The International Cessna^® 170 Association

The wire on the back of my generator fuse holder is loose. It's soldered onto the back of the fuse holder and has been that way for 65 years. I want to re-solder it back on and not screw anything up in the process. Is it as simple as taking my cheapo HF soldering iron and heating up the connection and running some electrical solder in the seam....all while lying on my back trying not the get hot solder in my face?

Thanks for any advice!

Mike

The problem with soldering old wire is that it's oxidized and you'll have trouble getting the solder to flow onto it. The wire will get hot enough to melt the solder, but it will just ball up and drop off. The key to soldering is more flux, less heat. Don't just hold an iron to it and wait for the solder to do its thing. That will just melt things. Using an inexpensive iron won't help, either. Good irons will heat just the area to be soldered to the required temperature very quickly. Cheap ones apply enough heat to eventually get the connection up to temperature, but also overheating everything in the vicinity.

This is what I'd do. First tin the wire. Get a flux pen or tube of flux and soak the wire to be soldered with it. Then heat just the wire while feeding some solder. Heat it until the solder flows. This will likely cause the wire insulation to smoke. Then apply flux to the fuse holder connector and add some solder. Now put the two together and give it just enough heat to flow everything together.

If the old wire is too oxidized to get solder to flow, you'll have to cut it back and crimp on a pigtail of new wire that will solder easily to the fuse holder

Is the wire already attached and you just want to touch up the connection? If so, start with a bunch of flux, then add just enough heat and solder to reflow everything neatly.

Doing it upside down will just add to the fun. Smoke will rise away from you and solder balls will fall onto your face. For extra challenge, do the whole thing using a mirror.

Thanks Dave! Great info! I'll give it a shot.

Do not try to solder upside down and in that position if your level of expertise isn't that high . It's best to take the components out , inspect them and strip the wire as it will be oxidised after 60 odd years . Hot solder in the eyes will give you a bad day . I would check all wiring out and rectifying accordingly as you will be disturbing the component and creating problems. However a better solution is use solder less joints , use crimped components . Please wear safety glasses if soldering .

Thanks for the pointers. This wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I used a lot of flux and was able to heat everything up enough to get some solder in the seam. Didn't take much.