Beginner soldering question

C

Chip Whitley

New member
Hi all, I’ve a question for you that i can’t find the answer to myself. I’m sure it’s out there but i couldn’t track it. Anyway, I just started getting into soldering my own cables and such, and right now i’m working on soldering a patch bay. I just got a Fluke 87 multimeter off an electrician friend and when i started testing the continuity of my work, BEEP! I get a circuit. But i started wondering, what’s this number on the multimeter read-out that’s jumping around? So i tested a patch bay connection before i did anything to it, the cable before i attached it to the bay, everything was ok. 0.3Ω - 0.5Ω usually. After i’ve connected my cables, my read out is usually between 0.7Ω - 1.3Ω.

My question:

Wil i hear 1.3Ω in my signal? What can i do to solder better, just practice? Is there any literature online or video that is really good to help a guy out? Is 1.3Ω max a real bad resistance rating to have over two 11 ft cables running through a half-normalled bay? Thanks for any light that can be shed.
 
Don't worry about all that...:) ...just focus on getting clean, solid solder joints...and don't mix up your Tip/Ring/Sleeve wires at either end. ;)
I've got miles of cable between all my gear and patchbays...I've never once check the resistance or worried about it.
If you're using good cable, that's good enough...and those are low numbers, nothing to freak about...nothing you will "hear" in your signal.
 
The numbers you are seeing are resistance - Your meter may or may not be absolutely accurate, and 0.3 Ohms could really be 0.27 Ohms, or 0.4 Ohms - either way out doesn't matter - it's a typical reading for a short circuit - the two contacts connected together - because you are measuring the out and back total - your soldering, the two contacts touching, then the cable back to the meter. 0.3 Ohms is the total, NOT your joint. If it was 500, or 23.5K Ohms - then something is adrift. 1.3Ohms is still a virtual short circuit, and as the entire circuit in an audio circuit has a much higher impedance, adding a few Ohms makes nom difference you can hear.

The important thing with soldering patch bays is that the joints are properly made - as in hot enough so when you add the solder, it immediately melts and flows. Good joints look nice and shiny. If a joint looks dull and grey, then even if it works now - it may die later.

The trick with soldering is right temperature, right solder and the process done quickly. With soldered patch bays, it's good practice to tin the wires, then bend them so they hook into the tags - even maybe then closing the hook so it makes good mechanical contact - then when you solder, they cannot move - which prevent bad joints (dry joints).
 
rob aylestone said:
it immediately melts and flows.
Click to expand...

This is the key part, for sure!
If the solder doesn't immediately do what you want it to do, clean it up and start again.
Two clean surfaces, heat them both, tin them both, heat them both, join them both.

If it flows like it wants to be soldered, it's all good. Just make sure, then, not to move anything until it's completely hardened and cooled.

I'm not 100% sure what the reading you're getting is, but resistance isn't going to be an issue with any good joint.
 
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