(Part 2) Top products from r/AskElectronics

You're getting some great advice here, and I'm glad you're enjoying the process of learning to solder! I thought I'd copy a previous post of mine going over my favorite fluxes. Maybe it'll be useful to you as well!

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Certainly not the same. Over time you'll acquire a number of fluxes that you use for different things. You'll want different types depending on the kind of soldering you're doing, or if you're trying to ensure compatibility (i.e. with a flux-cored solder) between fluxes. I mostly use no-clean but rosin fluxes are great. You're supposed to clean them off but there are plenty of 30 year old boards with rosin flux residue on them that work fine. A note on flux pens, I personally hate them. I'm referring to the ones that are built like those paint markers with the tip you need to push in to get it to flow. Very overpriced for the amount of flux and they never work right. Bonkote brush pens are the best, but unfortunately expensive. They are however refillable and the brush tips are replaceable and relatively cheap. The cheap dispenser bottles work great as well but for very thin fluxes are easier to make a mess with.

Here are my go-to fluxes:

• MG Chemicals RA Flux - This is a classic. Cheap, very effective. Very sticky and easily clogs flux pens/dispenser bottles, but great stuff.
  
  
• MG Chemicals No-clean Paste Flux - Great stuff, I prefer it to the Chip Quick paste flux although that's also quite good and a little more tacky. This is a thicker flux than the liquid rosin stuff, good for removing bridges and such. I transfer any flux that comes in a syringe to a 3mL syringe. Smaller syringe means you use less force to get more pressure, easier to dispense from small needles. Stick 2 syringes together - nose to nose - with a half inch length of silicone tubing. Let's you get maximum flux volume without entrapped air that will cause oozing.
  
  
• Kester 186 RMA Flux - Slightly less active than the MG Chemicals RA but very good. Thinner and easier to dispense. Side note, this seller (Tekline) also has a great eBay store. Only way to get some of these fluxes without buying a gallon of flux or one of those shitty overpriced flux pens.
  
  
• Edsyn FL22 No-clean Paste Flux - By far the best paste flux I've ever used. Nothing comes close for removing difficult solder bridges. It's not cheap though so I reserve it for tough situations.
  
  
• Kester 959T No-clean - Great general purpose no-clean flux. Very thin, like water. It's a true no-clean flux if a board goes through a reflow cycle - it completely disappears if you don't overdo it. It's also excellent for dip-soldering if you use a solder-pot, which is what it is intended for (wave-soldering).
  
  I have a water soluble flux that I use as well Kester 2331-ZX but you must clean all traces of it off before you put boards into service, so it only comes out rarely.
  
  Flux - like solder - is one of those things that seems expensive when you buy the good stuff, but unless you're a CM buying drums of it the cost-per-use is so low that it makes no sense to fuss with the cheap shit IMHO.
  
  And speaking of flux, if you want clean shiny boards then consider getting some flux remover. The best I've used so far is Techspray E-line Universal Cleaner. Used to use MG Chemicals Heavy Duty Flux Remover but this beats the pants off it - does the job in 5 minutes where the MG would take half an hour. Rosin-fluxes clean easily unless you reflow them or let them get baked on. No-clean fluxes don't usually need to be cleaned - hence the name - but if you use rosin flux to rework a board (i.e. solder through-hole parts onto a board that was reflowed with no-clean) and then use bad flux remover, the no-clean will turn into a white powdery film that's very unattractive and hard to clean. Thus a good flux remover is handy.
  
  If you're careful with it you can really stretch it out. I recommend against the aerosol cans of flux remover. While they can work well they're expensive and very wasteful, and by the time you clean off a particularly challenging flux you'll have emptied the $20 can.
  
  EDIT: One little trick that most EEs I've met aren't aware of - pick up a little bit of straight phosphoric acid. It works like magic if you ever need to solder to bare aluminum, steel, or stainless steel. You could probably use an acid flux (usually intended for plumbing) but I can't imagine it being any better than regular old cheap phosphoric acid. You'll never get regular flux and solder to wet steel, but this makes it just as easy as soldering anything else.

Way back when dinosaurs roamed the Earth and I was a young fella, I forget how old but probably pre-teen, my parents bought me something like this: http://www.amazon.com/Elenco-200-in-One-Electronic-Project-Lab/dp/B0002AHR04 To make a circuit, you'd just bend back a spring and shove a wire in between the coils. Looking at the "related products" on Amazon, it seems like there are a few competitive products out there too. The kit my parents got me kept me entertained for a very long time. This was possibly enhanced by my father who, being an electrical engineer, would periodically involve me fixing broken appliances, handing me the sledge to help tear down walls during renovations and whatnot.

This kit taught me the basics of flip-flops (which can be used to MAKE NOISE! as well as flash lights), relays etc.

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My current flight of fancy is the Arduino and that may prove a more useful tool for you because it can all be done with low voltage, a bread board and a bunch of wires and even better, it needs a computer to program it. The Arduino IDE includes a whole bunch of example programs.

The most basic program is "flash" which just literally flashes an LED. Your next step would be to alter the duty cycle of the flashing. Now have it flash two LEDs and have them on different duty cycles.

A Chinese Arudino UNO clone Starter Kit (which in addition to some basic components and a breadboard includes a stepper motor, servo, tilt switches and other cool things) will set you back less than $50. Additional wires (I recommend getting a pack each of M-M, M-F and F-M dupont leads) are cheap as chips and will help you hook up all the other awesome things you can get like the "arduino sensor kit" which contains no less than 37 different kinds of "sensors" including ultrasonic range sensors, joysticks, push buttons, etc.

Armed with those two kids, a bunch of wires and a laptop running the Arduino IDE, there's a whole world of awesome to play with.

Show me pre-teen who wouldn't like an ultrasonic alarm pointed at her door to make a buzzer ring when mum opens the door, and I'll show you a kid who... is too engrossed in a book to notice. (OK, so my analogies aren't always top notch)

I don't have any suggestions on soldering irons, but I do recommend a brass wire sponge over a regular sponge for tip cleaning.

They work great and don't require any water. I personally feel they are better for your iron tip and don't get nasty like a sponge can.

Something like this http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000PDQORU/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?qid=1373850851&sr=8-3&pi=AC_SX112_SY192


Edit: that weller above that you listed is a good iron. Because you are doing SMD as well I would also recommend a solder sucker, as I call them ha.

This here http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0002KRAAG/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1373851104&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX112_SY192

Helps a ton if you get solder is the wrong place or need to take some off or out of a through hole.

Lastly, these third hands can be a life saver at times if you will be working alone often. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000RB38X8/ref=pd_aw_sim_indust_2?pi=SL500_SY115

Good luck!

This only deals with receiving, not transmitting, but I've heard good things about the book Build Your Own Transistor Radios: A Hobbyist's Guide to High-Performance and Low-Powered Radio Circuits.

Here's the description from Amazon:

--------
A DIY guide to designing and building transistor radios

Create sophisticated transistor radios that are inexpensive yet highly efficient. Build Your Own Transistor Radios: A Hobbyist’s Guide to High-Performance and Low-Powered Radio Circuits offers complete projects with detailed schematics and insights on how the radios were designed. Learn how to choose components, construct the different types of radios, and troubleshoot your work. Digging deeper, this practical resource shows you how to engineer innovative devices by experimenting with and radically improving existing designs.

Build Your Own Transistor Radios covers:

• Calibration tools and test generators
• TRF, regenerative, and reflex radios
• Basic and advanced superheterodyne radios
• Coil-less and software-defined radios
• Transistor and differential-pair oscillators
• Filter and amplifier design techniques
• Sampling theory and sampling mixers
• In-phase, quadrature, and AM broadcast signals
• Resonant, detector, and AVC circuits
• Image rejection and noise analysis methods

This is the perfect guide for electronics hobbyists and students who want to delve deeper into the topic of radio.

As a student, I can recommend "Practical Electronics For Inventors, Fourth Edition" by Paul Scherz, accompanied by the occasional youtube video and reddit question :)
You can buy it from Amazon here

I havent read any others, so I cant compare the quality, but you can go through it like a book and be able to understand everything. You may run into some problems in the real world that requires some fairly advanced calculus, which the book doesn't cover. (It does cover where to apply it, just not how). It is really extensive (1256 pages on my desktop e-reader), so if you have an idea for something specific you want to build, there might be something more efficient out there :)

I would think that not a lot of electronics books, if any, explain the math in full, so I would suggest that you find an online source for whatever specific piece of math you've run into. I can recommend Kahn academy.

Good luck :)

You are going to want to balance tools and parts.

TOOLS (must haves)

• Multimeters (At least two, I suggest starting with one cheapo ($5-$10) and one in the $30-$50 range)
  
• Variable regulated power supply with current limiting (Skip the cheap/dangerous chinese crap and get a used HP/Agilent/Keysight one off ebay like this or this.)
  
• Breadboards (several)
  
• Jumper wires
  
• Wire strippers and cutters
  
• Decent soldering Iron ($50-$100) (DO NOT CHEAP OUT ON THIS)
  
• Desoldering pump and/or wick (The ctrl-z of the soldering world)
  
• Heat shrink tubing for sealing connections (Especially if you are going to be doing outdoor stuff)
  
• Microcontrollers (I suggest starting with an Arudino Uno since it has the largest amount of online support material, you could get an Uno kit, any of them will be fine)
  .
  .
  TOOLS (eventually)
  
• Logic Analyzer (Let's you see the logic signals in your circuit which is super helpful for debugging, I have a bitscope micro which is decent, but the software kinda sucks and is more than just a logic analyzer)
  
• A function generator (variable voltage and frequency for sine, square and triangle waves) (Again I suggest used off ebay, something like this.)
  
• Oscilloscope (a really amazing tool for actally seeing what is going on in your circuit)
  .
  .
  PARTS (vaguely in order of usefullness)
  
• Elenco Resistor Kit
  
• Elenco Capacitor Kit
  
• Elenco Transistor Kit
  
• Elenco Diode Kit
  
• Elenco LED Kit
  (Of couse you don't have to get the Elenco kits, those are just the ones I use and really like)
  
• Voltage regulator ICs (Great for providing regulated power to things that need more than what your arduino can provide)
  
• Trimmer Potentiometer Kit (really useful to have around for many projects)
  
• Old electronic equipment to scavenge parts out of (Many of my parts have come from old equipment or broken ATX computer power supplies. Tearing stuff apart is both fun and yields great parts.)
  .
  .
  .
  I think that's all for now...

Check out this video on different types of solder and flux:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1aONINVkSE

These are the things I have in my relatively newish lab I set up:

RA (Rosin Activated) Solder Flux

Flux Applicator

The bottle is just an example. You can buy refillable pens or brushes which many people prefer.

0.075" RMA(Rosin Mildly Activated) Solder Wick

0.032" RA Cored Solder

And finally to clean off your boards afterwards:
Flux Cleaner

You could also use no-clean variations if you like. I recommend doing some research on the different types of solder (look here). The accessories you choose depend on the type of solder you are using. I would try to use RA or RMA wicks and fluxes with RA or RMA solder. Mixing say no-clean fluxes with RA solder will probably just make things messier.

I forgot you mentioned you are using lead-free, in that case you could buy lead-free wick (MG chemicals sells it on amazon). Not sure if there are lead-free fluxes available. However I would recommend you switch from lead-free to leaded solder, your life will be much easier.

MG Chemicals is a good brand. I use it mostly because it is easy to get where I am.

As others have said, SMD hand soldering is very doable. I just want to add BUY SOME GOOD NO CLEAN FLUX. Paste flux is the most fun you can have with a syringe outside of heroin. Really it makes everything easier. Just make sure to give a good alcohol cleaning afterwards to get off residue.

I had the same approach as you when I first started learning electronics; I'd recommend Practical Electronics for Inventors. While it does explain just about every topic in great detail, it does so at a pace that's neither too slow nor too fast; you can easily skip the more technical chapters, and stick to the easy bits too.
However, if you want to do more than create simple signal clipping distortion pedals, I would suggest that you read the technical stuff as well, to learn what actually goes on in a circuit, and to understand how you might modulate your guitar's sound.

Don't use plumbing flux. Use rosin based electronics flux.

Haven't used this but it looks good: solder flux pen


I use this and really like it. It's a bit of a mess to clean up but it works really well. rosin flux


I use a dispenser like this one with it: flux dispenser

I say yes go ahead and clean with alcohol first if the board is old and crusty, it cant hurt. And you should really own a tube of flux regardless. The flux inside flux core solder burns away really quick from the heat of the iron, so you have to be quick with your operations. If you mess up and get something like this:

http://bobbyowsinskiblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Solder-joints.jpg

Reflowing is what you want, but just touching the tip of the iron back on these probably wont fix anything without adding a dab of new flux. Flux is what makes the solder wick properly so you get beautiful fillets.

PS. I prefer the flux that comes in a tube rather than the pen. This one is good: link

It'll be blackened, solder won't stick to it, and it'll have poor heat transfer.

Properly tinning and caring for your tips is one of the first things you should learn--use the bronze puff (or less ideal sponge) to clean off flux and excess solder during use.

If it's a good quality tip, the black stuff will only be burnt on flux, rather than full oxidation of the cladding (at which point, you should replace it). To quote myself from another post (n.b. don't use sand paper to try to clean up your tips):

> I use a scour pad (keep a small part of one in your toolbox, inside a ziplock) on my tip when it gets really carbonized, and then follow it up with Weller tip tinner / activator. As many others are saying here, a low-abrasive bronze puff is better than a damp sponge for cleaning your iron when in use, since it can better wick solder and doesn't subject the tip to as much thermal stress.

I agree with /u/1Davide here entirely. Do not blow off warnings about messing with unprotected Li-Ion cells.

I have seen them ignite nearby materials merely by having the terminals shorted by a split second contact with a screwdriver blade. If they end up igniting themselves (not hard to do btw), good luck putting out that fire with anything but a wheelbarrow full of sand.

Stick to protected, pre-built packs and chargers from non-shady distributors unless you know what you are doing (or care to learn the hard way).

If you are looking for a cheap but reliable charger for DIYing your own pack, though, I'd recommend this one:

• http://www.amazon.com/Tenergy-Balance-Airsoft-Battery-Charger/dp/B004FGWY54/
  
  It's meant for airsoft batt packs but you can use the outputs to make it into your own balancing changer since the output connectors are just sets of pin headers.

Yes. Ronald Quan's (book on homemade radios) advocates the dirt cheap LM318 opamp, available from electronics surplus stores, hobbyist websites (example), and even legitimate electronics distributors like Arrow, Element 14, Mouser, and DigiKey. Its gain-bandwidth product is 15 MHz so the OP can use one to construct a preamp with a gain of +30dB (31.6x) for 0.125 MHz input signals. Need more than +30dB of gain? Cascade two of them!

I mean, define compatible. I'm confused about what you're looking for exactly. If it is rated for the power specifications you need and terminates in a way that you know how to work with there's not too much more you need to worry about. If you post your circuit we can maybe give you some better guidance, but I think as long as you get reasonably-rated through hole versions of your parts you are going to be fine.

Do you have a base stock of parts like caps and resistors? If not, this Electronic Suprise Box is a cheap shotgun method of getting a base stock going, plus you usually get a decent selection of LEDs, switches, or whatever else they sweep off the table in to your box. If you don't want to dedicate a ton of time to sorting them, you can order kits like this and this.

If you're wanting to better understand how this stuff all works, then check out Getting Started In Electronics by Forrest Mims. You won't regret it.

Most importantly--and I can't stress this enough--RadioShack should be your last resort. You'll pay 10x as much for terrible components. Things that cost pennies on Mouser or DigiKey will be dollars there.

I typically use 60 40 0.031 lead solder, which is cheaply available from amazon, including prime. One of these spools will last a very long time for only $30. These tubes are available for smaller quantities.

The main concern with solder is the flux fumes, which are actually worse with higher temperatures and lead free solder. One simple solution to solder fumes is a pc fan with some sort of filter on it, such as this one. I made one for around $4, and it works very well. It also helps to mount it on some sort of arm, such as solid copper wire or one of these. There are many types of fume extractors that would work.

As for the soldering iron, I use a weller wes51, but a hakko fx888 is also good.

I've read your posting history and I now have a good understanding of your skill level. Good news: there is a really terrific book by Ronald Quan, which is aimed at people exactly like yourself. Here it is on Amazon. Among many, many other things, you'll learn the mystery-shrouded art of Dead Bug RF Construction, just like the pros.

Holy hell, you're amazing , I'm print a hold to Arduino to complete this learning process.
>
Edit: also, not even joking, maybe you can pick up one of these: https://www.amazon.com/Maxitronix-200-in-One-Electronic-Project-Lab/dp/B0002AHR04.

This is actually really amazing, how didn't i hear of it before?
Thank you so much man, you are using a lot of ways for me and lighting my way, Thank you

Elenco makes parts kits that you can buy on amazon. I'm aware of the diode, capacitor, and transistor kits.

https://www.amazon.com/Elenco-100-Capacitor-Component-Kit/dp/B004YHZDW0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1465659726&sr=8-1&keywords=elenco+capacitor+kit

That said, you can always make your own and it will be a better value for money.

Get on Digikey and look for standard capacitor values in various orders of magnitude and buy 10-20 of them. To start out, get 100, 330, 470 pF as ceramic and 1, 10, 100, 330, 470 nF in film caps. They're cheap, even in low quantities.

For transistors, get 50 2n3904 transistors and 50 2n3906. Works out to about $8 each. 50 of each should be way more than enough for a long time. For diodes, you can get 50 1n4148s for less than $3. For rectifier diodes, 1N4007s are less than $5 for 50.

Especially for passives, when you buy in bulk, the price per unit falls sharply.

Diy lm317 power supply. these things aren't the best but it is a linear supply and for hobbies you won't need anything more sophisticated. It's dirt cheap, and you get to practice soldering. Imo, buy 2 so you can supply the negative voltages for the common op amp.

Soldering station I have fondness for this station as it was the one we had to buy for our program at school. I like it a lot because the iron stand, heating element, sponge holder, and a solder wire spool are all connected so you just need to haul around 1 object. Don't need to go digging for your iron stand or setting your spool of solder somewhere and forget it. Works well enough for your use and I believe there are tips out there.

Breadboard and wires this is mandatory. If there's anything on my list you choose to buy, you must buy this first. Breadboards are essential. If you can buy two of these.

63/37 solder you don't work for a company that is rohs compliant, don't burden yourself with leadless solder. Look for a us shipping of that if you don't want to wait.

Wire snips if you own side cutters you probably won't need these.

Wire strippers again you might not need these if you are patient and strip them with cutters. Also the breadboards above come with pre cut

Helping hands I do SMD rework professionally and I don't use hands because I'm an idiot. Don't be an idiot and learn from the get go using these.

If you can find any of these for cheaper than I found, go for it. Should be around 70 bucks. Good puck!

http://www.amazon.com/Elenco-365-Piece-Resistor-Kit/dp/B0002HBQHW/ref=pd_sim_t_4?ie=UTF8&refRID=14BEKDGCZYR4BRZH99QE http://www.amazon.com/Elenco-100-Capacitor-Component-Kit/dp/B004YHZDW0/ref=pd_sim_t_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=1ZY4TZ8KX03R67FCGF50 do these look like a good deal?

The application is for lighting an archery target with LED strips each night for ~3-4 hours a night to allow the range to stay open. This is in central california so there is plenty of sun during the day and nights aren't excessively long. I feel like the sealed lead acid battery will cause problems due to the low number (200-300) charge cycles they can go through. What do you mean by saying the 12v battery is not 12v? I feel like I won't need a 30W solar panel but I'm not sure. I will most likely use a store bought charge controller like mrCloggy suggested, but I'm wondering if I can wire that up to the lipo battery. I would like to use these http://www.amazon.com/LEDMO-Flexible-Daylight-Waterproof-brightness/dp/B01339G2F6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1454112286&sr=8-1&keywords=5630+Flexible+Led+Strip if possible which seem to be a 72W led strip, but I will use lower power http://www.amazon.com/Triangle-Bulbs-T93007-Waterproof-Flexible/dp/B005EHHLD8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1454112451&sr=8-1&keywords=waterproof+led+strip if needed. Any suggestions?

Use cheap slip rings & capacitor/batteries for power, then instead of wired USB use wireless usb
Make sure to get a usb server which supports cameras

Yes, telephone feeders work good.

You can buy kits that has the wires pre-bent too. They are easy to use and much faster to build with. I use pre-formed for most stuff then use phone feeder for those lines that can't be laid flat for some reason.

http://www.amazon.com/Elenco-Piece-Pre-formed-Jumper-Wire/dp/B0002H7AIG

This is a 350 piece kit, but they make smaller kits too.

I believe that the particular design pictured is made of iron wire and heated in a gas flame. If you want an electrically heated version of that you can probably do this with a high wattage soldering iron like this one.

I would add that you may have a problem with mechanical strength of a formed piece of wire that you are going to be heating and using repeatedly. You will probably want to reinforce it with a high temperature material like a sheet of fiber reinforced magnesium board.

0.6 to 0.8 mm (0.031 inch)

Can't go wrong with kester 60/40. 63/37 is slightly better but 60/40 is fine.

https://www.amazon.com/KESTER-SOLDER-32117-24-6040-0027-Diameter/dp/B00068IJPO/ref=mp_s_a_1_6?keywords=solder&qid=1572723893&sr=8-6

Not a breaker but this device will tell you how much current is drawn by the printer.

Sounds like there is an issue with the power regulator inside the printer. You can try to fix it or replace it.

Start by getting hold of a book on EMC Testing.

A good one is "EMC for Product Designers" by Tim Williams

Get the pre-made wires and don't bend them. The lengths provided are at breadboard sized increments and will fit without bending.

Something like this, with a recharge socket: https://www.amazon.com/Tenergy-Balance-Airsoft-Battery-Charger/dp/B004FGWY54

Now try and recreate that chip using only discrete components so you can understand how it actually amplifies signals. You should be able to make a little push-pull amp with only two transistors, some supporting components, and maybe an impedance matching transformer for audio output.

Edit: http://www.circuitstoday.com/push-pull-amplifier

Edit: also, not even joking, maybe you can pick up one of these: https://www.amazon.com/Maxitronix-200-in-One-Electronic-Project-Lab/dp/B0002AHR04

I had that as a kid in the 90's and it really jumpstarted my understanding of discrete components. I learned the hard stuff first because of that kit, and only later in the 2000's picked up microcontrollers. At sixteen years old in '98, I built my own working guitar pedal, was so proud of myself because I learned the basics from that kit. It did distortion by overdriving with a preamp stage and also had a 8-ohm speaker output for portability. It sounded like utter trash, but it did what I wanted.

I don't think the Bluetooth specification is versatile enough to allow that.

If you want wireless access to USB devices, one option would be to use a WIFI remote USB hub.

One example:
http://www.amazon.com/IOGEAR-Wireless-Sharing-Station-GUWIP204/dp/B0058DN1Q4/ref=pd_cp_pc_1

I use this. works ok i guess.

Method One : Get better at it.

Stripping wires is not for the rough handed . I once faced the same problem. Whenever I cut, I would get right through the wire. Don't get rough. Keep the cutter at an angle and gently press it and you will feel it when you get through the insulation. Then with a swift straight movement flick the cut part away.

Method Two : Get an Automatic Wire Stripper. No need to be careful with this thing. Removes the insulation in a jiffy. $20.

Edit: Fixed Link

I like this style: http://reviews.matcotools.com/7535-en_us/484949/matco-tools-automatic-wire-stripper-cutter-crimper-reviews/reviews.htm

but I know some people who prefer these: https://www.amazon.com/Automatic-Stripper-Cutter-Parts-Express/dp/B0002KR95W

Either option is worlds ahead of the style you posted.

Agree with this - get a good iron (Hakko or a Weller WESD51) and a cheap 858D hot air station if you decide you need that. You're not going to need a hot air station unless you start doing surface mount work. Also +1 on the advice to just get a beefy soldering gun for automotive/big wire stuff, you don't need fancy temperature control for soldering wires on battery terminals or whatever it is you're planning on.

For lead-free solder, I've been using low temperature alloys for surface mount stuff, but I think it is mostly just available in paste form.

Looks good.

But if it will have Automotive applications, read up on the "Load Dump Test".

see "EMC for Product Designers" by Tim Williams

Get a brass shavings cleaner. I don't like the wet sponge method
https://www.amazon.com/Aoyue-Soldering-Cleaner-sponge-needed/dp/B005C789EU

I know this isn't the answer you want, but for six dollars...

https://www.amazon.com/Breadboard-Jumper-Wire-75pcs-pack/dp/B0040DEI9M

I had a Radio Shack branded 200-in-One project kit when I was a kid.

Edit: This 500-in-One version has a breadboard also.

http://www.amazon.com/White-Strip-light-Waterproof-Flexible/dp/B005EHHLD8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1409443040&sr=8-1&keywords=led+light+string

Non-mobile: www.amazon.com/dp/B0002KR95W/ref=redir_mdp_mobile/179-8274363-0912053

^That's ^why ^I'm ^here, ^I ^don't ^judge ^you. ^PM ^/u/xl0 ^if ^I'm ^causing ^any ^trouble. ^WUT?

The standard way to do it is to buy a set of Kill A Watt meters.

I know you said you didnt the longer lengths, but at a cost of $20 you get the whole kit which includes every size you could need for a single standard size bread-board....

https://www.amazon.ca/Elenco-Piece-Pre-formed-Jumper-Wire/dp/B0002H7AIG

Never use abrasives on the soldering iron tip. First, use a wet sponge to wipe off the tip before soldering. If there's krud building up that doesn't come off with the sponge, wipe it on a cleaning wire. If the tip gets really bad, it can often be restored with a chemical tip tinner.

Like other posters have said, to make the tip last longer leave a blob of solder on the tip when you are done soldering, wipe it off before starting soldering. And turn the iron temperature down when not using (I turn it down to 450F when it's idle).

Charging multiple Li-ion cells is complicated; you need to balance the cells as you charge them.

But there are plenty of chargers out there, particularly by model car racers, for the job. You just need to hook up the endpoints and the balancing leads.

Most hobby Lithium polymer (Lipo) chargers will, if you dig into the specifications, also charge Lithium-ion cells (which want a slightly lower charge oltage, 4.1 vs. 4.2 V). For example, this $20 charger will charge Li-ion.

I bought these below because I just wanted a short strip of LEDs. I had no idea what I was getting myself into.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005EHHLD8/ref=sr_ph?ie=UTF8&qid=1412110671&sr=1&keywords=LED

Im much better then I was the first time. But still bad.
I have 2.

ECG 60W E69348 with 3 different tips. Using the smallest one I have.

Then Weller soldering Gun D550PK

As someone who has done considerable product design, the big mistake is to leave your EMC testing until the last minute.

If you encounter EMC problems you will almost certainly need redesign of the circuit and/or the enclosure. The cost and time required can break an otherwise viable product.

At the very least, buy a copy of Tim William's "EMC for Product Designers". It will pay for itself many times over.

If there's one message from my experience, it is "do your EMC testing early".

Also get a solder sucker. You'll use it far more than the wick.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0002KRAAG?pc_redir=1408420045&robot_redir=1

Edit: So why the downvote? Does someone not like solder suckers?

Very similar to these https://www.amazon.com/Breadboard-Jumper-Wire-75pcs-pack/dp/B0040DEI9M right down to the tie holding the bundle. As for components last night I bent the hell out of the leads on a DHT22 https://www.adafruit.com/product/385.