Can anyone recommend a good soldering iron. What wattage do I need?

I just need it for the odd job with car wiring, like repairing the connections on my CVH starter motor.

Cheers
Keith.

Weller TCP with a wide choice of bits , but if you want to do battery cables etc , then you will need something much bigger .

Mike

I just bought a butane one from Maplin for working on the car.... £20 and no nasty leeds to get in the way when you're working in wierd positions.

Do the main starter connections with blow lamp.

For other heavy(ish) use I use an instant heat gun bought from Woolworths for a fiver about 10 years back -- I think they still sell them but Woolies stock of tools varies according to seasons.

I swear by Antex.

I have 15 W for light duty - for soldering thinning cables and components onto pcb.

A 25 W woulld do that just as well.

See Maplins - unless you do a lot of circuit building, you won't need a temperature controlled workstation.

I doubt neither of these will handle heavier guage wires, like starter motors - in the past I use a blower torch to solder on a battery cable to clamp,

Maplins have this this little gem at £9.99 reduced down from £30

LINKY



Variable temp, holder, sponge - decent changable tip system.

You can check online to see if your local store has stock.

Can't fault mine so far

G

The iron above looks pretty good, but i've had some of the really cheep Maplin Irons that haven't lasted so long.

I'd defintaly recomend investing in 1 with a stand of some sorts otherwise you need to keep finding something heatproof to stand it on.

Occasionally Aldi etc have some quite comprehensive kits on offer with 2 sizes of irons and all the soldier, flux, de-braid and stand etc.

i had the very same maplins baring iron, but the hot part melted it's way out of the handle the first time i used it not impressed

Have had and used loads of different irons over the years . Now have a gas powered iron which has a load of different tips , heats up quickly even with the largest tip is totally portable and easy to use . Gets my vote

Gas one is the way to go for car work when it's mainly soldering wires together and doing larger jobs. For circuit building I made do with a 25watt Antec for years, but when I left work I bought a Weller station the same as I had access too there. Makes life a lot easier and neater.

Chris

Thermostatic control is a big advantage unless only very occasional use. Non-thermostatic irons overheat quite quickly when left on but not being used, which erodes the bit and causes poor solder joints until the temperature has lowered sufficiently. Thermostatic irons tend to be higher power (e.g. the 50W wellers) so can cope with larger jobs.

We use Metcals in work, expensive but once you've used one it's hard going back to a Weller etc.