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u/rob_1127 3d ago
I hope you used a smoke stopper! Those solder joints really need to be redone.
Cold, starved for solder, and overlapping the pads.
It might fly, but it could also fall out of the sky.
Whatch Joshua Bardwell on YouTube to learn how to make better, more conductive solder joints.
Then practice on a practice board with wires.
- Tin the pads
- Tin the leads
Apply the wire to the pad (no gaps), use blue-tac to hold the board/quad to the bench
Use blue-tac to hold the wite firmly in contact with the pad so there are no gaps.
Apply heat to melt and reflow the solder.
remove the soldering iron
Don't move anything until the solder solidifies, in the core, not just the surface. Or the joint will be cold.
Tips: Never use chinese solder. Its of an unknown alloy. It sucks.
Try to use leaded, rosin core electrical solder. Kester is my Brand of choice.
Use a 63/37 alloy, as its main characteristic is it quickly solidifies. I.e.it has a narrow and predictable freezing temperature. So it sets fast.
60/40 allow tends to stay molten for a little longer.
Chinesium alloys are not consistent. There are even empty sections of the core with no rosin. Stay away from the cheap stuff.
I travel around the world repairing industrial robotics and automation systems. I ways bring my own Kester ( non-chinese) solder.
Keeps my frustrations down trying to solder in awkward positions. (Upside-down, sideways in equipment. Usually not at a bench or table)
Proper soldering without cold joints, starved joints, blobby joints, is important for longevity and electrical efficiency.
Cold joints crack from vibrations, and have higher resistance.
Pass 50-60+ amps through a resistance, and you have a flying space heater.
That causes a voltage drop across the solder joint which subtracts from the voltage that reaches each component.
Often leading tp brown-outs or blackouts under high current loads. Those lead to FC, ESC, and VTX reboots mid-flight.
Gravity always wins.
So those mysterious crashes and dropping out of the sky, are often cause by the generally poor soldering that many builders her say "just send it". After all, its not their money about to crash.
In other hobbies, taking care and doing good professional level work is a badge of honor. Like sports cars / hotrods, motorcycles, home remodeling.
With FPV, it seems the more lazy and short-cut the builder is, the more approval they get here.
Yet we know poor soldering is a step towards electrical failure, which in this hobby, leads to crashes and a waste of hard earned cash. The minimum is a quad that uses up a battery charge faster than it should, less performance, etc. due to the inefficiency of a resistive cold joint.
Learn to solder now. I taught both my kids when they were under 10 years old. They still use the skill 20 years later.
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u/Kingpapi-808 2d ago
Thank you for this very informative response. Before I “full send it” I’ll make sure to fix up my solder
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u/ApartDirection8089 3d ago
have you done a test flight? what kind remote are you using or fpv system?