Soldering Tips

●Stable

Practical soldering advice for assembling Hyphi kits — wiring LED strips, connectors, and battery leads onto a pre-assembled board.

Iron Temperature

Solder type	Temperature
63/37 leaded	320–360°C
Lead-free SAC305	370–400°C

Start at 350°C and adjust. Too cold = cold joints. Too hot = lifted pads, burned flux.

The Basics

Tin the tip first. A dirty tip is the #1 cause of bad joints. Before every session:

1. Wipe tip on damp sponge or brass wool
2. Apply a small bead of fresh solder to the tip
3. The tip should be shiny silver — not dull or black

Heat the joint, not the solder. Touch the iron to the pad and wire simultaneously, then feed solder into the joint (not onto the iron).

Good joints look shiny, concave, and volcano-shaped. Dull, blobby, or grainy joints are cold — reheat and add a touch of flux.

Soldering Wires to Pads

1. Pre-tin the wire end — strip ~3mm, twist strands, touch iron + solder to wet the tip
2. Pre-tin the board pad with a small blob of solder
3. Hold the tinned wire to the tinned pad, touch the iron briefly — the two blobs merge
4. Remove iron, hold still for 2–3 seconds until solid

Flux is your friend

Apply flux to pads before soldering. It dramatically improves flow and reduces bridges.

Debugging Bad Joints

Symptom	Likely Cause	Fix
Cold joint (dull/grainy)	Too cold, not enough heat time	Reheat + add flux
Solder bridge	Too much solder, too hot	Wick with braid + flux
Lifted pad	Too hot, too long on pad	Repair with wire jumper
LED works then fails	Overheated LED	WS2812B dies above ~260°C sustained

WS2812B Soldering Notes

WS2812B LEDs are heat-sensitive. Rules:

• Solder quickly — 2–3 seconds max per joint at 320°C
• If a previously working LED stops responding after rework, it's likely dead — replace it

Cleanup

After soldering, clean flux residue with isopropyl alcohol 90%+ and a cotton swab. No-clean flux is technically benign but can cause confusion during continuity tests.