Okay, here is a typical example in a soldering manual.

The top one has to much solder, its all beaded up and not clean, this solder will most likely not hold.

The second one is a correct solder joint. for really any sort of component on a board. Just enough to hold the part, this will be strong and conduct well.


Obviously the black part is the component, grey is solder, and the green is the board.
I did it for an example of how to surface mount, like we are doing here on the IDM.

To much solder make's a weak joint. For wires it can work, when you solder wires together, but its more likely to break under stress, or not hold.
It is kind of like welding. To much rod in the joint makes a weak joint. You want just enough to hold it and make the bond/fill.
welding however melts the components together and the rod is a filler. Soldering isn't like that. The rod does it all. So what type of solder you use is also important.
Stay away from the newer style lead free solders. The Zinc/tin solders have a high melting point.
The lower the melting point on a circuit board the better. That means you have to have less heat. If you overheat the resistor, you will damage it. Over heating the board will damage other components as well.
Also, you can burn solder or flux.
You shoudln't need to buy any flux for this project, just some flux core solder will work.
a good thin 60/40 or the newer style silver.
Make sure your iron is clean and holding solder well. You have to have a layer of solder on the iron to transfer heat properly. You cannot just turn it on and solder.

So before you touch it to the component, melt solder on the tip and give it a thin layer.
If the solder just melts and falls off, the tip needs to be cleaned. You cannot effectively solder with a tip like that.

There are many ways to clean tips, depending on the type of iron it is. Some irons have a coating on the tip, and you have to use what is called a "tinning block"
The thin layer of solder on the tip is called "tinning" which is used in the heat transfer. The solder on the tip is required for the heat transfer, like i said before. So if it doesn't hold solder, you cannot solder properly.
That is the whole purpose of the wet sponge/cloth to clean the tip during soldering.
What happens is carbon from the solder and air build up on the tip and do not allow the solder to stick.

I generally use dollar store irons, and just clean the tip with a scotch brite pad before i start it up. I wrap it in some solder so the solder has to bond to it during the heating process. It really is a big pain in the *** to get an old missused soldering iron to work right.

If you dont solder a lot and want to do this mod.
just go buy a cheepie 15-18 watt iron from ace or the dollar store.
Just throw it in a box or do wood burning with it when your done.

The reason i use cheepies is cause I will grind the tip to the shape I want, and not care.

I hope i helped everyone with this info.

http://www.midnightmods.com/2009/06/...ng-part-1.html

I wrote one soldering article so far on my websight, trying to get some basics of wire soldering going.
I need to expand on it soon with a part 2 on the basics of taking care of your equipment and tinning. I just do not have the nessicary tools anymore to do it.

 

ill give you reps for this talyn this was helpfull to me. ill be doing this mod when my resistors get here and i feel a little better about doing it now!
thanks
Mitch

 

If i had a handfull of IDM's I would do some up for people and just trade them out for 5 dollars pluss shipping or something.

 

did my idm mod to my 95 dually. all went pretty well for me not being able to solder worth a crap.
i used nail polish clear coat over the newly soldered resistor and then i hot glued it to that green thing for stability.

it gave the truck a noticable power gain. but i couldnt tell a diff at idle or start up cuz my truck runs and idles like junk lol.
thanks for the writeup, never would have tryed this without you! reps given!
Mitch

 

Thanks Mitch! Glad that my post is helping people out. Whole reason I did it was I couldn't find pics of anyone that did a IDM100 so it all looked a little different.

 

i need help i got a 1/2 ohm 100volt resister from radio shack and my truck wont start any suggestions

 

Yes, remove that resistor and get the correct one. It needs to be 75,000 ohm 140v.
Radio Shack only sells junk anyway.

Get the correct resistors from Digikey: http://www.digikey.com/

Read through this, http://www.forgotton.net/diesel/idmmod/index.htm, the correct Digikey numbers are there.

If that doesn't help then you might have messed something up.

 

Reps to you Brown Falcon. This looks easy enough. Is is possible to go bigger than 140v or will this cause problems? I sometimes get caught up with "a little is good so more must be better". LOL

 

I know a few computer guys that have played with this and they said 160v (I think) is possible, but that messes with the clock speed of the chip sets or something.

So, yes it's kind of possible, but not a good idea for a reliable unit without modifying a lot of other things.

 

ok got her goin put a 82,000 ohm resistor started right up runs good

 

Ok. Thank you.

 

 

Brownie and guys, mine doesn't look like Brownies. Does it matter? I have located the 6042 resistor, but I want to be sure because once again, it doesn't look like his. Thanks for the help.

 

That's fine. You probably have a IDM 110 in yours. That 6042 resistor is the one though.
The IDM 100's look like mine, and the 110's look like yours. They both work the same though.

 

Thanks Brownie. I appreciate the replies both here and in my PM. I will change it tonight.