so anyway this has been bugging me for a while and i finally just accepted i have a soldering problem. built three quads now and on two of them ive had power issues that turned out to be cold joints on the XT60. i can see them when i look closely, they have that kind of dull grainy look instead of being shiny. i thought i was doing it right, tinned both sides, used flux, got the iron up to temperature. but something isnt clicking.

using a cheap iron from amazon, maybe thats the issue? it says 60W but i genuinely dont know if its actually putting out that. the solder im using is some random stuff that came with the iron. im getting a bit frustrated because it feels like such a basic thing and i keep messing it up on the same connector every time. any actual practical advice appreciated, not just watch youtube cause ive done that

the iron is almost definitely your problem. those amazon cheapies lie about their wattage constantly and even if they do hit 60W the temperature regulation is garbage, it droops the second you touch a big thermal mass like an XT60 connector. XT60s soak up heat like crazy and if your iron cant maintain temperature you get exactly what youre describing.

get a Pinecil or a TS101, either one will change your life for like 25-30 bucks. set it to around 380-400c for XT60s, pre heat the connector for a second or two before adding solder, and make sure youre using decent 63/37 leaded solder not the lead free stuff, lead free needs higher temps and is way less forgiving. also ditch whatever flux came with the kit, get some MG Chemicals or Amtech paste flux separately.

yeah 100% the iron, i wasted so many connectors before i got a proper station. also just want to add - when youre doing XT60s specifically, some people forget to heat the connector itself and not just the solder. like you need the connector to be hot enough that the solder flows into it, not just melting solder on top of a cold pin. sounds obvious but i did this for embarrassingly long before someone pointed it out to me at a local race day