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My opinion/what I would try.

1) cut another half inch of the wire off.

2) find yourself some good quality, 60-40 rosin core, LEAD based solder (none of the lead free junk). ditch the acid core, doesn't belong anywhere near this kind of work.

3) find yourself a 45+W iron with a flat chisel tip and ditch the gun. I use one of these and it works great: http://www.frys.com/product/249084?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

4) "season" the tip properly

5) clamp the wire in something to hold it (needle nose with a rubber band around the handle can help)

6) get some solder on the tip of the iron and hold the flat chisel tip on one side of the wire

7) push the solder into the opposite side of the wire

within two-three seconds, the wire should start taking up the solder.

I assume you are using a weller style gun. that may be the biggest problem right there, those things don't work nearly as well as a good iron, regardless of the watt rating.

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I guess I really can't speak for the wire you're using since I can't see it or work with it, but I can say that a 60W chisel will have absolutely no issues with the big 10 gauge wires that come on some of the new lipos. I regularly solder connectors onto this kind of wire and all sorts of other stuff with my 60W chisel. A good chisel tip iron will solder a pre-tinned wire onto a pre-tinned deans connector in about 2 seconds flat. It will solder battery bars directly to a Sub-C cell fast enough that the cell barely warms up to the touch. In addition to this vintage RC stuff I also race modern stuff (touring car, buggy, F1) and the flat chisel tip pretty much does it all... lipo power wires, motor wires (brushed and brushless), soldering to ESC wire posts, building sub-C side by side packs with bars, etc..

If your iron is usable for delicate circuit boards, then it's too small for power wires. The chisel tip on my 60W iron would hit three or four pins on an IC all at once... it would be impossible to solder even standard through-hole components with it because it's just too big. I have a 15W pencil for that kind of thing.

Try getting one like the one I linked. Honestly, you'll probably be amazed and it's only about $12. Just make sure it's in the 50-70W range or so. the 25W stuff won't do.

Anyways, that's just my two cents; I have been soldering all sorts of RC (cars, electric planes, boats, etc) and full scale car stuff for 20+ years and this is what works for me! hope it helps.

If it helps at all, this is the size of the chisel tip on my 60W hakko iron as compared to a standard deans connector on a lipo. This tip looks like hell (it's been used extensively and is years old) but as soon as it heats up and you wipe it off on a sponge, it's good as new. it cruds up in the cooling down process for whatever reason.

i have come across cheap wire that just won't solder no matter how much heat is applied, is the conductor dis-coloured at all? it can tarnish very badly over time due to oxygen getting into the sheath.

last time i had issues, i used a little flux for plumbing. I know some say not to use it, but i have never had any problems with it.

I am no expert at soldering, so I read up on it a lot before getting my feet wet in R/C again last winter in order to upgrade old electonics to new low loss connectors, or at least to make some adapters for low amp settings.

Unlike you guys, I had never had a lot of luck with soldering good joints, so I picked up a new Hobbico 60W iron with a flat tip, some Novak solder, and picked up some of this "Super Safe #30" flux from the site below. The tip tinning product is excellent also.

http://www.ccis.com/home/hn/index.htm

I heat the freshly stripped wire, apply a drop of the #30 flux with an eyedropper ("hiss"), and then tin the wires to be soldered. Hit it again with the iron, and like 15-20 sec later the solder just flows into the joint. Similar technique for connectors, just using a hole drilled in a block of wood to hold the connector plug upright (and to keep solder from running out of the hole in some connectors!), fill the connector with solder, flux/tin the wire, and then gentle place the wire in the solder droplet in the connector with the iron applied.

I dip the joints in acetone (after they have cooled!) to rinse off any residue, as recommended by the manufacter.

No rosin to clean, no acid core. Just solid 60/40 solder, flux, and a 60W iron.

And like I said, I am a moron when it comes to soldering.

you are likely dealing with a poorly constructed wire that has lots of oxidation you can't see.

you will need some good flux, a heavy iron, and lead solder. flux it up really well, apply heat to the END of the wire with the iron with a blob of freshly melted solder on it, where the copper is exposed(if it IS copper), and then keep poking at the wire with the solder until it starts to melt. you might have to do this a bunch of times to burn off the oxidation with the flux.

if that doesn't work, you will have to get nasty on the wire. fan the braids out and scuff with some green scotchbrite, in a single wiping motion from the jacket of the wire to the end of the wire, so that you don't bird nest the end. do that with the wire flattened and fanned out, flip it over, and do the same, then pinch the wire the 'long' way so you can do the same thing 90 degrees from what you just did. after that, hopefully some areas of those conductors will take solder and allow it to work.

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Maybe its coated in teflon

I'm a carpentar by trade (explanation for what I say next)

get your cut off scrap wire and try this. Like mentioned above. cut off about half an inch of insulation and Fray the wire out. Now hit it with a hammer...several times and really beat the snot out of it. Not enuf to break it off but really rough it up. Do your solder thing. It should solder up now. I had the same problem at the LHS with someone bringing in a pair of turnigy lipos for their erevo. When they thought they needed the deans plugs on I volunteered to help and ended up with the same results you had. And look at it this way...if it doesn't work it sure made you feel better hitting it with a hammer
Todd

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I know it sucks, but now that you've cut the wire there's no turning back.

If you can't solder it... make your traxxas connector with the wire of your choice and use crimp connectors to join the two sets of wires. A good crimp connection won't kill your conductivity much at all.

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