This will be the first time I will use a Deans connector for my wings connections, and I don't want to screw up the soldering process and end up with a servo disconnecting in mid-air.

Is there anything I should know when soldering the servo leads to the connector? What kind of solder is best? Use flux? etc.

Any tips/techniques will be greatly appreciated.

This is delicate, so use a 25 watt pencil iron and .030" roson-core solder.

--Bill

This looks hard the first few times, but is really easy.The deans package shows how to best orient the wires IE +,-,and which way to position on the pins. Then just tin the wire and the pins,push togather apply the iron for a second remove and hold till set done! Don't forget to put on some heat shrink before you solder.
No prob.

While soldering is not hard, if you have never done it before, I suggest you hook up with someone who has and watch them. Then practice a bit soldering wires together - good practice and cheap learning aid.

I'm assuming you are using either the 3 pin or 4 pin deans connectors. I's suggest you put the male and female parts together before soldering and then put the end you are NOT going to solder to into a small hand vise to hold in place or even a pair of hemostats. To much heat on a pin for to long can result in the plastic starting to melt. Putting the two parts together and then held by vise or other device (metal hopefully) will act as a heatsink to minimize the heat buildup. It won't prevent you from making a solder joint but should give you some increase in time before heat would build up suffiently to melt plastic. In addition, putting the two connector halves together helps assure that they stay in alignment even if the plastic does start to get pliable.

Two solder brands work very well -- Kester and Ersin. Buy them at a "serious" electronics parts store (one that caters to repair-folks, not that low-end, you-gotta-question-we-gotta-wrong-answer, place).

Specifically, you want electronics grade, with a minimum 60 percent tin content. The lowest melting point solder is 63 tin / 37 lead (for the purist) at about 350 F. E-grade contains its own rosin or other water-cleanup flux. Don't use additional flux on the joint; flux of any kind is corrosive and the solder already carries enough to do the job. Adding flux is always recommended in textbooks because it's always been recommended...from the days when soldering was prettier when it was messy. And don't inhale the fumes, no matter how enticing it may be. Too much fume-sniffing will make you try to land upside down.

Smaller diameter is much easier to work with. I aggree with Bill -- 0.030 or so. And it seems to last forever; the one-pound roll of Kester I bought 15 years ago still has about a mile left.

From an old soldering instructor:
Soldering is an art and requires proper tools, materials and practice. It is also helpful to have 3 or more hands, ( have somebody help if possible)Strongly recommend practice on an old connector, etc., before attempting it on the real thing.

Use small diameter 60/40 rosin core solder and electronic soldering paste on wire and connector to promote good solder flow. Use a small soldering iron 37-47 watt, apply solder to the tip and keep wiping it on a damp sponge or damp paper towel to keep it shiny. Strip a little insulation from wire without cutting strands. Apply paste and "tin" wire by heating and flowing solder into it. Tin the connector terminal too. Slide close fitting heat shrink tubing onto wire, push it back so it doesn't get heated during soldering. Hold wire in position, soldering iron tip should touch terminal and wire ,have somebody feed small amount of solder into the junction of the iron tip next and terminal and let it flow smoothly between terminal and wire, then remove the iron tip from joint and keep wire steady while solder solidifes. Inspect carefully for smooth complete solder flow between terminal and wire. Poor solder flow can crash your plane and maybe casue injury, so be sure you get this right!!!!!If not, add a little paste and reheat, reflow the solder.
Slide heat shrink tubing over the joint and heat with a heat gun to shrink it over the connection. You can help shrink tubing with clean iron tip too.

Thank you all. I'll keep everything in mind... or print.

I'm not sure if this is proper, but I find it's much easier if I remove the pins from the plastic body before soldering. No problems to date. I don't have a package handy, but I seem to recall that it's not recommeded to put the two connectors together before soldering.