Soldering Wire to Flexible Banana Plugs

[richhotrain]

Yesterday, I purchased two pairs of flexible banana plugs at Radio Shack to set up some wiring for my RRampMeter.

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103796

These banana plugs have the metal plug screwed into the flexible plastic grip.  When unscrewed, the metal plug has a hollow shaft at one end to accommodate up to a 12 gauge wire.  I plan to solder 14 gauge solid wire into the shaft.

What is the best way to accomplish the soldering?  Should I brush flux onto the bare wire and insert it into the shaft and then apply solder?

Does it make any sense to tin the wire first?

There is a total absence of instructions on the package.

Any help or advice would be appreciated.

Rich

[JoeinPA]

Rich

I've had experience soldering bannana plugs and have found that for soldering the wire you need to: tin the the wire, clean the channel in the plug well, use flux in the channel and finally use a good , hot iron. Be sure to put the plastic part on the wire before soldering or you will use a lot of "words". This is kind of tedious work but it can be done. By the way, there are some brands of bannana plugs that are "solderless" that are used for audio/video applications. I haven't had any experience with them

Joe

[richhotrain]

Thanks, Joe, all good advice including putting the flexible plastic grip onto the wire before soldering.

Rich

[zstripe]

I would use 14ga stranded wire, not solid. More flex. Twisted, tinned inserted, afterall that is what they were made for, to flex, without damage to the connection plug/ wire, from constant flexing.

Frank

[richhotrain]

zstripe

I would use 14ga stranded wire, not solid. More flex. Twisted, tinned inserted, afterall that is what they were made for, to flex, without damage to the connection plug/ wire, from constant flexing.

Frank

 

Frank, you're right, stranded wire would probably make more sense than solid wire.  But, I went with solid, and it worked quite well.  The RRampMeter is permanently mounted, so the cables won't get much of a workout..   

Rich

[richhotrain]

JoeinPA

Rich

I've had experience soldering bannana plugs and have found that for soldering the wire you need to: tin the the wire, clean the channel in the plug well, use flux in the channel and finally use a good , hot iron. Be sure to put the plastic part on the wire before soldering or you will use a lot of "words". This is kind of tedious work but it can be done. By the way, there are some brands of bannana plugs that are "solderless" that are used for audio/video applications. I haven't had any experience with them

Joe

 

Joe, thanks again.  That procedure worked perfectly.

Rich

[retsignalmtr]

I did the same thing with my RRamp meter several months ago. I used 14 AWG stranded wire, untinned ( the wire wouldn't fit in the plug after tinning ). Soldered the wire in like you solder water pipe. Flux Banana plug and wire, insert wire, heat plug and apply solder to joint, remove heat and solder was sucked in to plug.

[richhotrain]

retsignalmtr

I did the same thing with my RRamp meter several months ago. I used 14 AWG stranded wire, untinned ( the wire wouldn't fit in the plug after tinning ). Soldered the wire in like you solder water pipe. Flux Banana plug and wire, insert wire, heat plug and apply solder to joint, remove heat and solder was sucked in to plug.

 

Yep, that is exactly what I did and that is exactly what happened.

Rich