[chych]

Yes, help me, a total idiot in DIY/electronics

I recently got a ceramic iron and within 10 minutes, I ruined the tip (!!!). Stupid thing won't take solder anymore... anything I can do to make it work again, clean it some way? I did buy a spare tip just in case, but I don't want that to die really quickly. How should the tips be used anyway, I seem to never get the tinning/cleaning right. My 45watt iron does not get this problem though, I guess because it gets so hot it will take solder no matter what.

Also, how would I, say, install a power outlet? I opened mine up that I am planning on upgrading with a silver plated outlet and I saw only 2 wires... one hot and one return. What is the ground? There is no ground wire, is the receptacle that holds the outlet the ground or something?

Also, I'm not sure what the explanation would be for this, but out of the outlet I am planning to upgrade, my MG Head amp works fine out of. However, my APC surge protector reports a line fault. When I plug the MG Head into a different outlet (which I opened up and looks wired the same as the previous outlet), I get that evil hum in the left channel... though my APC surge protector does not report any line fault. Any explanation for that

Using a "cheater" plug to remove the ground does not help remove that hum...

 

[CaptBubba]

Do you mean a power outlet as in a wall outlet? If so then there should be three wires, black (hot), white (common), and copper (ground). The black and white should each be screwed on different sides of the outlet and there should be another screw (usualy green) set off to one end that has the ground connected to it. The receptical should not be the path through which the outlet is grounded. If you don't see a ground wire the only way I can explain it is that the electriction did not install it correctly when your house was built.

If you are talking about the plug on a piece of equipment, almost exery one is unique so I couldn't tell you, grab a multimeter and check it out.

 

[drob]

HELLO...

You should always put solder on a new tip before heating it up for the first time by wrapping rosin core solder around the end of the tip and then heating it up. This is called 'tining' the tip and although most tips are pre-tined this has helped me from going through then quickly.

To fix your tip (implying NO warranites

) i would first get some flux paste or liquid (RS or ?) and dip the hot tip in it. Then wipe the tip on a wet sponge to remove the excess. Try this a few times and see if the tip will re-tin. If that doesn't work you can (warranty time) use a razor blade to LIGHTLTY scrape the hot tip and immediately put solder to tin it. This has worked for me in the past.

To maintain you tip use a wet sponge to clean the tip before doing a joint, and after a few solder joints wipe it off on the sponge again...i usually add solder to the tip at this point and it is then ready for the next use.

BTW, make sure you're using the iron to ONLY HEAT UP the joints you want connected and putting the solder to the joints NOT to the tip. The solder on the tip is to help heat conduction NOT to act a "solder resevoir" to lump the joints together!

Have FUN!

 

[chych]

Hm ok, thanks for the tips. I am suspecting that my solder may melt at too high of a temperature because heating the joints and applying solder never ever works, I always have to put it on the tip itself... it is 60/40 rosin core lead free solder too...

As for the power, my friend who does a lot of electrical/networking stuff says that sometimes the receptacle is connected to the ground so I guess that is what is happening with this house.

 

[tangent]

As for your solder, it can't both be "60/40" and "lead-free" at the same time, unless I'm missing something. 60/40 means 60% tin, 40% lead. I guess there could be 40% of something else in there. Anyway, if it's regular tin/lead solder, then it'll have the lowest melting point of any solder you're likely to use. But if it's really lead-free solder, ditch that stuff and get some "leaded" solder -- if the poisonous aspect of the lead bothers you, solder with latex gloves on. Standard lead-free solder is only for sweating copper plumbing. (There are also electronics type lead-free solders, but they have more complex blends, often containing silver and such.)

And as for your wall outlet, you probably just live in an old house. There's nothing "improper" about it -- that's just the way they did things back in the 50's and 60's. Then along came the National Electric Code, which mandated that all new houses use 3-conductor wiring. But they couldn't very well demand that everyone rewire their houses, now could they? However, if you have any professional electrical work done on a house with 2-conductor wiring, they have to replace the entire circuit with 3-conductor wiring at the same time. In other words, you can keep your 2-conductor wiring as long as you don't touch it. As soon as you start fiddling with it, it's all got to be replaced. We're talking about thousands and thousands of dollars here. So, decide what you prefer: 3-conductor wiring and a hole in your bank account or 2-conductor wiring, an increase of your fire insurance premium, and a hole in your bank account.