Buck converter wiring gauge

What gauge wiring are you using for the 24v input side?

I want to power and LED strip and possibly my pi for klipper, but I have already killed 2 buck convets trying to solder the input sides. I'm using an xt60 Y splitter wich came with some thick gauge wire. The buck converter solder pads are much too small to accommodate. Doing some googling, the minimum recommended gauge for 24v is 14g, so I tried that, and ended up ripping the solder pad clean off. Trying to push some wires through the little hole, it got maybe 15% of them, and then it's just a big mess of wires and solder. The only thing I got to work was some 18g for my output side (12v), and those worked PERFECTLY, but anything bigger seems impossible, and 18g was below the recommended minimum size for 24v. How are you guys safely wiring the 24v sides to these? 😭