soldering

Take it to someone who knows what they are doing. Perhaps an Auto Electrician.

The parts to be soldered need to be clean and (preferrably) "scuffed" with a file etc.....this will provide the solder with a means of "biting".

The 2 parts to be soldered together need to be tinned with solder firstly, then bring the 2 parts together (hold with tweezers or needle-nosed plyers etc) and then heat applied again to the job/joint. This will melt the solder so that you get a firm joint.

Silver solder requires a lot higher heat input and you stand a very good risk of melting anything/everything around the joint. I doubt the job would require silver solder.

If possible, use a heat-sink near any plastic parts to prevent the heat getting into them.

Good luck.

Roachie (who is a self-taught solderer of over 500 model locomtive kits in HO scale).... hahaha

oz doc

The last time I used silver solder was at TAFE years ago and it was applied with an oxy welding torch. That would not do your plug any good at all.

What Roachie said is right. It is easy if you know what you are doing and should only take seconds. It also sounds complicated when explained in writing and it is if you are not experienced. It is far too easy to end up with a "dry joint" and loss of electrical contact later on if you don't know what you are doing.

I suggest you follow DIO's advice.

Brian

Im with Roachie on this You need to coat both pieces with solder first then just melt the two together.
I use Savabit No 6 Tin/lead/copper .90mm cored solder on all my electronic bits and never have a problem.

Some types of multistrand wire are hard to coat as they seem to have a coating on them that prevents soldering. Mostly found on telephone wire. Electrical wire is easy.
Buy a small roll or tube at Tricky Dicky

Hows it going Doc,

Sounds like the job is not hot enough !

If you are using a flux core solder this should work ok.

Here is some basic info

How to solder

Hoe this helps you out .

Glenn.

Sounds to me like the iron was too small so not enough heat and or the parts to be tinned and soldered were not clean.... Michael

Hi guys, thanks for the replies. Sounds like there is more to this soldering gig than I thought. I think my neighbour did try what you advised- ie coating both bits with some solder first then trying to make the final join etc. The solder just wouldnt stick to the little tabs coming from the plastic socket. I was toying with the idea of adding a 12 volt soldering iron to my campers toolbox but after the above discussions - I think I will give it a miss. Might be time to change to a different socket and see if I can attach it with some simple crimp/clamps instead. I'd take it to the auto sparky up here but they are booked out 2 weeks in advance an I doubt they would be interested in such a small job.Thanks again. Doc.

Maybe he didn't use resin cored solder. No flux - no stick. Soldering is not that hard; anyone can learn it (apart from maybe people with no hands I spose).

Forget it. Just get proper “solderable” plug. Much cheaper.

Cheers
Serg