soldering/desoldering advice/tips

[Jerrytex]

Bought a used garmin 327. I need to desolder and solder a new antenna cable on it. Any tips or ideas on getting the old coax off? There is a massive glob of solder on the BNC connector. I am concerned about melting all the plastic? I was thinking a pencil torch because I am not sure a regular soldering iron would get hot enough to heat the mass of this. Or will a regular soldering iron work? Any ideas/thoughts would be appreciated.

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[Delta Whisky]

Jerry - if it was soldered on without damaging the plastic; it should (might?) come off ok as well. (Notwithstanding incremental damage.) I'd use a 100/140 Watt pistol grip soldering iron though (the idea is to get in and out as fast as possible). The standard 25/40 Watt pencil iron - if it works - would take too much time.

But - is the connector removable from the back-plate? If so, a new connector and a good soldering job putting on a new cable would be the cats meow!! Good luck.

[Jerrytex]

There is a snap ring so I bet it does come out. That would reduce the mass for sure.

I looked around for a new connector. They seem to be hard to find.

[109JB]

Not the connector usually seen in the wild. Try this. https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/elpages/delkin_11-17577.php

[Jerrytex]

I googled around looking for something like this adapter. My cable has 2 nice factory crimped ends that will plug right into this and no soldering. I guess my computer hates me because I couldn't find it.

Thanks

[taff]

Could you not use a Dremel tool with a cut off wheel and slowly shave off the bulk (mess). Wear safety glasses.
It would then take less heat to melt the remaining solder

[n85ae]

That's a mess, I would trash the connector and replace it then there won't be any doubt about
whether it was damaged or not. It should not be too difficult to find a new one. Any time you
start trying to bandage something that carries RF you you end up with the potential for having
some "mystery" problem down the road.

I'm not familiar with that connector, but I would not be surprised it it was a crimp connector, and
somebody soldered it (just a guess) instead of using the crimp sleeve.

Soldering all that coax onto a connector like that would be asking for trouble, since you would need
a lot of heat, and not messing up the insulation inside and outside of the coax, and the connector
would be a real challenge.

Jeff

[Jerrytex]

I agree this connector is a mess. For fear of having problems in the future, and wasting time trying to desolder and not melt components, I went with the Delkin connector that John recommended. This is the way to go for anyone else in the same boat. A slick, easy to install adapter for $22.

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