Chosen Solution
Using your excellent tutorial, I am on the verge of replacing the battery on my ipod touch. The problem is the solder will not melt. I have a Weller soldering iron with temperature control (60 Watt) so I am totally puzzled. It melts solder from my roll and I have tinned the tip. Does Apple use different solder? Is there some coating on it? I appreciate your help.
Apple (and for that any other OEM) uses lead free solder. The melting point of lead free is somewhere around 380-400 degree centigrade. To make matters worse, multi layered boards like on the iPhone act just like a heat sink. You will need a beefy iron (60 watts is the absolute minimum) and a large enough soldering tip. And you have to work quick! Slightly off topic but still good advice [|http://jimwarholic.com/2009/09/soldering…]|here].
Add solder to the pads to melt the solder and then remove with solder wick. I do this everyday. By adding solder to the existing pads helps to transfer heat and will help melt the solder.
I used a 15$ 45 watt desoldering iron heats up to 734F or 390C. At first solder wasnt coming off because i didnt let it get hot enough, I also had to put a little pressure on it so it can melt.
I change, as a hobbyist, iPhones connectors and it’s always the negative connections points that won’t melt. It seems that the chemistry inside the battery is the problem. When i clean all the points, the negative keeps always difficult to resoldering it with an professional Weller iron. For the moment i use a flux, used for copper pipes soldering, and 60/40 lead for soldering. I still keep looking for an solution, if someone nows, please let us now.
