Raspberry Pi + Arduino

[pepsi2451]

There is flux in the core of the solder but I always use extra. I have a flux pen and a syringe of flux paste. I don't have mush experience with soldering irons, I hear Hakko is good but expensive. I went with a Aoyue 968+ because I wanted the hot air reflow and the smoke absorber. The adjustable temp and the better quality tips made a big difference for me.

[chiefcrash]

I got this diy garage door project that works with the rpi and some other hardware, but it requires soldering. I tried doing it but had a lot of trouble. How do you learn to solder? I watched some youtube but it didn't help. lowpowerlab

It's mostly just practice. Remember: the iron is to heat the joint, and the heated joint melts the solder. The solder and the iron shouldn't really touch.

You can try getting a few cheap practice projects, like this: http://www.goldmine-elec-products.co....asp?dept=1071

[starchiefus]

I didn't use any flux, isn't that the core of the solder? And I was just using a walmart iron. I am willing to spend some money on good tools, there are a ton of projects I'd like to do. I just don't know what to get.

This has worked very well for me over the years, not quite a Weller but is affordable and works well, you might need to change tips depending on what your up to, but the one it comes with has covered all my needs......

https://www.amazon.com/Elenco-Soldering-Station-40W-Iron/dp/B0002KW4AC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1434153162&sr=8-1&keywords=elenco+soldering+station

[Ninety]

Has anyone used the ESP8266? Its a < $5 micro controller with wifi. I guess there is an Arduino IDE that supports it now. I just got one in the mail the other day but I haven't gotten a chance to play with it yet. It gives me a lot of ideas for cheap wifi connected projects. You can pick them up for about $2 each if your willing to order from China.

Just looking at these b/c of your post and found this ..

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Note-that-the-ESP-12-ESP8266-serial-WIFI-industrial-grade-stable-version-of-the-test-plate/32311206593.html

Pretty trick little chip.. but it seems that you have to do a couple of things to make it work right?

http://hackaday.com/2014/08/26/new-chip-alert-the-esp8266-wifi-module-its-5/

http://hackaday.com/2015/03/18/how-to-directly-program-an-inexpensive-esp8266-wifi-module/

and it's own forum

http://www.esp8266.com/

[pepsi2451]

Just looking at these b/c of your post and found this ..

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Note-that-the-ESP-12-ESP8266-serial-WIFI-industrial-grade-stable-version-of-the-test-plate/32311206593.html

Pretty trick little chip.. but it seems that you have to do a couple of things to make it work right?

http://hackaday.com/2014/08/26/new-chip-alert-the-esp8266-wifi-module-its-5/

http://hackaday.com/2015/03/18/how-to-directly-program-an-inexpensive-esp8266-wifi-module/

and it's own forum
http://www.esp8266.com/

There is a version of the Arduino IDE that supports it now so its even easier. I just finished flashing mine with an example sketch. I was able to flash it from the Arduino IDE using a simple usb to serial module. It connected to my wpa2 network and allowed me to blink an led from a web browser without any problems. I'm going to try to test range and stuff a little more later then maybe I will try to get it to do something interesting.

https://github.com/esp8266/arduino

I'm using this super cheap Esp-01 module right now but it doesn't have many pins broken out, I will probably end up ordering some different kinds.

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/ESP8266-Serial-Esp-01-WIFI-Wireless-Transceiver-Module-Send-Receive-LWIP-AP-STA/32344949844.html

[intradubio]

Hey just an update, and thanks for the recommendations. I bought that Elenco soldering iron and some projects from Electronic Goldmine and figured out how to solder. I got my garagemote project finished up and now my garage is on the internet for all of you to hack! Now I am going to set up some other wireless sensors.

[Frotz]

A QFN can be soldered by hand fairly easily if you 1) place it accurately and 2) use liquid water-soluble flux. I then solder by adding some solder to the iron and gently brushing the tip across the lands. Don't try to do each individual pin and DON'T EVEN THINK OF doing it without liquid water-soluble flux. I learned that the hard way.