Electronics > Projects, Designs, and Technical Stuff
Silicone lead for soldering iron -- recommendations?
ebastler:
I would like to modify the output lead of an old notebook power supply, to use it with a TS100 soldering iron. Looking for a temperature-proof and flexible 2-wire cable to carry approx. 3 A (at 19 V).
The selection of silicone leads available online is limited, and having to order remotely, the specs do not give me a good idea how the stiffness/weight will feel in practical use. Does anybody have a recommendation, either for a specific brand & type of cable, or for a specific vendor on ebay or such? Reasonable shipping costs to Germany preferred...
Thank you!
Whales:
All of the silicone leads I have ever used are very soft (especially compared to PVC). So soft in fact that the copper inside takes most of the strain and breaks more easily. Do stiff silicone leads exist?
N.B. possible alternative to silicone leads: clothes iron cord. It might be too thick for what you want.
2N3055:
I bought some "KSGER Silicone Wire Cable" from Ebay and it was OK.. Heat resistant, silicone and nice and pliable..
Copper quadrature was small (0,4-0,5 mm2) but that is enough for few amps, and soldering iron is not drawing that much current all the time.. You can get 4 wire one and used them in pairs for more capacity.
vk6zgo:
--- Quote from: Whales on September 03, 2020, 06:47:43 am ---All of the silicone leads I have ever used are very soft (especially compared to PVC). So soft in fact that the copper inside takes most of the strain and breaks more easily. Do stiff silicone leads exist?
N.B. possible alternative to silicone leads: clothes iron cord. It might be too thick for what you want.
--- End quote ---
That is pretty much what the old "firestick" mains operated irons used!
evac:
I bought a TS100 recently and just did exactly this the other day.
I got single silicone wires in red/black color and twisted them together. They're pretty cheap (€2 for 2 meters shipped) and you can find almost any wire guage you want.
The silicone has enough grip that the wires stick to each other and stay twisted together.
In my case I bought 22AWG 60-strand wire, 1.8mm in outer diameter, very light and flexible, not even noticeable during soldering.
The wire guage was okay for this use, the tips on my TS100 draw a maximum 3.1A at 24V, and I measured 1 meter of wire at ~58mOhm, so for both cables an expected voltage drop of ~360mV, which I confirmed by measuring the voltage at the iron under load.
That's a 1.1W loss which over 2 meters of cable shouldn't cause any trouble, especially considering the typical duty cycle of the TS100 at this voltage is quite low.
I also had some trouble to find nice and compact barrel plugs, so I ended up buying a cheap one and 3D-printing a shorter housing for it, already with the right diameter for the silicone wire. Can post pictures of the result if anyone would be interested.
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