ORIGINAL: dragnse7en
ORIGINAL: SyCo_VeNoM
If you are on a real budget all that is needed is a $10 radio shack soldering iron, and $2 roll(the $6 spool has like 8X more solder) of rosin core solder
That is it
BTW why avoid irons under 40 watts?
My main used iron is a 30 watt and I've been soldering for over 20 years (had my cheapo radio shack for 16 or so years)
Only thing you need higher wattage for is batteries IMO, and if you are just doing batteries $20 300 watt iron would probably be best seeing it can solder those in less than 15 seconds
Well, in my 26+ years of experience soldering, a 30 watt iron doesn't cut it; it won't solder thicker terminals or bullet connectors right. If it works for you, then good for you.
Also, there's a huge difference between being cheap and doing something correctly on a budget.
well note I said for batteries (and meant to say bullets) I use a $20 300 watt iron to do it in 15 seconds. You CAN do it with the 30 watt, but it takes forever. Seriously a Turnigy 10, and 8 gauge battery wires I will say forget that won't be soldered with the 30 watt unless you are very patient (took me 10-12 mins to heat the wire up the one time I did it). But down to 16 AWG I find the 30 watt is more than enough
Also I solder more than just batteries, and bullet connectors I occasionally will make PCB's, and solder IC's so I need the lower power.