hand. It was not so difficult that I remember doing anything special…
Thanks everyone - i appreciate all the tips given. I have updated a few lights with noctigon stars now with great measurable results. I will have a couple of hand steadying medicinal bourbons and give it a go and i better order a couple more[noctigon triples] in case. This triple is for my most ambitious mod ever- a triple xpg2 s2 1d on copper custom pedestal, dome on and carclo optics fitted into my zl sc600. Thanks again-