ERSA i-CON 1 - Teardown and Repair (Success)

[HighVoltage]

This ERSA i-CON 1 was sold broken and I bought it very cheap, knowing it does not work.

Turning it on, gave a general Error message.
The iron handle seemed very old and used up, so first I just tried to install a new handle but that did not solve anything.
Opened up the unit and discovered a bad TRIAC (T25QC6F), 600V, 25A, TO220 on a huge heat-sink.
Installed a new TRIAC and the new handle and it works perfectly.

Here are some pictures:



 

[HighVoltage]

More pictures

[HighVoltage]

Here are some more pictures of the handle, taken apart.
It seems the handle was the culprit for this failure. The heating element resistance is 0.13 Ohm
The handle is filled with epoxy after the assembly and then the heating element is plugged it at last.
The handle is not meant to be taken apart, so I just cut it open.

Interesting that there is such a complicated PCB inside the handle?
Would be nice to see a schematic on this one.

[TopLoser]

What was the error message number? I have a unit here with what might be the same fault.

The heating element tests ok with a meter but the error message indicates the element is unplugged.

[HighVoltage]

What was the error message number? I have a unit here with what might be the same fault.

The heating element tests ok with a meter but the error message indicates the element is unplugged.

There were two messages
Error 8 "Heater defect"
Error 81, Not explained in the handbook

Interestingly it kept the calibration data alright.
With my temperature calibrator, I am about +/- 3 degree away from what the display shows.

I really like these little i-CON 1 soldering stations and now, that I know of a way to repair them easily, I like them even more.

Here are some Voltage and current measurements:

Voltage is measured at the gate of the TRIAC
Current is measured at the input to the handle with an Agilent current probe 1147B on my MSOX3104A.

 

[wblock]

Nice!  The board has pads for a second triac and tool connector.  But what would the missing QFP package be doing?

Some additional board photos found in a quick search: https://xdevs.com/review/ersa_icon/

[HighVoltage]

Nice!  The board has pads for a second triac and tool connector.  But what would the missing QFP package be doing?

Some additional board photos found in a quick search: https://xdevs.com/review/ersa_icon/

I would think they are using the same board for the dual unit with two handles and just populate another TRIAC
Thanks, I did not see the pictures on xdevs.com before

Here is a picture of a calibration check.
It is not so easy to really check the temperature of a solder iron tip.

[TopLoser]

Hmm just plugged mine in again. Last time I tried i got a -8 error and a cold iron. this time I get a -71 error and it overheats very quickly. Display shows the temperature rising as it shoots past the set-point.

Element appears to be ok, thermocouple ok, maybe I'll check that triac see if it's gone short.

[TopLoser]

Hmm just plugged mine in again. Last time I tried i got a -8 error and a cold iron. this time I get a -71 error and it overheats very quickly. Display shows the temperature rising as it shoots past the set-point.

Element appears to be ok, thermocouple ok, maybe I'll check that triac see if it's gone short.

Can't be arsed opening it up, I've got enough broken stuff in my life needs mending.

http://uk.farnell.com/ersa/i-con1/soldering-station-80w-230v/dp/1625358

Everything in the picture. Boxed, all looks new, displays error codes -7, -71 and -8 at random.

£70 plus shipping anybody?

SOLD to Mr High Voltage

[wblock]

Some variations of these stations have USB or a DB9 or both, so I'm going to guess that is what the QFP would be doing.

Here is a picture of a calibration check.
It is not so easy to really check the temperature of a solder iron tip.

Soldering iron reviews traditionally have the reviewer trying to hold a thermocouple on the tip and failing to get a useful reading.  Nice to see a real soldering iron tip thermometer!    (And an interesting one at that--constructed, or removed from a case?)

[HighVoltage]

Hmm just plugged mine in again. Last time I tried i got a -8 error and a cold iron. this time I get a -71 error and it overheats very quickly. Display shows the temperature rising as it shoots past the set-point.

Element appears to be ok, thermocouple ok, maybe I'll check that triac see if it's gone short.

Can't be arsed opening it up, I've got enough broken stuff in my life needs mending.

http://uk.farnell.com/ersa/i-con1/soldering-station-80w-230v/dp/1625358

Everything in the picture. Boxed, all looks new, displays error codes -7, -71 and -8 at random.

£70 plus shipping anybody?

Yes!
I take it from you, gives me another opportunity to play with its technology a little more

[HighVoltage]

Soldering iron reviews traditionally have the reviewer trying to hold a thermocouple on the tip and failing to get a useful reading.  Nice to see a real soldering iron tip thermometer!    (And an interesting one at that--constructed, or removed from a case?)

This one is sold by German distributor called ELV
http://www.elv.de/L%C3%B6tkolbentemperatur-Messger%C3%A4t-LTT-1/x.aspx/cid_726/detail_31395

Here are some more pictures of it.
It works pretty well, you just have to make sure the iron tip is free of hanging solder and clean.

[TiN]

You have newer version of ICON.
Thanks for opening iron up. Little chip on it's PCB is accelerometer ADXL323, for wake-up function when you pick up tool from standoff.

[HighVoltage]

You have newer version of ICON.
Thanks for opening iron up. Little chip on it's PCB is accelerometer ADXL323, for wake-up function when you pick up tool from standoff.

Ahh, the accelerometer, that make sense.
Thanks for the explanation.

[wraper]

You have newer version of ICON.
Thanks for opening iron up. Little chip on it's PCB is accelerometer ADXL323, for wake-up function when you pick up tool from standoff.

What do you mean by newer version? AFAIK they always have been like this from the beginning.

[wraper]

Here are some more pictures of the handle, taken apart.
It seems the handle was the culprit for this failure. The heating element resistance is 0.13 Ohm
The handle is filled with epoxy after the assembly and then the heating element is plugged it at last.
The handle is not meant to be taken apart, so I just cut it open.

Interesting that there is such a complicated PCB inside the handle?
Would be nice to see a schematic on this one.

0.13 ohm is not normal for heating element, it should be 3 ohm. I just don't get why you destroyed the handle if the heating element was faulty (it is removable).

[dom0]

Opened up the unit and discovered a bad TRIAC (T25QC6F), 600V, 25A, TO220 on a huge heat-sink.

Fascinating that they still have such an outdated and inefficient design in 2015. OTOH Weller and others probably does it exactly the same way, too.

[wraper]

Opened up the unit and discovered a bad TRIAC (T25QC6F), 600V, 25A, TO220 on a huge heat-sink.

Fascinating that they still have such an outdated and inefficient design in 2015. OTOH Weller and others probably does it exactly the same way, too.

What so outdated and inefficient in it? This works perfectly fine and does the job. You won't get much better than this anyway.

[dom0]

The simple fact that the triac on the low voltage side leads to losses of 5-10 W, depending on iron power.

[continuo]

KISS at work. This is production line equipment, it's not meant to be fancy or a green world saver, it's meant to be rock solid and reliable. Most of the time, it is 

[wraper]

The simple fact that the triac on the low voltage side leads to losses of 5-10 W, depending on iron power.

Losses peak. In average there well be less than 1 W lost at worst case (continuous use at production line).

[HighVoltage]

You have newer version of ICON.
Thanks for opening iron up. Little chip on it's PCB is accelerometer ADXL323, for wake-up function when you pick up tool from standoff.

What do you mean by newer version? AFAIK they always have been like this from the beginning.

TiN did a teardown that was mentioned earlier in this tread and he shows a splash screen with FW v2.16 28.04.08
The one I have taken apart has FW v 2.17 23/03.09

See pictures below as a comparison

Will be interesting to know, what the latest FW is and what was changed.
May be the one I am getting from TopLoser will have a different FW.

[HighVoltage]

0.13 ohm is not normal for heating element, it should be 3 ohm. I just don't get why you destroyed the handle if the heating element was faulty (it is removable).

Yes, you are right, the heating element is removable and I could have saved the handle.
But I bought already a completely new handle and I wanted to see what is inside the old one.
So essentially because "I could"

[wraper]

TiN did a teardown that was mentioned earlier in this tread and he shows a splash screen with FW v2.16 28.04.08
The one I have taken apart has FW v 2.17 23/03.09

See pictures below as a comparison

Will be interesting to know, what the latest FW is and what was changed.
May be the one I am getting from TopLoser will have a different FW.

You didn't say newer FW version, just newer version. I have two ICON 2 (same PCB but more parts soldered for 2 channels), first one, I think, is bought in 2009 - 2.17 23.03.09 and the newer one is 2.26 28.02.14 (Kurtz ERSA logo at boot).
Hardware is the same in both of them. So his "newer version" seem to be from 2009.

[wraper]

0.13 ohm is not normal for heating element, it should be 3 ohm. I just don't get why you destroyed the handle if the heating element was faulty (it is removable).

Yes, you are right, the heating element is removable and I could have saved the handle.
But I bought already a completely new handle and I wanted to see what is inside the old one.
So essentially because "I could"

Yeah, but new handle is pricey, just heating element is more than 2x cheaper.
Prices at farnell without VAT: heating element 69 eur, full I-tool 165 EUR

[HighVoltage]

Yes, I did not care too much about the price, I wanted a new handle to make it look like new.
And this way I have a "like new" soldering station

The complete handle in Germany is Euro 136.95
The Heating element is Euro 69.95
The complete i-CON 1 is Euro 488,95

Here are some nice pictures from the ERSA website:

[wraper]

First pic is i-tool nano.

[HighVoltage]

First pic is i-tool nano.

That is what I would have thought
But it is listed under the i-CON 1 parts list on their website
http://www.ersa-shop.com/ersa-l%C3%B6tkolben-itool-150w-p-224.html

May be they used a wrong picture or they updated the handle.

The one I bought looks still like the original one.

[continuo]

Yes, the original wand looked pretty bad and worn down, I would have tossed it too... But 488€ for a complete unit looks pretty expensive, ersa-shop.com sells them for ~300€ 

http://www.ersa-shop.com/ersa-icon1-profil%C3%B6tstation-itool-150w-autostandby-p-2224.html

[TopLoser]

Will be interesting to know, what the latest FW is and what was changed.
May be the one I am getting from TopLoser will have a different FW.

2.26 in the one I'm sending you. Dated 28.02.14

[tooki]

First pic is i-tool nano.

That is what I would have thought
But it is listed under the i-CON 1 parts list on their website
http://www.ersa-shop.com/ersa-l%C3%B6tkolben-itool-150w-p-224.html

May be they used a wrong picture or they updated the handle.

The one I bought looks still like the original one.

Somewhere here on the forums, someone heard from ersa that they're discontinuing the rubberized handle. So now the "full" i-Tool looks like the i-Tool nano.

[HighVoltage]

2.26 in the one I'm sending you. Dated 28.02.14

I am looking forward to see, if there is a difference in the FW.

@continuo
Yes, the retail price is 488
But the street price is more like 300 to 400 Euros for the complete i-CON 1, depending on where you buy it.

Somewhere here on the forums, someone heard from ersa that they're discontinuing the rubberized handle. So now the "full" i-Tool looks like the i-Tool nano.

That would be too bad, because the rubberized handle is just perfect the way it is.
They probably do it to save some cost and then sell it as an improvement.
 

[wraper]

2.26 in the one I'm sending you. Dated 28.02.14

I am looking forward to see, if there is a difference in the FW.

Didn't notice any except the different logo.

[Alfons]

I think, I was the "someone": I could buy the station brand new from private for low and was a bit confused because of this soldering iron. I emailed to Ersa therefore, who responded immediately. This is so correct, they would no longer produce the soldering iron with the gray rubber ring at the end iron-grip. These would be worn out too quickly. They apologized, that they had not yet adjusted the product images.

Now there is the soldering iron of the Picco and the Nano, sharing the PCB. The soldering iron of the Nano divides shares the heating element and the housing with the Iron of the I-Con1 now. The PCB inside is different.

[HighVoltage]

I just bought two handles in Nov. 2015 and both still had the gray rubber at the front, as we know them from the original i-CON 1
But may be the distributor that I got them from had some old stock.

[HighVoltage]

Can't be arsed opening it up, I've got enough broken stuff in my life needs mending.

http://uk.farnell.com/ersa/i-con1/soldering-station-80w-230v/dp/1625358

Everything in the picture. Boxed, all looks new, displays error codes -7, -71 and -8 at random.

£70 plus shipping anybody?

SOLD to Mr High Voltage

The broken unit from TopLoser arrived today.
Since I just had this repair experience, the error was found fast and yes, it was the TRIAC again.
Installed a new TRIAC and wallah it worked.
I had no new heating element but another new handle with new heating element and new tip.

Thanks TopLoser !

Here are some pictures:

[HighVoltage]

The receptor for the iron handle has changed.On my older i-CON 1 it was just the same rubber / silicone material.
The new one has some sort of ceramic receptor.

[Alfons]

What is the cause of the defective triac? Will it be caused by a defect in the soldering iron? A defective heating-element? And yes, the newer one all comes with that caramic-element in the iron-holder.

[TiN]

HighVoltage => ERSA-freak.
Great job on reps!

[HighVoltage]

What is the cause of the defective triac? Will it be caused by a defect in the soldering iron? A defective heating-element? And yes, the newer one all comes with that caramic-element in the iron-holder.

The heating element is suppose to have 3 Ohm resistance when at room temperature.
The one in my first repair had 0.13 Ohm, so I expect it to the the root cause for the triac failure.
The one from TopLoser showed 2.9 Ohm but when I hit it mechanically with a screwdriver, the value went down, as if something was loose inside and caused a shortage.
I think these iron's are missing an inside fuse on the PCB for this purpose.
 

[HighVoltage]

HighVoltage => ERSA-freak.
Great job on reps!

Hello TiN
Compared to your 3458A repair, this is nothing!
I am still at awe at what you did there.

These ERSA soldering stations are very simple old school technology, and they just added a fancy display and a easy and straight forward user interface.

[dom0]

The old rule of thumb "if it needs a heatsink it needs protection" (or another way)... which is what I was getting at above. But "KISS and it should be rock solid and reliable"... otoh there seems to be an issue with these heating elements, maybe a peculiar winding technique - assuming that these are wire-wound ceramic heaters - that specifically enables fail-short?

[HighVoltage]

May be this was part of the redesigning of the handle.
With the all black colored handle they also introduced a new heating element, who knows....

Yes, the heat sink is pretty large compared to the TO220 triac.
Based on the heat sink, the losses are much higher than 10W and when the heating element shortens out that heat sink does not help at all for the fast current increase on the triac.

Built in obsolescence?

[Augustus]

I bought mine this summer at Bräunlichs and it came still with the, now apparentely old, handle with the grey rubber grip. The firmware is the same as on the station you got from TopLoser. May I ask what triac did you use for the substitution, or was it the original part? It may be a good idea to stock up one or two, just in case my iron decides to crap out on me, certainly on a busy Saturday afternoon   

[Alfons]

May be this was part of the redesigning of the handle.
With the all black colored handle they also introduced a new heating element, who knows....

That's what I was thinking.

But what is more interesting to me, what purpose does the PCB in the soldering iron? There is indeed more than one chip on it, once the motion sensor and then yet another IC. And then: how is shared with the soldering station that he is in idle state, on which line. There're a total of five lines, that go out of the iron: once GND, 2x for AC and 2 for temperature control. I do not understand that.

[HighVoltage]

@ Augustus
I used the original triac (T25QC6F), 600V, 25A, TO220

@ Alfons
Good question. I am on a business trip, when I am back I will take a look at the signal
I would expect the following

1 Ground
2 Heater supply
3,4 Temp Sensor feedback
5 Signal of movement (ON, OFF)

May be time to closer inspection of this PCB?

[Alfons]

I'll open the unit sometimes and also measuring signals. The heating is supplied with AC voltage, thus requires two separate lines. Phase control over the triac.

[wraper]

1 Ground
2 Heater supply
3,4 Temp Sensor feedback
5 Signal of movement (ON, OFF)

Nope, it's completely different. Communication with the station is over 1 wire IIRC. Therefore most likely 2x AC for the heater, power, GND, DATA.

[Alfons]

Thank you, I wanted to know. Now I can explain that to me. Did not understand how this is regulated. So that means that the temperature readings would be sent that way.

Now I would only know, how the IC is called on the PCB.

[Augustus]

@ Augustus
I used the original triac (T25QC6F), 600V, 25A, TO220

Thank you very much   

[tooki]

@ Alfons
Good question. I am on a business trip, when I am back I will take a look at the signal
I would expect the following

1 Ground
2 Heater supply
3,4 Temp Sensor feedback
5 Signal of movement (ON, OFF)

May be time to closer inspection of this PCB?

The handle not only has the accelerometer, it also stores the calibration data. (The i-tool series handles, and the i-con vario tools as well, I think, store all the calibration in the handles so that they don't have to be calibrated to a particular station.) So it's definitely gonna be a far, far more complex protocol than "movement on/off".

[dom0]

Something like 1-wire... not hard to do proprietary...

[Alfons]

Something like 1-wire... not hard to do proprietary...

What do you do not do anything to avoid being copied in China?

It is Ersa at least not to blame, that they are trying to go their own way. The entire electronics to accommodate in the iron, probably AD-converters (or IIRC-Sensors) and other interfaces to sensors, I have never seen before. This of course makes the soldering iron expensive, but also not interesting for copier.

[coreire]

I bought an Ersa I-Con a while back on ebay that turned out to be faulty and I'm finally getting around to finding the problem. Here's what I've found so far in case it's of use to anyone else that comes across this thread.

The error I was getting was the "Heater Defect" one. It seemed to be random so I assumed it was a failing triac and I went ahead and replaced it. That didn't fix it so I checked the gate signal of the triac with a CRO and just before the fault was occuring the waveform seemed to become a little erratic so I went and replaced the optocoupler also just in case. The problem still seemed to occur "randomly".

I decided to watch the station a little more closely at this point and noticed that when powered on initially the temperature seemed relatively stable but over time the temperature started to fluctuate more and more and eventually the error would occur. I figured maybe it's heat related so I pointed a desk fan at the station and sure enough it went for longer that ever without a fault. I felt around for anything overly warm and found that the heatsink on the 5v regulator(LM1086) was getting extremely hot after a while.
A tiny amount of airflow was enough to cool it (even blowing on it) at which point the station worked fine for a while until the temperature got back up.

I replaced the reg as a precaution which did seem to increase the amount to time before the error occured but it didn't cure it.
I've now mounted a little 40mm fan behind the heatsink which I have running at low rpm. The small amount of airflow was enough to keep the heatsink cold to the touch constantly (I left it on for around 4 hours constant with no fault).
The station can now be used and seems to be functioning as it should but I'm assuming something is drawing a little bit more current through that reg than it should be. Next job is to try and track that down.

[frozenfrogz]

Sorry for resurrecting this old thread, but I figured since a lot of i-Con 1 owners already follow this one and my post is on topic...

I bought an i-Con for little money (that is one of the models before the line was split into 1 / 1V / 1C / 1VC models). It is basically the 1V because it has similar specs and you can use all different tools on it, but lacks the interface that the C models have.

I got it for cheap because the display illumination was broken. Two of the three LEDs were dead and the third one was blinking and flickering - let’s say almost dead.
This was an easy fix. I did not have the right sized side-looker (90°) type LEDs but used some 1206 type cool white 450mcd ones. I guess the LEDs were all dying because - unlike some of the newer stations that only have one current limiting resistor for all three LEDs where Ersa wanted to shave another cent or two from the BOM - the limiting resistors per LED were 88 ohms. That is almost 60mA per LED which seems rather much to me for this type, but then again I do not know the make and model used.
I replaced everything with 1206 LEDs and some 0805 220 ohms resistors (the original setup had 1005 LEDs and 0402 (!) resistors). The parts were mounted tilted 90° and everything fit nicely into the original cutouts in the display assembly without needing to alter anything else. There is 4.7VDC on the LED supply line so 220 ohms should be OK for nominal 20mA per LED.
I am very pleased with the overall display brightness with the 450mcd LEDs.

Here is a question I have: Can anyone provide me with some photos of the "C" version main board and internals? Since all models share the same PCB (my guess from what I have seen so far) I am curious if the interface is easily hacked into the other stations by wiring a DE-9 connector to the board.
We are going to get the Ersa Easy Arm fume extractor at university, so I could check out if the remote stand-by / On / Off functions are working with a "hacked" i-Con.

[KL27x]

The new one has some sort of ceramic receptor.

Probably just a hard coating over a die cast metal (zinc aluminum alloy) part. Copying Hakko.

[tooki]

The new one has some sort of ceramic receptor.

Probably just a hard coating over a die cast metal (zinc aluminum alloy) part. Copying Hakko.

No, it’s ceramic. Ersa specifically says so. It definitely feels like ceramic, like the kind used in mains fuses and other electrical gear. I also think it’s too heavy to be a zinc-aluminum alloy. (My i-CON nano came with that stand, so I know what it feels like.)

[frozenfrogz]

This is a somewhat redundant post, but it might help out other people by having more opportunities to finding the answer to why the i-Tool throws »Error 8 - heating element?!« on older i-Con stations.
I found, that the 2.2k ohms SMD resistor (5025 casing, labeled 222) was blown on my unit and today coreire could verify that it was the same issue on his station (see above). The resistor seems to be part of the feedback loop regulating output current for the heating element of the digitally controlled soldering irons. The current is not being throttled down when reaching the target temperature, thus the station senses high temperature or current overshoot and shuts down the heating circuit as fail safe.
I have no idea why additionally cooling of the PCB/5V regulator acts as a workaround though.

The fix is easy:
Replace the 2.2k resistor with a new resistor. I went for 1W axial, because I had no matching SMD part in stock.
0.5W resistor might be to small and possibly fail again in the near future.

I also talked to the general distributor for Ersa in my area and he was delighted to hear, that there is such an easy fix. He had been running into the same error often in the past and since Ersa does not share any repair information, the only fix was replacing the mainboard (current price for the board is 188,20€ + VAT + working time).

[coreire]

This is a somewhat redundant post, but it might help out other people by having more opportunities to finding the answer to why the i-Tool throws »Error 8 - heating element?!« on older i-Con stations.
I found, that the 2.2k ohms SMD resistor (5025 casing, labeled 222) was blown on my unit and today coreire could verify that it was the same issue on his station (see above). The resistor seems to be part of the feedback loop regulating output current for the heating element of the digitally controlled soldering irons. The current is not being throttled down when reaching the target temperature, thus the station senses high temperature or current overshoot and shuts down the heating circuit as fail safe.
I have no idea why additionally cooling of the PCB/5V regulator acts as a workaround though.

The fix is easy:
Replace the 2.2k resistor with a new resistor. I went for 1W axial, because I had no matching SMD part in stock.
0.5W resistor might be to small and possibly fail again in the near future.

I also talked to the general distributor for Ersa in my area and he was delighted to hear, that there is such an easy fix. He had been running into the same error often in the past and since Ersa does not share any repair information, the only fix was replacing the mainboard (current price for the board is 188,20€ + VAT + working time).

Thanks again for the info. My surface mount 750mw resistors have just arrived so I'll be replacing the axial part over the weekend. Minimum order was 10 but at least I'll have spares 

I think the cooling of the voltage regulator was just a coincidence. The resistor would have also been cooled by the fan. My resistor was going open circuit when hot so the extra cooling would have helped it there. A half watt axial gets quite toasty in there so I can see it being a little difficult for the surface mount part to dissipate the heat.

[Wiljan]

This is a somewhat redundant post, but it might help out other people by having more opportunities to finding the answer to why the i-Tool throws »Error 8 - heating element?!« on older i-Con stations.
I found, that the 2.2k ohms SMD resistor (5025 casing, labeled 222) was blown on my unit and today coreire could verify that it was the same issue on his station (see above). The resistor seems to be part of the feedback loop regulating output current for the heating element of the digitally controlled soldering irons. The current is not being throttled down when reaching the target temperature, thus the station senses high temperature or current overshoot and shuts down the heating circuit as fail safe.
I have no idea why additionally cooling of the PCB/5V regulator acts as a workaround though.

The fix is easy:
Replace the 2.2k resistor with a new resistor. I went for 1W axial, because I had no matching SMD part in stock.
0.5W resistor might be to small and possibly fail again in the near future.

I also talked to the general distributor for Ersa in my area and he was delighted to hear, that there is such an easy fix. He had been running into the same error often in the past and since Ersa does not share any repair information, the only fix was replacing the mainboard (current price for the board is 188,20€ + VAT + working time).

Thanks again for the info. My surface mount 750mw resistors have just arrived so I'll be replacing the axial part over the weekend. Minimum order was 10 but at least I'll have spares 

I think the cooling of the voltage regulator was just a coincidence. The resistor would have also been cooled by the fan. My resistor was going open circuit when hot so the extra cooling would have helped it there. A half watt axial gets quite toasty in there so I can see it being a little difficult for the surface mount part to dissipate the heat.

Hi, I had the same problem with Error 8, "faulty heating element" only now and then and typical when it was cold in the room
I had the luck to borrow another iCon 1 and did swap the the whole cable with heater etc.  and in one go but did still see the fault.

I changed the Triac for a BT139  same problem.
I could spray cold spray on the main board and the problem did go away for a while.

So now I saw this 222 resistor thread and I de-soldered it from the board and now it was in the M ohm area, sure faulty.

I did take 4 x good old wired 1/4w 2k2 resistors (2x 2k2 in parallel)  + (2x 2k2 in parallel) = 2k2 1w

The iCon 1 now it does work fine again :-)

Txh

[frozenfrogz]

Good to see that this piece of the puzzle solves other peoples problems to

[HighVoltage]

That is a really nice discovery with the 222 resistor and will come in handy for many people in the future.

[millerfield]

Hello, I would also share my experience with ab broken ICON2, which mereley has some more parts on the same PCB like the ICON1.
A couple of years ago it starts to show up the heat element fault randomly. The last time the fault rendered the soldering station unusable. The fault appears after a few seconds of operation.
Before I read this thread here, I had no idea and tempted to sell all the stuff at ebay  as "defectiv", cursing to never buy such an expensiv soldering equipment again.
The hint of frozenfrogs brought me to check the 2,2kOhm SMT resistor.
This innocent looking device in its SMT 2010 housing had a value of MOhms 

Because in lack of presence of such a component I replaced it by an  old-fashion leaded resistor desoldered from an old radio.

The soldering station now works without any trouble 
I will replace the resistor against the destined one at next opportunity. But for now: Being able to solder.

So a big thanks to all here. Without discussion it would be very hard to figure out such kind of problems.

[HighVoltage]

Welcome to the forum, millerfield

And great to hear, that another ICON was saved from the landfill.

[frozenfrogz]

The hint of frozenfrogs brought me to check the 2,2kOhm SMT resistor.
This innocent looking device in its SMT 2010 housing had a value of MOhms 

Very nice!

Seems like things are moving into the right direction for a number of ICON stations

To tell you the truth: I am still flabbergasted by this design flaw (or better put: The lack of information provided by Ersa about this issue).
I prefer dealing with companies that are upfront with their customers and admit if something did not work out as planned. After all it would not be that big of a deal for almost everyone owning such a station if there was some piece of information by Ersa stating that the resistor might fail in some units and it then would need replacement.
There is little to lose and a lot of trust and gratitude to earn from valued customers in my opinion.

[HighVoltage]

That is unfortunately not the thinking of ERSA, it has become a modern company that looks out for shareholder value first.

For my first repair attempt, I even had called ERSA several times to get some technical advise.
The only advise I got was to buy a new controller PCB for some real Euro.

[wraper]

That is unfortunately not the thinking of ERSA, it has become a modern company that looks out for shareholder value first.

For my first repair attempt, I even had called ERSA several times to get some technical advise.
The only advise I got was to buy a new controller PCB for some real Euro.

What technical advise you expected? Help to repair the thing? Or them to offer component level repair? It does not make sense for them from financial standpoint. Like to most companies these days. Needs qualified persons to do that, which in Germany will cost a lot.

[HighVoltage]

That is unfortunately not the thinking of ERSA, it has become a modern company that looks out for shareholder value first.

For my first repair attempt, I even had called ERSA several times to get some technical advise.
The only advise I got was to buy a new controller PCB for some real Euro.

What technical advise you expected? Help to repair the thing? Or them to offer component level repair? It does not make sense for them from financial standpoint. Like to most companies these days. Needs qualified persons to do that, which in Germany will cost a lot.

Not all companies are like ERSA.
Last summer I repaired a German built FUG high voltage power supply and FUG helped all the way with schematics and replacement parts to the component level and technical advise over the phone. So, it is still possible.

[wraper]

Not all companies are like ERSA.
Last summer I repaired a German built FUG high voltage power supply and FUG helped all the way with schematics and replacement parts to the component level and technical advise over the phone. So, it is still possible.

I think TTi still provides schematics if asked. But it's an exception rather than standard trhese days.

[dzseki]

Sorry for bringing this up again.
At work we have an I-Con 1 station that became deffective. It does not throw any error codes, it simply shows „no-tool”. The handle (an i-tool) however tested to be good in an other station, and this station shows no-tool with other handles too, so the problem lies in the station for sure. The digital part looks to be working, as I can enter to the setup menu and change things.
After opening up I found a 10R 0805 resistor that measured open, but after replacement there was no change in behaviour.
Does anybody know how the prescence of the handle is sensed?

[HighVoltage]

There is one data line coming from the handle and you could trace it through the PCB.

In my experience its probably just another resistor that is burned up and causing this error.
Just keep looking for bad resistors and replace them.

[frozenfrogz]

As HighVoltage stated, it is very like a cheap component like another resistor that has crapped out. Also, check the triac (TO220 package with heat sink).
If you have not seen it already, maybe this thread or sn4k3 the OP can give you some more pointers as to how tool sensing works on the i-cons.

Also, please let us know when you have made progress or if you need to check your unit against a working one for reference.

[dzseki]

Thank you! Will surely update if there will be any advancement, the thing is not top priority, so it may take some time.

[HighVoltage]

I just had bought another broken ERSA i-Con 1 and fixed it.
Interestingly it has a new firmware installed.
Version 2.28 29.04.19

There are no obvious changes in the settings or menu for this new FW.

[frozenfrogz]

Maybe this one has been serviced at one point, got a new main board - just because.
My iCon1 is on FW 2.02.
Does yours still support all the extra tools?

FW Release notes would be very interesting to look at, but I guess that will never happen, because of Ersa being tight-arsed about their stuff. :/

[HighVoltage]

ERSA will only give out firmware info on systems that can officially be upgraded by the enduser via sd card. They are really nice on the phone, when you order parts but very tight about anything that is not officially available.

Does yours still support all the extra tools?

I am only using the iTool
Which other tools were compatible to the iCon 1?

[frozenfrogz]

The early iCon 1 accepts the i-Tool, Tech tool (X Tool), Power tool, Chip tool and Micro tool (non-vario tools).
The later iCon 1 only accepts the i-Tool and you would have to buy a 1V if you want to use other tools AFAIK.

[HighVoltage]

Interesting...
I guess I came too late to the party then, because my early iCon 1 from 2011 would not accept any other tools, except the iTool.

Do you have a iCon 1 that accepts these other tools?
If so, what firmware do you have installed?

[frozenfrogz]

As stated in reply #74, I am on FW 2.02.

There are (at least) two versions of the iCon 1:
Early version simply reads "iCon" on the front. This one supports all the tools listed above.
Later versions read "iCon 1". Those only support the iTool. Ersa split the iCon series into the iCon 1, 1C (remote control interface), 1V (Variotools etc.), 2 and so on for profit reasons I guess.

[wraper]

As stated in reply #74, I am on FW 2.02.

There are (at least) two versions of the iCon 1:
Early version simply reads "iCon" on the front. This one supports all the tools listed above.
Later versions read "iCon 1". Those only support the iTool. Ersa split the iCon series into the iCon 1, 1C (remote control interface), 1V (Variotools etc.), 2 and so on for profit reasons I guess.

1V/2V certainly has newer electronics as it has microSD card slot. Tools other than i-tool require additional components. So even if I-CON 1 has the same PCB as older version, it should have some components not populated.

[valendorn]

hello guys 
I'm having the same problem right now, I'm getting error code 71
Will it really be enough to replace the soldering iron pen tool, or is it worth digging deeper and looking for a problem on the motherboard of the soldering station?
first the screen displays the extreme temperature of 999 degrees, and then this code 71
the heating element and the thermocouple sensor seem to be in good condition, the resistance corresponds within to the manual

[HighVoltage]

Most i-Con 1 problems are solved by using a new pen tool.

If you have the opportunity to borrow and working handle, it is a good way to start.
I have seen many broken hand tools.

 

[valendorn]

thanks, i will try to find serviceable pen tool
I checked the resistor 222, it is normal, and the triac t25cq6f is also whole

[frozenfrogz]

I checked the resistor 222, it is normal

Careful!
If I remember correctly, the resistor on my board measured OK when cold, but was totally out of spec when hot.

a) check with a known good tool
b) test the resistor while heating with a hot air station or simply replace it to see if the station shows different behavior afterwards