Documentation/Video/Scripts/CEB Press/Controllerbox LED Soldering

The CEB Press Controller Box is an electronic control box that runs the Compressed Earth Brick Press. Part of its assembly requires two LEDs, each soldered to an 100-Ohm resistor, and this video explains how to solder these. You will need a soldering iron, a soldering stand, pliers, a spool of soldering wire, a wet paper towel, two 100-ohm resistors, two light emitting diodes (LEDs) and a multimeter.

LEDs have two wires or "leads", distinguishable by the lengths of the wires. The positive wire, which is longer, will be connected to a positive terminal while the shorter, negative wire will connect to the 100-Ohms resistor.

Using a pair of pliers, bend the tip of the negative wire into a small hook.

Make another hook in one of the two wires of the 100-Ohms resistor, and hook the LED and resistor wires together by those hooks. Use the pair of pliers to mash the hooks together; this will help make the process of soldering these two components together much easier.

During and after soldering, use pliers to handle the wires, as they will be too hot to touch. Electronic components, especially LEDs, can incur damage from too much heat, so you will need to solder quickly.

Wipe the tip of the soldering iron after it has heated to clean the surface of any oxides that might infringe the thermal energy transfer process.

Set up your solder spool so that the end of the solder wire is bent up.. "Tin" the soldering iron by touching the tip of the iron to the end of the soldering wire, just enough to get a small bead of molten solder at the tip of the soldering iron.

To heat the joint between the resister and the LED, grip the LED side of the wire with pliers, and touch the wires to the soldering iron near the joint. Then quickly touch the joint to the soldering wire. If the joint is hot enough, the solder will melt readily and draw up into the joint, absorbing into a bead.

Replace the iron on its stand, and set down the resistor/LED to allow the solder to cool. The soldered joint should have a silvery luster, which indicates a good solder.

Repeat this process on the second resistor/LED pair, then clean the tip of the soldering iron by wiping it on the wet towel. Tin the tip to prevent oxide formation on the tip during non-operation, and then unplug your soldering iron to let it cool on the soldering stand.

Give the wires and their solder some time to cool. Once cooled, test the resistance of the joints with a multimeter; they should have zero or almost zero resistance.

This completes the soldering of the 2 LED & resistor pairs for the CEB Press Controller Box. For more information on the CEB Press, please visit the Open Source Ecology Wiki Page.