Novice in need of LED soldering advice.

[shimanole]

Hello All and thanks in advance for any suggestions or recommendations.

I'm never soldered anything a day in my life so I'm reaching out for some help. I need to build some LED strip lights that I will be recessing in floating shelf channel. I'll need to run about 4 feet of wire from each cut strip to my 24v tranformers. 4 terminated strips per transformer. I'm just soldering 2 pads and wires per strip as it is a single color LED.

1. What solder is recommended? I'm looking at MG Mechanical and Kestrel in 60/40 and 63/37. Do I need flux on the pads first?
2. Can anyone recommend a reasonably price soldering station or something I can piece together. I'm looking at a Bakon 950D
and a T12 from a forum I ran across but I can't seem to find the t12 iron.
3. Is there a typical calculation for the size of heat shrink to be used at the connection. My plans was 1/2" for 10mm strips.

If I'm skilled enough to make this work, I will expand my usage and take on some computer and HiFi projects mostly new power supplies and transistors if that is important to know for the above.

Thanks again!

 

[Marvo]

Hello All and thanks in advance for any suggestions or recommendations.

I'm never soldered anything a day in my life so I'm reaching out for some help. I need to build some LED strip lights that I will be recessing in floating shelf channel. I'll need to run about 4 feet of wire from each cut strip to my 24v tranformers. 4 terminated strips per transformer. I'm just soldering 2 pads and wires per strip as it is a single color LED.

1. What solder is recommended? I'm looking at MG Mechanical and Kestrel in 60/40 and 63/37. Do I need flux on the pads first?
Solder containing 60/40% tin and lead is easier to use if you can find it. The newer lead free solder is more difficult to work with. No you shouldn't need to use extra flux, the solder should contain its own flux.
2. Can anyone recommend a reasonably price soldering station or something I can piece together. I'm looking at a Bakon 950D
and a T12 from a forum I ran across but I can't seem to find the t12 iron.
I'd suggest you just get a TS100 soldering iron and a suitable Lithium Ion battery or a laptop type power supply. It's a very good small iron that's great for most hobby work and if you get a battery it's portable anywhere.
3. Is there a typical calculation for the size of heat shrink to be used at the connection. My plans was 1/2" for 10mm strips.
No calculation really, just get heatshrink that's the next size up to the item you're using it on. Adhesive heatshrink is the best but normal heatshrink is also fine for most jobs.

If I'm skilled enough to make this work, I will expand my usage and take on some computer and HiFi projects mostly new power supplies and transistors if that is important to know for the above.
There's loads of good soldering tutorials on youtube so there's no reason you shouldn't become proficient at soldering with a bit of practice. The TS100 soldering iron is ideal for Hi-Fi projects, general PCB work and even capable of soldering reasonably heavy power wires and component heat sinks.

Thanks again!

I answered above in red text.
[automerge]1582107572[/automerge]
Here's a review of the TS100 soldering iron.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgrB5P-rDLw

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Z9es-D9_8g

 

[R-fur]

There are plenty of videos on you tube on how to solder, Try Big Clive for starters.

 

[shimanole]

I answered above in red text.
[automerge]1582107572[/automerge]
Here's a review of the TS100 soldering iron.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgrB5P-rDLw

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Z9es-D9_8g

Thanks for all of the information and the recommendations. I'm going to look at the TS100 today. Thanks again.

 

[shimanole]

There are plenty of videos on you tube on how to solder, Try Big Clive for starters.

Thanks for the info. I'll check out Big Clive today.