YiHUA 898D+ Rework Soldering Station – convert from 110 VAC to 220 VAC

[LPS]

Hello,

I have a YiHUA 898D+ Soldering Re-Work Station which was bought in the USA ready for 110 VAC.

Now I need to use it with 220 VAC.  I bought it on Amazon and the seller says it is 220VAC rated.  Not sure what that means, I’m afraid to just plug it into 220 VAC, it goes against all common sense to plug a 110 VAC device into 220 VAC.

Anybody with experience or ideas to allow me to use it with 220 VAC appreciated.  (without the obvious  external step-down transformer)

thanks,

Len

[djnz]

You could just change the transformer inside from a 110V Primary one to a 220V Primary and the same secondary voltages as shown on the label.

Edit: No, you cannot do what I said above. As nanofrog pointed out, they are feeding direct line voltage to the hot air hand-piece (but not the soldering iron).

[nanofrog]

You could just change the transformer inside from a 110V Primary one to a 220V Primary and the same secondary voltages as shown on the label.

It's not quite that simple. The transformer only powers the electronics. The heating element is run directly from mains, so there's a different P/N for 110V & 220V (hint: Ohms Law  ).

OP, the easiest thing to do would be to buy a step-down transformer with a suitable power rating (example). BTW, their ratings are usually swapping VA for W which are not equivalent (I'd recommend multiplying the stated wattage by 0.60 to be safe, and get as close as you can to what's available).

[marpelto]

Old post but still valid....

I had exactly the same unit 110V version. I wanted to modify it for 220V.
I checked the circuit and the heater unit is connected to mains via some FET for temparature control. So the heater needs to be replaced for 220V.
I ordered one from ebay..

https://www.ebay.com/itm/220V-Hot-Air-Gun-Heating-Element-Core-Heater-Replacement-for-Soldering-Station/132401454253?_trkparms=aid%3D555018%26algo%3DPL.SIM%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D50544%26meid%3Dd4b10837830e4db8876ad1df3d6fd2b6%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D4%26rkt%3D12%26sd%3D291875556054%26itm%3D132401454253&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851

The Transformer was a bit trickier since it has multiple outputs 10, 28 and 32V and I couldn't find replacement tranformer for 220V.
So I decided to rewind it myself. The 110V converion to 220V requires double amount of turns on primary. The secondary can be left intact. But since number of turns is double on the primary for 220V, the same size wire won't fit the same space. The the wire needs to be thinner. But it's okay since when the voltage is doubled, the current is halfed means that thinner wire can carry the current.

Anyway..it was pretty easy to put the transformer apart. Just pull those E shaped metal pieces off, empty the primary winding and rewind it again with a thinner wire.
Original primary was 570 turns..so I rewound it with 1140 turns of AWG30 wire.

I used electic drill for winding and a cheap multimeter to do the counting.

Multimeter was just two cables soldered parallel with "=" button and reed relay on the other end. I placed a piece of magnet to the drill chuck  and that's it.
When entered "1" and"+" the calculator counts on  each "=" press...so every time the drill magnet passes the reedrelay (don't need to touch, close is enough) it will count turns accordingly.

Check some pics and video
https://www.dropbox.com/s/njvdg5unat7k4d5/20180520_183122.mp4?dl=0\

Tested it and works perfectly...

[Shock]

Hah very cool.

[acodered]

Thanks for everyone posting in that topic, and especially for the photos

Ok, here is European Yihua 878D version:
EU Transformer model: YF-EI66*28T (available at eBay and Aliexpress)
EU voltages: 24V blue-blue, 10V yel-yel, 30V red-red

And Im going to change my solder station in the reverse direction