For you Megasquirt people...., waterproof enclosure w/new board...!!! Options

[Mueller]

This guy redesigned the original MS board to incorporate the relays onto the board and he designed it to be waterproof

This should be perfect for our cars for those that want to mount the ECU in the engine compartment without resorting to tupperware (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)


MiniMS waterproof and on-board relay Megasquirt

[mightyohm]

It's not that hard, but you won't be happy with the results if it's your first attempt at soldering. Soldering is a skill and it takes time to master it. I've been soldering for 20 years (since I was 6 years old, maybe before that) and it still takes me some time to do a nice job.

My advice would be to buy a decent soldering iron (Weller) and practice on some other things first. Go to HSC electronics and buy a kit or two, and build them. It's actually fun when you have the right tools.

How to pick a soldering iron:

Don't use a soldering gun, and don't use acid core solder either.

You need a soldering pencil, preferably one that has built-in temperature control. The super cheap ones from Radio Shack just keep getting hotter the longer you leave them on and don't give you as good a quality of solder joint as the good soldering irons do.

Weller makes a lot of nice soldering pencils and most of them have temperature control to maintain a constant temperature and add extra power as needed. That way you can use a higher power iron so you can work quickly but you won't roast the little components on the board - that is the beauty of temperature controlled irons.

I use a Weller WTCPT soldering station. It has a base with a beefy transformer in it (more power!) and a separate soldering pencil that is small enough to use for building a kit like the MS. It's about $100.

Weller also makes soldering irons that do not have the separate base unit that should be considerably cheaper (maybe half the price?). One of those would probably work fine as well, but most likely will not be as powerful or as compact and easy to use.

For a beginner, get a low to mid priced iron, and work your way up. But spend the extra money and get one with temperature control, you'll thank me later!

For solder you want 60/40 tin/lead rosin core solder. Available at Frys, Radio Shack, and a lot of other places. Get the thin stuff, it's easier to solder small leads with.