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David Nebenzahl

spake thus:

On Sat, 23 Dec 2006 12:54:56 -0800, David Nebenzahl
wrote:

spake thus:

On Fri, 22 Dec 2006 18:34:10 GMT, "Pop`"
wrote:

Kind of silly I suppose, but I was just wondering:

1. Does code allow soldering for residential wiring where you live?
2. Where do you live?

Please, I'm not trying to start a debate over the science/physics/howto's of
soldering or its relative pros/cons.

Why would you want to?
Too much work when a wirenut works fine. And you'd need about 500 to
1000 watts of soldering iron to solder a bundle of 4 or 5 #12 wires.

Bull****.

I could do it easily with my 35-watt soldering iron (which cost me
exactly $1 in one of those everything-made-in-China dollar stores).

Ok wiseguy. PROVE IT.
Take your camcorder, start by showing the wattage label on the
soldering iron, and the kind of solder you have (roll label). Then
make a movie of yourself doing it, and upload the movie. I bet you
wont be able to do even two #12 wires, and there is no way you can do
five.

OK, in a moment of extreme boredom last night, I took you up on your
challenge. Here are the results.

Two wires: no problemo.

I was able to solder 3 #12s together. That seems to be about the limit
for my little iron.

The joints all came out mechanically and electrically solid. Solder
flowed over all surfaces. No "cold" joints. I used my Radio Shack
"capellini" (fine) rosin-core 60/40 solder.

I'm not saying this is the ideal tool (turns out it's a 30-watt iron). I
wouldn't choose to use it for this type of work. The joints took a
minute or two to make. But my point is made: it doesn't take a honking
500-watt soldering iron, or a gun hooked up to a Lincoln generator, to
make good joints with big copper wires.

Sorry, don't have a camcorder. You'll have to take my word for it.

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